Cricket 1894

854 ( O l I C K E f s k T O B E K L Y B E G O B B OS '1 THUS 6 A M 1 0 AUG. bo, 1894 noticed this, else the batsman would have been given out, caught at wicket. I admit that as umpire I had no right to interpret the tnoughts of the bowler ; in the ordinary way I should not have done s i. Bnt he was s >full of “ lbw ,” that I felt perfectly certain he did not appeal for the catch. Singu’arly enough, nobody else, not even the stump jr, appealed for it. Now this row d jism at Trent Bridge aud this outcry about um pites, indicate in my judgm ent an unwholesom e condition of things which, unless checked, will inevitably dethrone cricket from its h :gh r .lik among all sports. It all arises from this excessive C om petition ; an 1 you may re t assured this is fed by gam bling. Leagues a 'e all the fashion in Yorkshire, and to almost the same extent in Lancashire. Clubs can get n o good cricket to-day unless tisey join a League. The consequence is that bowlers are being searched for, and bribed, iu ever? direction. Once in a league, you m u-t hold your own as best you can. H ence, local amateur bowling ie not encouraged in the least. W hy, m ost league clubs engage bow lers sim ply for the m atches, c o t fo r practice at the nets. As a rule, no m ore than two professionals are allowed to play in one m a tch ; a* a fa c1, you w ill as often as not find that tw,ce that number are taking part; evasion must be resoit d to, and it’s done by'remuneratin / certain men fo r broken time. Things are jettin g as bad as they are inR ugby football in the North where veiled professionalism is universally allowed. At a league nm tjh last M onday away from my tow n— the only m atch of the kind I have watched elsewhere— I was amazed at the extent of the gam bling indulged all round m e from almost the start o f the m atch. Said I to myself, cricket is doom ed as a genuine sport if this be not summarily stopped. It is for this reason m any of us have n o sym pathy w ith the C ounty Championship. Cricket was a fa r healthier gam e when played for love. In the interests of th e g a m e l have m a d e a resolve to inform the police of any case of ready-m oney betting that com es u n d e r m y notice. Kindly rem em jer that I am not going to play the role of Paul P r y ; one has O ther things to do when present at a m a‘ch, the game itse'f demands all one’s attention. But no m ore preaching for one week. Last week's cricket is my new text. What w eather! L et that pass, else we m ay break a comm and­ m ent. N othing could have been m uch more refreshing than the trium phant manner in w hich Lancashire and Surrey wound up their season : Yorkshire m ight have shared honors with them but for the untim ely weather. It is interesting to note that in their respective m atches played against Middlesex, K ent,and Gloucestershire. Lancashire scored an innings o f 369 a*; L ord’s, Surrey 371 at the Oval, and Yorkshire 365 (for eight wickets) at Bristol. T he first-nam ed alone had to bat a second tim e. Lancashire first, and just because they have taken so long to show the kind o f stuff that's in them . This year Lancashire cricket has been passing through a crisis consequent on the retirement of sundry able m embers of that County team. A nd it is alm ost im ­ possible for a county to recover itself at once. Surrey had a sim ilar experience last year in Lohm ann's enforced absence. N otts are in the same plight. That the Northern Counties w ill, like Surrey, be able in the immediate future to hold their own against all opponents, is the earnest w ish of all lovers of high cliss sport. Lancashire have the makings "of as powerful an eleven as ever, provided thev are able to play tbeir full strength, and are not, like N otts, d eprive! o f the services o f sterling young cricketers in matches played in the latter half o f the week Another result of this League business. The County ground staff will have to be increased at Trent Bridge if Hardstafle and Handford are to be always available. Lancashire beat Middlesex by nine wickets, Notts by eig h t; both notew orlhy achievements when we rem em ber their run of early disasters. They won aud lost the toss. Sugg was in wonder­ ful form through the week, scoring 95 in one m atch, 100 in the other, and out of four innings two were uncom pleted. No other batsm m in the couatry trium phed so com ­ pletely over unfavourable con litions ; on bad wickets, when bowlers are enjoying themselves, S u jg is about the m ost telling batsman in first-class cricket. W ard ou the other hand totalled four runs in tho tame innings, and as these wei e all got in one “ hands,” the spectacles and an eyeglass have been fairly and squarely carne 1 by him. M acLaren was in with SiUJg at ihe fiui-h of bo h these matches, his share being 32 and 58 (not out either time). Baker (50) quickly set right his spectaclts at the Ova1, aud liu - dall (60) gave further proof of being a splen did acquisition to the b ittin g strength of Lancashire. B riggs’ unfortunate sprain at L ord ’s, which will possibly necessitate a pro­ longed rest, put m ore work than usual on Mold, and also let in a veiy prom ising left- handed bowler — one Lancaster — another Yorkshireman (I believe) spite of his name. Mold clean bowled 7 Middlesex wickets for 52 runs in the first h inds, but got a terrible gruelling for once in the next venture. Against Nottinghamshire he had 10 wickets for 7 9; the colt accounting for 8 (for 70), and he doubtless would have robb d M old of a wicket or two but for bis inability to go through the .natch. M iddlesex batting had but one noteworthy feature, Stjddart (68 and 84) at last playing in his very best style O ’Brien (57) showing his custom ary ability Their bowling was all at sea. One expected Middlesex to make a gamer fight, seeing they had their very oest team, but bad wickets bring a 'l batsmen down to pretty m uch the same level. F or N otts Gunn (21 and 27) was the prem ier scorer, Dixon (4 for 18) the only successful bowler. Surrey, too, had a great week. Luck twice favoured them in the matter of the to ss; for all that, their single innings victories over Kent and Sussex were quite out of the com ­ m on. As Kent had previously beaten them at Catford Bridge, Yorkshire were hopeful they would repeat the do3e. An innings and 137 runs proved a crushing disappointment. Hayward (142) and Street (68) got together when Surrey’s prospects were none of the brightest, and by their stand of 136 runs practically put defeat out of the question. Surrey have in these bearers of h o n orel cricket names tw o representatives from whom m uch m ay reasonably be expected H ayward has never scored very heavily when I have had the pleasure of watching him , neveitheless, I was sa'isfied from the first that he was one o f the very best professional batsmen I had ever seen, with a perfect style which, sooner or later, must be productive of runs. If I remember rightly, he scored his first century (112) agiinst Kent in 1893. But Surrey are even m ore indebted to R ichardson and Lockwood for their double success ; they had l(j wickets apiece during the week, Lockw ood’s costing 8 runs each, Richardson's 9. I have no manner of doubt that they are the greatest bowlers of the year, and that L ockw ood is our best all round cricketer at the present tim e, almost as great as Lohm ann if we except the latter’s m atchless fielding. Suppose, as we all hope, Lobm ann re-ap- pears next year • or suppose he bad been helping Surrey this year; there will be no chance for any other County. M ention should be made of an invaluable innings (55) by W alter Bead against Su«sex, for to his timely assistance Surrey ow e nearly as m uch in this m atch as they did in the L an­ cashire tie m atch. Yorkshire produced a surprise at Bristol, not in the final result, nor in B row n’ s batting (101), though this was his first hundred in a first class County m atch. B row n’s selection to join Stoddart’s team for Austra'ia, though n u d e at the last m om ent, is peculiarly grati­ fyin g lo m yself, as his claim s to this honour were warm ly u.ged in these colum ns some weeks since, at a tim e when his name h d not elsewhere been m entioned in this con­ nection. I am hopeful o f great things from his bat on the fast wickets in the Southern world. H irst was the hero of the Gloucestershire m a tch ; it was a wonderful performance for the tenth man to score an k n in gs of 115 (not out) at the rate of less than a run a m inute, and by remarkably sound cricket too. Hirst has not many strokes, but he plays with a perfectly straight bat. Add to this his bowling at Taunton later on (7 for 32), and w e m ay congratulate both him and his County on his latest work. It is worth noting that only on 12 previous occasions had tw o Yorkshirem en notched a century apiece in one and the sam e innings ; on two of these occasions, v iz .: v. Cam ­ bridge in 1884, and Kent in 1887, they scored no 1 s ■ than three such innings. W ainwright (9 for 112) and Peel (6 for 65) fittingly closed perhaps the best season’s work they had registered since they were fighting side by side under the same County flag. And what of the match at Taunton ? Hard lines, Y orkshire. True, you m ight have been beaten, and Kent at Bradford weeks ago m ight h»ve trium phed. But that would have been satisfactory. Yorkshire would then have relinquished the pride of place in favour of Surrey with good grace. Anyhow, in passing, m y County m ay derive solace from the fact that they have lost the first place to the County that has twice scored against them , and which is on its merits fairly entitled to the title of the Champion County of 1894. Bravo, H am pshire; name dear to me from early associations. Let me see. The cham pions scored 35 against Leicestershire, you scored 306 for four wickets. W ynw ard, W ard, and Barton (once of Kent, then known as “ B om ­ bardier ” Barton) confirm ed all that these Notches said in th ir praise only a week since. PALLIN G SW iCK v. VAMPIRES—Played at East Acton on August 25. PALT.INGBWICK J.H. D. Drake,b Farr 6 W. B. Shaikh, b Farr 8 W . C. Yarborough, not o u t .................. 3 B ‘.0, w 2 ........... 22 B. V. Bate, b Harwood 10 A. H. M iilsoc, b H ar­ w ood .............................SO I E. A. Collins, b H ar­ wood .......................... 0 E. M. Hamilton, b Harwood ..................... 0 J. 8rae lie, not out ... 27 F. Lampard, w . A. Langborne, and A. Dampier did not tat. Innings declared closed. V a m p . r e s . T otil ..106 A. G. Lawrence, st Dampier, b Yar­ borough ........... ... 20 F. S. Heynemann. c Hamilton, b Collins 2 R. S. Rogers, run out 12 8. Farr, b Yarborough 0 JS.Cretchley, b Smell.e 4 E. M. Harwood and F, W . H ollick, b Yar­ borough ................. 2 G. W.Turner,cOollina, b Yarborough ... 8 A.B. H yslop,not out 22 A. J. Carter, not out 3 I S .......................... 7 Total .......... 80 S. Mayo did not bat. L a w s o p C r ic k e t f o b 1894—Together with H ints to Young Players. An instructive treatise illustrated by seven special engravings, five diagrams Bhowing how to place a team in the field to different towjing, and copy of rules for guidance of those form ing clubs, &c. Also special instructions as to the “ Preparation of Cricket Grounds.’’ Post free Four Stamps.— W right & Co., 11, St. Andrew’s Hill, E.C.