Cricket 1895

A ug . 29, 1S95. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 377 This gives a grand total of 3,389 runs for 124 wickets, or an average of 27’31. Seven of the eleven matches were won, the other four drawn. In all, 2,838 runs were made against Surrey for 180 wickets, which gives an average of just under 16 runs. A RECENT letter from Johannesburg contains the interesting announcement that E . A . Halliwell, the South African wicket-keeper, had just received a pleasing present in the shape of a daughter. As E . A . H . had been busying himself prominently in helping to swell the South African contribution to W . G-.’s Testimonial Fund, the happyidea occurred to him that it would be a fitting recogni­ tion, particularly in a year so memorable, in many respects for the G.O .M . of cricket, that the little visitor should be called “ Grace.” W . G. will, I am sure, appreciate the compliment thoroughly. M b. W . H . L av eb ton ’s cricket ground, on which one of the Australian teams made merry, was the scene of some tall sooring which does not seem to have secured the publicity it deserved in the early part of last week. The match was between the Harlequins and Mr. Laverton’s eleven, and the outcome of the two days’ cricket was a little matter of 1016 runs. The Harlequins, who, as most Cricket readers know, consist of Oxford men, treated the bowling of Mr. Laverton’s team with scant courtesy. Their total was 446 for eight wickets, and the innings was remarkable for a record not often reached of three hundreds, supplied by C. B. Fry (162), Y . T. H ill (1)5), and L . C. H . Palairet (101). Nor were these the only centuries in the match. Our old friend Ranji was well to the fore with a brilliant second innings of 139 for Leighton, who scored 239 and 331 for eight wickets. No 1587. Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Western Pacific. This foreign office publication is hardly the place in which one would expect to find a reference, least of all a humourous reference to cricket. Y et in detailing the march of civilization amongst the Samoans, the acting cousul testifies, as one of the most salient points in the development of the native and his acquisition of European fashions, that the Samoans are going in for cricket to a simply alarming extent. In one case the whole land upon which a village is built is mortgaged to a European, and as the villagers will not pay off this trifling debt the whole place is put up for sale. B ut does this distress the villagers ? Not at all. In place of grieving over their bankrupt state they had for the four months preceding this report been playing cricket under a medley of Eastern and Western rules. The players averaged from 30 to 40 in number on each si?1«, and one would imagine that the scoria- under this system would not be alarming especially if the dusky cricketers can catch. But note the disorganizations •nto which they have fallen— though perhaps, they would say this is an inci­ dent which is not uncommon in the early cricket history of a country, they play for stakes consisting of pigs and kegs of salt meat. They have a band composed of tomtoms and other instruments calculated to soothe the savage breast, and they make the town as lively as a teetotal f6te at the Crystal Palace. The Consul thinks the money spent on cricket might suffice to pay off their mortgage, but perhaps it has been spent no worse as it is— for there are mortgages and mort­ gages. THEmeritof Tyler’sremarkable perform- ancefor Somerset against Surrey at Taun- ton, at the end of last week, can be properly estimated when it is stated that since 1870 only ten other cricketers have taken all ten wickets in an important match. To illustrate the exceptional character of the feat I may add that it was only once recorded between the seasons of 1889 and 1893. Pickett took all ten wickets of Leicestershire for Essex at Leyton last Whit Monday, and this is the only other occasion on which it has been done this summer. Altogether only sixteen cricketers have been credited with such a record, as the following list will show :— 1848. Lord’s, E. Hinkly, Kent v. England. 1850. Lord’s, J. Wisden, South v. North. 1859. Oval, Mr. V. E. Walker, England v. Surrey. 1862. Canterbury, Mr. E. M. Grace, M.C.C. v' Gentlemenof Kent. 1865. Manchester. Mr. V. E. Walker, Middlesex v. Lancashire. 1865. Sheffield, G. Wootton, All England XI. V. Yorkshire. 1871. Lord’s, Mr. S. E. Butler, Oxford v. Cambridge- 1872. Canterbury, James Lillywhite, South v. North. 1874. Lord’s, A. Shaw,M.C.C. and Ground v. North. 1878. Oval, E. Barratt, Players v. First Australian Team. 1884. Sydney, Mr. G. Giffen, Australian Team v. CombinedAustralia. 1886. Oxford, Mr. W. G. Grace, M.C.C. and Ground v. Oxford University. 1888. Oval, G. Burton, Middlesex v. Surrey. 1890. Cambridge, Mr. S. M. J. Woods, Cambridge University v. Mr. C. I. Thornton’s Eleven. 1894. Oval, T. Richardson, Surrey v. Essex. 1895. Leyton, Pickett, Essex v. Leicestershire. 1895. Taunton, Tyler, Somersetshire v. Surrey. The list will show that Mr. Y . E. Walker is the only one of the sixteen who has been able to take all the wickets on more than one occasion. T h e law, the whole law and nothing but the law, is right enough of course as a general way. That is the principle on which they play cricket, or perhaps it would be more correct to say cricket is played in one of the chief centres of cricket in the Midlands at times, at least. The rigour of the game was fully illus­ trated in a match played on the Castle ground at Nottingham last Saturday. Eastwood, who were the visitors, after making 93, dismissed four of the Castle team, who by the way had only been able to muster nine men, for 23. The ruction came at this point in the refusal of Eastwood to allow H . Jackson, who had not fielded, to bat. To this deter­ mination they adhered, with the result that the match came to a premature and rather abrupt ending. From the neighbourhood of Thornton Heath comes the report of a match between eleven Bacons— a Bacon sire and ten Bacon sons— and an eleven of local postmen. It is quite a rarity that an eleven can be so constituted, and it is mournful to relate that the side of Bacon — I mean Bacons— was not in sufficiently prime condition to win. Still it is to be hoped that it will not be cured of its cricketing propensities, and that at some future time it may find among its com­ ponents the material for a “ ten-score.” On the occasion referred to no Bacon was quoted at double figures, and the batting was decidedly mild. Perhaps, had the hitting been rather rasher, the total of a score and five might have been improved. Some one rather unkindly suggests that the only fitting match for the Bacons of Thornton Heath would be the Piggs of Hertford. This sort of man would, without question, go the whole hog in making a joke. But there was no gammon about the play of the smallest Bacon on the field, who made his seven runs—the highest score on the side, in very good form, though it cannot be said that the bowling was ever collared. In the end the flitch of Bacon was hung up for the want of two-and-twenty runs. F rom Messrs. Rtnesford & Heasman of Imperial Buildings, New Bridge Street, I have received diagrams and specifica­ tions of another contrivance for facili­ tating practice. It is difficult, and dangerous to speak positively with respect to such a device before having seen it at work, and therefore I must at present content myself with saying that if the calculations of the patentees are correct and their expectations fulfilled, without doubt the contrivance will be a great boon to cricketers who want to practice bowling solus, or when there are but few men ready to practice. The general idea is that every ball bowled which misses the wicket after passing the batsman will of its own accord return to the bowler. This is to be accomplished thus. A sloping net or canvas is erected in place of the usual perpendicular net, up which the ball runs and drops into a trough which is inclined to the ground level, and which conducts the ball back to the bowler. Balls going over the screen will be stopped by a slack net and will like others fall into the return trough. Now this is all very well if only it works as well in practice as in theory. •I have never yet seen a machine of this kind which was perfect in practical use, though I have never doubted that such a device, if perfect, would be most useful. Minor advantages claimed for this scheme are that the canvas cover will show up a good light when dusk is approaching, that it will save labour and trouble of carting nets and apparatus (as it moves on its own wheels) that it is easily fixed by anyone if the groundman is out of the way; that an apparatus on a small scale can be fitted up in the grounds of an amateur’s private dwelling, thus giving him an opportunity of improving his bowling, though without