Cricket 1895

J u ly 25, 1895. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 297 Incogniti, Hampstead, and Old Mal- vemians were, however, all won. Against Hampstead 289 were made in three minutes under two hours, and the match was won just before time. In all, 3,100 runs were scored during the week. N. Millar made 385 for four times out, L. S. Browne 260, and R. J. Francis 172 for the same number of innings. Altogether Streatham had a brilliant time. “ To see oursels as ithers see us ” is not altogether a useless if at times a far from pleasant experience. Anyhow it may interest Cricket readers to know thatW. G.’s testimonial has furnished matter for not a few of the Continental papers. The only regret is, that the visit of Mr. West- ray’s team to Oporto in the spring has not had the effect of enlightening the journals of that country on the subject of matters cricketical. This is what the Comercio de Portugal — where the port comes from—says, by way of a finish to an article, under the title of “ Tbe King of Cricketers.” The extracts are re-produced verbatim et litteratim :— Never before, says the Comercio, has such popularity been attainedby asimple sportsman, not even by the jockey, Archer, who, how­ ever, was favoured by the presence at his table on his wedding day of the representa­ tives of the greatest names amongst the British aristocracy. For a long time past the king of cricketers has enjoyed the praises of peers and the admiration of the Prince of Wales, and quite recently the Duke of Beau­ fort, Knight of the Garter and head of the existing branch—with a bar sinister—of the Plantagenets, had the honour of presiding at a banquet which was offered to Grace by the G l a n c e s t e u County Club. T he following will, however be new to English cricketeis, and to no one more than W. G. himself:— The value of the objets d'art —chronometers, chains, rings, medals, &c.—which have been presented to bim, are worth nearly 80millions of reis. He earns some 40 millions of reis per annum, that is to say, more than the Duke of Cambridge as Commander in Chi'f, and more than most magistrates and other British functionaries receive. I HOPE I shall n o t p rod u ce in tern a tion a l com p lica tion s if I su g g est th a t th e co b b le r sh ou ld stick to his last. T h e personnel of the new House of Commons will contain several cricketers who have been elected to take the place of those some of us have loved and lost awhile. Ahastyglanceatthepapersreveals the names of the following, although, I may add, that it in no way professes to be a complete list. C. T. Murdoch, Beading. Major G. E. Banes, South West Ham. J. T. Firbank, East Hull. A. Pease, Darlington. G. Kemp, Heywood. H. J. Beckitt, Brigg. J. Pender Mid, Northants. Earl of Dalkeith, Roxburghshire. Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, Swansea Town. G. K e m p will, of course, be remembered as the old Bossallian, who played for Cambridge University in 1885-86, and did good service on some few occasions for Lancashire. Sir J. T . D. Llewelyn captained the South Wales C.C. for many years, and is one of the keenest and best sportsmen in the Principality. Cricket, indeed, is not by any means his only fancy. In football his interest is quite as keen, as can be seen from the fact that he has been for several years president of the Welch Bugby Union as well as tbe Glamorganshire County F.C. His son, tbe late W. D. Llewelyn, had the best batting average for Oxford University in 1890. I t is stated, though I do not know on what authority, that A. C. McLaren, who a short time ago obtained a Master­ ship at Mr. Hasting’s School, has just received an appointment at Harrow School. If the rumour be true, as I hope it is, Harrow cricket may be considered to be particularly fortunate. Another cricketer, who has made his mark effectually this summer, has, I am told, also joined the scholastic profession. I am referring to the captain of the Cam­ bridge eleven, W. G. Druce, who it is said is going school mastering down Beigate way. I t will interest Cricket readers, no doubt, to know that H. F. Boyle, who not only showed such excellent all-round cricket, but made himself so deservedly popular with the majority of the Aus­ tralian teams which have visited England, in the middle of last month left Victoria, where he has lived all his life, to settle in Brisbane. Boyle had a hearty send- off from Melbourne on the 15th of June, and a testimonial instituted in his honour has met with general support. His old cricket mate, T. Horan, in a eulogistic article in the Australasian, gives a timely reminder that it was Boyle who astonished the old folks in England by the introduc­ tion of a new position in the field, known now as “ silly mid-on.” Another memor­ able recollection in the veteran’s cricket career is the line on the score sheets, “ W. G. Grace, b Boyle, 33,” on the Melbourne Ground in 1873. I t is only a few weeks ago since I had occasion to notice in passing a score of over two hundred in Irish cricket. And now comes news of another, and, in respect of all-round cricket, even a better performance. It occurred in a match between the Leinster and Fitz william Clubs yesterday week, and B. H. Lam­ bert, of the former, was the hero. His record in the game showed a score of 248 not out, and seven wickets for 23 runs. A n idea of the pace at which he made his runs can be gathered when I add that he got his first hundred in forty minutes. Altogether he was only at the wickets two hours and five minutes, and among his hits were seven 6’s, one 5, and thirty- six 4’s. Considering that the Fitzwilliam eleven included tbe two old Oxonians, T. B. and W. S. Case, among others, his bowling figures represented a fine per­ formance. It is interesting, too, to notice that Lambert is the third batsman to score over a thousand runs in Ireland this season. A CURIOUS coincidence in County matches this season seems to have escaped the notice of the omniscient scribes who deal with matters cricketical. It is only fair to say that I am myself indebted to the kindness of a watchful correspondent in tbe Weat Countree for an interesting cricket curio, which, per­ haps otherwise* might have never seen the light. The coincidence is to be found in tbe fact that in both the huge innings played in county matches at Trent Bridge and Taunton, that is to say, Lowe and Wickens officiated as umpires. These two humpty dumpties as Thoms delights to describe them, can claim the unique experience of having seen 1,527 runs scored in two innings. This is how it was done:—May 17, Nottingham, Notts v. Sussex, 726; July 16, Taunton, Lancashire v. Somersetshire, 801. T h o u g h I am under the impression that in the far-off days Humphrey Payne, then Thoms’ partner in the management of the Eton and Middlesex ground at St. John’s Wood, did even a more note­ worthy performance, the record of M. G. Bristowe, sent me by a good friend in Canada, is none the less of a remarkable character. In the second innings of Ottawa, in the match against Montreal played on the 1st of July on the Montreal ground, M. G. B. scored 52 out of 56 from the bat. The innings of 61 lasted less than an hour, and the other four runs were divided between three batsmen. Some three years ago Bristowe, it is worth recalling, scored 86 for once out against Lord Hawke’s eleven, when they played in Ottawa. He is one of the best bats­ men out in Canada, and has several times represented it in its International matches with the United States. G. L. J esso p , who has just returned to his County of Gloucester for his county’s good, distinguished himselflastweek by an all-round performance quite out of the common. Playing for Beccles College against the Norfolk County Asylum, he got the latter out in their first innings entirely unaided, and for a small total 24. That it was solely his own work will be seen when it is stated that he got all the ten wickets, and, moreover, hit the stumps in every case. To make his achievement the more striking, when he went in he scored 184 not out. Curiously enough, read by the light of a previous paragraph on the subject of a match at Ottawa, Sergeaut Cockburn not only carried his bat through the first innings of the Asylum, but got all the runs (14) made from the bat. The balance of the 24 consisted of extras.