Cricket 1894

402 m iCKE l^ A WEEKLT 1ECOED OP THE 0AMBo SEPT. 20, 1894 brought me an offer of a copy from a gentleman at Brockley, and also the kindliest of letters from the esteemed author of this book, who begs my accept­ ance of two copies, in one o f which the annnal mean average is carried np to date. A very welcome gift, the value of which is considerably enhanced by sundry generous references to this weekly contribution to the game. The rest of the letters must be passed over now, though reluctantly ; my good friend from Harlesden, who has watched cricket at L ord’s and the Oval since 1851, may expect to see his pleasant yarn in print some time or other. For Hastings demands a passing notice. Perfect weather to begin with, another delightful and prosperous Festival, and lastly, perhaps the finest innings of the entire season if we remember the quality of the opposition bowling. Lockwood, Peel, Mold, Martin, and John Heame form a quintette at whose expense a bats­ man may immortalise himself, or else run the risk of annihilation at their hands. W ,G . chose the former alterna­ tive. Oh, it was a wonderful score. Not a surprise : most of us have known him and his ways toa long to be startled by anything he may do. He will never score the spectacles in first-class cricket; when he does, we may scratch our heads and rub our eyes, and exclaim " Well, I never! ’■ H is fourteenth century against the Players: nobody else has scored more than three. W . G. has now notched such an innings on every ground where this match has been played, at Lord’s, Oval, Brighton, Prince’s, Scarborough, and Hastings. H e may have done worse for Gloucestershire this year than ever he has done before, but Gentlemen v. Players is tin true test of a batsman’s ability, especially if he be on the Gentlemen's sid e: and thus measured, W . G. is still our king of batsmen, that is if scores of 71. 20, 56, and 131 count for anything. His 196 v. Cambridge University is the highest individual innings of the year. And as he stands next to Brockwell and Abel in t ’le season’s averages — for Maurice Bead and others have not played enough cricket to come into the competition— we may conclude that after 31 years of first- clasa cricket W.G. has no intention of retiring. We shall want him as our first choice whenever England meets Australia again. It might be well to reproduce the complete list of scores of one hundred runs that have come from his bat. I cannot spare the space to-day; there seems to be a deal of uncertainty as to the exact number of his centuries. Thus, this last innings was described as his “ ninetieth” century in the paper I take in. That is certainiy wrong. Including his 170 v. Gents of Sussex in 1864, 159 (not out) v. Victoria in the last Australian trip, and 135 for W .G .’s X I. v. W . W. Bead’s X I. in lr93, and excluding 113 v. Somersetshire in 1879, as this was only a second-class county at that time, the complete total is 99. W e shall be able to throw out all these above-mentioned doubtful innings, and yet count up to one hundred centuries before we see the last of our dear old Champion. The mention of Australia reminds me hat before the present week has run its course our cricketers will be under weigh for our distant colony. I f good wishes bring good luck, they will return undefeated. English cricket is quite safe in their hands, although one would have liked two, or perhaps three, names in­ cluded in the list. It is pleasant to know that Stoddart looks for preat results ; in a recent letter to myself he says, “ of one thing I am certain, no captain has ever left for Australia having greater confi­ dence in his men.” Well spoken. Aus­ tralia has spelt disaster for Surrey in the past ; it was there Sharpe lost his bowling and he has never found it again, and Lohmann’s troubles may have had their origin out yonder. Let us earnestly hope that Surrey’s fast bowlers will return fitter than e v e r; but then too much work must not be put upon them. “ That it may please Thee to preserve all that travel by land or by water ” ; the grand old words will have a special significance for many of us cn Sunday next. And here we are at the end of another season ; I have tried to make myself be­ lieve that it was not so; the years come and go so quickly now. What can we say of the present year of grace ? H ow does it compare with its immediate pre­ decessors ? And what sort of legacy will it pass on to the years ahead ? The weather need not be discussed. 1893 was the finest season we have had since 1868, and 1894 must have been about the dreariest. No cricketer can have suffered from sore feet this year, though many a batsman may have leen bothered with a sore heart. But the weather can stand all sorts of abuse, so we will dismiss it. The County struggle was as keen as ever, and the excitement was sustained up to the very last match of the series. Last year Yorkshire alone were in the running during the closing weeks ; the only feature o f interest was the number o f points they would show in excess of all their rivals. This year revived the struggle of 1889, and brought back memories of ti e Notts and Surrey race of 1892. As everybody knows, Surrey just led on the post. Much ink has been wasted in the Yorkshire press anent the county’s ill-luck, and much elo­ quence has been expended in seeking to establish Yorkshire’s superiority over Surrey. There is scarcely a pin to choose between them. The soft wickets have been rather in favour of the Northern bowling, but then the batsmen of the South can point to better results. In fielding Yorkshire know no rivals ; there is one weak spot in the field which chaiity forbids us to particularise, but all-round oae has to go back many years—perhaps as far back as the Oxford eleven of 1874— to match the splendid ability of Yorkshire when their opponents are at the wickets. And just a few of us are simple-minded enough to lay great store by efficient fielding. Saving runs is as high an art as making runs. Where Surrey had the pull over Yorkshire was in batting. Both are singularly even teams with bat in hand, every man in either eleven being good for runs. Level scoring throughout; not one big gun and all the rest pop guns. But Yorkshire bats­ men may be described as 20 to 30 runs- an-innings men, Surrey as 40 to 50. Jackson and Brown are the only Northerners likely to run up a century, though one does not forget H irst’s 115 (not out) against Gloucestershire; but Surrey have half-a-dozen men who at some time or other may pass the hundred. It is astonishing how completely they have recovered their old skill with the bat, which they temporarily lost in 1893, and in consequence occupied the fifth place on the list. From what we have recently seen of their reserves, they may anticipate the future with quiet confi­ dence. Take any test you like, and Smrey’s batting strength is pre-em inent; they have more averages above 20 , more centuries, more innings above 300 than any other County, whilst they are the only County to play an innings o f above 400 runs. Their new captain is to be heartily congratulated on having got so much out of the men under his command. It may be added that Surrey’s wickets have realised no less than 22 runs apiece— a splendid result in a bowler’s year— whilst Lancashire, the next best in bat­ ting, fall below them to the tune of three runs. The bowling honors go to York­ shire ; not that on all wickets Surrey’s best are not their superiors, but sticky wickets have in County matches made the two Yorkshiremen peculiarly dangerous, whilst they have just one more really good bowler at present than Surrey. Should Surrey next year have the services of the greatest bowler they have ever had, the scales will once more incline to their side. Of all County batsmen in regular play for the past five years, it is worth mentioning that only three have this year improved their average. Baker (Lancashire), Brockwell (Surrey), and Jackson Yorkshire) are the fortunate trio. Of the rest of the Counties much might be written, while we have space here for only a very few general remaks. Comparing 1893 and 1894, Middlesex fill the third place both years, and Gloucestershire the ninth. Sussex and Notts have receded a point, Lancashire two points; on the other hand, Kent show no difference in results, whilst Somersetshire have moved up two places. “ Wanted, a bowler,” is the cry from Lancashire, for two bowlers, however great, cannot to-day go through a County season without support. Four bowlers at least constitute the safe minimum strength; four bowlers —mark that word— for he is not a bowler who can simply bowl straight, or break a ball three inches either way. The same cry comes more urgently from Notts, though Flowers and Attewell can both show far healthier figures than in 1893, when not a man of Notts took wickets at a cost of under 20 runs a wicket. For all that, the famous “ County of bowlers ” is in sore straits, and the outlook is not exhilarating. Middlesex have sadly missed the hard wickets of last year. Kent are just about where they were. Somersetshire, spite of the loss of their old captain, need not despair. Sussex have occasionally done NEXT ISSUE OCTOBER 25