Cricket 1895

58 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 11, 1895. I t will be of interest to a large number of Cricket readers, particularly to those who were associated with him at Harrow or in the Surrey County Cricket Club, to know that arrangements have been made for the publication of a photogravure portrait of the late Earl of Bessborough. The speaking likeness which was recently issued with the Harrovian is of itself a certificate that the picture will be not only thoroughly worthy of the subject, but a fitting memento of one whom generations of Harrow boys delighted to honour. The photogravure, I may add, is to be published by Mr. H. R. Barraud, of 263, Oxford Street. T h e cricket world, or at least the Australian portion of it, was apparently very much exercised over an incident which occurred during the course of the recent inter-colonial match between Victoria and South Australia. In the second innings of South Australia Jones, finding the ball inside his shirt, according to an Adelaide paper, innocently took it out and handed it to his opponents. The journal in question makes merry over this delicate attention of the only Jones, thusly:— In a case of this kind Jones’s football ex­ perience would have been of immense service to him. He could have rnn and dodged his opponents until the shirt was torn from his body. Hold him the fieldsmen could not do. Their only means of getting the ball would be to tear the shirt away. What an oppor­ tunity Jones had of adding humour to the game ! If little Briggs had only had the opportunity ! The incident reminds me of two somewhat similar ones that occurred some years ago. But the reminiscences of the chronicler in question are not as complete as they might be. They omit, indeed, reference to several well-known incidents of the kind, notably one in which W. G. was the chief actor. II NEOBTL’NATELY, too, for the arguments of the Adelaide critic, it turned out after all that Jones did not play the ball which landed in his shirt so that it could have been removed by any one of the fielding Bide without Jones being given out. The last case of handling the ball in Victoria, so an Australian paper says, was in the tail-scoring match between Smokers v. Non-Smokers on the East Melbourne cricket ground in March, 1887, when the English and Australian teams mixed together and played sides. Seotton, anxious to obtain possession of the ball with which the record for a first-class match had been made, quietly played the last ball of the last over of the day down in front of him, and following it up picked it up, only to find, to his disgust, that the umpire had not called “ Over,” and himself giving out for having ‘ ‘ handled the ball.” But unless I am mis­ taken, Dr. Mailer was given out in a match between the Coburg and Melbourne Clubs at Melbourne, in January, 1894, for removing with his hands the ball, which had stuck in bis pads after being played. Eos many reasons it is to be regretted that Lord Sheffield’s attempt to arrange a match between Mr. Stoddart’s team and the best available outside eleven on the return of the former from Australia, was not crowned with success. The dates proposed were, May 13, 14, and 15, and Lancashire, who are to play M.C.C. and Ground, at Lord’s, as well as Surrey, who have a fixture with Essex at the Oval on those days, were agreeable to let their slayers off. Unfortunately, for those who enow what a cricket match under the auspices of Lord Sheffield means, Mr. Stoddart cabled his inability to accept the invitation. Perhaps, the fact that Messrs. M'Laren, Gay, and Ford are not returning with the rest of Mr. Stod­ dart’s team, but coming home by way of Japan, may have had something to do with the captain’s decision. T h e y order these matters better in Australia. They do some things at all events on a bigger scale, very fine and large in fact. According to the Austra­ lasian newspaper the Trustees of the Sydney Association Ground have just presented the Melbourne Club with a grand picture of the first test match in Sydney. The journal in question gives the size of the picture as 16ft. 6in. long by about 4ft. It is, the paragraph con­ tinues, the work of somebody in the Government Printing Office in Sydney. “ The work of somebody ” is deliciously vague. T h e end of the final match of Mr. Stoddart’s team at Adelaide was a fitting wind up to a tour which has been successful beyond all English tours in Australia. T o go in to make forty- four runs in twenty minutes, and get them with three minutes to spare, was a capital performance of Brockwell and Mr. Ford, and Surrey men will be specially gratified that the former had a chance of distinguishing himself so well at the finish. Altogether the English team have thoroughly upheld the best traditions of English cricket. What with the excellent impression they made as a side, with Mr. Stoddart’s exceeding per­ sonal popularity, and the excellent finan­ cial results, there is little cause for surprise that the captain received an invitation to visit Australia again at an early date even before he left for home. “ C r ic k e t ” readers may be concerned to know that the interesting articles by the Rev. B. S.—I had almost written Sher­ lock—Holmes on Surrey Cricket and Cricketers and Yorkshire Cricket and Cricketers will be published very shortly in book form, separately, of course. The former, indeed, is well on the way to publication, and will in all probability be ready in time for the commencement of the real county season at the Oval. They will both, I may add, be published at the office of this paper. In referring in the last number of Cricket to the double hundred of C. J. Eady in the inter-colonial match between Victoria and Tasmania, I mentioned inci­ dentally a report that “ the Tasmanians had paid Cricket the high compliment of selecting it as a medium for tie presenta­ tion of Eady’s portrait to the British public.” Rumour, too, for once was speaking the truth. As a matter of fact the Australian mail which reached London on Tuesday morning brought over a very interesting letter from E. H. Butler, the well-known Tasmanian cricketer who played several matches in England, by the way, twenty years or more ago. With it was a portrait of Eady, which I propose to give in next week’s Cricket. M c K ib b in , the bowler who was tried in the last test match against Mr. Stoddart’s team on the strength of his undoubtedly fine bowling for New South Wales againit Victoria and South Australia, though unsuccessful on that occasion, seems to have bowled with really bad luck. It was his first appearance in Melbourne, and as the Melbourne cricket folk are nothing if not critical, it was a pretty severe test for a new player. But why should the Australian Press have so many ways of their own of spelling his name. I have seen him spelt McKibi/n, ben, and bon, all in the same week. I can only say with Digby Grand, in the “ Two Roses,” —“ You annoy me very much.” N one the less, it is eminently satis­ factory to know that the Melbourne crowd, which does not as a rule view anything relating to New South Wales with favour, took to McKibbin at first sight. And this is how an Australian critic describes Thomas Robert of that ilk. Mac was doubtful about being able to turn the ball on the fast Melbourne wicket, but he did inches both ways. His run up to the bowling-creage is almost as peculiar as ‘ ‘ Peg- leg” Ferris’s. He takes a long run, beginning with a few steps, which I heard a lady (who ought to know) describe as polka steps, then his stride lengthens, and finally, as he delivers the ball he kicks out his right leg as though he desired to upset an enemy at the back of him. Owing to an accident which befel him years ago, there is a peculiar hop about his gait. The description recalls a well-known cricketer, who gained for himself the expressive soubriquet of “ Jumping Jimmy.” C lem : H i l l , the young cricketer who made such a promising first appearance against an English Eleven in the final match of Mr. Stoddart’s team at Ade­ laide, is, unless I am mistaken, only eighteen years of age. His early cricket gave every promise of an exceptionally bright future, as some Cricket readers will even remember. Two years ago I had occasion to refer to an extraordinary score of 360 (not out) he made in a school match, a score which constituted a new Australian record. He is a son of Mr. John Hill, one of the railway com­ missioners of South Australia. Cricket readers will be interested to know, that he is a left-handed batsman. Against Mr. Stoddart’s team for South Australia, he scored 150 (not out) and 56, a remark­ able performance for a first experience of the English bowling.