Cricket 1894

A P filL 19, 1894 CRICKET: A WEEKLY EE COED OP THE GAME, 77 GENTLEMEN v. PLAYERS. BY J. N. PENTELOW. (Continued from page 62.) Thematch at the Oval in 1885 kept up the character of the game for big scoring. Gunn, who had appeared but once before for the Players (in 1881, when the leading Notts players were on strike), went in first and scored a grand 93, Ulyett helping him to add 54, and contenting himself, for once in a way, with very steady play. When Shrewsbury and Briggs got together a very long stand was made, the two men adding 118, and hitting in fine style. The Notts crack scored 64, Johnny 85; Flowers scored 36 ; and the total reached 352. The Gentlemen were all out for 172, three debutants (Mr. K. .1. Key 49, Mr .W. Newham 28, Mr. W .W . F. Pullen 27) doing best. Following on, they lost two wickets for 13 ; then W.G. and W .W . came together, and, after some slow play at first, added 135 before the Doctor was out for 76. Mr. Pullen helped W .W . to put on 59, and Mr. Manley Kemp stayed while 62 were added, and carried out his bat at the end for 60. W .W .’s score was 159—a splendid innings, with but two hard chances. The total was 372. A draw was the end of the game, there being insufficient time for the Players to hit off the runs, though Ulyett, Maurice Read, and Shrewsbury all ba'ted well. Much smaller was the scoring in the Lord’s game, the feature of whichwas the fine batting of Mr. F. M. Lucas, one of the best left-handed batsmen of any time, now, alas! “ asleep beneath an Indian ‘ sky.” He scored 89 and 31, nearly three times as many runs as any one else made in tbe match. A. G. Steel (38) helped him to add 112 for the third wicket in the first innings. The Players, for whom Barnes wa3 successful both with bat and ball, won by four wickets. The extra match at Scarborough was W .G .’s game— in two senses, for Dr. Grace scored 174, and William Gunn was by far the best batsman for the Players, with a second innings of 82. Apart from these two innings, the great features of the game ('which the ama­ teurs won by an innings and 15 runs) were Hall’s wonderfully steady 30, not out, and the bowling of Mr. Christopher- son (7 wickets for 24) in the first innings and Mr. A. H . Evans (5 for 20) in the second. The match at Lord’s in 1886 (which, contrary to custom, preceded the Oval fixture) was chiefly remarkable for the fact that Lohmann and Abel, two of the best men Surrey has ever had, made their first appearance for the Players. Both did fairly well, but Barnes, with 44 and 31, not out, was the central figure of the game, which the Players won by five wickets. The amateur team at the Oval was any­ thing but representative. E. M. Grace played once more (for the first time since 1869), and scored 21 and 16. But W.G. was, as usual, best man for the Gentlemen, with 65, 50 not out, and four wickets. Shrewsbury scored a fins but slow innings of 127 ; and Maurice Bead (64) helped him to put on 99 for the sixth wicket. The match was drawn, Exactly the same Players’ eleven ap­ peared both at Lord’s and the Oval in 1887 — the first time that such a thing had occurred since the match was first played on the Surrey ground, I believe. The matches were very similar, the Players winning both in an innings, with runs to spare, their scores being 3P6 at Lord’s, 339 at the Oval. Mr. Appleby, after an interval of nine years, appeared at Lord’s ; but his bowling did not meet with its old success. At Lord's Shrewsbury made 111 and Johnny Briggs 66, not out; Ulyett, Gunn (who helped Shrewsbury to add 79), Barnes (with whom he put on 68), Bates, and Peel all scoring between 24 and 40. W.G. did best for the amateurs —24 and 49. Mr. A. E. Stoddart and Lord Hawke were the most notable among the first year men. Barnes had ten wickets for 58. At the Oval Ulyett (62) and Maurice Read (71) put on 114 while together, both batting in masterly style. Barnes (42) and Bates (81) added 61, the latter’s dis­ play being one of the freest and most daring of a year of good wickets and big scores. W.G. (15 and 35) and Mr. Stod­ dart (40 and 25) did best for the losers. Barnes had nine wickets for 116 this time — 19 for 174 in the two matches. Mr. E. A. Nepean played his first game for the Gentlemen. Sammy Woods, grand all-round sports­ man and almost irrisistible fast bowler, made bis bow for the Gentlemen at Lord's in 1888, and took ten Piayers’ wickets for 76 runs. The match was one of small scores, Ulyett (38), Abel (30), W . G. (10 and 21), and Mr. Newham (25) batting really well on one of those rain- sodden wickets so plentiful in that season which Andrew Lang has called “ A year of rain, a year of woe.” The Gentlemen pulled through, after an exciting finish, by only five runs. At the Oval there was very little ex­ citement in the game. Abel, Gunn, Frank Sugg, Briggs, Peel, and Ward all batted fairly well for the Players; but Walter Read, whose 33 in the first innings was a wonderfully plucky attempt, alone made any real stand for the Gentlemen, and fine bowling by Peel and Briggs on a difficult wicket gave the Players a victory by an innings and 39 runs. A reversal to the old system— Oval match first— took place in 1889, when a splendid game ended in a victory for the Players by nine wickets. There was good batting galore in this match; Gunn was the most successful batsman of all, scor­ ing 61 and 98, n t out. Everyone was anxious that he should reach his hundred in the second innings; Barnes let pass several opportunities of scoring lest his comrade should not have a chance before the match was won, and, with the game a tie, Evan Nepean bowled him a ball which was meant for sending to the boundary, but which Gunn only hit for Itwo. But perhaps T. C. O'Brien’s 90 was the best innings of the match, the first 80 of them being made in only a few minutes over the hour. W.G. scored 49 and 67, but was much slower than usual. The first innings of Walter Read and J. Cranston (42 and 51, not out, respectively) were very good displays, as were Mr. Stoddart’s 59, Barnes’s 90, Shrewsbury’s 57, Ulyett’s 38, Mr. Nepean s 21 and 39, not out, and Walter Quaife’s 42, not out, and 59. Quaife was only playing because Maurice Read could not; and for a young batsman to score 101 luns for once out in his first Gentle­ men and Players match, as be did, was a really great performance. The match was the biggest scoring one of the series, 1,145 runs being registered in i; for tte fall of 31 wickets. The Lord’s match was chiefly remark­ able for the fine display of Billy Barnes, who, going in first wicket down, carried out his bat for a fine 130. Abel, who went in first and scored 51, helped him to add 75. The Players’ score of 280, backed up by the fine bowling of Lohmann and Briggs, enabled them to win by ten wickets, Mr. A. G. Steel, with 21 and 46, alone showing to advantage for the amateurs. The extra match at Hastings, though each eleven lacked one or two prominent players (Shrewsbury, Maurice Read, and Mr. O Brien among them),was very good and level, the Gentlemen winning in the end by one wicket, Mr. E. J. M’Cormick, of Sussex, a well-known local amateur, batting coolly and well towards the finish. Albert Ward (50 and 28) was the biggtst scorer in either team ; Attewell took six wickets for 24 in the second innings of the amateurs, and Mr. Herbert Pigg also bowled successfully. Scoring ruled somewhat low at the Oval in 1890. The amateur eleven inclu­ ded four members of that year’s Cam­ bridge team, Messrs. McGregor, Woods, Streatfeild, and R. N. Douglas. Mr. J. A. Dixon (28) was highest scorer in the Gen­ tlemen’s first innings of 99; towards the Players’ 184 Shrewsbury and Gunn con­ tributed 43 and 44 respectively, Barnes and Lohmann 32 each. Then on a very bad wicket Mr. Stoddart batted superbly for 85, but the rest failed, and the Piayers won by nine wickets— Shrewsbury 32, Gunn 14, the not-outs at the finish. A not specially interesting match at Lord’s was drawn. Mr. J. Cranston’s 68, not out, was the highest score on either side; but Messrs, W . W. Read, Shuter, and Stoddart, Shrewsbury, Quaife, Ulyett, and Briggs all batted well. Mr. Steel bowled in his old form, actually taking five wickets for 13 runs in the first innings of the Players. The match at the Oval in 1891 resulted in a defeat of the pros, (who, it is true, had all the worst of the luck) by an innings and 54 runs, There was no score of over 30 in either of their innings, the second, played on a rain-spoiled wicket, only reaching 59. Mr. Ferris, playing his first representative match as an Eng­ lishman, took seven wickets for 28 in that inglorious second innings. For the Gen­ tlemen there was a fine display of hitting by Mr. Ernest Smith, who, making his first