Cricket 1895

314 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 1, 1895. and you can’t imagine what excitement j there is over it. More people go to see this match than inter-colonial matches. On the days of the match, very nearly everyone you meet is wearing either red (Prince’s) or blue (St. Peter’s), and a stranger passing the Adelaide Oval would wonder what all the yells, and trumpets, and shouts were about.” T h e Irish Eleven Mr. J. M. Meldon is bringing over to London next week will be pretty sure to render a good account of itself if the names of the players, as given by authority, should prove to be correct. The following nine will be suf­ ficient to show the quality of the cr’cket the Irishmen are likely to play: J. H. Meldon, L. H. Gwynn, A. P. Gwynn, I''- 1- Kilkelly, B. Hamilton, B. H. Lam­ bert, J. W. Hynes, F. H. Browning and T. C. Boss. The first fixture is on Friday and Saturday of next week at the Oval against Surrey Club and Ground. Then M. C. C. and Ground are to be opposed ford ’s, and finally the team are to pay a visit to Mr. W. H. Laverton’s charming seat in Wiltshire to play that gentleman’s Eleven. J. D. T y l d e s l e y , who has been recently introduced into the Lancashire eleven with such pronounced success is, it will be of interest to Cricket readers to know, a Lancashire “ mon,” born and br;-(l. He was bom at Worsley, and the credit of his cricket training also belongs to Lancashire. He scored heavily for the second eleven against Surrey’s second at the Oval some weeks ago. T h e two Lancashire players who punished the bowling most severely on that occasion were the principal scorers for Lancashire against Warwickshire at Birmingham on Monday. L a s t week I referred to Mr. N. Miller’s performance during the Streat­ ham “ week.” To-day I receive a state­ ment of his last ten innings which certainly merit special record. They are v. Hampstead, 88, caught; v. Sutton, 66, caught; v. Oxford Authentics, 69, bowled; v. Incogniti, 91, caught; v. Hampstead, 122, not out; v. M.C C., 45, ruu out; v. Surrey Club and Ground, 18, not out; v. Old Malvemians, 40, run out; v. Caterham, 66, not out; v. Old Westmimsters, 104, not out; a total of 709 runs for six completed innings, or an average of 118*1. This must be one of of the best performances of the year in club cricket combining as it does con­ sistency with high scoring. As the Jubilee of the Canterbury week was celebrated in 1891 it does not require a severe calculation to find that the festival to be commenced on the St. Lawrence Ground on Monday is the fifty- fourth of the series. Aslastyear, Warwick­ shire and Yorkshire are to oppose Kent in turn, and, as the home team generally show to their best advantage at Canter­ bury, there is every reason to predict all­ round cricket above the average. The social functions will be on the same lines as in past years, consisting of amateur theatricals by the Old Stagers on the first four evenings barring Wednesday, and grand balls onWednesdayand Friday evenings. In addition, there will be a lantern parade by the cycle clubs on Thursday evening with, as part of its object, a collection for the local hospital. A p l e a s in g incident in connection with the annual match between the Gentlemen and Players of Yorkshire at the end of last week was the presentation to Mr. Ernest Smith on the occasion of his approaching marriage. One of the keenest and best of sportsmen himself, the old Oxonian’s popularity among his fellow Yorkshiremen was fully proved by the thoroughness and enthusiasmwith which all combined to do him honour. It is hardly necessary to add that he has the best wishes, not only of those with whom he has worked in county matches, but of cricketers everywhere and of all classes. T he Bev. F. W. Terry, it will interest Somersetshire cricketers in particular to know, was in a rare run-getting vein last month in Canada. Playing for the London Asylum against Parkdale on Dominion Day (July 1), he scored 128, in which were included twenty-six 4’s. Only two or three days afterwards, playing for the same club v. the Forest C.O., he made 130 and carried out his bat. In the first match a “ record” against time was established for both Canada and America, 502 runs being scored in four hours and three quarters. T h e cricket critics have very properly pointedoutthatBichardson’sperformance at the Oval last Thursday, in the Sussex match, in bowling Mr. Murdoch with a ball that sent the bail fifty yards, is not even the best of the season. It was out­ done, in fact, by Mr. C. J. Kortright, in the match between Essex and Leicester­ shire, begun at Leyton on June 3. But the record belongs to Mr. H. Botherham. The ball with which he bowled Mr. D. H. Docker, in the match between Effingham |Bovers and Gentlemen of Derbyshire, at Derby, in August, 1881, sent the bail a i distance of sixty-two yards. T h e unbeaten record of Surrey’s second eleven for the last three years was very nearly going by the board at the Oval on Tuesday. At one period indeed during the second innings of Northants, who only had 113 to get to win, it looked as if the Surrey team were bound to lose. That they pulled through was in a very great measure the work of Lockwood, who took eleven wickets in the match for 66runs, andalsobattedwellineachinnings. His reappearance in the Surrey eleven next Monday at the Oval in the Notts match will, it goes without saying, add greatly to the strength of the side. A W EEK’ S cricket right off is, as a general rule, sufficient for the best regulated clubs, more than enough for many of them. The soul of the Croydon Club, however, soars above functions of the common or garden type. A fortnight is indeed hardly enough to satisfy the hunger forworkof theirmost enterprising of Hon. Secs. So far Croydon has done well in its fortnight of 1895. At least, the two first matches against Stoics and Burlington Wanderers ended satis­ factorily, even if the margin in favour of the home team in the latter was only one of six runs. E v e r y o n e will be glad to notice that Alec Heame has joined the small band of cricketers who have so far scored over a thousand runs in first-class matches this season. As only seven others have as yet got into four figures, the performance is one of some distinction. The figures of the eight are as follow Inns. Not out. Total. W . G. G race................. 33 ........... 2 ........... 1913 K. 8. Ranjitsinhji ... 27 ........... 2 ........... 14^7 A b el.................................. 31 ........... 4 ........... 1393 Ward (A.) .................. 27 ........... 2 ........... 1287 Lilley .......................... 29 ........... 1 ........... 1133 8. M .J . Woods ........... 27 ......... 0 ........... 1065 A. E. Stoddart ........... 28 .......... 0 ........... 1087 Heame (Alec] ........... 34 ........... 2 ........... 10.0 The effect upon batting records of the broken weather, which has been so prevalent during July—especially the latter half—is exemplified very signally by the subjoined figures, which show the averages of twenty leading batsmen on the last day of the month as compared with their averages at the end of June:— N o.of C’p’t’d Total Average Average Inn’gs. Runs. July 31. June 30 W . G. G race...........31 ... 1913 ... 61-71 ... 8157 R anjitsinhji........... 25... 1497 .. 59*22 ... 62*61 Abel*.......................... 27 ... 1393 ... 51*51 ... 69 u0 Ward, A.................... 25... 1287 ... 51*48 ... 58*60 Druce, N. F ............. 21... 893 ... 42 52 ... 67*36 Druce, W .G ............ 13... 546 .... 42 00 ... 32 10 Lilley .................. 28... 1133 ... 40 46 . 35*33 Holland, F. C. ...1 9 ... 759 ... 39 94 ... 43*20 Woods, 8. M .J . ...2 7 ... 1065 ... 39*44 ... 50*52 Foster, H. K ............ 15... 599 ... 39*14 ... 37*91 Bainbridge,H.W.... 26 .. 998 ... 38 38 ... 42*77 Stoddart, A. E. ...2 8 ... 1087 ... 38*23 ... 38*66 Brann, G................... 19... 732 ... 38 10 ... 45*23 Palairet, L. C. H.... 18 ... 665 ... 36*94 ... 46*91 Mordaunt, G. J. ...2 6 ... 917 ... &5*27 .. 58*64 Moorhouse ........... 24 ... 845 ... 35*21 ... 36*76 Hayward.................. 25... 871 ... 34*84 ... 42*21 O’Brien, Sir T.C .... 23 ... 788 ... 34*60 ... 36*68 L.-Gower,H.D.G.... 15 ... 514 ... 34*40 ... 38*90 Quaife, W ................ 27... 917 ... 33*96 .. 37*26 It will be observed that the effect of the bad weather has been to reduce the general average of nearly seven runs all round, though, of course, some men’s figures suffer more than others. The highest averages, which take the most skill to maintain, have relatively been reduced to a greater degree, Messrs. Grace, Mordaunt, and N. F. Druce, with Abel, being cases in point, this quartett dropping from 17 to 25 points in the aver­ ages But only three or four of the twenty maintain their average of a month ago. The following are the Principal Fixture3 for the week, August 1st to 7th :— Aug. 1. Bristol, Gloucestershire v. Warwickshire. Aug. 1. Manchester, Lancashire v. Derbyshire. Aug. 1. Sheffield, Yorkshire v. Hampshire. Aug. 5. (Bank Holiday.) Oval, Surrey v. Notts. Aug. 5. Canterbury, Kent v. Warwickshire. Aug. 5. Bristol, Gloucestershire v. Sussex. Aug. 5. Manchester, Lancashire v. Yorkshire. Aug. 5. Taunton, Somersetshire v. Middlesex. Aug. 5. Leicester, Somersetshire v. Essex. Aug. 5. Derby, Derbyshire v. Hampshire.