Cricket 1894

AUG. 23, 1894 OBXC&ETs A WEEKLY EE COED OF THE GAME; 845 A c o r r e s p o n d e n t in Karaohi has kindly sent m e the soore of a match between the Parsees and the Sind Volunteers, played on the 21st July there. The principal feature of the cricket was a noteworthy piece of bowling by A . H. Mehta for the Paraee team. W ith the first four balls of an over he dean bowled four batsmen, L. H enderson, J. Sladen, H. Marshall, and R. W oodw ard, to wit. P. D. Dastur, who w ill no doubt be remembered as the “ gentle tapper ” of the first Parsee team which visited England, was, it will interest some perhaps to know, one of the most suc­ cessful run-getters for the winning side. A portrait and brief biography of A. H . Mehta, I may add, appeared in C r ic k e t of the 26th of January last. T h e folly of trusting too much to memory in cricket matters has been m y painful experi­ ence in connection with the remarks I made in last week’s Gossip on the subject of the new Bishop of Melanesia. In the hurry of writing I fell into a double error, which with more care I ought to have avoided. A keen sportswoman who takes a lively interest in crioket points out that Cecil W ilson is the youngest of four brothers, and the junior, not the senior of Leslie W ilson, as I stated. She also corrects me to the extent that the B ishop, though asked to represent Cambridge University in his fourth year, was reluotantly compelled to decline, having undertaken the position of Tutor to Lord Raincliffe, son of the Earl of Londesborough. Bishop W ebber, I am inform ed, too, does not hold a bishoprio in N ew Zealand, but is Bishop of North Queensland. TO A VETERAN CHAMPION. F ro m Punch. [A t Clifton, on August 9, in Gloucestershire v. Middlesex, Dr. W . G, Grace completed his 1,000 runs in first-class matches this summer. The other players who share this distinction are Abel, Albert W ard, and Brockwell.] W ell h it ! Mr. Funch chalks it up once m ore— Y our ten-hundreth run between the “ creases” ! W h y, this (at twenty-two yards apiece) is Twelve.miles.and-a-half for this season’s score ! But stay ! we’ve no business to “ notch ’’ each m ile ! W ith your cuts and draws, and your drives and triok hits, Y ou ’ ve only to stand still before the wickets, And straight to the boundary “ fours” com pile! W ith Abel, W ard, Brockwell, you hold your own, As *94 crioket now nears its finish; W e’ll hope your four figures will ne’er dim inish— As “ Grand Old Bat ” you shall e’er be known ! S t a n le y C o lm a n has a happy lit fe way of his ow n in being identified with big perfor­ mances for the first wioket. About this time — it was on August 31— two years ago, it was his luck, in con j unction with Percy Coles, to establish a record of this kind with 472 for Devonshire Park v. G. W . Morrison’s Eleven, at Eastbourne. And now, only on Friday last, his trusty mate D . L . A. Jephson and he, for the Crystal Palace, knocked the Seaton bowling about so mercilessly that 300 were scored before a wicket fell. Seaton had % pice little outing on that occasion, for, when the Palace captain d osed his innings the score showed 508 with only seven batsmen out. Against this huge total Seaton could only make 138 and 93, so tha1" they were beaten decisively by an innings and 277 runs. T h e United Services Ground at Portsmouth has been the scene of so many remarkable per­ formances in the w ay of rungetting, that anything out of the ordinary in that direction excites little surprise. The surroundings favour batsmen so materially that the scoring s generally considerably above the average. The latest illustration of the capaoity of the ground was in the match between M.C.C. and Ground and the United Services on Monday and Tuesday, M a r y le b o n e were in all Monday, and the first day’s crioket realised no less than 594 for their ten wickets. The innings, too, was productive of a cricket curio in the shape of three scores of a hundred. Instances of this kind are so rare that it will be of use, if only for purposes of reference, to give the innings in full. M.C.C. 'a n d G rou n d . J. H. J. Hornsby, b R. S. Hamilton ..............79 Geeson, Jbw, b Price 9 Whitehead (Lees;, b P r ic e ............................101 W .M organ, st Davies, b Hamilton ............110 MajorCurteis, c Price, b Hill Smith ..............52 Capt. Raitt, c Hamil­ ton, b Price ............107 Capt. F. Quinton, b Piice .................. 66 A. Priestley, run out 35 Butt, c Ham ilton, b Hill Smith ........... 3 H.Smith-Turterville, c Price, b Hill Sm ith ................... 2 P. Russel, not out 7 B 19, lb 2, w 1, nb 1 23 T o t a l ...........594 It was, perhaps, fortunate for the Services that rain stopped play early on Tuesday. At all events, when the game was suspended, they had only got four for ^the loss of two wickets. M r. A .E . S t o d d a r t is apparently impressed with the necessity of having a strong back­ bone of Surrey men for the team he is to take to Australia next m onth. Richardson and Lockw ood have both signed for the trip, and Brockwell last week accepted the offer made him by Mr. Stoddart. And now A bel has been asked to form one of the party. The telegram conveying the invitation only reached “ The Guv’n o r” on Tuesday m orning, and up to yesterday he had not made up his m ind whether to pay his third visit to A ustralia or not. Just now, he is like x , an unknown quantity. I am of opinion though, that he is a doubtful starter. T o judge by the experience of the last thirty-seven years, it would appear as if the Oval had a copyright or a vested interest in tie m atches. A t all events it is a coinci­ dence that all the instanoes of the kind, in what have been regarded as first-class contests, should have been recorded on the Surrey ground. T h e Surrey eleven, m oreover, have taken part in five of the six fixtures in which a tie has been the result. The other occasion on whioh the Oval was the scene of a tie was in June, 1883, when the Gentlemen and Players were left with honours absolutely easy after four completed innings. In August, 1890, the m^tch between Middlesex and Somersetshire at Taunton also ended in a tie. Still Somersetshire was not at the tim e recognised as a first-class county, so that the fixture hardly com es quife within the same category as the others. A s a mere m atter of history, it will be useful to place on record, if it only be a mere repetition, the different occasions on which the game has ended in a tie iD important fixtures. F or the purposes of reference the m atch betwean M iddlesex and Somersetshire at Taunton in 1890, to whioh I have already alluded, is inoluded. 1st Inn. 2nd Inn, 1847 July...... Oval........ Surrey....... 313 160 K ent.......... 127 145 1853 June ... Oval........ M.C.C......... 175 323 Surrey....... 204 93 1858 July...... Cval........ Middlesex 113 167 Surrey....... f3 386 1876 August O val......... Middlesex 138 32 i Surrey....... 215 245 1683 June ... Oval...... Players ... 203 381 Gentlemen 235 149 1890 August Taunton Middlesex 108 126 Somerset 117 127 1894 August O val........ Surrey....... 97 324 Lancashirel47 74 It is worthy of a rem inder that in the first of the above matches Kent lost the last three wickets when the score was a tie. Some C r ic k e t readers m ay possibly rem em ber in connection with the match of 1876 that Middle sex were thought to have won by one run, and the result was only found to be a tie after a reference to the scoring books, and a re-count C o l o n e l G. B . M e a r e s , the Commandant of the R oyal M ilitary School of Music at Kneller Hall, who died on Tuesday last, was in his time a useful all-round cricketer. He did good service, if I remember rightly, for the Knickerbockers, to the best of my recollection a club m ostly, if not entirely composed of soldiers, and was also an active member of the M .C.C. and other d ubs. He had only held the important post at Kneller Hall since October last. I t is satisfactory to learn, particularly as there appeared to be, at one tim e, m ore than an outside chance of a triple visit, that after all only one English team will visit the States this Autumn. The American Cricketer is m y authority for the statement, that the Gentlemen of Ireland have determ ined to postpone their projected trip to Am erica till another season. This clears the cricket at­ mosphere out in Am erica materially, and it will be a relief to C r ic k e t readers on both sides of “ the big drink” to know that the American public will be relieved of the risk of ‘‘perceiving a divided d u ty;’ through the simultaneous appearanoe of tw o English com binations. F ro m the foregoing paragraph, it will be gathered that there will be only one R ichm ond in the field in this particular connection. The only one in this case of course is Lord Hawke whose party, if the American Cricketer is correct, are to reach New York on or about the fifteenth of September. From the same source I learn that arrangements have been made for the English Amateurs to play All New York in that City on September 17th aud two follow ing days. A fter a day’s rest the team are to perform in Philadelphia, where they are to rneet the Gentlemen of Philadelphia at