Cricket 1893

4 UBICltET; A WEEKLY EfiCOfiD OF 'THE GAME. Jan. 26, 1893 THE AUSTRALIANS IN ENGLAND. A CHAPTER OF CRICKET HISTORY. By J. N. P entelow . III.— T he T eam o r 1882. The third Australian team was, without doubt, the strongest which ever visited England. Only one member of it, Jones, failed to do w ell; and he has had so many batting triumphs since 1882 that his compara­ tive ill-success in that year is almost forgotten. He was chosen mainly on the strength of an innings played by him in the previous February. For New South Wales v, Victoria he made 109; and two other members of the team accomplished still more remarkable performances, Murdoch scoring 321 and Garrett 163 not out. The total of the innings was 775, and this stood for a long time as the best on record in a first-class match. The team consisted of W . L. Murdoch, S. P. Jones, T. W. Garrett, H. H. Massie, A. C. Bannerman, and F. R. Spofforth of New South W ales; G. Giffen of South Australia ; and G. J. Bonnor, P. S. M ’Donnell, J. M. Blackham, H. F. Boyle, G. E. Palmer and T. Horan of Victoria, All the more prominent members of the 1880 team were again making the trip. Horan and Garrett, two of the most promising members of the first combination, were also of the party ; while the new talent was com ­ posed of a really grand triumvirate of players—Massie, Giffen and Jones. Mr. C. W . Beal was the manager of the team ; Murdoch was again captain : and Mr. Henry Perkins, the secretary of the M.C.C., was their agent. He had arranged for them a very good list of fixtures, in which matches against odds were, very fortunately, only con­ spicuous by their absence. The Assam , ia which the team came over, reached Plymouth on the 3rd of May. M’Donnell, prostrated by a severe sunstroke, had had to be carried on board at Melbourne. Thanks to the sea-breezes, he seemed all right again by the time England was reached; but there is little doubt that his severe illness had something to do with the falling-off which was visible in his batting powers. He did fairly well in 1882, but not so well as he had done in 1830. Nearly a fortnight elapsed before the first match was played. This time was chiefly taken up by practice at the nets, though most of the men took part in club games on the two Saturdays Jones made 70 in one of these matches, for the City Ramblers v. Erith. The first match, v. Oxford University, was remarkable for the extraordinarily brilliant debut made in England by H. H. Massie, one of the hardest-hitting of Australian batsmen. He had been well spoken of, but no such display could have been anticipated from him so early in the tour. Going in first with Bannerman—as he did, indeed, in nearly every match during the tour—he played all the Oxford bowlers with the greatest ease and confidence, and scored 206 out of 265 runs put on while he was in. His was the sixth wicket to fall. None of the other batsmen did anything remarkable, though Jones scored 39 and Garrett 41; but the total was good enough to give the Colonists a win by nine wickets, Massie making 46 not out, when he went in a second time. E. D. Shaw—who is now, as the Rev. E. D. Shaw, the best bat of the Hertfordshire team— carried his bat through the first innings of the University for 78, and the Oxonians, overmatched though they were, showed undeniable pluck. Great as was Massie’ s achievement, it was surpassed by Murdoch in the very next match. On a perfect wicket at Brighton, Sussex cm ld onlv make 95 against Palmer and Spofforth. The Australians then went in, and scored 643! Murdoch’s share was 283 (not out), made wi*h only two difficult chances. Several of the other batsmen scored well, Giffeu making 74, Bannerman 60, Horan 51, Massie 43, Palmer 28, and Blackham 27. Sussex in the end suffered defeat by an innings and 355 runs, Palmer taking altogether fourteen wickets for 110 runs. A match with a strong team of the Orleans Club resulted in favour of the Club, whose score was 271 against 75 and 240 (for nine wickets) made by their opponents. Murdoch, in the second innings, played on a slow ground a magnificent defensive game for 107, not out, a really grand performance. The only other big score in the match was A. P, Lucas’s 87, not out, for the Club. Surrey was beaten by six wickets, in a some­ what small scoring m atch; and then Cambridge University won by a similar margin. The Colonists did fairly well in the batting line; but the magnificent play of the brothers Studd eclipsed everything else in the match. J. E. K. Studd scored 6 and 66 ; G. B., 42 and 48; C. T., 118 and 17 not out, besides taking eight wickets. Lancashire was then beaten by four wickets, the batting of Blackham, Massie, Bannerman, and Murdoch for one side, and a grand defensive innings played by Barlow for the other, being the chief features of an interesting game. The first of a series of five matches with Yorkshire was then drawn at Bradford, no play beiug possible on the first day. Bonnor made 29 and 35, and Murdoch 41 and 29 for the visitors, and "Ephraim Lockwood 66 and 34, not out, for the county. Rain on the second day of the next match, with Notts, caused that also to end in a draw. Blacknam did best, with 56 not out. A bungling in the hotel and luncheon arrangements made for the Australians here caused serious un­ pleasantness, Murdoch and his men being not unreasonably annoyed at the scant courtesy with which they were treated. They next had an easy victory over Derby­ shire, Spofforth taking ten wickets for 57 runs. The second match with Yorkshire was then won by six wickets, Murdoch’s 54 being the top score. Garrett and Peate bowled well The next victory was one to be proud of, the Gentlemen of England suffering defeat by an innings and arun,thusexactlyreversing the result of the match with a side similarly entitled in 1878. Bonnor played a splendid slogging game for 74; Murdoch made 57, Bannerman 50, Giffen 43, Massie 32,and Gar­ rett 26. The total was 334. W. G., with 61 and 32, was far and away ahead of the other English batsmen, though the eleven was quite a representative one, including Messrs. W. G. Grace, A. P. Lucas, W. H. Patterson, W . W. Read, C. T. Studd, A. N. Hornby, A G, Steel, G. B. Studd, C. F. H. Leslie, E. F. S. Tylecote and R. C. Ramsay. A very scratch team, though including several thoroughly first-class placers (W. G. andE. M. Grace, Maurice Read, and Barrett among them), entitled the United Eleven, but playing one man short, was next badly beaten at Chichester. Horan scored 112, Bannerman 88, Massie 60, and every member of the team, except the not out man, over 20. Three somewhat uninteresting matches followed, that with Leicestershire being won by 74 runs, that with Northamptonshire (assisted by Alfred Shaw) by an innings and 80 runs, and that with Middlesex by eight wickets. Giffen and Bonnor eac'i scored over 50 against Northants, and Murdoch made 51 against Middlesex , but the bowlers did most work, and in the three matches Garrett had 13 wickets for 101 runs, Palmer 20 for 136, and Spofforth ‘26 for 207. The next match, v. M.C.C. and Ground, re­ sulted in a draw—M.C.C. scoring 302 (C. T. Studd 114), and the Colonists 138. No play was possible on the Tuesday, owing to rain. Three matches against Yorkshire—at Dews­ bury, Bradford, and Middlesborough respec­ tively—followed. The first was drawn, the second the Australians won by 47 runs, and the third by seven wickets." In the first match Lockwood scored 61; in the second Bannermm’s 42 was the highest score, and Bovle took 8 wickets for 43 ; in the third M’ Donnell made 82 and 23 (not out). An innings and 95 runs beating for Northumber­ land was the result of the next match. Horan made 76 and Garrett 59; and the pair put on 93 runs for the last wicket. Murdoch made 58 at Edinburgh against the Gentlemen of Scotland, who batted very poorly, and were beaten by an innings and 18 runs. A draw was then played with Liverpool and district— almost a Lancashire eleven—Horan scoring 70, Giffen 81, and A. G. Steel 50 and 29. Gloucestershire then succumbed by an innings and 159 runs. Horan, who was now in splendid form, played a grand, though not brilliantly hit, innings of 141, not out, M’Donnell made 70, and smaller scores brought the total to 450. The only big score for the county was W .G .’s 77 in the second innings. Proceeding to Canterbury, the Australians formed the attraction for the first three days of the week. Jones, whose numerous failures had caused him to be frequently left out of the team, played a creditable innings of 59, Bannerman jnade 47, Massie 54, and Blackham 62, the total being 307. Against this Kent scored 222 and 165 (W. H. Patterson 19 and 59, E. F. S. Tylecote 100, not out, and 4, Cecil Wilson 57 and 50), and was beaten by seven wickets, Massie following up his 54 with a very hard-hit 42. The triumphal progress now received a severe check. An eleven representative of the Players, and comprising Shrewsbury, Ulyetf, Barnes, Bates, Lockwood, Maurice Read, Flowers, Emmett, Peate,Sherwin and Morley, ran up a score of 322. Maurice Read made 130, and Barnes 87, none of the others doing much. A collection was made for Read on the ground, and a sum of over £40 was collected and presented to him. The Austra­ lians could make only 150 and 138, and were defeated by an innings and 34 runs. A drawn game was then played with a strong scratch eleven, captained by Mr. C. I. Thornton, at Derby. The chief scores were 56 by E. F. S. Tylecote, 70 and 32 by Murdoch, and 50 by Jones, who was now playing in much better form than he had shown earlier in the tour. In the second innings of the English Eleven, Boyle had three wickets for eight runs. Then came another defeat, an exceptionally strong team of Cambridge University Past and Present winning a hard fought game at Portsmouth by twenty runs. The scoring was not very high, but Alfred Lyttelton, A. P. Lucas, C I. Thornton, Blackham, Murdoch and Bannerman all batted well. Somerset­ shire was beaten by an innings and 19 runs, Boyle and Spofforth bowling unchanged through both innings of the County. Then a draw was played with Gloucestershire. The scoring in general was small, but Massie hit brilliantly for 39 and 55 not out. The next game was one ever memorable in the annals of cricket—the match against England The Mother Country was repre­ sented by the Hon. A. Lyttelton. Dr. W. G. Grace, Messrs. A. P. Lucas, A. G. Steel, C. T. Studd and A. N. Hornbv, with Barlow, Ulyett, Maurice Read, Barnes and Peate. The Australians left out M’Donnell and Palmer. Murdoch won the toss ; but so fine was the bowling of Peate and Barlow on a wicket distinctly on the slow side, that the Australians only scored 63. Peate had four wickets for 31, and Barlow five for 19. The Englishmen scored 101, George Ulyett making 26, and Maurice Read 19 (not out). With the close of this innings the first day’ s play came to an end. Next morning Massie and Bannerman made 66 runs for the first wicket, Massie's share being 55, made at exactly the rate of a run a minute. Bannerman scored 13, and Murdoch 29 ; but the total only reached 122. When England, at a quarter to four, went in to get the 85 runs required to win, the ex­ citement had reached a tremendous pitch, though most of the spectators had little doubt as to the Englishmen’s winning. Grace made 32, and he and Ulyett batted so well together between the fall of the second and third wickets that the odds rose to about ten to one against the Colonists. Then Blackham caught Ulyett at the wicket, with the score at 51. W ith two runs added, Bannerman at mid-off secured Grace. Lyttelton and Lucas were now together. A few runs were made by the former; then j seventeen overs produced only a single, and at