Cricket 1892

AUG. 18, 1892 C R I C K E T : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E . 8 7 3 T h e portrait of the young Wykehamist, J. R . Mason, in C r ic k e t some weeks since has stirred the old love of Winchester and all its belongings to which my old friend, the “ Old Buffer,’ *has been devotedly true all his life. My remarks on Mason’s brilliant per­ formance for Winchester against Eton, and casual reference to Meyrick’s big score, has produced the following from “ F.G.,” who, from the cheery nature of his letter, seems to be enjoying himself in his far away domicile in Manitoba:— Meyrick’s was a grand performance. He scored 4 and 146 v. Harrow, and 50 and 38 not out) against Eton. Old Ward, whose eye was wiped by W.G. thirty years later on, whom I knew well, told me that Meyrick’s was a most masterly performance, and put him on a par with Emilius Bayley, whom I saw getting his 152 in 1841; and that was an admirable innings, as was E. B. Trevilian’s in 1852 v. Eton. He also got 65 and 48 against Harrow. T h e “ Old Buffer ” goes on to state that he ulso saw V. C. Smith get his 91 runs against Eton in 1843:— It was his fifth year at Lord’s, and third of captaincy. He went in first, and the last man ran him out, or he would have been not out. His off hitting and cutting were very brilliant. He got these runs against George Yonge, who bowled many years for the Gentlemen. It was his last year, and the Eton fellows, when his wicket fell, made a rush into the ground, and cheered him right into the pavilion. This I do think is better manners than the chaff between the schools in these days. After the match when I was a boy, it was a bitter pill, but the losing captain always went and shook hands with the winner and congratulated him. T h e personal observations of F.G. on the chief Public School cricketers of that time cannot fail to interest. The best boy bowlers I ever saw [he adds] in these matches were Alfred Lowth,left handed, Winchester, 1835-6; George Yonge, Kton, 1841-3; Gathorne, left handed, Harrow, 1842. He took thirteen wickets against Winchester. I have not the Eton and Harrow score. And Jemmy Dewar, 1845, left handed, Winches­ ter, afterwards the best bowler in the British Army, and first inaugurator of cricket in the Crimea. He bowled twenty-two wiokets against Harrow and Eton, the latter match being a “ tie.” In each case the bowling was from round arm the height of the shoulder, with a per­ fectly natural delivery. It was a gift in each of the above cases, like your J. T. Hearne’s bowling is now. F.G. finishes up with a well-deserved tribute to the effect of M. C . Kemp’s training on Winchester cricket during his mastership there. K u m ar R a n jit s in h ji , the young Indian Prince who is in residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, has, it is pleasant to recal, been fully maintaining the promise he gave in the match at Kingston on Easter Monday. Just lately, indeed, he has been making hundreds with but very slight intervals, and his scoring during the last fortnight has been one of the most conspicuous chapters in a volume of high run getting. A l t o g e t h e r , it will interest C r ic k e t readers to know, he has scored this season up to date 1833 runs in thirty-six innings. As he has been eight times not out, his average can readily be calculated as j ust under sixty-five runs per innings. During the summer he has made no less than nine scores of over a hundred, as the following list, which may be accepted as correct, will show. June—Trinity v. S elw yn ......................................101 June—Anchor v. St. Neots .......................... 146* July—Bassinettes v.Ohrist’s and Emm anuel 150 July—Cassandra v. Perseus .......................... 136* July—Trinity v. St. John’s ..........................103 Aug.—Cambridge Victoria v. Ely ............... 132* Aug.—Cambridge Victoria v. Bedford ... 141 Aug.—Trinity v. St. John’s ..........................142* Aug.—Bassinettes v. Jesus ..........................Ill* I t may concern some C r ic k e t readers to know that an excellent likeness of this prom­ ising all-round athlete appeared in C r ic k e t of June 2. He is just completing, or has just completed, his twentieth year. T h e record of Holland’s dismissal in the second innings of Leicestershire against Essex, at Leicester, is such a rarity in cricket that it should not be passed by without special notice. The Leicestershire score had not been opened when Holland, who went in first with Mr. S. R. Wright, hitting a ball from Mr. Taberer, started to run and was very properly given out by the umpire. I was eye-witness of a similar occurrence many years ago on the County ground at Brighton, when H. Chari- wood, then in the height of his fame, was given out for the Bame offence. In this case the late Julius Caasar was the umpire, and it was pretty certain that the batsman had no real intention to start even for a run. Still umpires have not to judge by intentions, and as Charlwood’s action undoubtedly could be construed into an idea of running, Caesar's ruling was in strict accordance with the spirit of the law. TO THE SURREY TEAM. (Apropos the Middlesex match.) Don't be “ members of a Fabian Society ” ( To slightly vary one of Gilbert’s lines), But let your play retain its old variety— O’er-cautiousness is not the best of signs. Though Notts may show a sort of genius tactical, And look like being champions for the year, Don’t you “ go slow " when batting—’tisn’t practical, For soon you’d find your public disappear. No one will, I should fancy, dispute the claim of the match between the Free Foresters and Mr. A. P. Lucas’ Eleven, at Chelmsford, on Friday last, to the distinction of a record. The score, indeed, i1? so unique in more than one respect that it thoroughly deserves the immortality of reproduction in “ Gossip.” F ree F oresters . F. M. Ingram, st Taberer, b Gay ...130 J. H. W eatherby, c Phillips, b Taberer 6 M. J. Dauglish, b H. Gibson ..................20 F. H. Gre88on, b T a b e r e r ..................34 W . S. Case, c Gray, b Gay ..........................21 Henry Gibson, c Tab­ erer, b G ra y .......... 115 G. W. Jackson, not out ..........................76 M r . A. P. L ucas ’ s XI. E. M. Gibson, c W hittaker, b H. G ibson ................... 38 J. B. Hughes, c Phil­ lips, b Gay ........... 4 B. Copeland, c Lucas, b Phillips ........... 3 E. Bray, b H. Gibson 0 B64,lb 7, w 1, nb 2 74 Total ...521 L.H, Gay, st Hughes, b Case ................... 112 W.J.Gray, c Hughes, b H. Gibson ........... 0 F.A. Philbps, c Jack­ son, b B r a y ............120 F.tS. Rowe, not out ...107 J.H. Roberts, c Gres- fon, b Ingram ... 78 H.M .Taberer,b Case 114 A. P. Lucas, n ot out 11 Extras.................. 20 Total ... .562 H. Bray, H. Gibson, E. Copeland, and R. L. Whittaker did net bat. S ome details are essential to the perpetua­ tion of such a remarkable achievement. As an instance of consistently high scoring, the match is quite out of the common. On Friday the F ree Foresters got th eir total of 521 in six hours, th ou gh it deserves to be added that th ey w ere assisted con siderably b y the ou t­ side, w h o of their liberality presented them w ith no less than 74 notches in the form of extras. G ood as th e run-getting of the F oresters w as on F riday, it w as surpassed on Saturday by th e h om e team , w hose 560 w ere m ade in fou r hours and three-quarters. B u t after all, the record of all consists in the fact that, though on ly tw enty w ickets fell, there w ere six scores of over a hundred. F ou r batsm an o f th e seven Foresters w ho w en t in got in to double figures, too, a feat w h ich has h ardly, if any parallel in th e h istory o f th e gam e. T h ere are on ly a very few instances o f three hundreds in th e sam e in n in gs as yet recorded. O f four hun dreds in th e sam e innings there is, unless I am m istaken, on ly one record. T h at w as in a m atch betw een I Z in gari and B u llingdon, at B u llin gdon , on June 15tb, 188 >. L . K . Jarvis scored 152, L ord D alk eith 120, H . W . F orster 107, and L ord G . Scott 100. T he C h elm sford W eek o f 1892 should at least go dow n to h istory as quite a red letter tim e fo r batsm en. In all, un­ less m y figures err, 2,805 runs w ere scored in the six days, in w h ich tim eon ly sixty -eigh t w ickets fell. T h is gave an averageof th irty-eigh t runs for eaoh w icket. N ow that A rth u r Shrew sbury has at length resum ed the position at the head of th e batting averages to w hich he is entitled by the order o f m erit, it m ay not be ou t o f place to give par­ ticulars of the five scores of a hundred he has m ade in im portan t m atches this season. In the case of both his n o t-ou t scores, w h ich are indicated b y an asterisk (*), he carried his bat th rou gh the innings. Lord’s—June 20 Notts v. Middlesex ........... 212 Oval—July 11 Players v. Gentlem en ...........*J5l Cheltenham—Aug. 15 Notts v. G loucester... 127 Noitingham—July 14 Notts v. Yorkshire ... 116 Canterbury—Aug. 4 Notts v. K ent..................*111 So far th is season Shrew sbury is the on ly batsm an w h o has m ade over tw elve hundred runs in first-class cricket. O f the others M essrs. Stoddart, P alairet, and H ew ett alone have got a thousand. T h e fou r a g g re ­ gates are as under in th e order nam ed— Inns. Not out. Runs. A. Shrewsbury ... 30 ............. 4 ........... J,226 A .E . Stoddart ... 84 ............. 2 ........... 1.099 L. C. H. Palairet ... 37 ............. 4 ........... 1,014 H. T. Hewett .......... 32 ............. 1 ........... 1,013 N ow that w e are at last w ithin m easurable distance o f th e close of the season the position s o f the nine leadin g C ounties are gettin g m ore clearly defined. A t least w e are gettin g nearer the final distribution o f seats. N otts, Surrey, L ancashire, and Sussex have still three, M iddlesex, Y orksh ire, K en t and G loucester­ shire four, and Som ersetshire five m atches to play to com p lete th eir several program m es. N otts has yet to m eet Som ersetshire, L an ca­ shire, and K e n t ; Surrey, G loucestershire, L ancashire, and K e n t; Lancashire, M iddle­ sex, Surrey, and N otts. Played. W en. Lost. Drawn. Points. Notts.................. 13... 10 ... 0 ... 3 ... 10 Surrey............... 13... 10 ... 2 ... 1 ... 8 Lancashire....... 13... 6 ... 3 ... 4 ... 3 Somersetshire. 11... 6 ... 5 ... 0 ... 1 Middlesex ....... 12... 5 ... 5 ... 2 ... 0 Yorkshire ....... 13... 5 ... 5 ... 3 ... 0 K e n t ....................... 12 ... 2 ... 8 ... 2 ... —6 Gloucestershire 12... 1 ... 7 ... 4 ... —6 Sussex............... 13... 1 ... 11 ... 1 ... —10 In scoring points, losses are deducted from win and drawn games ignored.