Cricket 1892

MARCH 24, 1892 CRICKET: A WEEKLY BECORD OF THE GAME. 87 for 167, and more than satisfied when at 178 M’Gregor stopped a straight ball with his pads. Briggs, the next man, was looked upon as a certain victim for Turner. From thousands of throats came the yell, “ Put on Turner ! ” and Blackham followed the advice, though not until a few runs had been added. Abel, seeming to see the end of the innings looming very big ahead, started to force the pace and cut M’Leod for 4, hit him to leg for the same number, and repeated the last dose on Giffen. Briggs opened with a 4, but with 2 more added he hit one hard back to Giffen, which George could not hold. At 202 Turner, at last, replaced M’ Leod, and Briggs promptly hit him twice for four in his first over. Runs now came very rapidly, the bowlers, now that they were collared, seeming to lose heart a little. At four o’clock the total was 229. A spell was then tried to see if it would work a separation. As Briggs was hitting at everything Trott was put on to feed him. Lancastrian Johnny made a mighty swipe, missed, and a yorker hit his legs, which obscured the umpire’s vision of the wicket, and 8—28—235 was hoisted. Attewell could not time Trott’ s medium pace ones at all, and at last one bowlel over a stump. The end was now near—on paper. In reality it was far off, and the next hour was a time of great trouble to the Australians and exasperation to the crowd. Sharpe joined Abel, and the pair offered a determined resistance. Sharpe played very judicious cricket, and 71 had been added before he was caught. Abel carried out his bat, a feat which has only been done once before by an England v. Australia representa­ tive, and that was by Dr. Barrett, at Lord’s, for the 1890Australian Eleven. Abel was batting five hours and twenty-five minutes, and his score was made up of eleven 4’s, ten 3’s, sixteen 2’s, and twenty-six singles. It took him an hour to make his first 24, but the last 32 were made in forty minutes. He was warmly congratulated, more particularly as this was his first big score of the tour, and Lord Sheffield was so pleased that he made out a cheque for £50, and handed it to the little Surrey man. Giffen was the most successful bowler of the Australians, and he was the only one who gave Abel any trouble. Turner was most expensive, and too much use was made of him. Having a few minutes left, the Australians sent inBannerman and Trott, and the latter, who is clean off colour and out of luck, managed to put up a ball to Sharpe at mid-on, so that the wicket was down for 1. T h ir d D a y — M o nd ay , F e b r u a r y 1. Monday morning was again a lovely day. It was bright, while the air was crisp and cool. The attendance was not large, and the prin­ cipal topic of conversation was—will the Aus­ tralians save the one innings defeat ? With Moses unable to bat and another man already out, and with a debit of 161, they seemed to have no hope of saving the game. Lyons went to the wickets with Bannerman, and took the remainder of Lohmann’sover. 1here was nothing in the way he played this over to give an inkling of what was to come. Briggs’ first over only gave a single to each batsman. The next, however, from Briggs saw the score reach 10. Then Lyons began with a cut off Lohmann for 4, and the next over from the Surrey bowler gave him 4 more. Here Atte­ well relieved Briggs, and Bannerman snicked his first ball for 3. Now the runs came freely, although no big hits were made. Lyons did nearly all the scoring with drives for singles, which were stopped by well placed men on the chains, and 2’s for balls placed neatly to leg and square-leg. Bannerman hooked Loh­ mann for 4, and Sharpe was tried instead of the latter. Lyons hit Sharpe’s third ball to leg for 4, cut the next to the boundary, and got a single off the last ball of the over, two leg-byes making the total produce of six balls 11 runs. Sharpe’s next over gave Lyons two more 4’s in exactly the same direction as two boundary hits in the preceding over. The next ball Lyons snicked in the air, but Abel could not hold it. Lyons was then 49, and in the light of future events, this miss, difficult through it was, had some significance. There had now been an hour’s play, and 68 runs was the sum total. Lyons hit Sharpe in all directions, especially to leg, and then W . G. put a man here to block Lyons’ stroke. Still Lyons hit Sharpe, and the first three balls of one over gave 10 runs. This was a bit too strong, and Peel relieved Sharpe. Still the ball went to the chains from Lyons’ bat; two more 4’s off Peel, and the 100 went up, after exactly seventy-five minutes’ play. Lyons then steadied down to be not out at luncheon, and he achieved his object, the total at the adjournment being 109, Lyons 84, Banner­ man 22. On resuming, Grace and Peel, who were bowling before luncheon, again took the ball. Singles were the order of the day, Lyons play­ ing for his 100. At last he let out to a short ball from W.G., and lifted it just clear of Briggs to the chains. A cut for 4 off Peel gave him 100, and the applause was deafening. The fine stand made by the Australians had attracted thousands of people, and the attend­ ance was now about 12,000. Lyons haying got the 100, again began to play more forcibly, and twice drove Grace to the fence. Peel tempted Lyons all he know, but the big man would try no sensational hits, and contented himself with hits along the ground. Stoddart and Lohmann now took up the attack, and with two 4’s off the amateur, and several singles to each batsman,166 was hoisted,so that the Australians had now a clear start. Lyons was, however,done. The pace had told on him, aud playing somewhat half-heartedly, he popped a ball from Lohmann gently up to Grace at point, so that the same two English­ men who got rid of him in the first innings settled him again. He had fulfilled his mission as a big hitter, and had made 134 out of 175 in two hours and three quarters. He only gave one chance, and his in n iD gs included sixteen 4’s, five 3’s, and eight 2’ s. Lyons’ batting against five of the finest bowlers in the world has been quite one of the features of the Englishmen’s tour. His innings against them have produced 13.8, 19.51, and 41.134, and in the two representa­ tive matches he has far and away the best average. Roars of cheers greeted his return to the pavilion. George Giffen took Lyons’s place, and started by driving Lohmann for 4, following which Bannerman hit the Surrey bowler to leg for 3. Giffen was playing a fine confident game, in strong contrast to the rather cramped style which was the result of over-anxiousness inpreviousmatches. He drove splendidly, and made some} beautifully timed leg strokes. The Englishmen clustered round Bannerman, and tried all they knew to catch him, but the wily stonewaller played every­ thing carefully on to the ground unless he got a short one, and one of these he put sweetly past Grace to thechains. Briggs, Peel, Grace, and Lohmann were all tried unavailingly with the ball, and at last Attewell came on again, and got Giffen 1 b w. The champion played a masterly innings. Bruce took up the running, and was not out at six o’clock. Bannerman was also still there. His inn­ ings was a wonderful one as a defensive dis­ play of the highest value. F ourth D ay — T u e sd a y , F ebruary 2. The day opened gloomily. Rain threatened from a dangerous quarter, and it was only a question of time as to when it would fall and, perhaps, spoil the game. Everyone—even those who had piled their money on the Australians on Monday—prayed that the showers would be blown away. The Australians knew they had enough runs up to win if heavy rain saturated and spoilt the pitch, but they did not want this to happen. They would sooner the match were fought to the bitter end on a fast, true wicket. The Australians, however, had to face a misfortune before play began. A telegram came from Melbourne announcing the death of an elder brother of M’Leod, and that player naturally wished to get back to Melbourne to attend the funeral. He could not, however, leave Sydney till five o’clock in the afternoon, and as the occasion was so important, from a cricket point of view, he sacrificed his feelings and decided to bat before he left Sydney. Great sympathy was ex­ pressed for him. When play was continued the Australians were just 100 to the good, Bannerman having 62 and Bruce 5. Sharpe and Attewell had charge of the bowling. Bannerman opened with a 4 off a loose leg ball from Attewell before the Notts man had found his length. Bruce started to force the pace so as to get as many runs as possible up before the rain came. He cut Sharpe for 4, hit Attewell for 3, and then back cut successive balls from Sharpe, for 4. Rapidly the score reached 299, when it was agreed to stop play on account of drizzly rain. It was not a heavy shower, but the captains agreed before the game commenced that if any rain fell they would not stay out in it. Bannerman was then 73 and Bruce 35. The rain fell steadily for an hour, and the game was not continued until after luncheon. Then the English captain asked for a new ball. The old one was knocked clean out of shape, and the umpires readily granted a new one. A few overs’ play showed that the rain had not improved the wicket. The turf cut up, and the ball rose awkwardly, especially from Lohmann, who bowled with Attewell. Bruce realised that it was of no use to attempt to play correct cricket, and slashed out in all directions. When he had made 2 more runs, Lohmann got his hand on to a flying ball in the slips, but wonder though he is, it was too difficult for him to hold. Then Bruce cut Lohmann to the fence, and got 4 for a drive off Attewell. Briggs relieved Attewell, but Bruce appreciated the Lancastrian as much as he did the other Northerner and promptly slammed two balls to the boundary. Meanwhile Bannerman plodded along with a single here and another there. W . G. stood close in at point. George Lohmann was a couple of yards awa,y, at silly point, and Sharpe just as near at mid-on. The ball would bump as Briggs bowled, and still Bannerman kept it on the ground ; nothing tempted him. When Bruce was 57, he hit a ball from Briggs fairly into Atte- well’ s hands, but it did not stay there. The Englishmen were not fielding so keenly now. 1 hey seemed to realise that their chance of winning was hopeless, as the wicket would probably get worse. Again, when he had made 72, the dashing left-hander was missed. He hit tbe ball high up in the air, and Sharpe, running backwards, got the ball fair into his hands, but dropped it. This miss, however, did not cost the side anything, for in the next over Bruce cut a ball from Sharpe. It struck Dr. Grace at point and rebounded into the hands of Briggs at cover, where it securely rested. Bruce made eight boundary hits, and he scored all but 21 got while he was batting. M’Leod was next, and, though there were 12,000 people on the ground, the crowd to a man remained silent, thus showing discrimi­ nation and sympathy with the afflicted player. With Bruce out of the way Briggs ventured to bowl again, and very soon 1iq got rid of the stonewaller. Lyons and Bruce were missed, but Bannerman, who richly deserved to make a century, was snapped up the first time he put a bail off the ground. His must rank as one of the most remarkable stonewalling innings ever played. He was at the wickets seven hours and twenty-eight minutes, so that he only scored at the fearfully slow rate of 12 runs an hour. His innings, however, was invaluable. Some pecular figures have been compiled about his innings. Attewell bowled him no less than 204 balls, and Bannerman only scored off 5 of them. He scored off 14 of Lohmann’s 156, 9 of Grace’s 77, and 3 of Peel’s 50. He hit only three fourers. He was cheered and cheered again as he returned to the pavilion. Turner went in and snicked Briggs for 4, M’Leod following by driving Sharpe for the same number. The left­ NEXT ISSUE APRIL 14