Cricket 1895

A u g . 22; 1895. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 361 who is, if I mistake not, the managing trustee of the Sydney Ground, apparently commend himself to the approval of the South Australian contingent as manager. But I must quote again from the Register :— Mr. Sheridan is not the only gentleman whose name has been mentioned in connection with the managership. A leading Sydney cricket light and an Adelaide gentleman, who is very popular in the cricket world, have also been spoken of. South Australia has never had a manager of an eleven, and our men think that if a suitable gentleman presses his claims they should have great weight. S in c e I wrote last week the position on this side has not changed apparently with regard to the proposed trip. Mr. Per­ kins has signified to the secretary of the Australian Cricket Council that the Mary­ lebone Cricket Club is ready to join with the counties in offering a hearty welcome to an Australian team. What difficulty there can be on the other side in face of this official pronouncement it is not easy to see. Anyhow, as the executives of the county clubs who were consulted by the M. C. C. unanimously expressed their readiness to receive an Australian team here next year, it will clearly not be the fault of the English authorities if a visit of Australian cricketers in 1896 does not become an accomplished fact. I f what I hear be true, Davidson, the Derbyshire professional, and Charles Mills, of Surrey, who acted respectively as cricket tutors to the Western Province and Cape Town Clubs last winter, are neither of them returning to South Africa, at all events to fulfill the same engage­ ments. George Lohmann who has been authorised to secure suitable men for the two clubs has made his choice of two young Surrey players, P . E . Smith and Street to wit. The Western Province C.C. is to have the services of the former, the Cape Town C.C. of the latter. Both I may add will return next year in time for first-class cricket. T h e Ceylon cricket grounds, as far as I know, are not as a rule conducive to high scoring. Still, there are exceptions to all rules, and in this particular case, a match between Uda Pusselawa and Maherata, two up-country districts, was the exception. U . P .— the full name of the place requires some spelling— did a good performance in making 303. As 10 of these come under the category of extras, F . Roberts, who made 150, scored more than one half of the total got by his side from the bat. More than that, he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had himself scored 16 more than the Maherata eleven in their two innings. Roberts’ all-round cricket was decidedly the feature of the match, as, in addition, he took eleven of the Maherata wickets. G b e a t is common sense, and it will prevail always, it is to be hoped, as it has prevailed just now with the cricket fathers on the other side of the big drink, in the matter of the proposed visit of two English teams to America this fall. No one who knows the sportsman-like way in which cricket is and always has been conducted in Philadelphia, believed for a moment that this double visit would become an accomplished fact. Still, it is none the less gratifying to be able to record that the management of the Germantown C.C., in the best interests of American cricket, decided t ' withdraw the invitation which Mr. Kenneth Mc- Alpine, the Kent cricketer, had accepted to take a party of English Amateurs to the State this year. T h e consequence is that the team of University cricketers which Mr. F . Mitchell, of Cambridge, is to captain, will be the only English combination touring in the States this autumn. Mr. W . McG. Hemingway, by the way, is to join Mr. Mitchell’s team, who are to leave England in the St. Louis on Satur­ day. The team will be as follows:— Messrs. Frank Mitchell, N . F. Druce, R. A . Studd, W . W . Lowe, W . M . Hemingway, C. E . M . Wilson, H . H . Marriott, W . Mortimer, C. D. Robinson ' (Cambridge University), V . T. Hill (Somersetshire), H . A. Arkwright, F. A . Phillips, J. C. Hartley (Oxford Univer­ sity), and F . W . Milligan (Yorkshire). W . T. G r a b t jr n , who has managed and watched over the rising cricket of Surrey with such judgment these last few years, will be surprised to learn, as he can by reading Monday’s Athletic News, that Surrey “ got him to come down South to teach their young players batting and bowling.” It is news, at all events, to those who are responsible for the management of Surrey cricket. Though a Yorkshireman by birth, the Surrey colt instructor’s people have been settled at Thames Ditton for many years. More than that, W . T. G . himself was actively and prominently identified with cricket in that village years before he came to the Oval at all. It was in that connection that he came under the notice of the late Fred Burbidge, and I do not suppose anyone at the time even knew that he was a Yorkshireman. It is certainly incorrect to say that he was got to come South. On the contrary, it was to his active association with Surrey cricket that he owed his appointment. T h e double defeat of Surrey last week has imparted such a new interest to the final stages of the County Championship, thatit may be of interest to give particulars of the engagements of the three leaders, Lancashire, Surrey, andYorkshire— I have put them in alphabetical order to make matters pleasant— have yet to fulfil to complete their respective programmes. They are as follow : August22—Cheltenham,Yorkshire v. Gloucestershire. 22—Manchester, Lancashire v. Notts. 22 —Tannton, Surrey v. Somersetshire. 26—Taunton, Yorkshire v. Somersetshire. 26—Lord’s, Lancashire v. Middlesex. 26 —Clifton, Surrey v. Gloucestershire. 29—Leicester, Lancashire v. Leicestershire. 29—Brighton, Surrey v. Sussex. Sept. 2—Oval, Surrey v. Hants. F ro m the above it will be seen that Surrey has four, Lancashire three, and Yorkshire two matches still to play. The Yorkshireraen open the Scarborough Festival on Monday week with a match against M .C.C. and Ground, so that the end of next week will pretty well settle the position they will occupy in the County Championship Competition of 1895. The Lancashire team have, at least, one difficult task still before them. As there is no other important cricket in London, their match against Middlesex, to be begun at Lord’s, on Monday is bound to attract general interest. T h e hat trick in a first-class match is an event of such rare occurrence that Davidson’s record of this particular kind for Derbyshire at the finish of Lancashire’s first innings at Derby on Monday, deserves all the prominence Pavilion Gossip can give him. With three successive balls he got rid of Mr. A. C. MacLaren, Briggs, and Mr. Benton, and not a bad trio either. His analysis in the innings altogether was :— O. M. R. w . 29'4 ........ 17 ........ 25 ........ 8 At the time of the hat trick on Monday afternoon he took four wickets in the course of five maiden overs. On his form this season there are few better all round cricketers than George Davidson. T e n ciphers— in vulgar parlance they have been and by no means euphoniously described as “ blobs” — in an innings con­ stitute a record happily not often brought under the notice of the common or gar­ den chronicler of the game, as, in all humility, I am wont and at the same time proud to regard myself. The latest illus­ tration of run getting gone wrong was furnished by the Wollaston eleven on Monday last at the County Ground, Northampton. Their opponents were the Northamptonshire Club and Ground, and their entire total was contributed by one batsman, a party by the name of G. Brown. Colours were particularly in evidence in the Wollaston eleven. Not to mention Brown, the monopolist of the score, who also took five of the six North- ants wickets that fell, there were two Greens and A . White on the side. Smith — which of the great family in the absence of initials I am unable to say— took six Wollaston wickets for no runs. T h e announcement of the names of the players for the Hastings and St. Leonard’s cricket week is an unmistake- able reminder that the end of another cricket season is near at hand. Mr. W . Carless, the hon. sec., is a shrewd judge of what is likely to attract in the way of cricket fixtures, and those who are not satisfied with the programme he has pro­ vided for them for this season are not likely to be satisfied with anything. The two matches are North v. South and Mr. Stoddart’s Australian eleven against England. W ith ordinarily fine weather the ninth Hastings week, which com­ mences this day fortnight, should equal, even if it does not surpass, the best of its