Cricket 1895

J une 20, 189a. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 217 unless I am mistaken, the best record for one of the Players against the Gentlemen in the matches at Lord’s and the Oval. In Surrey matches, including those against the Australians and the two Universities from 1881 to May 28 last, Abel’s full record is as under:— Matches. Inns. Not Out. Total. Highest Average. Score. 319 500 33 12,267 217 26'26 Ilf the above matches, besides, he made 445catches, andasachangebowler took 199 wickets. Of the many great cricketers Surrey has produced none has borne a higher character or deserved better of his county, not to say the cricket world generally. I can vouch, myself, from a long and close acquaintance, for his un­ failing keenness as well as his unvarying good temper under all circumstances. In the interest of a really excellent little sportsman, cricketers will please make a note that the Surrey v. Yorkshire match at the Oval, the proceeds of which will go to Abel, takes place on August 12th and two following days. A re c o r d which has obtained since 1882 had to go by the board on Wednes­ day of last week. This time Ireland was well in it, for the Curragh ground was the scene of the new best. The match was between the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Army Service Corps, so that the army had the whole fun of the thing to themselves. The record was made by Capt. Oates and Private Fitzgerald, who put on no less than 623 for the second wicket. This numberiseighteenmorethan were put on by G.|F. Vernon and A. H. Trevor for the Orleans Club against RieklingGreen, at Rickling Green, in 1882, which remained for thirteen years the best performance of the kind. I t deserves to be mentioned too that the scores of Capt. Oates (313) and Private Fitzgerald (287) who were, by the way, both not out, have neither of them been equalled in Irish cricket, so that their achievement constitutes a record in i.iore ways than one. The rate of their run getting will be understood further when it is stated that Capt. Oates was batting four hours and three quarters, which gives an average, for the innings, of 131 runs an hour. Altogether the days’ cricket realized 709 runs, which is a pretty good sustained effort of itself. Capt. Oates, if I mistake not, is an old Harrovian, and son of Capt. W. H. C. Oates, who died last year, after holding the position of Hon. Secretary of the Notts County Cricket Club for some time. B u t against these batsmen Mr. W. M. Bradley was not bowling. He does not when playing for Lloyd’s Register encourage record breaking by the oppos­ ing batsmen. On June 8 he took eight wickets for 17 runs, three being taken with successive balls. On the loth inst. *e improved on this by obtaining the hrst six wickets of his opponents with successive balls, and altogether had nine wickets for 15 runs. This last per­ formance was on Mitcham Green. Brad­ ley is reported to be a terrifically fast bowler, and as he is only 20 years of age he may continue to increase in swiftness and in disfavour with batsmen weekly. R a n j it s in h j i , P r in c e , has also been at it again. Playing for Cassandra, at Cambridge, he went in first wicket down, but was hardly given a fair chance of showing what he could do, as with only six of his colleagues out the innings was declared closed when the Indian prince had made the trifling score of 206. For this he had been batting two hours and forty minutes. In the fourteen matches he has completed this year this Oriental exponent of the game has accumulated 1,190 runs, which works out to the respectable average of 85. A REFERENCE to Irish cricket brings prominently to one’s mind the excellent performance of L. H. Gvvynn for the Dublin University eleven on the occasion of their visit to England last week. So far as batting was concerned, both at Cambridge and Leicester, it was very much a case of Eclipse first, the rest no­ where. Against Cambridge University he scored 63 and 106, against Leicestershire 153 not out and 24, so that his aggregate for the four innings was 346 for three times out. His first score at Leicester was the more noteworthy from the fact that he carried his bat through the innings. I n the two matches, moreover, he took eleven wickets. Lucius Gwynn’s record as an all-round athlete is familiar, no doubt, to a number of Crirket readers. To the others it will be news that he is one of the very best three-quarters at the Rugby game of football in Ireland. As a proof that he can take his own part in fields of higher culture I may add that he carried off a prize of twenty pounds in the recent Fellowship and Scholarship Examinations at Trinity College, Dublin. D r . G. T h o r t o n , who has been of such service to Middlesex this season as a bats­ man, as well as a bowler, it will hardly be news to the majority of Cricket readers, was tried on a few occasions for York­ shire four years ago. He is a native of Skipton in the West Riding, and indeed learned his cricket first at the Grammar School there, and later on with the Skipton C.C. T h e Adelaide Observer makes casual mention of a good batting performance in South Australian cricket during the season just over. J. C. Noach, of the Dublin Club, was the hero, and it is said that his aggregate of 1864 runs, is a record for the Colony, or near it, very near it. This is how he scored for the Dublin Club:—In Association matches 57, 76, 212 not out, 191 not out, 94, 145 not out, 37, 109 not out, 98, 7, 79, 70; total, 1,175 runs; average for 8 complete innings 146'875. In all matches—57, 76, 212 not out, 191 not out, 73, 65, 66, 94, 145 not out, 37, 109 not out, 57, 98, 15, 13, 7, 79, 70, 115, 59, 62, 93, 71 not out; total, 1,864 runs; average for 16 complete innings, 109'2. Even the above list does not include scores of 3 and 11 against the English Eleven. S e v e r a l American cricketers known to English grounds were well to the fore in some high scoring by German­ town against Philadelphia at Philadelphia on the 24t,h of last month. Of the total of 395 for five wickets, G. S. Patterson, who went in first and was not out at the end of the day with 179 to his credit, and F. H. Bohlen between them were responsible for no less than 299 out of 356 from the bat. From this it will be gathered that “ extras” were responsible for no less than 39 or ten per cent, quite an undue proportion. The fact of 31 byes pre­ supposes weakness behind the wicket. Five wides, too argue a slight want of direction in the bowling somewhere. F. H. Bohlen, referred to above, played in some first-class fixtures in the early part of last summer at Lord’s as well as in Mr. A. J. Webbe’s matches at Oxford and Cambridge. I t was a kindly act of Arthur Shrews­ bury to consent to play in Flowers’ benefit match at Trent Bridge this week, more especially if, as must have been the case, he was anything but fit for first- class cricket. In any case it is worthy of note that he had not represented Notts since 1893. The only pity was, con­ sidering that the proceeds of the match are to go to a really hard-working and most deserving cricketer, that fortune befriended the wrong side, in this case Lancashire, and to such an extent that the match was over fairly early on the second afternoon. It was the unkindest cut of all too that an injured hand pre­ vented Flowers himself from playing. His presence, always provided that he was anything like his best form, might have made a lot of difference to the game, and what was, perhaps, of equal importance in this particular instance, to the gate. C h a r l e s B r a m p t o n , who died yester­ day week, after acting as coach at Marl­ borough College from 1861 onwards till a few years ago, was playing for Notts in the middle of the fifties. A free hitting batsman, he made several good scores during a not over lengthy career. After a three years’ engagement at Stourbridge he was four seasons at Enville Hall with the Earl of Stamford, and subsequently, from 1859 to 1861 inclusive, with M.C.C. at Lord’s, which he left to take a per­ manent engagement at Marlborough College. Though increasing years neces­ sitated his relinquishing that post, Marlborough cricket had his best wishes and hearty interest to the end of a life which had reached within less than three years of the three score and ten. I f for nothing else than the rate of their scoring, the partnership of Sir T. C.