Cricket 1895

M ay 30, 1895. P IC K E T : A WEEKLY KECOKL> OE THE GAME. 169 noteworthy instance of the staying powers of our Grand Old Man which is not altogether unconnected with this match seems somehow to have been overlooked by the papers. It speaks volumes for his appetite for work that after three days of such heavy exercise he should have been off at once from Gravesend to Bristol on the conclusion of the match on Satur­ day night. Considering that he must have left there quite early again on Mon­ day morning to get to the Oval in time for the commencement of Mr. W. W. Bead’s testimonial match, the amount of travelling he must have done to spend Sunday at home can be easily calculated. A n d the mention of W. G. gives me the opportunity of mentioning a subject that has been a leading topic for con­ versation among cricketers of all classes during the last few days. The distinction conferred on Henry Irving in the birth­ day honours last week has suggested a very general feeling that cricket is quite as deserving, if not more deserving, of recognition in this way than the drama. Anyhow it is certain that nothing could be more popular with the world of sport, and the community is not only large but influential, than the bestowal of royal honours of some kind on the king of cricket. S e r io u s l y if one considers the good work W. G. has done, not merely by his personal success on the cricket field, but directly and indirectly by bringing cricket to the front as a moral teacher, as well as an educational force, even ignoring the healthy amusement he has provided as a player, without anything approaching a rival, it would be easy to prove that cricket has infinitely better claims for honours, if honours are to be given, than the stage, beedj g . In any case it is satisfactory to find that the idea has already found favour in high quarters. Cricket—the game as well as the paper—has no politics, and the general public neither know or want to know W. G.’s political opinion. None the less I venture to think that the Government which took the initiative to recognise in some official way the services W. G. has rendered to the community during the last thirty years would make one of the best possible bids for public favour with a very large section of the electors in the event of an appeal to the country. _ _ T h o u g h M a y is stillincomplete and there is no knowing what W. G. may do against Middlesex at Lord’s to-day for Glouces­ tershire, yet it will be of interest to give his full scores in first class matches for the month:—- May 9. M.C.C. v. Sussex ......... 1st Inn. . 13 ... 2nd Inn. 103 .. 116 „ 13. M.C.C. v. Yorkshire . 18 ... 25 ... 43 M 16, Glo’stershire v Somerset 288 ... — . .. 288 » 20. Mr.W ebbe’s X I. v. Camb,. 62 ... — .. 52 „ 23. Gloucestershire v. Kent .., 257 ... *73 !.. 330 » 27. England v. S u rrey.......... , 18 ... .. 18 * Not out Total ...847 His average it will be seen from the above is nearly 109 for eight completed innings. In connection with his extra­ ordinary performance at Gravesend last week, as a curious fact it deserves to be added that he was either batting or in the field during the whole of the three days. C. J. M. Fox, of Old Westminsters’ Crystal Palace, and Kent County fame, has been like many other batsmen, been having a high old time of it in the way of run getting during the month. Up to Saturday week his scores were as follow : Old Westminsters v. Blackheath ........... 46 Crystal Palace v. St. Thomas’ Hospital... 204* „ v. Addiscombe .................. 153* ,, v. Guy’s Hospital ........... 18 Vampires v. Essex Club and Ground ... 136* Crystal Palace v. Blackheath ................... 42 * Not out. This gives an aggregate of 599 for six innings, which with three not outs, works out to an average of 199 2-3rds. A noteworthy feature of the six innings mentioned, too, is that he was not bowled out. Three times he was caught out, twice at short slip, and once in the long field. C. E. M. W i ls o n ’s record for Cam­ bridge University in Surrey’s first innings .on Friday in getting Holland out with left hand bowling, after having been a failure with his right hand, has had very few parallels in important matches. I venture to think T. C. O’Brien — Sir Timothy I ought to have said—if I re­ member rightly did bowl right as well as left for Middlesex against Gloucestershire at Clifton some years ago. There may possibly be other instances, but this is the only one that comes to my mind. It is also a curious thing that there is now and was last season at Uppingham a second C. E. M. Wilson, a relative of the Kent Wilsons. The latter is a Surrey colt, and may be heard of in time to come in first class cricket. I n club matches there have been in my own experience many cases of the kind. I am under the impression that L. A. Shuter bowled left hand after being unsuccessful with the right once at the Oval, though I am not certain. G. W. Ricketts, the old Oxonian, really right- handed, bowled left I understand dur­ ing one of the tours of English Amateurs in the United States. But the credit of perhaps the curious record belongs to L. A. Shuter. In one season he had the unique distinction of the hat trick with his right as well as his left handed bowl­ ing. A m o n g the recipients of birthday honours already referred to, a cricketer in the person of Mr. J. F. Leese, Q.C., M.P., came in for a Knighthood. The new Knight will be remembered by many cricket readers as one of the leading players at the Lancashire Eleven. If I mistake not N. and Y. Leese, who have been representing M.C.C. and Ground in several of the earlier matches of the month are his sons. How history repeated itself in the per­ formance of Abel and Holland in Surrey’s matches, first with Essex and Cambridge University, has been already pointed out by more than one cricket writer. In the first case the pair put on over 250, in the second over 300, while they were together. But a curious coincidence in the two games seems to have escaped unnoticed. In both matches Holland at the luncheon interval was not out 91. J u s t i c e t o I r e l a n d ! No one else perhaps observed it, or I feel quite sure the run getting Phoenix Club in its match with the Land Commission on Saturday week would have been commemorated in the proper fashion. Against a total of 193 by the Commission, Phoenix scored 222 for three wickets. The runs were got teste the Irish Field in a little over an hour and-a-half, which is about as high a rate of scoring as anyone could wish for. F . H. Browning the well-known Irish wicket keeper, and H. W. Howard who made 90 and 85 respectively, were the batsmen who kept the ball and the score moving. Browning too had the unusual experience of being caught at third man without any appeal for the catch. S p e c t a c l e s in cricket have now the distinction of a special table to themselves. The ordinary spectacles are almost as rare in important matches as those which are represented by a double cipher. In the Cambridge University Eleven which played at the Oval last week, there were, however, no less than three players W. G. Grace, Jr., H. Gray and J. Bur­ rough, all wore glasses. In this week’s Cricket Notches, Mr. Holmes records an answer to the ques­ tion he asked a fortnight ago, whether the four innings in any match ever totalled up alike. Sixty-six years before the match at Tenby, the county of Surrey, at Woking, witnessed a like performance when, on August 28th, 1818, Shiere and Woking played a double tie, each scoring 71 in each of their innings. A corre­ spondent draws my attention to this, and his information is confirmed by Scores and Biographies, which further states that no record of details of the match could be obtained, and that the account was found as a loose leaf in a M.C.C. score book. Cricket in common with other papers has helped to encourage the belief that L. H. Gay, who, with A. C. Maclaren and F. G. J. Ford, deferred his departure from Australia till a later date than the majority of Mr. Stoddart’s team was making his way home to England like the rest. If the information I have is true, however, there is an intention of his settling in Ceylon, where a brother of his lived for many years as a tea planter. Hence there seems to be some doubt about his return to England, at least at present. Toujours W. G .! Well^Ahere, it cannot be helped, he has been' so much in evidence just lately. Thisitime I have to mention that the Gloucestershire County C.C. has resolved to celebrate his one