Cricket 1894

462 CRICKET s A WEEKLY JfcECOKD OP THE GAME. DEO. 28, 1894 the chief local critics as one of, if not the best, innings ever played on the Melbourne ground. Although his rate of scoring was fast it was never reckless, and comprised twenty-two 4’s, eighteen 3's, and twenty-one 2’s. With his departure the innings soon termi­ nated, Mr. Gay being well caught at mid-on, Mr Philipson at mid- o ff, and Humphreys at the wicket. Four hundred and sixteen was a poor score considering the start, and six wickets on the second morning only realised 37 runs, A. E, Trott securing four wickets for 15 runs, and in the whole innings six for 103. He shapes like a coming bowler, mixing his pace well. His medium and slow balls turn a lot from the off, and he can put in a very good fast one. Still, like most howlers who get a lot of spin on, he bowls a lot of bad ones, though in this respect he is improving. There was five minutes’ batting before lunch, and Mitchell (a good left-handed batsman) and G. E. Palmer (the old Anglo-Australian) were the first defenders. The bowlers were Richardson (from the railway end) and Briggs. With seven runs on the board the luncheon hour arrived, and upon resuming the attack was the same. The left-hander did most of the scoring, but with the total at 43 was well caught at the wicket. His twenty- five was well obtained, mostly by cutting and strokes on the offside. With only one run added Palmer was well taken, one-handed, by Peel at extra cover, both wickets being off Briggs’s bowling. G. H. S. Trott and Laver improved matters a little and carried the score to Gl, when Trott, in trying to off-drive Briggs, was well taken by Brockwell at extra cover. Three for 01. Graham began confidently to both bowlers, and brought on Hum­ phreys for Richardson, the lob bowler causing some amusement, the Colonial spectators being unused to witness this class of bowling. Neither batsman was able to do much more than stop him, whilst he kept a length, but he treated them to several full tosses, which were all scored off. On the stroke of four Graham was caught at the wicket off Peel, who had just previously relieved Briggs, and the refreshment interval was taken. Stuclcer was bowled first ball on resuming, and C. McLeod joined Laver, and the scoring was very slow, neither batsman being able to get Humphreys away, till at last Laver, in trying a big hit, was neatly taken by Brockwell at long-on close to the boundary. Harry was next, and still the monotonous slow scoring was unbroken, a single only coming now and then. Richardson relieved Humphreys, and Briggs for Peel was tried, and in his first over the fast bowler bowled down McLeod’s leg stump, letting in R. McLeod. The scor­ ing became faster, both batsmen playing Richardson well, the fast, true wicket not permitting his deliveries to hump. Some idea of the true wickets here, and in Adelaide, may be gained by the knowledge that it is not an unusual sight to see batsmen play the fast Surrey- ite without the use of batting gloves. R. McLeod gave a chance of stumping off Briggs when his score was three, but Gay failed to take the ball. Humphreys again bowled vice Richardson, but at six o’clock both batsmen were not out (Harry thirty-five, and R. McLeod twenty), with the total seven wickets for 201. There must have been fully 12,000 persons present at the close of the day’s play. T h ird D ay — M onday , Nov. 19. The weather was again very cool and fine; in fact, after the luncheon interval the light was much too bright, quite a glaie, which affected batsmen and fields­ men alike. There was again a very good attendance for an off-day, which Monday invariably is except when a holiday. Richardson and Briggs resumed bowling to the not-out batsmen, and Harry, after taking his total to 52, was badly missed by Mr. Maclaren at extra mid-off off the fast bowler. McLeod, in attempting to hit Briggs a little later, was neatly taken by Mr. Stoddart at mid-off. Blackham was also missed by Mr. Maclaren off Richardson, a similar stroke to that of Harry, who then was well caught at long- off from Briggs for a well-played innings of 70, the chance referred to being its only blemish. Nine for 261 looked as if the follow-on would hardly be saved. A. Trott, however, played extremely well, and assisted Blackham to save it with ten runs to spare, the innings closing for 306, by Gay making his third catch at the wicket during the innings: Blackham not out 28. Peel’s three wickets for 27 runs was the best analysis, and, indeed, many thought Mr. Stoddart had not bowled him enough. Briggs mixed his pace well, and on such a true wicket his five for 97 was very good. Humphreys was played pretty easily by all the bats­ men, but whet they tried big hitting they invariably missing timing the ball. Richardson bowled extremely well with the worst of luck. In addition to the two easy chances missed off him on the third morning, R. McLeod touched one which would have carried to short slip had Mr. Gay not attempted to take it one- handed. His figures are, therefore, no indication of his true form, but it must be said that his deliveries on these fast, true wTickets are not so puzzling to bats­ men as a slow or medium pace bowler’s would be. This wicket is as hard as a concrete road, and is very trying to his feet. As it only required fifteen minutes to the luncheon interval play was not re­ sumed till after it had been partaken, Ward and Mr. Maclaren again appearing first, to the bowling of C. M’Leod and A, Trott. The latter, with the first ball of his second over, clean bowled the pro­ fessional with a medium-paced delivery which broke back several inches. Mr. Stoddart commenced very cautiously, and, in fact, all the afternoon played very steady cricket, finding it very hard to keep a sight of the ball. With 54 on the board, Mr. Maclaren was well taken low down at short slip, Mr. Stoddart just previously receiving a life from Graham at long-off when C. M'Leod was bowling. Although the fieldsman seemed to make the catch he did not retain his hold of the ball, dropping it almost in the same action o f ca tch in g . B ro w n , in a ttem p t­ in g to cu t H . T rott (w h o h ad relieved C. M ‘L e o d ), was w ell caught at the w ick et (three for 75), an d B ro ck w e ll jo in e d his captain. H e also exp erien ced great trou b le in gettin g a sight o f th e ball in the gla rin g ligh t, a n d after m a k in g 20 w as w ell taken b y G rah am beh in d the b ow ler, an d a lm ost on th e b o u n ­ dary. F ou r for 109. P eel w ith M r. S toddart th en p la y ed out tim e, b oth ad op tin g carefu l tactics for an h ou r a n d a half, P eel scorin g faster tow ards th e close. W h e n his total w as 39 B la ck h am should ha ve caught h im at [.the w ick et o ff R. M 'L e o d , but this w as the o n ly ch an ce given durin g the partnership. W h e n stum ps w ere draw n the score stood at 191 for fo u r w ickets, th e E n glish m en then h old in g a lead o f 301 ru ns, w ith six w ick ets still in h a n d . T h e m a tch u lti­ m ately ended in a draw . E nglish E leven . First Innings. Second Innings. Ward, c H., b A. E. Trott 4 b A. T rott.......... 4 Mr. A. O. MaclareD, c H. Trott, bC. M cLeod........228 c A. Trott, b R. M cLeod..........25 Mr. A. E. Stoddart, b H. T r o t t ..................................77 c Palmer, b C. M cL eod..........78 Brown, c Laver, b A E. Trott ..................................15 c Blackham, b H. T rott.........11 Brockwell, c A, E., b H. Trott ................................ 4 c Graham, b C. M cL eod..........20 Peel, b A. E. Trott ............. 48 b C. McLeod ... 65 Briggs, c R. McLeod, b A. T r o t t ................................. 0 c A. E. Trott, b R. McLeod ... 43 Mr. L. H. Gay, c C. McLeod, b A. E. T rott.. 17 b C. McLeod ... 3 Mr. H. Philipson, c H., b A. E. Trott ................. 4 c and b A. Trott 12 Humphreys, c Blackham, b C. McLeod ................. 1 not out ..........18 Richardson, not o u t.......... 0 e C. McLeod, b H. T rott......... 3 B 6, lfc 9, w 1, nb 2 ...18 E xtras.......... 6 T o ta l...........................416 Total .. 2?8 V ictoria . First Innings. Second Innings. Mitchell, c Gay, b Briggs 25 b Briggs ..........10 G.E.Palmer,cPeel.b Briggs 6 G. H. S. Trott, c Brock­ well, b Briggs.................19 run out ............63 Laver, c Brockwell, b Humphreys .................40 c Humphreys, b P eel................... 26 H. Graham, c Gay, b Peel 29 b Briggs .......... 0 J. Stuckey, b Peel .......... 0 lbw, bPeel..........17 C. McLeod, b Richardson 19 not out .........12 li. McLeod, c Stoddart, b Richardson .................33 not out ............SO A. E. Trott, c Gay, b Peel 25 J.Harry, c Ward,b Brigg3 70 lbw, b P e e l.. ... 1 J.McC. Blackham, not out 28 B3, lb 9............... ...12 Extra ............ 1 Total .................EOS Total ...100 BOWLING ANALYSIS. Mn. S topdart ' s T eam . lirst InniDgs. Second Innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. C. McLeod ... 42.113 89 2 .......... 52 25 71 4 A, E. Trott ... 42 13 103 6 ........... 45 14 110 2 H. Trott........ 15 l 60 2 .......... 10.2 0 39 2 M itchell........ 2 0 14 0 Palmer ........ 8 2 36 0 .......... 1 1 0 0 R. McLeod ... 11 1 48 0 .......... 21 8 40 2 Laver ....... 7 3 19 0 .......... 4 2 9 0 Harry ....... 10 1 29 0 .......... 3 0 13 0 A. E. Trott delivered a wide, and Palmer, R. McLeod and Harry one no.ball each. V ictoria . First Innings. Second Innings. Richardson ... 82 6 92 1 Briggs ....... 38 4 97 5 P eel............... 17.4 4 27 3 Humphreys ... 24 3 71 1 Brockwell ... 2 0 7 0 NEXT ISSUE JANUARY 81