Cricket 1893

AUG. 17, 1893 €RICRET t A WEE «L * EECOED OP THE GAME, 349 for the first wicket,470 for Beckenham against Bexley in 1885. Captain Wyld’s score of 268 not out for Bournemouth against South W ilts at Bournemouth last Friday is, as I have already said, one of the best of a busy season. S u b se q u en t events show that I was a little too previous at all events in announcing Mr. Stanley Scott’s retirement fiom first-class oricket. Middlesex will have been quite as pleased as I am to find him again at work this week, and in his best form, as his score of 56, the highest on the side, in the first innings against Yorkshire at Bradford will show. Still, as a matter of credit, I may be allowed to say that the information I gave last Thurs­ day of Mr. Scott’s intended withdrawal from first-class matches came from the very best possible source—from himself. I t will be of interest to collectors of cricket curios to know that the record score of the Australians, at Portsmouth, just lately, has not been allowed to pass without proper per­ petuation. In addition to an excellent group of the team with the full score duly inscribed as it was at the end of the innings on the telegraph board, the score has been duly em­ blazoned on satin, as a memento of a remark­ able event. I have no doubt that any real cricket enthusiast properly accredited will be able to procure a copy of the score. I t is reported, and on the best authority, that the cricket public may probably have yet another opportunity of seeing the Australian team in London, before they leave for America on their homeward journey. There is just a chance, indeed, that a match may be arranged for them for the eleventh of next month and two following days at the Crystal Palace. Although the second fixture of the Hastings Week is on the same days, there should be no difficulty in getting together a fairly representative side, say of the South of England, for the Palace. The ground there is not only one of the prettiest, but now one of the very best in greater London. A f t e r the quite unmerited strictures passed by some of the crioket critics in the early part of the season on the wickets at the Suriey ground, it is significant to note that the England soore of 483 at the Oval this week is the record for the matches between England and Australia. Curiously enough the previous best wag on the same ground in 1886 (434), and unless I am mistaken the 420 in the first meeting in 1880 was, until it was beaten in 1886, the biggest innings by England against Australia. If I am right, to the Oval belongs the credit of a triple record for this particular match. There seems to be a fatality about the Oval for the present Australian team. At least, every one of the four matches they have played there has ended disastrously. T h e presence of father and son to­ gether in first-class matches is such a rare occurrence that it was quite pleasant to see the Old Obadiah — I mean the old W.G. and the young W.G. in the Gloucestershire eleven for the first time in an inter-county match on the Clifton College Ground at the end of last week. Two years since in noticing the reappearance of Richard Daft in the Notts eleven, of which his son was and is still a member, C r ic k e t was taken to account by my good friend Mr. A. J. Gaston, of Brighton, for stating that this was to the best of its knowledge the only instance of a father and son playing for their county at the same time in an important match. If only for the sake of reference, I may as well recall the fact that William Lillywhite, the Non­ pareil, as well as his two sons, John and James, not only played for Middlesex against Surrey at the Oval in 1851, but also two years later for Sussex v. England in W .L.’s benefit match at Lord’s. H u m p h r e y s ’ lobs have been so remarkably and consistently successful this season that it would be easy to select several performances as quite out of the common. Still I do not know whether he has any record during this summer of such intrinsic merit, taking all the circumstances into account,as that for Sussex against Somersetshire at Taunton at the end of last week. Fifteen out of twenty wickets, and at a cost of less than thirteen runs apiece, would be a great achievement for any bowler even with every help he could get from the wicket. In this particular case, the merit of the performance Iis enhanced by the fact, that a lob bowler is necessarily so very much dependent on his field. Beyond that, too, he had to bowl to a very strong batting side, and on a wicket all in favour of run-getting. T he performance of the young Cliftonianf C. Townsend, at the close of Somersetshire’s second innings at Cheltenham on Tuesday is a notable one under any circumstances for a second appearance in first-class crioket. His hat trick was a great achievement, and his bowling has already been of sufficient promise to lead to the belief that he will be of great use with more experience as well as strength. For the benefit of those who do not know, I may say that he is a right-handed slow bowler, not unlike C. E. Nepean in style and method. He can make the ball do a good deal both ways at all events. I t was a thousand pities that that second hit of J. J. Lyons off Lockwood at the Oval yesterday did not take the ball just a wee bit further. In that case, it would have carried the “ leathery m onarch” over the tavern and out of the ground, a thing which has not been done in this particular part of the Oval, at least, to the best of my belief, at all events since the pavilion has been enlarged. The South Australian gentle tapper, I hear, is moved by the ambition to achieve the feat which C. I. Thornton is credited with such an anxiety to accomplish, to hit the ball over the pavilion at Lord’s. This is a pretty big order all the same, and perhaps it is quite as well that tbe occasion is not likely to arise. Just now the weather is a little too hot for such feats of strength. N ew s does not appear to travel very fast in the interior of Surrey. At all events, there are apparently some parts where the existence of the closure has not even yet reached. In a recent match, the captain in­ structed some of the later batsmen on his side that he was going to declare. The yokels protested that they had not had their knock, and closure or no closure, if they didn’t get this, they would not field. The declaration was made, and as the players wFho o b je c te d t o th e ty ra n n ica l— I fo r g e t th e e x a ct p h ra se o f th e C o n se rv a tiv e s w h ere th e closu re is a p p lie d — d e c lin e d to a lte r th e ir d e cisio n , th e ca p ta in h a d to g o in to th e h ig h w a y s and b y ew a y s, a n d co m p e l th e m to co m e in to g et a n y th in g lik e a field in g sid e. W it h th e a id o f a co u p le o f g a rd en ers a n d o th e r su b stitu tes, h e su cce e d e d to som e e x te n t, a lth o u g h h is on e b o w le r a n d h e h a d to ta k e th e w ick e t a ltern a tely, w h e n n o t b o w lin g . T h e b est p a rt o f th e sto r y is th a t a fter a ll h e g o t th e o p p o sitio n o u t tw ice , a n d w o n th e m a tch . T he fo llo w in g ta ble w ill sh ow th e relativ e p o s itio n s o f th e n in e c o m p e tito rs fo r th e C o u n ty C h a m p io n sh ip u p to da te. P lyd. W on L o st D rn. Points Yorkshire ............14 ... 10 ... 3 ... 1 ... 7 L a n cash ire............13 ... 8 ... 3 ... 2 ... 5 M iddlesex ...................13 ... 7 ... 5 ... 1 ... 2 K en t .....................13 ... 5 ... 3 ... 5 ... 2 S u s s e x .....................13 ... 4 ... 5 ... 4 ... —1 N otts .....................13 ... 4 ... 5 ... 4 ... - I burrey.......................14 ... 6 ... 7 ... 1 ... — 1 S om ersetshire ... 13 ... 2 ... 7 ... 4 ... — 5 G loucestershire 14 ... 2... 10 ... 2 ... —8 L o sse s a re d e d u cte d fr o m w in s, w h ilst d raw n g am es a re ig n o re d . P R IN C IP A L M A TC H ES FO R N E X T W E E K . August A ugust A ugust August A ugust A ugust A ugust A ugust A ugust A ugust A ugust August A ugust A ugust A ugust A ugust August 17—K ennin gton O val, Surrey (9) y. K ent (2) 17—C heltenham . G LO U CESTERSH IR E v. A U S T R A L IA N S 17— B righton, Sussex v. L ancashire 17—N ottingham . N otts v. M iddlesex 17—T aunton, Som ersetshire v. Surrey 18—D arlington, D urham v. Y orks 18—B icester, O xfordshire v. B edfordshire 18—L o rd ’s, M .C.C. & G. v. W arw ickshire 21—L o rd ’s, M iddlesex v. L ancashire 21—T aunton, Som ersetshire v. N otting­ ham shire 21—Sheffield, Yorkshire v. K ent al—C lifton, G loucestershire v. Surrey 21—B ish op s Stortford, H ertfordshire v. N orfolk 21— Southam pton, H am pshire v. Leicester­ shire 21—B irkenhead Park, Cheshire v. W a r­ w ickshire 21—Oval, Surrey v. W orcestershire 21—E xeter, D evon shire v. M.C.C. & G. BOSTON PARK v. W IL L E S D E N .—Played W illesden on A ugust 12. B oston P ark . A. E . Harries, b Pugh 4 i C. W ood ,c W illiam s, Steers, b P u g h ............ 2 ~ W . Brown, c Sm all, b B reeds ..................... 1 Palm er, b Breeds ... 4 J.H . C layton,bB reeds 17 R . B utcher, b P o g h .. 1 E . M. L acey, b Breeds 2 at b B reed s... E . B ed ford , n ot out E . Underw ood, b Breeds .................... J. Clarke, c SmaiJ, b Breeds ... ............ E . L. R ogers,c U nder­ w ood, b P alm er ... 0 A.O .Breeds, b Harriss 25 W .H arrow er.c Steers, b P a lm e r..................... 7 W. O. W illiam s, b Pal­ m er .............................. 4 J. M . P ugh, c H arris, b P a lm e r..................... 0 H .W . Sm ail, c Brown, b H arriss.................... 0 W ille sd e n . T otal... C. Coake, c and b P a lm e r .................... A. R .B urch, c W ood, b H arriss ............ J. M .H ow ard, c B ed­ ford, b faarriss ... F. G. P o ter,c W o d, b H arriss ............ T . D on, n ot out E x tr a s ..................... T otal 3 6 0 0 40 ?0 3 0 i 0 10 73 B 0 3 T 0 N P a R K v. OLD CR \ N L E IG H A N S — Played at B rentford on August 12. O l d C ran leig h an s . T . P. G ilbert, c and b W hite .....................31 T . P. M argetson, b M easora ..................... 0 A. Orr, b J u p p , ju n .... 4 H. Bass, b w hite ... 3 C. E. Saunders, lbw , b f t h i t e .......................... 7 L. H olson, c V osper, b W hite ..................... 0 E . R .H azell.bV ospar F. M. T aylor,bW h ite L . T hurston.stSm ith b V o s p e r................... C. E. G reenw ood, c W . P oupart, b V o s­ per ............................. Stanley H olson, not ou t ............................. E xtras .................... B oston P ark . T ota l 61 G . H . Ju pp , jun., c sub, b Saunders ... 5 F. M essom , b T aylor 14 J. P ou part. b M arget­ son ............................. 14 G. H. Jupp, sen., n ot out ............................. 25 W . C. V osper, c O rr, b T h u rston ............ 3 J. Sm ith, b T ay lor 3 W . Poupart, c B jss.b T aylor .................... H. W hite,cSauuders, b Ia ylor ... E . B utcher, b Taylor W .C.Alm ond.b I'aylor A. B utcher, c Saun­ ders, b T aylor E x t r a s .................... Tota ..........