Cricket 1894

APRIL 19, 1894 (DKIC.KJGY•„ A WEE'KJiY HECORD OF TH® <JAMB, 78 ‘Noi out,’’ said '.he umpire. “ You sanguinary cheat,” continued the bowler, “ take that,” and forthwith he landed the umpire a floorer on the point of the jaw. The batsman who had been given not out was a half-caste of immense mould, and being a staunch friend of the umpire, he dropped his bat, rushed at the bowler, and in a twinkling had him down, and would have throttled him but for the inter­ ference of several players, who had some difficulty in releasing the offending bowler from tbe powerful grasp of the indignant half- caste. This incident put a stop to the game, caused the bowler to lose his billet on a station, and the umpire who was struck and who told me the story is an old St. Kilda player, and was in Melbourne quite recently. I t is satisfactory to learn, as I have learnt from two different sources, that a great pffort is being made to bring cricket in Hastings up to concert pitch. For some time past, the game has languished somewhat, owing perhaps in a measure to the lack of encouragement given to rising talent. Formerly the two principal clubs, the Hastings and St. Leonards and the Hastings Alexandra, as well as the Ground Committee, each had a separate management, and divided interests were naturally rather detrimental than beneficial to the spread of cricket locally. “W e have changed all that ’’ now, how­ ever, by an amalgamation, the outcome ot which has been the formation of one central organisation under the title of the Hastings Club and Ground. With a practical and energetic Committee as well as a Secretary well versed in matters cricketical in the person of Mr. H . S. Johnstone, there is every reason to believe that Hastings will take up the prominent position in Sussex cricket to which it is entitled by its influence and enterprise. Rumour, moreover, credits Has:ings with the possession of more than one promising colt likely to train on and be of use to the County, as Butt and Love have already been. T he success of the South Australian eleven in winning the Challenge Shield, presented by the Earl of Sheffield for the best colony of the season, was so far satis­ factory that it was the reward of all-round c. icket decidedly above the average. What must have made it the more gratifying to the winners, too, was that there was no reason to credit them with a great amount of, or perhaps with any, luck. On the contrary, while f ew South Wales were mostly favoured with a sticky wicket, which enabled Turner and Coningham to do very much what they liked with the ball, the South Australian bowlers had, with one very brief exception, to operate on a batsman’s pitch. O n the other hand, neither New South Wales nor Victoria were able to put their full strength into the field on every occa­ sion, and consequently these colonies were not seen to the best advantage. The same remark though would apply, perhaps in a lesser degree, to the SouthAustralians, who were considerably handicapped in the last match by the loss of their wicket keeper, owing to an injury during the course of the game. Curiously enough, no less than four of the six matches were spoiled to some extent by rain, an experience rather rare, as everyone knows, in con­ nection with Australian cricket. It would seem, too, as if these same showers proved in a wa to be a factor of some use for the South Australian team. The alteration of the rule allow­ ing the leading team to decide whether their opponents shali follow on or not, in­ deed, was apparently of no small use to them. At least the critic of the Adelaide Observer, not likely to be biassed in favour of the other side, goes so far as to urge that the new rule assisted South Austra­ lia to beat Victoria each time, for the reason that if the latter had followed on in Melbourne as well as in the last match they would have had an excellent chance of winning in each instance. In any case a comparison of the batting and bowling averages of the three Colonies can not fail <o be of interest. They are as follows : FOB AGAINST. Runs.Wkts Aver. Kuns.Wkts.Aver. S. Austra'ia 1,969 80 24.61 ... 1.758 68 25 85 N. S. Wales 1,852 68 19.88 ... 1,413 77 1835 Victoria ... 1,602 77 20.80 ... 1,752 80 21.90 A ccokdinq to the latest advices from the other side, Mr. H . M. Taberer, who was tried occasionally for Oxford and also represented the University in Rugby football, as well as C. Mills, the Surrey professional, are to be included in the South African team which will soon be in England. The amateur’s all-round cricket was of no small service to Natal in the recent tournament for the Currie Cup, and though the form of the South Africans generally is at present something of an unknown quantity, it is safe to predict that the Oxonian will always be a useful member of the side. At one time there seemed to be a strong feeling at the Cape against Mills’ inclusion, on the ground that he could hardly be regarded as a South African by reason of the fact that he only spent a part of the year in that country. It would therefore seem as if a dispensa­ tion had been obtained in his favour. R um o u r has t that Mr. Stoddart has already gone a considerable way towards obtaining at least the nucleus of a good side to personally conduct to Australia in the autumn. If the information 1 have received is correct, Peel and Briggs are both likely to be included in the party. Two wicket-keepers are to be taken, and it is hinted that both may be selected from the ranks of the amateurs. Mr. McGregor it is said is not prepared to go to Aus­ tralia again, and Mr. L. H . Gay should therefore have a good chance of selection. Indeed, there is a decided probability that he will form one of the team, provided always that he retains his form. On this of course hangs the question of tbe in­ clusion of many of the probables. The season will therefore have to develop considerably before anything very definite is known about the constitution of the team. T h e axiom that a prophet is no*" believed in his own country evidently does not apply in the case of the Leatherhead Club and its Captain. F. Hue Williams, the popular skipper of the Leatherhead team, indeed, can boast adistinction which I should fancy to be quite unique, in the history at least of Metropolitan clubs. His recent appointment to the Leather­ head captaincy represents his twenty- fourth successive re-election to the post. An unbroken captaincy of a quarter of a century is a cricket curio of curios, I opine. Anyhow, I should be glad to hear of a record which will outdo it. T he cricket volume of the Badminton Library, it will interest the reading public to know, has reached its fifth edition. The latest issue has, I may add, been thoroughly revised and corrected, so that I take it to be in every sense up to date. To say that as a cricket classic it has no superiors, is perhaps to “ damn it with faint praise.” As a matter of fact, the Badminton Cricket Book is without a doubt the most readable as well as the most practical work that has ever been published on the game. At least that is the opinion of the chiel that pens these notes. A ccobding to all accounts, it will not be for want of fitness if the Grand Old Man does not make it warm for the bowlers this year. A well-known amateur cricketer who had the opportunity quite recently of seeing him at practice, certifies him to be in the very best of condition. My imformaut states that he has lost a good deal of the adipose since last summer, and predicts for him a lively season in the way of run getting. At all events, my correspondent, who is a bowler of no small ability, to use his own expres­ sive phrase, found W . G.’s bat as big as a barn door, in the short turn he had with Gloucestershire’s captain. T he Earl of Sheffield, who has been spending the last month or so in Naples, is returning home this week. As the match between Sussex and Yorkshire at Brighton commencing on May 24 would in all likelihood suffer if the date originally agreed to for the visit of the South African team to Sheffield Park were adhered to, it has been decided to have this latter fix­ ture earlier iu the week. The South Afri­ can team will consequently open their tour at Sheffield Park on May 22 and 23 instead of on May 25 and 26 as previously fixed. L ast week I made reference in passing to the fact that there was every chance of an English combination, composed mostly of amateurs, visiting the United States in the fall of the year. Since then a cable­ gram has been received from Philadelphia approving the preliminary arrangements made in England by the accredited