Cricket 1895

118 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 9, 1895. THE TWELFTH ENGLISH TEAM IN AUSTRALIA . Continued from Cricket , May 2nd. THE TWENTY-THIRD MATCH—v. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. F irst D a y .— T h u r sd a y , M arch 28 t h . The Englishmen opened their tour in South Australia, and there they close it so far as cricket pure and simple is concerned. While their first match was played at Gawler the first important contest was against South Australia on the Adelaide Oval. That en­ gagement resulted in a handsome six wickets victory for South Australia. The reverse, which threw a damper over the opening weeks of the tour, had not been forgotten by the Britishers, who hoped for an amicable revenge. If the Adelaide men had won the Sheffield Shield, greater importance might have been attached to this contest, but the feeling of many was that, having been beaten by both Victorians and New South Wales, the South Australians could have no show against the formidable Englishmen. No such sentiments pervaded the dressing-room of the local men, however, for from George Giffen, the Nestor, who celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday on Wednesday, down to Clem Hill, tbo Benjamin, whose eighteenth birthday was yesterday, all the members of the team were hopeful of beating their doughty antagonists. The English captain decided not to play, as he still felt the cold heavily upon him. Humphreys, who has played only in three first-class matches throughout the tour, was again left in the pavilion. Lovely weather favoured the opening of the match, although there was a general impression that it would rain within a day or two. This impression was strengthened during the afternoon, when the sky became overcast and the atmosphere terribly oppressive. That interest in cricket is still lively in South Australia was proved by £101 being taken at the gates, which was over £30 more than the receipts on any day during the recent match at Melbourne. Philipson again lost the toss and Lyons and Jarvis went to the wickets to withstand Richardson and Peel, Lyons got the third ball to long leg for four, but after Philipson had let off Jarvis, was taken by Peel at extra mid off and Giffen came in, Jarvis was bowled for five by a bailer from Richardson which he played very tamely, 2 for 23, Darling’s first item was a fine drive for 8 off Richardson, another over mid-off’s head giving 4 in the next over, A charming leg glide by Giffen off Richardson gave Ford a 130 yards’ sprint from slip, and, as the ball did not reach the asphalt, five ruus were registered. Another triplet by Darling made 12 off the over—5, 4, and 3, besides a leg- bye, Richardson, however, grimly avenged this rough handling by bowling Darling in his next over, the left-hander, who from the first had been bent on forcing the pace, failing in Jin attempt to make an off-drive, Reed- man, who succeeded Darling, reached 11 in three strokes—4 for a snick, 3 for a drive off the express bowler, and a quartet for a hard square cut off Peel. The new comer con­ tinued to put his whole strength into his strokes, and crediting himself with two fourers off Richardson passed his captain’s score, which since Darling’s departure had stood at 18, Briggs relieved Peel at 67without either keeping down runs or getting a wicket, At lunch time the total was 90, Reedman having in 25 minutes by dashing play made 36, which included a late cut for 5 (all run) off the swift bowler, while Giffen’s score was 26, On resuming play the century was soon sent up, but after thirteen runs had been added thereto, the partnership which was promising so well, was dissolved, owing to an unfortunate misunderstanding Giffen cut a ball hard and straight to M‘Laren at third man, Reedman rushed down the pitch, but his partner did not respond, and it was only a matter of detail for the Englshmen to run out Reedman, The departing batsman was batting less than forty minutes in as resolute a manner as when he made his 82 against the Englishmen last November, and his strokes, particularly after lunch, were so well-timed that he looked like making a tall score, Dyer was bowled by Briggs without scoring, and Blinman came in, but was caught for three by Peel off the fast bowler. Young Hill followed and commenced his splendid innings, but his captain w'as caught at 137 from a misshit to square leg, having made 51 in his usual style. Hill and W. Giffen made a capital stand, and though the light got very bad kept their wickets up until the game was adjourned at 5.15, the score standing at 230 for seven wickets, 97 from the fall of G. Giffen. Whilst driving home from the Oval A. H. Jarvis met with a rather serious accident. His horse bolted and overturned the vehicle. Jarvis received a severe cut over the eye, besides being bruised about the body. Mrs. Jarvis, who was also in the vehicle, had her left shoulder dislocated. S econd Day.— F r id a y , M arch 29. Daring the early hours of Friday morning, March 29th, the heavy clouds which over­ cast the sky on Thursday night cleared away, and the Englishmen, who went to rest expecting to wake up and find that rain had fallen, were pleasantly surprised when they awoke to see the sun streaming in through their windows, and delighted still more when they stepped outside to find that not a drop of rain had fallen. This meant that they would have an opportunity of batting on a wicket as good as any ever prepared on the Adelaide Oval. By noon the heat was greater than on the previous day, and the players complained that it was unseasonable and oppressive. Considerable interest was taken in the pro­ gress of the game, and the gate amounted to £137 3s. 6d., as against £101 on Thursday. The attendance included a fine muster of members of the Association, the fair sex pre­ dominating. His Excellency the Lieutenant- Governor was present during the afternoon. W. Giffen and Hill, the not outs of the previous day, commenced in capital form, both playing magnificent cricket. Though Richardson, Peel, Lockwood, and Briggs tried their hardest nothing could break through their defence, and they scored off all alike, though, owing to the fine fielding of the Englishmen, singles predominated. As the total reached 300, and Hill’ s individual score the century, the spectators became very enthusiastic, and when these events actually occurred, one close upon the other, there was no end of applause. Luncheon found the batsmen still together, and the score 320. In the fourth over after resumption of play Lockwood succeeded in bowling W. Giffen for 81, the best innings he has ever played, and noticeable for a number of very fine square cuts. F. Jarvis, who followed, hit very freely for 31, but was bowled by Richard­ son at 388, and Jones, the last man, being taken in the long field, young Clem Hill was left not out 150, a marvellous innings against the bowling by a lad of eighteen. A perfect storm of applause greeted Hill, no one joining in it more heartily than the Englishmen. The lad’s innings lasted four hours, and during all that long time he only gave one chance. His hits included 1 five, 10 fours, 11 threes, 13 twos, and 46 singles. It is not too much to say that his innings was- one of the finest of the whole season, worthy to rank alongside Gregory’s 201 and Giffen’s- 161 at Sydney, M‘Laren’s 228 against Victoria, and Brown’s 140 in the final test match. From first to last the colt’s play lacked nothing essential—defence, vigour, judgment, and variety of strokes were all combined in a remarkable degree in one so young. Since the days of Grace’ s minority no colt of eighteen has played such a fine innings. Five years ago M‘Laren, whem eighteen years of age, scored 108 in his initial first-class match for Lancashire against- Sussex, but he had not to contend against bowling of the same calibre as confronted Hill. The total, 397, is the highest score made by one colony’s eleven against the Englishmen, and the stand of 192 between Hill and Walter Giffen is also an Australian record, the next being Moses and Wood’s 170 for NewrSouth Wales v. Victoria in 1888. The South Australians had to take the field without A. H. Jarvis. Hill, of course, wore the gloves, and Scrymgour was allowed to field. At fiveminutes to four Brockwell andWard began batting, Jones and Jarvis conducting the attack. Both batsmen were soon off the mark scoring, chiefly off the swift bowler. There were only three fieldsmen in front of the wicket, mid-on, mid-off, and extra mid- off, Jones bowling at a great pace. At b4 Giffen took the ball from Jones, and the bats­ men turned their attention to Jarvis. Brock­ well was playing better than ever before in Australia, but at 62 he misjudged the straightness of a ball and stopped it with his leg, retiring lb w for 35. Brown came in and gave two chances, one to the stumper and one to slip, but no wicket fell before time, when Ward and Brown had respectively 31 and 14 to their credit with the total at 82 for one wicket. T h ir d D a y — S a tu r d a y , M arch 30. The 7,000 or 8,000 people who gathered at the Adelaide Oval on the third day of this match saw an exhibition of batting which will not readily fade from their memories— between five minutes past twelve and fifteen minutes past five, deducting a full hour for intervals, the Englishmen scoring no lesa than 370 runs. This averages a rate of slightly over 90 runs an hour, an extra­ ordinary pace considering the size of the ground and that George Giffen, even though he had a maimed hand, was amongst the opposing bowlers. Ward,. Ford, and Brown each scored a century. It is an unusual occurrence to see three centuries in a single innings, and more unusual still to see the three all made in one day. The Englishmen must have felt grati­ fied with the enthusiasm their brilliant batting evoked. The unstinted applause showed how generous even a disappointed Australian crowd may be. As we have said, there were between 7,000 and 8,000 spectators. The gate amounted to £280 10s. The great lesson taught by the afternoon’s play was that South Australian bowling is weak. Playing against him day after day the Englishmen have become accustomed to George Giffen’s deliveries. He was the only bowler who could get men out, but the expense was simply cruel to his average. He bowled with wonderful pertinacity, quite regardless of his; average, because if he had studied that more he would have taken a rest for a while when Ward and Ford were scoring at such a terrific rate. Jones, Jarvis, Lyons, and Reedmai* were all plain and easy on the magnificent wicket. Brown and Ward continued their