Cricket 1896

J une 4, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 187 H.J.GRAY&S0N8 Patentees and Manufacturers of GAMES ALL GOODS GUARANTEED. THE PLAYFAIR DRIVER acknowledged by experts to be unsur- Illustrated Catalogues Free. L C am b r id g e iAND 8, Goswell Road, A Idersgate, London , e . g . Scores must reach the Office at the latest by first post on Tuesday following the match, and should be written on the Report Forms (price, lOd. per doz., post free), published at CRICKET Office, 168, Upper Thames Street, E.C. Cricket : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY , JUNE 4 th , 1896. $a\ulton #oss-t]p. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— H am let. T h e prettiest bit of cricket in M.C.C v. Derbyshire was the running out of Trott by Walter Sugg and Storer. Anxious to break his duck, Board, having made a stroke a little to the right of point, called Trott, who in a very sportsmanlike manner tried to make the run, although it was plain that he saw its impossibility. Like a cat springing upon a mouse, Sugg was on the ball in an instant, and long before Trott was in his ground it had been cleverly gathered by Storer and the wicket down. T h e spectators were very pleased whilst Porter was in. Mead’s first ball to him kicked considerably, and Porter rose from his stooping position higher and higher until at last he played the ball with his bat on a level with his nose. Then he re­ fused to run a two for a hit of his own which might have been a three, and directly afterwards called bis partner for a ridiculously short run, and succeeded in bustling the field. After this he settled down to play cricket of the most pronounced barndoor pattern. A nt visitor to Lord’s who had seen Wrathall hitting the Surrey bowlers about at the Oval, must have rubbed his eyes in astonishment during the Gloucestershire professional’s second in­ nings for M.C.C. against Derbyshire. Except that he always bats in an easy style, he showed not the slightest sign until just before his innings closed (when he was obviously yearning for a drive) that he had ever made a really hard hit in his life. He was out to a catch which looked like a bump ball, and was com­ pletely taken by surprise, when just as he was preparing to get ready for the next ball, he found that he was out. D u r in g the Derbyshire match. Hulme batting. Gentleman explaining to lady. “ You see, my dear, he hits at everything” — (Hulme plays back)— “ at least when he does’nt hit he plays at everything ” — (Hulme misses a ball altogether)— ‘ ‘unless, of course, he prefers to let them alone.” O f the six first-class matches played at the end of last week, no less than four had remarkable and unexpected endings. Derbyshire beat M .C.C. by one wicket, Leicestershire beat Warwickshire b y one wicket, Oxford University beat Surrey by 23 runs, and Sussex almost succeeded in beating Somerset after having to follow on with 207 runs still to be made before the Somerset first innings could be wiped out. I t is still fashionable to damn the Sussex players, as a team, with faint praise, and to treat them all individually, except K . S. Banjitsinhji, with undis­ guised contempt is not uncomm on; but it is possible that after their two matches last week, they may be considered to have redeemed their character. To make scores of 420 for three wickets (three individual hundreds), and 525 for five wickets (three individual hundreds), and declare after having to follow on, and then to get nearly all their opponents out for small scores, is a record which must be without parallel. T h e only first-class match in which five individual innings of over 100 had been made, before the match between Gloucestershire and Sussex at Brighton last week, took place at Brighton last year, between Sussex and Oxford University. In this match, as in the Gloucestershire match, three of the four hundreds were made by Sussex men, Marlow, 130; G. L . Wilson, 174; and K . S. Banjitsinhji, 137 (not out). I f there had been another twenty minutes play in the Somerset match on Saturday, it is probable that there would have been five individual hundreds again at Brighton, for Mr. Palairet was not out, 83, when stumps were drawn. A t the end of last week, both Mr. Marchant and Pougher came very near to scoring two innings of a hundred in a first-class match. Mr. Marchant made 128 and 88 for Kent v. Yorkshire, while Pougher’s scores were 102 (not out) and 60 for Leicestershire v. Warwickshire. I t is no longer possible, even for the most hardened admirer of English county cricket, to doubt the all-round excellence of the Australian team. That they could bat everybody knew long a g o ; that they do not field any worse than the greater number of the counties is clear; and their bowlers seem able to give points to most English bowlers. The effect of their easy victories over Yorkshire and Lancashire is likely to greatly enhance the prospect of future successes, for a halo will be thrown over their bowling which will strike very many batsmen with aw e; they w ill look out for some extraordinary merit in it, and will almost be out before they go in. It is hardly too much to say that since the Sheffield Park match, nobody has played the Australian bowlers with the confidence which begets big scores. O f the thirteen men who formed Mr. Stoddart’s team in 1894-5, only four— Peel, Brown, Briggs and Ward—have been met b y the Australians during their present tour. It is, perhaps, hardly likely that they will meet Mr. Philipson, Mr. Gay or Humphreys. I n the first innings of Heath Mount School, Hampstead, against Alperton Hall School, Harrow, on May 30th, not a single run was scored from the bat, and a man might easily have been run out when the only extra, which was a bye, was obtained. Both batsmen were at the same wicket, but perhaps through over excitement, the bail was not thrown to the other end in time. Both teams were composed of boys from ten to fourteen years of age. The score of Heath Mount in this innings is appended. They scored 17 iu the second innings, while the Hall made 132 (A . Fry, 83). S. Turner, c March, b A. Fry .................. J. Atkinson, b A. Fry B. E. Atkinson, run out .......................... G. B. Adeney, b A. Gould ................... H. Politzer, b A.Gould J. C. J. Ford, b A. Gould ................... ' 1 L. Hammond, not out H. L. Palm, b A. Fry T. G. Park, c Newport, b A. Fry .................. M. E. Hare, b A. Fry G. F. Farmiloe, b A. Gould.......................... Extras.................. Total ........... I t is curious that the Alperton Hall boys, playing last year at Neasden, against Kenmure School, West Hamp­ stead, dismissed their opponents in the first innings for 9 runs, scored 239, and finally got Kenmure School out in ten minutes in the second innings, without allowing them to score a single run.