Cricket 1893

S ep t 21 , 1893 0RICRET g A WEEKLY BECORD OF THE GAME, 4 2 9 In this particular department, he beat his best previous record hollow. As a matter of fact, he spoke for nearly—well, five minutes by the clock—and, what is more, his speech was fully up to champion form. At all events, in his experience of Reigate he was in excelsis. The cricket was champion, the ladies were champions,the ground was cham­ pion, the company was champion, and the dinner was champion. Good Old Champion. A c c o r d in g to the information I have re- c ived from those who have the best means of knowing, Maurice Read’ s benefit fund should reach a sum considerably in advance of four figures. Am oD g the many different collections which have been made, none perhaps will give more satisfaction to the recipient than that which emanated from the porters at Waterloo Station. Maurice has been a familiar figure ou the South Western Railway throughout his crioket career. Nor could there well be a higher tribute to his personal popularity with all classes than the contribution of thirty- four shillings, which represented the pence as “ T he L ords .’* T he C hief S ecr etar y . it represented the good wishes of the railway men at the South Western Terminus. T h e exigencies of his high official state, it will interest C r ic k e t readers, do not seem as yet to have staled the infinite variety of Lord Harris as a batsman. His name, at all events, figures very conspicuously in the scores of Beveral matches which were played at Poona during the latter part of last month. Of these, his best performance was for Ganeshkind against Ahmednagar on Aug. 24. On this occa­ sion “ His Excellency,” who went in first with another Harris, the Colonel of that name, was not dismissed until he had made 101. It almost makes one forget the ridiculous col­ lapse of the County Cricket Council, which was the immediate effect of Lord Harris’s retirement from the Presidency on his accept­ ance of the Governorship of Bombay, to know that he is doing such good service to the game in another and equally important sphere. T h e Australian Captain, J. M. Blackham, very fairly points out some of the incidents which tell to the disadvantage of the majority of players, more especially to those who have not made the tour before, who come from Australia, and indeed from other dis­ tant pait3 where the existent conditions are so different, to play in England. Blackham said to an interviewer lately : “ It may be the way of life—the change, and having no settled home. It is a very Bohemian existence, touring in England. Then the difference in the wickets must tell. No, we have no fast bowlers in the team—we have none of the pace of Richardson and Lockwood in Australia —they’d be no use on our wickets, which are so true that you can’t make a ball bump on them. What is the difference ? Well, we don’t turf our wickets. We top dress the soil with volcanic earth, and sow it with English lye grass. Wnen the grass grows we shave it, and continue shaving and rolling until the wickct is as hard as that road, and as true as a billiard board. The grass gets white in colour, and you can see the ground between the blades. You can’t make a mark on the wicket with your bit, aid it will play as true at the end of five or six days as on the first. It gives no assistance whatever to the bowler —you cannot make a ball break much on it. and it has practically killed fast bowling. When your wickets improve here fast bowling will go out.” W i t h the exception of C, T. B. Turner, who is going home ia tho Orient steamer “ Orizaba,” which is to leave London early to-morrow afternoon, the members of the Australian team saw the last of their Eng­ lish friends yesterday. After their disappoint­ ment in not getting berths in the “ Serbia,” it was, perhaps, fortunate that they were ab’ e to secure accommodation in the White Star steamer, “ Germanic,” as otherwise they would hardly have been able to reach America in time to fulfil the engagements they had made for matches in the United States. G e o rg e G if fe n had gone ou previously to Liverpool, but the rest of the team barring Turner, with Mr. Victor Cohen, the manager, in charge, left Euston on Tuesday afternoou by the 4.10 train for Liverpool, to commence the first stage of their homeward journey, which will only be completed in the case of the New South Wales contingent by their arrival in Sydney in the early part of December. Anyhow, it is satisfactory to be able to say that the team left London in the best of spirits, with the best wishes of a large number of friendg, and that their recollections of the English part of their trip, at all events, are, without exception, of the most pleasant character. So far as I could learn, the team themselves are not very well posted as to the arrange­ ments for the American portion of the tour. All tbe information it is possible to obtain just now is that matches will be played at Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Toronto, and Detroit. It is expected that fixtures will also be made at St. Paul’s, Winnipeg, San Francisco, and Vancouver. Still, to the best of my knowledge, nothing has been actually conceived with regard to thin supplementary list. “ But more anon! ” No one will be surprised to hear that the Yorkshire eleven are to be the recipients of a big feed in commemoration of the splendid all-round cricket which gave them the premiership of this year’s county cricket. The Yorkshire folk are so essentially sport- loving that the success of the “ Coonty” has naturally been a source of universal gratifica­ tion and pride. The feed—I ought.to have said Banquet, with a big, big B—is to take place at Sheffield on the 13th of January. Circumstances over which the executive themselves have no control, in the shape of the engagements of some of the amateurs, it ought to be stated, prevented the arrangement of what is sure to be a successful function for an earlier date. A n o t h e r English cricketer of position and equally high popularity, an old Oxonian too, has been making it warm for the bowlers in the far East. Prince Christian Victor was the chief contributor to a big total of 531 made by the 1st Batt. of the Sixtieth Rifles, against the 1st. Batt. the Devon Regiment at Gharial on August 17th and 18th. The “ T he L ords .” T he L ord H ig h T r e a su r e r . cricket prince, who received his baptism of fire on Indian soil, has as a rule been successful in the more harmless engagements where the cricket ball forms the only missile of offence. In the match to which I have just made reference, the Prince was account­ able for nearly one half of the slain, the total that is to say. His share of the 506 scored from the bat was no less than 205. S in ce the paragraphs on the subject of another Australian team which head this budget of “ Gossip ” were in type a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald of August 3rd, containing a report of the annual meeting of the New South Wales Cricket Association, has come to hand. The account of the meet- irg is of interest on this particular subject for the reason that it contains a statement which