Cricket 1895

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1895. A U S T R A L T A ’ S CHAMPION. GEORGE GIFFEN IN FIRST-CLASS CRICKET. By J. N. P e n t e l o w . A few years ago it was accepted as a dictum un­ deniable that William Lloyd Murdoch was facile princeps among all Australia’s bats­ men. But to-day, though the brilliant and accom­ plished captain of four Aus­ tralian teams has won for himself fresh laurels as an Englishman, it must be acknowledged that his great deeds have been, if not equalled, at least approached by two other colonial bats­ men. One of these is Harry Moses, most consistent of run-getters, and probably as good a left-handed bats­ man as the world has ever seen. Unfortunately the New South Welshman has never visited England, so that we in the old country have had no opportunity of seeing him perform on our wickets. The other, George Giffen, has a claim to distinction as an all-round player which neither Murdoch nor Moses p 'ssesses. He is, indeed, the Kiily mm among all the fine players Australia has sent to England to do battle for h-r who can quite stand a c miparison with such bril- lij,at exponents alike of bitting and bowling as Messrs A G. Steel and C. J. Studd Barnes, Lohmann, and Barlow. Ferris has, it is true, developed wonder­ fully as a batsman since settling in England, and proved himself in 1893 really first-class; but at the same time his bowling has de­ teriorated. Palmer’s batting successes came in the days when the best of his bowling had been done. Turner is a good, free bat, and so, in his day, was Tom Garrett; but neither of these is quite of the class of the Englishmen I have named. Boyle, Spofforth, Trott and Lyons can scarcely be reckoned all-round men; the former two were bowlers who some­ times made runs, the latter two are batsmen who some­ times get wickets. Probably poor Midwinter approached more closely than any of them to really high-class all-round form ; but Mid was more English than Aus­ tralian, did nearly all his best performances as an Englishman, and even at his best was much below Giffen’s form of recent years. Giffen is to-day the central figure of South Australian cricket, as he has been ever since the “ wheat - field ” colony first antagonised one of her sisters. He and Lyons have (as Mr. Clarence P. Moody tells us in his capi­ tal little book on “ Austra­ lian Cricket and Cricketers ” ) between them made more than half the runs credited to the colony’s batsmen in intercolonials ; and he alone has taken more than half the wickets secured by the colony’s bowlers. Time after time, indeed, he has had practically to keep up one end throughout both innings of an opponent; and per­ haps this necessity (for a necessity it has been in con­ nection with South Austra­ lia, never rich in bowlers) has conduced to his besetting MOLD. From aphotograph by Haivkins § Co., of Brighton,