Cricket 1895

68 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 18, 1895. FIRST-CLASS CRICKET IN AUSTRALIA— (1894-5). Never before have the Australians had so busy a season of first-class cricket as in 1894-5 —not evenin 1887-8, when two English teams were simultaneously present in the colonies. Nineteen big matches were played in that season; twenty were got through this, and every one of the twenty was fought to a finish. The Englishmen took part in twelve of the twenty—five against representative teams of Australia, two each against South Australia and Victoria, one each against New South Wales and Queensland, and one against an eleven chosen from these two colonies. The other eight matches were : two each between New South Wales and Victoria, Victoria and SouthAustralia, South Australia and New South Wales, these three principal colonies playing for the right to hold for a year the Sheffield Shield ; a match between Queensland and New South Wales at Bris­ bane, and one between Tasmaniaand Victoria at Hobart. From the fine form shown by the Tasmanians in the last-mentioned match, it seems more than likely that they will be anxious to extend their match-list in another season; while Queensland, which for the first time in cricket history met an English team on even terms, has in Percy M’Donnell, the old Australian captain, who has previously done great things both for New South Wales and Victoria, Coningham, Bradley, and M’Donald, the nucleus of a very fair side, and should in two or three years’ time be able to play any of the other colonies a good game. Before the brief account which we shall give of each match (especially brief in the case of the Englishmen’s games, which have already been so fully described in this paper or elsewhere), let us present a few figures dealing with the season’s results as a whole. And firstly, then : in the twenty matches 18,627 runs were scored (an average of over 930 per match) for the loss of exactly 700 wickets, the average per wicket throughout thus being 266. In eight of the matches aggregates of over one thousand runs were totalled. In only two—the fourth test game and Queensland v. New South Wales—did the aggregate of runs fail to reach 500. The following table will show with what success the various sides which took part in the season’s cricket met: RESULTS. Australia ...................... Played. 5 W on. 2 Lost. 3 The Englishmen........... 12 8 4 New South W ales....... 6 2 4 N.S.W . & Queensland 1 O 1 Queensland................... 2 0 2 South Australia........... 6 3 3 Tasm ania....................... 1 1 0 Victoria........................... 7 4 3 Rl'XS PER W ICKET FOU ASD AGAINST. For. Wkts.Aver. Agst. Wkts. Aver. Australia........... 2822 90 31*3 ..2399 92 26*0 Englishmen....... 6204 204 30-4...5934 214 27*7 N. S. W .............. 2335 114 20 4...2443 108 22*6 N.S.W . & Q. ... 193 18 10*7... 471 20 23*5 Queensland ... 433 40 10‘8... 709 24 29*5 South Australia 2915 99 29'4.„3024 100 30*2 Tasmania ....... 580 12 48-3... £79 20 28’9 Victoria ........... 3145 123 25’5...3068 122 25’ 1 The twenty matcheswere shared—though not equally—among five grounds. The following figures give the runs made and average per wicket in each ground. That obtained at Hobart is the biggest; but as only one match was played there it can scarcely enter into a comparison, and it will be noticed that the Adelaide Oval has by more than three runs per wicket the highest average of the four principal enclosures : GROUNDS. Matches. Runs. Wickets. Average- Adelaide ... .... 5 5089 169 301 Brisbane ... ... 3 1806 102 177 Hobart ... . ... 1 1159 32 362 Melbourne 6 5850 217 269 Sydney ... . ... 5 4723 180 262 And now to the story of the matches, which we shall take in strict chronological order : First of all came the remarkable game between the Englishmen and SouthAustralia, when the visitors, after playing a first innings of 476, were defeated by the heavy margin of six wickets. Brown had the honor of scoring the first century of the season, 115 ; while the brilliant Adelaide colt, Darling, quickly fol­ lowed with a score of two runs more. The splendid all-round form of George Giffen, who scored 122 for once out, and took eleven wickets for 223, the fine batting of Darling and Reedman (the latter of whom had distin­ guished himself during the previousAustralian season by an innings of 113 against Victoria at Adelaide), backed up*by good work by the rest of the side, andthe unaccountable collapse of the Englishmen in their second innings, were the main causes of this, without doubt the most notable victory South Australia has ever won. Giffen and Darling, it is worthy of note, added 173 to the score while together in the firstinnings. The nextmatch of the season was that between the English­ men and Victoria at Melbourne. This pro­ duced even more runs than the Adelaide game—1,263 as against 1,215. The Victorians were without Bruce, Worrall and Hugh Trumble; but G. E. Palmer, one of Australia’s best men in the old days, once more took his place in the team, for the only time during the season, and played an excellent second innings of 36. The colony played up well, but was beaten in the end by 145 runs, the main cause of this being MacLaren’s grand 228. The English captain, with 77 and 78, also batted in fine form ; and in the first innings he and MacLaren added 181 while together, Peel, who stonewalled for 48, aiding the young batsman to put on 135 a little later in the innings. For Victoria Robert M‘Leod, who was not successful in most of the other matches of the season, batted as well as any­ one, and his second innings of 62 was a really fine display under adverse circumstances, the Englishmen having the game well in hand when it was played. Harry Trott, Jack Harry and Laver did best of the remainder; but not a man on the side failed entirely. Peel, with eight wickets for 100, was the most successful bowler in the match. The game with New South Wales went far to prove that the senior colony had neither as strong nor as well balanced a team as either of her two great rivals. Four men made nearly all the runs for her—355 of 447 from the bat. Iredale played a splendid first innings of 133, and Gregory an almost equally good second of 87. Richardson stonewalled in themost approved (or disapproved) Banner- man style in the first innings for 49, he and Iredale adding 126 while together ; andHarry Donnan, who, save in one match was con­ sistently successful throughout the season, scored 37 and 39. Brown (117), Brockwell (81), and Mr. Stoddart (79), were the big scores for the Englishmen who won easily by eight wickets. Turner was unlucky, and met with no success with the ball; but a debutant , Howell with five wickets for 44 in the first innings and made a very favourable im­ pression upon the visitors. M’Kibbin, another bowler who has since done very good work, and Kelly, a very smart wicket-keeper, also represented their colony for the first time. Alec Bannerman did not play, and was not seen in the New South Wales ranks during the season ; and both Moses and Garrett were also absentees. The first intercolonial of the season, South Australia v. Victoria at Adelaide, came next; and Giffen’s team had an easy victory by ten wickets. Bruce and Hugh Trumble were again absent from the Victorian ranks ; and A. H. Jarvisdid not play for South Australia, his place being taken by M’Kenzie. The Victorians had first innings; but they were overmatched throughout. George Giffen scored 94, notout, and would probably have secured his century had he not gone in later than usual; he also took twelve wickets for 147, so that he had the biggest hand in his side’s success, as he generally has. Dyer, h youngster, playing his third intercolonial, scored an innings of 105, and Darling made 46. Harry batted best for Victoria, scoring- 35 and 45 He was the only man to do much in the second innings ; but in the first Worrall made 47, Bob M’Leod 46, Albert Trott 38 and the veteran Blackham 35, not out. Then came the first match in which Queens­ land had ever opposed on level terms and English side. It was a step in the right direction; for it is a better thing for an aspiring side to be well beaten level-handed, than to seek inglorious safety in numbers and play an uninteresting exhibition match. Queensland was well beaten, by an innings and 274 runs, Mr. Stoddart (149) and Albert Ward (107) making the longest stand ever put to the credit of two English batsmen, against’ an Australian team, in Australia, their association adding 255 to the score, and McLaren and Philipson adding 102 for the ninth wicket. Richardson’s bowling proved very destructive, and he took eleven wickets for 63—an excellent performance. Queens­ land had the worst of the luck and the wicket, for the Brisbane ground crumbles after the first two days’ play, and in its broken con­ dition j ust suited the Surrey lightning-pace bowler; but two or three men played very pluckily for her. Percy M’Donnell, the Cap­ tain, hit out for 21 and 22; M’Donald, a steady player, secured 18 and 20; but Con­ ingham did best, with 43 and 19, and he also bowled really well. Bradley, who is con­ sidered in Brisbane a really great bat, secure 1 “ the specs.” Then came the great game at Sydney between England and Australia, the first of the five test matches, memorable on so manv accounts. It produced a record in aggregates 1,514, higher by 102 than the aggregate in the New South Wales v. Victoria match, on the same ground in February, 1882, the former world’s record. It saw centuries- scored by Gregory (201), George Giffen (161), and Albert Ward (117), with many another big score ; and it ended in a victory for the Englishmen by ten runs, a result brought about mainly by rain during the night follow­ ing the fifth day’splay. TheAustralian team was not quite representative, Bruce being an absentee; while Graham, who was to have played, but did not show at his best during the preliminary practice, was replaced by Jones, the South Australian fast bowler. Darling, Reedman, Iredale, Charles M’Leod, and Jones, were all representing Australia for the first time. A few days after this match was finished- on Boxing-day, as usual—began the New South Wales v. Victoria match at Melbourne. This was the fifty-third match between the two colonies. New South Wales was not destined to reduce the leadwhich Victoria has assumed during the last few seasons. At the end of the season 1890-1 the colonies stood level, with 23 wins each. Now, after 1894-5 is over, Victoria has won 30 times to her rivals’ 24. Bruce and Hugh Trumble, both of whom had been spoken of as having retired from first-class cricket, took their places in