Cricket 1893

AUG. 3, 1893 0KICRET s A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME- 301 this was the description of some Frenoh critic not altogether conversant with the habits and customs of young England. It would be doing him a gross inj astioe. The Australian captain and other stumpers will be surprised to learn that this is the definition of their duties, and by such a high authority as the compiler of Webster’s Dictionary. It is to be hoped that the young idea will be slow to take its orioket inspiration from such a doubtful spring. J. R . M ason, who made such a promising debut in first-class cricket for Kent against Sussex in the latter part of last week, is, it goes without saying, this year’s captain of the Winchester Eleven. His father, an old Wykehamist himself, was one of the moving spirits in seouring the Eectory Field at Blaok- heath for the purposes of oricket and football, and, unless I am mistaken, was interested in floating the oompany holding that ground, and of which he has for some years acted as honorary secretary. Two of his elder sons also have made their mark as cricketers in con­ nection with the Old Wykehamists and some of the Wandering Clubs. As will be re­ membered, it was mainly J.B.’s fine all­ round crioket whioh conduced to Winchester’s brilliant victory over Eton last season. On his School form he is bound to be an acquisi­ tion to the Kent eleven. W ith height on his side, he has in him the making of a really good bat, with the addition of being a very fair change bowler and a really good field. More­ over, he is a man of Kent in the striotest sense, as he was not only born in Blackheath but has lived there all his life. T h e casual allusion in '• Gossip ” of last week to Mr. K. J . Key’s devotion to teetotal principles appears to have inspired some person, apparently troubled with an exoess of spare time, to play a practical joke on our lespectable and much respected contemporary the Qlobe. The communication which appeared in its columns, and was reproduced in Bundrymorning papers of Tuesday,in which Mr. Key denied the soft impeachment of being a staunch teetotaller, was, it is needless to add, the work of some other pen than the Surrey Amateur’ s. The letter, if suoh a one ever existed, was in fact nothing less than an impudent------. No, it will be safer in these days of Grace, simply to say that it was a hoax, the creation of some practioal jokist. Can it be another humour of the amiable creature who has been trying to amuse him­ self at the expense of the versatile Editor of Truth ? But no matter! As I foretold a week ago, the Australian team are after all going to vary the monotony of their homeward journey with a visit to the United States. After considerable negotia­ tion, in whioh the practised hanl of the manager, Mr.V. Cohen, was naturally of great service in overcoming small difficulties, arrangements were concluded at the end of last week for the team to travel on the final stage of their homeward journey under the auspices of the Canadian and Pacific Rail- w a ;. The team, who commence their last important fixture at Hastings on September 7th, are due to leave England in the Servia twelve days later, so that there will be little or no time for any extra fixtures. C apt. J. P. G b e e n , the Nestor of Philadel. phian cricket, was, as I stated on Thursday, fortunately over here for a few days last week, and as he was the aoore dited agent of the American authorities, he was able practically to conclude the arrangements before he left Southampton, homeward bound, on Saturday. As I have already said, the principal interest to American cricketers will oentre in the two matches against All Phila­ delphia in that city. The other fixtures will naturally depend on circumstances—time, and the weather to wit. Still, it is quite pos­ sible that the Australian oricketers may accept some of the numerous invitations for matches, say at Boston, New York, Baltimore, Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Vancouver. As they will be in charge of the Canadian Pacific in any case, they may come into touch with a celebrated English cricketer of a bygone age, “ Bull Piokering,” to wit. THE COUNTY CAPTAINS. i i M r . W . L. M urdoch (Sussex). I t is a comfort to think that the weary critics are generally at rest on a subject which caused them much concern in the early part of the season. The wickets at the Oval have evidently ceased to trouble them of late to any great degree. Their merits or demerits have been, at all events, left severely alone, even to the extent of refraining from damning th m with faint praise. I t i l l it is worthy of remark, if only as an incideLce of the game, that in the two matches in which the Surrey Eleven took part at the Oval last week, no less than 1945 runs were tcored in the six days. The figures which contribute to that aggregate are as under: JuW 24. 25. and 2G Surrey v. Sussex..................1,001 July 27, 28, and 29 Surrey v. Austrilians ... 914 In the two matches seventy-eight wickets fell, so that the average throughout the week was one of just under twenty-five runs for each wicket, a good reoord, considering that the game was more than once stopped by rain. W h ile on the subject of the Oval, it may be well to caution C r ic k e t readers against placing implicit credence in the sensational statements which appeared in an early edition of one of yesterday’s evening papers. The assertion that the gasometer end of the Oval is sinking would have perhaps a less alarming sound if it were modified to the extent that the Surrey executive were considering the advisability of certain alterations, which would include the renovation of the football ground, and at the same a general levelling of that portion of the Oval, in order to make the whole area fit for cricket, at all events for practice. In any case th3 statement that it has been finally decided not to play any more football at the Oval is, so far at least, without foundation. If the scheme suggested for the renovation of the end of the Oval nearest Vauxhall should be determined on it will practically mean the cessation of football on the Surrey Cricket Ground for one winter. As yet, how­ ever, even that step has not been definitely taken, whatever may be the decision in the near future. It will be seen, therefoie, that it is a little too previous, to say the least of it, to make bold advertisement that football at the Oval is a thing of the past. T h e excellent all-round cricket shown by ihe Kent eleven this season cannot fail to give additional interest to the fifty-third Canter­ bury week, which commences on Monday uext. This year as usual the Australian team will furnish the attraction for the opening fix­ ture, with Notts as the whipper-in. The Old Stagers, who have just lost one of the keenest of the fraternity in Major Knox Holmes, will as of old supplement the crioket with the best of amateur acting. This year the Old Stagers, who will be assisted by Miss Marie Linden, Miss Laura Linden, Miss Ethel Norton, Mrs. Coppleston, and Miss Whitty, will produce Jerome K. Jerome’s one-act play, “ Barbara,” W . S. Gilbert’s farcical comedy, “ On B ail” —a good cricket sound—as well as “ The Danoing Master” and “ The Hobby Horse.” What with these and other entertainments, there will be sounds of revelry by night at Canterbury, if for one week only. B y the irony of fate it was the Opposition, and not the Government, who applied the closure on Saturday, It was, too, in the Lord’s—the cricket ground, that is—and not in the Commons, that this instrument of a tyrannical majority—for other details see small bills—was utilised. From a strictly cricket standpoint, it can hardly be said that the match gave rise to any great amount of excitement. On paper, indeed, the Liberal side had not a thousand to one chance, and even that was reduced to a minimum by two tine catches of the Conservative whip, one of which would have done credit to the best out­ field that ever was. Still, the atmosphere of a oricket ground is not so heated as it often is in another place. And it is pleasant to think, if the sketch in Monday’s Daily Graphic