Cricket 1894

428 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. OCT. 25, 1894 CRICKET IN AUSTRALIA. THE PBOSPECTS OF THE SE iSON . (By H amb : edon .) The cricket season of 1894-93 bids fair to prove one of the most interesting and eventful yet experienced in Australia, and will certainly be one of the busiest. The presentation of the Sheffield Shield has caused an increase in the number of matches played between the three great cricketing colonies home and home matches being now played each Feason between the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia to determine the possession of the handsome trophy, which was won before it was manufactured by Victoria, but is now held by South Australia. Formerly though home and home matches were played between New South Wales and Victoria, those colonies only met South Australia once in each season. With these matches in addition to those between the different colonies and the English Team, and the five test matches between England and Australia, lovers of the game in the principal Australian centres will be regaled with an unaccustomed amount of first-class cricket. The playing of five test matches is an ambitious step, which has never before been attempted even in England, but there can be no doubt that it is one which will prove exceedingly popular with the public. In view of the visit of the English Team, ashort sketch of the prospects of the Australian season may not prove un­ acceptable to C ric k e t readers. The Sheffield Shield was last season, as already stated, won by South Australia, and therefore that colony is entitled to precedence, though the youngest of the trio of competitors. Three of their four intercolonial matches resulted in victories, Victoria being twice defeated, while New South Wales also suffered a defeat at Adelaide. Judging by the results of last season, George Giffen should again have a formidable team under his command, more especially in batting. Giffen, him­ self, last season proved scarcely so danger­ ous as a bowler as in some previous years, but he was not in the best of health, all through the season, so that the falling off may be merely temporary. Should he not regain his old deadliness during the coming season, the colon} may find them­ selves in difficulties for lack of bowling, though much is hoped and expected from E. Jones, a fast bowler, who has repre­ sented the colony during the past two years. He has already proved of consider­ able service, and as he was a mere up- country player till two seasons ago, he may, with more experience in first-class company, develop into the fast bowler Australia has so long wanted. He has plenty of pace, and as he is a very power­ fully built man, and does not readily tire, he is just the stamp for a fast bowler. He is certainly far and away the fastest bowler now taking part in first-class cricket in Australia, and on anything like a crumbling or defective wicket is very destructive. Fred Jarvis, also fast right- handed, is the only other man on the side with any pretensions to being considered a bowler. Lyons appears to have com­ pletely lost his bowling, and Reedman is not dangerous as a change. A good left- handed medium pace bowler would make the team a very powerful combination. Indifferent health did not seem to have affected the batting of the South Australian crack, and in spite of this and his com­ parative non-success in England, George Giffen, during the whole of his long and brilliant career, never batted more finely in inter-colonial matches than he did last season. He opened by scoring 47 and 205 against New South Wales (his fourth innings of over 200 for South Australia), and then scored 24 and 103 in the first match with Victoria, while in the return he made 29 and 89 not out. His average in inter-colonial matches was 75 runs an innings, nearly double that of the most successful of his rivals. Lyons’ hitting powers are as phenomenal as ever, and two of his innings last season—101 against Victoria, and 82 against New South Wales —were worthy to be ranked among his finest efforts. Reedman is a batsman who has gradually worked his way into the front rank, and during the last two seasons his advance has been most marked. He wound up last season in brilliant fashion with a fine innings of 113 against Victoria, the highest he has yet played for the colony. A. H. Jarvis, though he could scarcely get a run in England, is not yet quite done as a batsman, and last season he played very well indeed. In the match against Victoria at Melbourne, in which he scored 51 and G4, his batting was quite up to his best standard. In J. Darling,aleft-handed batsman, the colony last season introduced a young player of great promise, who should prove of great service in the future. Against Victoria he was seen to signal advantage, as in the first match he played an excellent not out innings of 63, while n the return he scored 87 and 24. In inter-colonial matches he gained a batting average of 30, an excellent performance for a young player making his first appear­ ance in first-class cricket. A youthful South Australian named Clement Hill last season broke the Australian record by scoring 300 (retired) in a public school match at Adelaide. He is an instance of heredity in cricketing skill, as his father, Mr. J. H. Hill, was the first batsman to score over a hundred on the Adelaide Oval. He bats left-handed, and is highly thought of by many good judges, and will probably have a good trial for the colony during the coming season, if his form in club matches warrant his selection. The players named, with Walter Giffen and Blinman, both useful batsmen, make up a strong batting side, and with George Giffen restored to health, the colony should have a successful season. New South Wales, in spile of the aid of their old champion Murdoch, had only a fairly successful season, winning one each of their matches with South Australia and Victoria, and losing the other two. When defeated at Adelaide, however, they were without the assistance of Moses, Murdoch, and Turner, while Donnan, one of the best batsmen, was unable to bat in the second innings owing to an injury, which incapacitated him for the greater part of the season. With the best of the wicket they gained an easy victory in the return match with an innings to spare. Both the matches with Victoria were interfered with by rain, and furnished close and exciting contests, each side gaining a victory on its own ground. Murdoch hardly proved so successful as anticipated, after his fine batting for Sussex in the previous season, his only score of consequence being bis 64 not out in thematch againstVictoria at Melbourne. Moses batted as well as ever, and his damaged leg fortunately gave him no trouble. He played a fine innings of 104 against South Australia at Sydney, and also scored 71 against Victoria at Melbourne. He was second to Giffen in the inter-colonial batting averages, his figures being 42 runs an innings. As he has always proved remarkably successful against English bowlers, much will be expected of him in the coming season, if his leg does not give way. Callaway, who bowled so successfully during the season when Lord Sheffield’s Team was in Australia, has fallen off in that depart­ ment of the game, though still a useful change. He has however made a remark­ able advance as a batsman, and is now one of the most consistent and success­ ful in his colony. Last season he played very finely, scoring 71 against South Australia at Adelaide, and 60 not out at Sydney, while in the return match against Victoria he scored 38 and 50 on a difficult wicket, and showed by far the finest batting of the match. His average in first-class inter colonial contests was 36 runs per innings, and his second innings of 60 against Queensland played an important part in the narrow victory which his colony gained. Alick Banner- man, after showing indifferent form in the first two matches of last season, was only chosen as an emergency in the third, and, declining that position, did not again appear for his colony. He may be depended on to strive his utmost to get into his best form for the English matches, and to repeat his great suc­ cesses against Lord Sheffield's team. There are no good reasons for supposing that “ little Alick ” is anything like done yet, but Australian selection committees have always shown themselves prone to shunting even the most tried and valuable players if they meet with a brief run of non-success, which happens at times to every man. Rumour has it that Alick is diligently practising “ lobs,” and intends to come out as a rival to Walter Hum­ phreys. The play of both Donnan and Sid Gregory was much interfered with last season by injuries, but Iredale, as he has done for several seasons past, batted with great success. In H. J. Macpherson, a young player was brought out of much promise both with the bat and in the field. Turner proved himself to be still the best bowler in the colonies, and his average of thirty wickets for twelve runs each in inter-colonial matches was a very fine one, even though he was assisted on several occasions by the state of the pitch. Newell, a medium pace bowler, was played all through the season with most N EX T ISSUE NOVEMBER 29