Cricket 1893

APRIL 20, 1893 CRICKET J A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME, To last month he added another big score of 188, for the Wellington Club against the Break of Day, to his many notable performances. This was his third innings of a hundred during the season just closing. And what is more significant, it raised his average to a little matter of 144 ! If K. Burn, owing to circumstances over which perhaps he had little control, was a comparative failure in England, at least his reputation as a run-getter has not suffered in his own country since his return Tasmania. “ T h e Old Buffer ” is returning to his muttons. In other words, our mutual friend, P. Gale, is shortly coming home. T h e monotony of the Boundless Prairie has evidently begun to pall on him. Personally, I never thought that he could stay away long where the wickets cease to trouble. Indeed, I am afraid no one who knows him will be surprised to learn that he will soon be once more with us. At all events he hopes, barring accidents, to be at his old pitch behind the wicket in the pavilion at the Oval during the summer. A post card from Lyteton, Manitoba, under date of March 30, in­ forms me that the chief of the Old Bufferee Indians proposes to start on the war trail next month, taking scalps—that is to say, the Chicago Exhibition— on his way. In any case, every C r ic k e t ‘reader will be glad to hear of his speedy return. C ric k e t seems -to have a pretty good exponent in the Argentine Republic, just at the present time, to judge from a paragraph which caught my eye in a recent number of the New York Clipper. It related to the doings of J. Gilford, the captain o f the Buenos Ayres. Just lately he had been scoring very heavily, so much so, indeed, that up to Peb. 22, he had an aggregate of 1,125 runs for twenty-six innings. Among his scores were 140 not out, 134 not out, 105 not out, 93 and 81. The thought of such run-getting in midwinter makes one long for a change o f climate. 'L ord S h e ff ie ld , who by the way finished his journey to England in the “ Ophir,” the same steamer which brought Messrs. W . Bruce and H. Trum- ble from Australia, is bent on making the Australians sit up on their first appear­ ance. The eleven advertised to oppose the cricketers now nearing England is a strong one, as the following names will show :— Dr. VV. G. Grace, A. E . Stoddart, G. McGregor, H . T. Hewett, Gunn, Atte- well, Lockwood, Abel, Briggs, Peel, and possibly Shrewsbury. U nless my memory fails me, two of the amateurs named, Messrs. Hewett and McGregor to wit, were down in the list announced to play for Mr. C. I. Thornton on the same days at Cambridge. At the same time I have not the shadow o f a doubt that an arrangement or re-arrange­ ment will readily be made by which the two cricketers mentioned will be able to assist Lord Sheffield against the Austra­ lians. W hat with Lohmann out of reach and not available till the middle of the season at the earliest, Abel under the doctor’s treatment for an affection of the eye, and W ood also under medical surveillance for some little time past, the prospects of the Surrey eleven at the moment do not seem to be of the most hopeful character. “ Misfortunes come not as single spies but in battalions,” it is said, and it looks as if the axiom was com ing true just now for Surrey. Still hope lives eternal in the human breast. The first spell of active work will no doubt effect a change. The word suggests the reflection that the eleven,with Lohmann away, may be sadly in want of it presently. M r . B r u ce , though his name has an historic association about it eminently suggestive of good old Scotch— I mean in the matter o f extraction, is now in Scotland utilising the opportunity of a visit, which is not likely to come to him after the tour has once begun. Mrs. Bruce has accompanied her husband to England. Mr. Turner I believe is also bringing over his wife with him. The unattached members o f the party it is understood will stay as heretofore at the Tavistock Hotel, which will be the head­ quarters of the team. M r . W . L. M urdo ch is responsible for the second of the “ OvalSeries” of Athletic handbooks edited by M r. C. W . Alcock, and published by George Routledge and Sons, Limited. Cricket is, of course, the theme which could hardly be dealt with by a more capable authority. The volume, which will be issued very shortly now, will contain the portraits of several well-known cricketers, and not in mufti as the manner of some is. A ccordin g to custom, the annual meet­ ing of the Marylebone Club will take place on the first Wednesday of May, that is, on the 4th day. As the annual dinner follows on the same evening,thenew departure of M.C.C. in opening the season on a Wednesday, with a first-class match, may probablyhave the effect of inducing an increased number o f members to assist at the induction of the new President, which ceremonial takes place during the course of the dinner. In any case it is hoped that the public will also be present in force at the opening match. It is for the benefit of John Wheeler of Leicestershire, who has also for years been on the ground staff of M.C.C. A more thoroughly deserving cricketer there certainly is not. T o those more particularly concerned in the well-being of Surrey cricket, it will be of interest to know that Monday and Tuesday next will be devoted to test practice at the Oval. It may be news, too, to some that Hayward, a nephew of the famous cricketer, Tom , of that name, of Cambridgeshire fame, who has shown great promise during the last two seasons at the Oval, will be qualified this year by residence. Though born in Cam­ bridge he harks back at no remote date to Surrey. Two generations ago the family were really Surrey. More than that, his grandfather actually played for the County. I n Marshall, of Leicestershire, who is also qualified, the County will probably have a useful understudy for Wood at the wicket. Though only seventeen years of age, there is too a very likely youngster in Holland, who showed himself to be considerably above the average during his first engagement at the Oval last summer. The annual meeting of the Surrey County Club, by the way, takes place at the Oval on Thursday, May 5. As far as one can see, whatever may be the result of the Home Rule Bill, with re­ gard to the Irish representation at West­ minster, Ireland will be pretty well represented this summer in the parliament of cricket, which I take it is London way. Dublin University aretouringin England, as their fixtures with Warwickshire C. and G. at Birmingham and elsewhere will show. The Gentlemen of Ireland, too, are going to seek, and I hope find, a suitable pitch on English soil. Of my own know­ ledge I am able to say that their arrange­ ments so far include matches with the Surrey C.C. at the Oval, and the United Services at Portsmouth during the week ending August 26. O ne of the chief regrets Maurice Read has in connection with his recent trip is that he had little or no opportunity of really guaging the quality of SouthAfrican cricket—that is, of the home article—- during his stay. He did see the Western Province Club at work on the outward journey, but that was the only actual match he had a chance of seeing. There was nothing on at Cape Town during the five days he was there after leaving Matjesfontein. All the same, what he did see was sufficient to impress him with a sense of the great improvement which has taken place in the general quality of the play since he was in South Africa with Major Warton’s team. H e seems in particular to have formed a high opinion of a young bowler he saw— one Bisset, to wit.