Cricket 1895

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — B;jr OH. THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1895. price 2d. style and cricket value anything he had pre­ viously accomplished. This was his resolutely and stylishly played 86 not out in th6 fourth test match. The wicket was by no means in good condition, and .Richardson, Lockwood, Peel, and Briggs, in their several styles, were all difficult to play. With Graham he put on 35 runs in fifteen minutes at the start of his innings, and was at the wicket only an hour and three-quarters for his total, which was generally admitted to have been made by the best and most stylish cricket of the day. His hita are mostly cuts and drives, so that his play is attractive as well as effective, and with advancing age he will no doubt be even more worthy of praise as a hard-hitting and punishing batsman. In the match above noticed he scored, without losing his wicket, more than the whole of the English team did in either innings, a feat rarely accomplished, but curiously enough duplicated, so far as runs from the but are concerned, by Albert Ward (who played in the match which witnessed Trott’s feat) as these lines are being written, no further off than Nottingham. There have been many more or less trust­ worthy predictions as 'to the com­ position of the Australian eleven which will in all probability be touring in England in the summer of 1896, and speculations of all kinds have been indulged in as ta what old stagers will be left out and what new blood will be intro­ duced. It cannot be but that sev­ eral of the men whose names are household words amongst us, and hive been so for years past, must be replaced in the next team by others younger and as yet unknown in this country, nor will this detract from the inter­ est which will be evoked by its advent. Eady, Iredale, Hill, Darling,j McKibbin, all are, by more or fewer prophets, indicated as probable items in the combina­ tion, but we have not yet seen any list of players which does not include the name of Albert Edwin Trott, and as the Melbourne C. C. will most likely have the selection of the team, there cm be little doubt that one of the first men to be invited to join it will be the young- Victorian whosephotograph, that of aremark­ ably good looking and well set-up young athlete, is accompanied by this microscopic monograph. MR. A . E. TROTT. THE COMING MAN OF MELBOURNE CRICKET. To stand first in the batting averages in eleven a-side matches in such arepresentative series as that played between England’s team captained by Stoddart and the various colonies of Australia and those colonies combined, would be aproud achievement for a well-seasoned cricketer. To have an average 10 runs above that of the great George Gitfen, and 15 runs higher than that of the English captain, would be form worthy of the best bats­ man in the world. Yet these results have been attained by the young brother of the Harry Trott, whom we have welcomed in Eng­ land in past years as a representa­ tive Australian cricketer. Albert Edwin Trott was the youngest player in the last test match, being just 22 years of age (having been born on February 6th, 1873), and but for an indifferent show in this contest he would be possessed of indeed a remarkable average. As it was he averaged 66 runs for five completed innings, but before the game at Melbourne, from March 1st to 6th, he had scored 231 runs and had been out once only in the five innings played. The third test match between Australia and Mr. Stoddart’s team saw his best performance, for in this encounter he scored 38 not out and 72 not out, and obtained eight wickets for 52 runs, an all-round performance nerhaps beyond parallel for a colt in matches of such importance. It is very remarkable in these Anglo- Australian games that his average is within 20 of his highest score, and that he did not once attain the -century. A. E. Trott was brought out as a bowrler, and, indeed, of those who have taken over thirty wickets in first-class cricket in Australia last season, he stands fourth, with 35 wickets for anaverage of 22-2. He is likewise a brilliant fieldsman, but after all it is probably for his batting that he will remain famous. In first-class cricket, other than that in which the English eleven was concerned, he was not so successful, having an average only decimally exceeding 20, but in all first-class cricket last season he had the very useful average of 39 and one-third. The subject of our sketch is almost certain to be seen in England with the next Australian team, though report has it that his modesty led him to wager a new hat to the opposite effect with ore of Stoddart’s team, a bet which is we hope as good as lost. Rumour yet again stated that Trott intended to make his home in England, but was dissuaded by the East Melbourne C.C. from that purpose, and that he had been coaxed into signing an MR. A. E. TROTT. From a Photo'Jby Foster & Martin , Melbourne. agreement to play both football and cricket fur the East Melbourne Club. It is at any rate a fact that he is so highly esteemed for his athletic abilities in Australia that a ready response was made to the proposal to testi­ monialize him, and that he was made the recipient of a pecuniary present. Amongst his performances last year there was one which may well be cited as surpassing in