Cricket 1894

MAY 10, 1894 OMCRETs A WEEKL'l BECORD OF THE GAME, 117 PRO SPE C T S OF T H E U N IV E R ­ S IT IE S . THE TR IAL MATCHES. OXFORD. T he S eniots , The Seniors this year are undoubtedly strong in batting. Among the best are:— B. N. Bosworth Smith, of Harrow and Magdalen, a good defensive bat who, with a greater variety of strokes,should be successful against fir.-1 class bowling. He played an excel'ent innings of 103 in the Seniors Match. H. K. Foster is an excellent bat and p’ays in beautiful form. He ought to go very near his Blue this year. M. Y, Barlow of Harrow is a very useful I hard hitter without much defence. Should ( a hiVer be wanted for the Eleven this year he is a very likely candidate for the place. F. A. G. Leveson-Gower is a good fast scoring bat, but apt to throw away his wicket by trj ing too much before he is set. Is a very useful wicket keeper. P. F. Warner has hardly fulfilled the great reputation which he brought from Rugby; be is undoubtedly a gocd bat with plenty of stroke*. Played a good innings in the Seniors’ Match this year. F. G. Clajt n is too uncertain to be a really good bat, though he is always danger­ ous. He cuts and drives very bard on the off side. G. B. Raikesisa very useful bat, though be hardly ma^es enough use of hi3 height. Is a dangerous bowler on anything like a fiery wicket. W, S. Case is never so successful in the Parks as he is for Oxfordshire. Bats in good form and can hit very hard when get Of the other bats among the Seniors Rutty, Higson, Kansome, and Baiss are the best, especially the last named, who has been making a lot of runs in College Matches this season. There is very lit’le bowling of any merit among the Seniors, H. A. Arkwright, who very nearly secured his “ Blue ” last year, is probably the best, and his performance in the first innings of the Seniors' match this jear was a very fine cne. Re is a medium pace bowler, with a high action, and alters his pace well. M. Berkley has improved this year. He is a slow bowler, and gets a good deal of work on the baU. His length is still rather uncer­ tain, but in this respect it is more reliable than last year. Beyond these two, there is hardly anyone, with the excep ion perhaps of Hig.*on, among the Seniors of any note as bowlers, or who are at all likely to find their way to Lord’s in Ju’y. "Who is to fill Brain’s place as wicket­ keeper is hard to say. There are at least four gocd wicket-keepers—1, R. P. Lewis, of W inchester; 2, F. Leveson-Gower; 3, D. McLachlan • 4, G. Field Of thtse we are inclined to believe that Lewis is the best, though he is far and away inferior to the others in batiing. In this latter department, Leveson-Gower is distinctly the best. Still, should Lewis’s hands stand the work, it is probable that he will have the preference, as it is very necessary to take the best available wicket keeper—whatever his batting qualities may be. To sum up, among the Seniors, Foster, Barlow, F. Leveson-Gower, and Warner seem to be the most likely candidates for the e’even, though if all the Old Blues keep their places, there will not be room for more than one or two bats at the most. In bowling Ark*right will probably get a place, though theie are one or two bowitrs among the Freshmen who will iun hi close. We have never seen Berkley bowl against first-class batting, fo we cannot tell how he will fare. Still, he will undoubtedly have a good trial. THE FRESHMEN. It i-» probably some time since such a poor lot of bats have come up as Freshmen. There is no one candidate among them who has any chance of getting a p ’ace in the Eleven as a bat this year, especially a^ there is such a strong lot among the Seniors. Woodward, of Harrow’ , has perhaps shown the best form. He is a pretty bat, with good strokes on the off-side. Bardswell, of Uppingham, played a ve y good innings for the XVI. Fresbnun v. the XI. Still, although he m^kes some excellent strokes he is not very sound. Among the others Henderson, of W in­ chester ; Mitchell, of E ton ; and Hartley, of Tonbridge, are the best. The bowling is undoubted y the strong point among the Freshmen this year. Forbes, who was captain of t e Eton XI. in 1892, has already done some very fine per­ formances in the Parks; 8 wickets for 3M in the Fresbmen’s match, and 8 wickets for 81 for the XV I. Freshmen against the XI. show him to be a dangerous bowler. He is very fast, and is certainly not so erratic as we were led to believe With good fielding to help him, he would probably get a lot of wickets, and as far as we can judge at present he stands a very good chance of get'.ing his “ B lue” this summer. Bardswell, of Uppingham, is another good bowler, he keeps an excellent ’ ength and is difficult to score from. He did not mret with much success against the X I.. though he bowled very steadily. Taking into consideration his batting and fielding, he should have a good trial for the XI. this year. Hartley, of Tonbridge, bowls slow medium, with a strong break from leg. He did a capital performance in the F re*hm n’s match on the first day, taking six wickets for 17 runs. But he is too uncertain to be a really dangerous bow ler. He proved very expensive for the Freshmen against the Eleven. Still, with a little more expe ience he should do well in the future. These three are the pick of the bowlers among the Freshmen. At the same time there are a good many of them who are very fair, e.g. Jordan of Dulwicb, who curls from leg but tire3 too easily, Henderson, of W in­ chester, Watkinson, Chinnock, Thompson. Among the wicket keepers Compton and Lee are both very fair, especially the former, who kept very well for the XVI. Freshmen v. the XI. CAMBRIDGE. The Freshmen’s match was played on May 3, 4, 5, but did not, as the authorities wished, disclose any bowling of exceptional merit, though the batting on the whole was quite up to the average of ordinary years. To treat with the bowling first, a thing which is badly wanted this year in the University Team, Gray (Jesus),Crocker (Ti inity),Cobbold(Trinity),Grace (Pembroke), seem to be the pick. rJhe flrst-named is a fast right-handed bowler, and when fresh, bowls an uncommonly difficu t ball. For his first three or four overs very little could be done with him, ball after ball curling six inches in ihe air from leg and going righj across tbe wicket after the pitch. Unfortu­ nately this only lasted a sboit time and tVen came some very bad stuff, full pitches to leg, and long hops to the off, which showed very clearly that he tires very soon. In the second innings of the Freshmen's match, he seemed to recover his form somewhat, and got rid of eight batsmen, though many of the balls should not have taken wickets. Crocker is a right hand medium paced bowler, and keeps a very good length with a little break back. He ought to make a very useful cricketer, as in addi ion he bats fairly well. Cobbold hails from Eton, and bowls* flow right hand with a break from leg He seems to know more about bowling than most of the Fres-hmen, that is to say, Le varies his pace well. Grace has not bren seen to great advantage with tne ball since he came up. He bowls slow right hand with a high delivery and puts down about one good ball an ovt r, the other four balls are not what a slow bowler should bowl. He pliyed a fine innings of 88 without a chance, an ! though his style is rather cramped he plays very straight and plays forward hard. Mitchell (of Caius) is tbe best; bat amongst the Freshmeu. He has already made some enormous scores for his College, th s term, in College m atches He has a sound defence and is apparently well set directly he comes in and scores freely all round the wicket. We are curious to see how he plays against first-class bowling. N. F. Druce, of Trinity, was captain <f last year’s Ma)lborough XI., and is another such a bat as Mitchell. He played two beautiful innings in the Freshmen’s match. T ie Seniors’ match, played on May 7, 8, 9, was remarkable for the large and rapid scoring. The bowling was decidedly weak and the wicket quite perfect. Healing, of Pembroke, and Crabtree, of King's, b)th plaved very fine innings. But, perhaps, W. G. Druce’s was betti r thin either, a* he had rather better bowling to cope with. He also turned out a good wicket-keeper, and after a little more practice should be first-c’ass. Burrough and Rudd were much the best of the bowlers. The latter, it is hoped, has quite recovered his School form. A t Cambridge just now there is an excel­ lent opportunity for some bowlers, and those who are keen and practise th. ir bowling, it goes without saying, are certain of a tria1. THE OXFORD FRESHMEN-S MATCH. The Freshmen’s match, played in the Parks at the end of last week, did not apparently produce any great amount of promise, in batting at all events. The wicket at the start was £oft from recent rains, to that some little allowance should perhaps be made for the failure of the batsmen. Still, some fair cricket was shown by Wood ward,Mitchell, Henderson, and Chinnock. The bowling generally was of a better class. In this department Forbes of Eton, and Bardswell, last year’s Uppingham captain, in particular showed good form. The 1letter’s all round cricket was perhaps equal to that of any o her player in the match. Mr. Fry’s side, as will be seen, won with four wickets to spare.