Cricket 1895

A ug . 15, 1895. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 345 “ F o l l o w my leader ” is an excellent doctrine in its way with certain reservations, of course. Personally, I follow my Leader every morning with interest, for the simple reason that “ R over” and “ A stral” tell the story of cricket from day to day in a light and pleasant style, very different to that of the common or gardeu chronicler of the game. But what is to be done when one’s Leader misleads us ? Only yesterday it went out of its way to tell its legion of readers that it had never seen Abel keep wicket. I hope I do not intrude, but I remember more than one occasion in Surrey cricket in wliich “ The Guvnor’’ has donned the pads and gloves and taken wicket, by no means discreditably. T h e cosmopolitan character of our grand old man has never, perhaps, been more strikingly illustrated than in the heartiness with which the W. G. Grace National Testimonial has been taken up in all parts of the Empire. The same post brought me particulars of two im­ portant additions to the fund, and from places wide as the poles asunder. O n e was from the Nil.giri News, which sees Ihe light first in Ootamacund—- known for shortness as O oty—with a sum of 338 rupees, including 50 from Lord Wenlock, the Governor of Madras, him­ self a keen cricketer. The other consisted of a draft of £99 10s. sent by the Cape Times as the South African contribution to the fund. Among the subscribers to the latter were His Excellency Sir Hercules Robinson, General Goodenough, Admiral Rawson, the Premier, members of both Houses of the Legislature, and the Dean of Cape Town. The Daily Telegraph Fund up to date, I may state for the information of those who are not in the know, amounts to over four thousand three hundred pounds. And what is more it ij still growing. T h e history of English cricket does not lack instances in which elevens com­ posed entirely of members of the same family have acquitted themselves with credit. Outside England such an incident is naturally less common by reason of the great reduction in the number of players. Hence the match between the Martins and Buffalo, played at Buffalo (U.S.A.) on July 29, presents a special interest. According to the American Cricketer all the Martins were first cousins, except F. O. who was the father o f three of the players. As the match is in a way unique, it will be of interest perhaps to give the details of the Martins’ innings in full A. F. E. Martin, b James ................... 4 D. Martin, not out ... 51 R.S. Martin, b James 0 F. R. Martin, b James 1 H. J. Martin, b James 16 Fred Martin, b H ill... 0 K. Martin, run out ... 0 T. D. Martin, c H ill,b James ... ... ... 9 R. O. Martin, not out 1 Extras.................. 10 Total (7 wkts) 92 F. O. Martin and C. Martin did not bat. Of the ten Buffalo wickets, F. R. Martin took s ix ; Fritz Martin tw o ; D. Martin one, and the other was run o’it. Cricket readers who remember Edmund Peate, the left-handed slow bowler, whom Peel succeeded in the Yorkshire eleven, will be interested to learn, that he still retains most of the remarkable precision which placed him at his best in quite the first flight of bowlers. As recently as Bank Holiday he did an exceptionally fine performance with the ball. It, was for Leeds against Armitage Bridge, aud he took eight wickets for ten runs, Three of these eight wickets, too, were taken with consecutive balls. It is something to say, but none the less I adhere to the opinion that Peate was the best slow bowler I have known in a very long experience of Yorkshire cricket. T h e Streatham Club did a pretty good thing in the way of high scoring on Saturday week. Their opponents were Guy’s Hospital, Long Vacation C.C. and Streatham, who are generally in evidence on their own ground, at the finish had to go in, wanting 229 to win. They won too, and with plenty of runs in hand, scoring 265 for the loss of only six wickets in one hour and fifty minutes. The chief factor in an excep­ tionally fine performance was the young Surrey amateur, N. F. Druce, who went in first wicket down and was not out at the finish with 162 to his credit, the result of an hour and forty minutes b itting. This performance was on a wicket which the heavy rain of the morning had rendered very slow, and the rate of scoring, 144 in the hour is accordingly the more remark­ able. W. M. B r a d l e y , the fast bowler whom the Kent Committee have recently intro­ duced into the eleven, and with distinct success, has yet to reach his majority. He first came into prominence as a mem­ ber of the Lloyd’s Register Club, and his debM in the Kent team was also his first appearance in a match of any importance. He bowls a good pace and keeps his length well and without tiring. His form already has been good enough to lead to the belief that he will be a very useful addition to the County eleven. F ro m the land of the golden crysan- themum comes the annual report of the Yokohama Cricket and Athletic Club. It is interesting to know that so far away flourishes a cricket organisation, with no fewer than 140 members, a good ground, a sound financial condition, and an uninterrupted series of successes in its matches. True, the extra club matches were principally with the Fleet and with the Kobe Club, but much interest and local enthusiasm, no doubt, was caused by the encounters between the Odds and Evens, the Longs and Shorts, the Inflexibles and Invincibles, the Cricketers and the Baseballers. And one other circumstance of Japanese cricket strikes one with admiration, and that is that the season commenced on May 19th, and ended on November 17th. T h e captain o f the Yokohama club, indeed, sighs for new teams to conquer. In a letter which he sends me he hints at a round-the-world team, not too strong a team he suggests, which should arrive in J-ipan, via Canada and America, in the middle of October, and go on to Kobe, Shanghai, H ong Kong, Straits Settle­ ments, Ceylon, and the C<p=s. No doubt this would be a charming tour if a team could be got together. But it would necessarily be very expensive, and probably far more so than it would be possible to get the tourists to defray. As regards gate-money iu Japan, Mr. Walford says, it is like the snakes of a more northern island, there is none. And with respect to the other localities which he mentions, he naively remarks he doesn’ t know whether there is any or not, (gatemoney, I mean, not snakes). Per­ haps not, but no doubt there would be a hearty welcome, if no filthy lucre. L o h m a it n ’ s innings of 2 in Surrey’s second attempt yesterday does not appear on paper to contain any very lively inci­ dents, but as played it was an extremely lively chapter o f accidents. After run­ ning a short run or two the famous bowler drove a ball h arl back t o ’Wain­ wright, hardly a chance, next he drove a ball hard to Peel at m il-off, who should have caught it, and did iu a sense, for it cut his cheek open, next he again re­ turned the ball to Wainwright who would not be induced to catch him out, having designs which are another story —soon told, for the very next ball Loh­ mann hit at wildly and was bowled all over his wicket. This fate he shared with three other Surrey men, who would not wait for Wainwright, a fatal error for the leading county. T h e Sporting L ife is, as a rule, so accurate in its cricket news, that one may reasonably regard the paragraph which appeared in its issue to the effect that C. B. Fry had been appointed to a Master­ ship at Eton as correct. His addition will add another first-class cricketer to a staff which already numbers C. M. Wells of to-days players, and among the shining lights of a past generation such a grand old cricketer an I splendid judge of the game as R. A. H. Mitchell. THE POSITIONS OF COUNTIES. The following table shows the position8 of the fourteen first-class counties in the championship contest so far as it has gone — i.e., to August 14 :— Played. Won. Lost. Drwn. Pnts. Surrey ... ... Yorkshire Lancashire ... Gloucestershire Middlesex Derbyshire ... Hampshire ... Warwickshire Essex ........... Kent................... Notts ........... Leicestershire Sussex ........... Somerset........... Losses are deducted from wins, and drawn games ignored. The match, Ijancashire v. Somerset at Manchester, July 25th, &c., was abandoned through rain, without a ball being bowled, and is, therefore, not included in the above figures. 20 ... 14 . .. 2 .. . 4 ... 12 22 ... 13 ... 4 .. 5 ... 9 16 ... 10 ., 3 .. . 3 ... 7 14 ... 6 5 .. 3 ... 1 14 ... 4 . 4 .... 6 . . 0 14 ... 4 ... 4 .. . 6 . .. 0 12 ... 5 ... 6 .. 1 . .. —1 17 ... 5 ... 6 .. . 6 ... —1 14 ... 4 .. 7 .. . 3 . .. —3 13 ... 3 ..,. 7 .. . 3 ... —4 14 ... 3 ... 7 .,.. 4 ... —4 14 ... 3 ... 8 .... 3 . .. —5 15 ... 3 ... 8 .. . 4 ... —5 13 ... 2 ... 8 .... 3 . .. —6