Cricket 1895

J une 27, 1890. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 233 residential rule. The committee of the Marylebone Club are no doubt strictly correct in their contention that they are only a court of reference, and that to be brought into operation it is necessary that they should have a formal objection from one of the counties as to the qualifi­ cation of any particular player or players. B ut as I have already said this would be a very invidious task. For the present, it would to some extent clear the air, for if, as I have suggested, the Marylebone Club were to give their definition of residence, whether in fact it means actually residing in a county, or the mere engagement of rooms without a real bond fide intention to reside. In any case, it goes without say­ ing that to qualify the residence must have been continuous for the previous two years and be still existent. So after all the Liberal captain has " declared,” and the outs are now the ins. No doubt, it may bn said of them by some as it was said of Sir John Fal- staff, that the world could well have spared a better man. Cricket, of course, has not nor ever has had any politics. Personally my only regret is, that the late Government did not take the opportu­ nity, as suggested some weeks ago, of recognising by honours of some sort the national character of cricket in the person of the greatest of its exponents, W. G. to wit. Still, it is refreshing to find that Cricket’s proposal has such a hearty sup­ porter as the Bishop of Hereford, as those who readhis speechat the banquet to W.G. at Bristol, on Monday night, can see. In any case, I submit the suggestion of honours, in the shape of Knighthood or otherwise, in a spirit of the most respect­ ful humility to the new Cabinet. What is more, I make no charge for the idea. T h e announcement of the appointment of Mr. Basil Cave to be Her Majesty’s Consul at Zanzibar, may recal to some Cricket readers, at least, the new consul’s active connection with the game. As a boy, at Merchant Taylor’s School, he showed great promise, particularly as a wicket-keeper. If I remember rightly, he played once, if not more, for the Middle­ sex Colts. He did good service, sub­ sequently, for the Richmond Club, and, unless I am mistaken, acted for a short time as its Hon. Sec. G eo rg e L o h m a n x , the Surrey cricketer, who only arrived from South Africa, at Southampton on Saturday morning in the steamer “ Moor,” lost "no time in making his way to Andover. Dr. Farr, who lives there, is not only a great friend of Lohmann, but has besides a thorough knowledge of his case, so that he will be able to give the best of advice as to the possibility of Lohmann playing or not. The statement which appeared in some of the dailies of yesterday that he has signified his readiness to take his place in the Surrey eleven at the earliest possible moment is, I am able to say of my own knowledge, correct. In any case, every one will be glad to hear that the practice he had at Lord’s on Tuesday was so far satisfactory that he feels sanguine of his ability to do himself justice in first-class cricket. That he will do so it goes with­ out saying is the universal wish of cricketers. A C r ic k e t e r who took part in the inter-university match of 1841, passed away last week in the person of Mr. H. M. Curteis. Educated at Westminster School, he was not only in the “ Eleven,” but also rowed in the “ Eight ” there. Later on he played for Sussex with some success, and was a liberal supporter of the game in his own district, and also of the county club, of which at one time he was president. H is two sons, both of whom were also at Westminster School, were actively con­ nected with cricket in Sussex. Like their father, they supported it liberally as well, and the matches at Windmill Hill were once among the most enjoyable cricket gatherings in the county. Mr. H . M. Curteis, who was at one time M.P. for Rye, was also Master of the East Sussex Foxhounds for some years. E v e n with hundreds to right of us, hundreds to left of us, in fact in a season of hundreds of hundreds, in more ways than one, a score reaching to the third century is a bit out of the common. D. L. A. Jephson’s performance for the Wanderers against Norwood, on Saturday, was the more noteworthy, from the fact that his 301 not out was scored in three hours and a quarter and constituted by far the best part of the Wanderers total of 409 for three wickets. From the above it will be seen that he must have himself have scored at the rate of ninety-three runs an hour. In one period of thirty minutes he made 100. His hits included two 6’s, one 5, and no less than fifty 4’s. He must have hit not only blooming hard but blooming often, and at times, no doubt, blooming high. T he banquet to W. G., arranged by the Gloucestershire County C.C., in com­ memoration of hishundredth hundred, was the brilliant success it deserved to be. According to one of the reports, I see that the company numberedfourhundred. It was, no doubt, a fine sense of the eternal fitness of things that regulated the precise number, that is if the figures given are correct. W. G.’s highest innings and the highest individual score against odds as everyone knows is his 400 not out for the United South of England Eleven against Twenty-two of Grimsby in 1876. It was a happy thought of the promoters of Monday’s banquet to testify by the numbers present that they had not overlooked i t ! Why certainly. H a s it occurred to you, writes a corres­ pondent from Caerleon, that Thursday is the lucky day with our grand old cham­ pion this season ? 1*OnSaturdaylast, asall the cricketingworld now knows, W.G-. scored his sixth century in first-class cricket this season. If you will refer to fixture list you will find that all these centuries were made in matches which com­ menced on Thursday, and in no case has he reached the coveted figures in a match which commenced on Monday. Hoping you will have the pleasure of recording several more three figure innings opposite the magic letters ‘ W. G.’ before the end of the season.” T h e Jubilee of I Zingari, as every real well-wisher of the game will have been pleased to see, was as successful as the oldest supporters could well have wished. The history of the I Zingari presents an unbroken record of good work in cricket, and of cricket played according to the best traditions of the game. Tbe presence of Mr. J. L. Baldwin the founder of the Club at Lords during the jubilee match, was not the least gratifying incident of an interesting function. If only as a recognition of the happy thought which prompted the publication. Cricket readers may be interested to know that the Daily Graphic of last Friday con­ tained a short sketch of I Zingari with several illustrations, amongst them ex­ cellent portraits, as far as I remember, of Mr. S. Baldwin and Sir Spencer Ponsonby Fane. T h e last number of the American Cricket contains two scores of matches, in each of which G. S. Patterson, whose batting was one of the best features of the last English tour of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, got over a hundred. They were both for the Germantown Club, the first, 119 against Belmont ; the second, 202 against Philadelphia. Both these were Cup matches, so that G. S. P. is well on the way to winning the batting Cup, so much coveted by the cricketers of Philadelphia. I t may have escaped the notice of some followers of cricket that C. J. Bumup, who came out so well as a batsman for the Gentlemen of England v. I Zingari, in the Jubilee match of last week, and finished off the first innings of the Wanderers so abruptly, is the young Malvemian who did very well in the Cambridge Freshman’s match this year, making 20 and 41, and taking 8 wickets for 82. His first appearance in first-class cricket was by no means unworthy of his school reputation, and he may yet gain the coveted “ blue ” at the University and a high place in first-class cricket. Y e t another record takes a back seat. The aggregate of 1402 made in the match between Sussex and CambridgeUniveraity in June, ’91, is now surpassed in the match on the same ground finished yesterday. 1410 runs for 28 wickets—an average of half-a-century a wicket, with rather a bigger fraction over than in the now superseded record—-is indeed a high- water-mark performance, and it takes some such failures as Notts’ on the same day to assure us that the bat is not generally out-playing the ball.