Cricket 1896

J une 25, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 235 BETWEEN THE INNINGS. In a letter from a Liverpool correspondent, which through an accident only reached me on Saturday last, I am called to account for having said nothing so far about Lancashire cricket. “ Wait till MacLaren comes back, and Ward gets into his true form,” runs the postcript of the letter. But one has not had to wait. MacLaren is still at Harrow, and all that one has heard of him lately is that he has published a little manual of advice to be­ ginners in the game at which he is such an acknowledged expert, and Ward is by no means in his true form as yet (more’s the pity!); but still Lancashire has managed to bring off decidedly the most sensational win of the year. And the Red Rose county de­ serves all praise for the gallant game her representatives played. It is especially pleasant to see that Hallam is justifying the good opinions formed of him (he will go farther yet, I fancy !) and that young Rowley (good old cricket name) had no inconsiderable share in the victory. Perhaps the chief credit must be given to Mold, however. For once in a way, Briggs failed to secure a single wicket; but his hard hitting in the second innings of his side was very useful. One has to go back to 1889 to find a prece­ dent for Lancashire’s beating Surrey on tho Old Trafford ground, though the men of the County Palatine managed the trick at the Oval in 1895 and 1893, and played a tie match in 1894. The last twenty meetings (1886 to 1895 inclusive) between the two sides previous to last week’ s game had resulted in ten victories for Surrey, seven for Lancashire (five of them at the Oval), two drawn games through rain, and a tie. The counties did not meet until 1880, I believe (at any rate, their regular series of matches begins with that year); and during the seasons 1880-85, in­ clusive, their twelve games resulted in seven wins for Lancashire, three for Surrey, and two drawn games. I saw the game between Kent and Sussex at Tonbridge last week. Both counties are very low down in the championship list; and I am not surprised at it. Neither is likely to get much higher until its fielding improves. Poor as was Kent’s total for the match, it should have been smaller; and though when Sussex went in to get 116 to win the Kent fielding was close and good for half an hour or so, it deteriorated perceptibly after lunch, when Arlington and Newham were making their stand, I was surprised to see how well Alec Hearne bowled in this match, having never seen him quite at his best with the ball before. Bar Murdoch and Ranjitsinhji, no one played him with much ease throughout. Tate, too, bowled far better than I have seen him before. He has made immense strides lately; and I think there is more brains in his bowling than there used to be. Nor is he to be despised as a batsman. Like most of the other members of the Sussex tail, he has plenty of pluck; and, after all, there are times when pluck counts for more than science. It counted for more on the Friday afternoon when, with Bean, Marlow, Ranjit­ sinhji, Murdoch, and Newham all out, young Killick joined Arlington while Kent had still a chance of victory. There were not a great many runs wanted; but no one could have been much surprised had a rot set in, for all the cracks of the team had gone comparatively cheaply. Newham and “ Ranji ” had played good innings, it is true, but they had stopped short of winning the game for their side. It had still to be won ; and the wicket was be­ having pretty queerly, while little Alec was bowling in really fine form, and “ Nutty” Martin at the other end was by no means easy. But Killick was no whit dismayed. His strokes were not all good ones ; only one of them—an on-drive—was a pretty one ; but he stayed there and helped to make the runs that were needed when failure might have meant disaster to his side, and he betrayed no symp­ toms of nervousness. Of course, more of the credit belongs to Arlington than to him ; but then Arlington is played for his batting alone, while Killick gets his place chiefly as a bowler. I have heard Arlington spoken of as merely a slogger. I should not so describe him. He can hit hard, it is true; but he generally picks the right ball to hit. Another man who can hit when he chooses is Easby. From recent performances, I had grown to look upon Easby as a recruit to the stonewall regiment. But he agreeably disappointed me on the second day of the match. His innings was decidedly the best on the side, and as long as he was in there still looked to be a chance of Kent’s making a decent score. The short stand made by him and Weigall raised hopes of a repetition of their Tuesday’s performance ; but it was not to be, and E. C. Mordaunt proved the ex-soldier’s best partner. Mor­ daunt is nowhere near being as good a bats­ man as his younger brother, the Oxford captain of 1895 ; but I prefer his style to that of the elder brother, H. J., who made a cen­ tury in the ’Varsity match some seven years ago, and who turned out for the M.C.C. against his old Alma Mater last week. “ E. C.” was badly hit soon after he came in, but nevertheless showed distinctly good form. Frank Iredale, who should be, on his Aus­ tralian form, one of the very best batsmen in the Colonial team, is as badly off-colour as the brilliant left-hander, Bruce, was during part of the 1893 tour. From June 29th to July 26th Bruce’s scores were: 0, 1, 1, 6, 1, 4, 1, 23, 0, 1 not out, 12, 5, or 55 in 11 com­ pleted innings. Since he made 34 at Bristol, Iredale has played seven innings for 10 runs: 3, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 1. Every Australian team has had its failures ; but tho New South Welshman who has made so big a name for himself during the last two or three seasons of Australian cricket is about the last man of the fourteen whom I should have looked upon as likely to be one of them. Doubtless he will improve before the end of the tour. But it is hard to fight against such a run of “ un­ successes.” It is very unfortunate for the team, too, that Graham, who ought to be making a lot of runs, is also dead off form. Long stands for a wicket (100 runs or more), week ended June 20 :— June 199... 2 ..Mason&Bashleigh Kentv.M dx. T ’brdge 15 151 .. 4 ..Attewell & Gunn N ottsv.Dby Derby... 15 107... 2...Burnup&Marriott C.U.vM C /-. Cmbrdg 15 111... 6...Mitchell &Wilson „ „ „ | 128... 4...Homsby&Bnjtnji M.C.C.vC.U. „ 16 108... 6...Easby& Weigall... Kentv.Mdx. T’brdge 16 109...10...Gunn & Hardstaff Nottsv. Dby Derby... 16 102... 3 ..Gunn&WGQuaife M .X I.v.Aus B’ham 18 139... l...Brown&Tunnicliff Yks.v.Leics. L ’cstr... 18 150... 2 ..Brown & Jackson „ „ „ 18 117 ... 6 ... Denton & H irst... „ „ „ j J® 128 .. 3.. .Hayman&Thomtn Mdx.v.Glos. Lord’s 18 143... 4...Thornton &Webbe „ „ „ 18 The scoring during the week was very streaky—a result chiefly due to the rain, which deluged some grounds and left others almost untouched. There were two matches of over 1,000 runs (Cambridge University v. M.C.C., 1,149 for 32 wickets, and Yorkshire v. Leicestershire, 1,018 for 30 wickets), and there were totals of 660, 466, 450, and 413; but there were also many comparatively small scores. In the twelve first-class engagements 7,952 runs were scored for 353 wickets—just about 22J runs each—which is by no means low. J.N.P. CBYSTAL PALACE v. STOCK EXCHANGE.— Pl’.yed at Crystal Palace on June 19. C r y sta l P a la c e . S. Colman, c Bicknell, b Thompson .......12 A. W . Gardner W ooll- oston, c*Jephson, d Thompson .......25 H. M. Colegrave, 6 sub, b Bicknell ... 43 J. F. Dunlop, bHorner 36 B. H. Dillon, st Bick­ nell. b Jephson ... 7 Dr. W . P. Umney, b Thompson ........35 Total .................... 21 S tock E x c h a n g e . A P. Lucas, b Brad­ ley ........................... 7 B. Langton, retired ... 50 D. L. A . Jephson, st Cipriani, bKayess... 93 , ................. W . E. Hobbs, L. J. Paice, T. C. Adair Thompson, J. Dives, C. W . Powell and C. E. Horner did not bat. W . M. Bradley, run out ... ... .............13 H. Blackwood, c Paice, b H orn er.......... ... o A. B. Cipriani, b Bick­ nell .............................15 A. Kayess, not out ... 15 G. O. Forre»ter, cBick- nell. b Thompson ... 3 B 5, lb 4, w 3 ... 12 H. C. Pretty, not out 54 G. E. Bicknell, not out 13 B 1, lb 4, w 1 ... 6 BABNES v. PALLINGSW ICK.—Played at East Acton on June 20. B arnes . W . L. Donaldson, c de Vallency, b Tyacke 8 J. J. Frauco, b Heb- den .......................... 8 W . F. Frith, b La Thangue.................. 51 H. Barham, c Bowley, b Hebden.................. 1 J. J. Mitchell, Ibw, b Hebden ................... 6 F. E. Butt, c Tyacke, b La Thangue ... 28 A . G. H. Stevens, Tyacke ... C. W . Young, b Thangue ... ... C. BatclifT, not out A. Sissons, run out J. H. Erskinc, o Thangue .......... B 6, w 2 ... Total . b 17 La ... 8 ... 3 ... 5 14 ... 3 ... 8 ...146 P allin g sw ick . W . B. Chalmers, run out ..........................13 M. T. La Thangue, b Mitchell .................. 12 F. H. Tyacke, b Mit­ chell .......................... 0 B. A. Carter, c Franco, b M itchell.................45 H. W . Burnside, b Mitchell .................. 11 A. de Vallency, c Franco, b Mitchell... 0 F. S. Mayo, b Mitchell F. Sanderson, not out B. A . Melhuish, c Frith, b Mitchell ... H. G Bowley, not out F. B. Hebden did not bat .......................... B 1, w 1 ... Total ........... ETON BAMBLEBS v. WESTMINSTEB SCHOOL. —Played at Vincent Square on June 20. E ton B am blers . W . C. Bridgeman, b Fisher ..................50 W . B. Hoare, lbw, b M ore..........................28 J. A. Gibbs, b More... 4 R. C. Gosling, b Flack 84 Lord Henry Scott, b Fisher ..................21 A. D. Whatman, b Taylor-Taswell .. 31 F. C. F. Hayhurst, not out .......... ......... 64 Hon. W . A. E. Stamp, b More .................. 8 V. W. Yorke, b Fisher 3 G. H. Duckworth, not out .......................... 6 Byes .................. 24 Total (8 wkts) *323 H. St. G. Peacock and G. De L ’E. Duckworth did not bat. * Innings declared closed. W estm inster . L. J. Moon, o L’E. Duckworth, b Lord S cott.......................... 4 B. N. B. Blaker, b Lord Scott ...........18 C. D. Fisher, lbw, b Gosling .................. 55 B. E. More, c and b Lord Scott ...........18 C. Van-der-Squitch, b Hoare ................... 6 B E. Murray, S. L. Taylor-Taswell, and H. R, Flack did not bat, H. O. C. Beasley, c and b Gosling...........26 W . F. Fox, not out ... 26 A. Whitton, b Hoare 0 F. Young, not out ... 4 B 12,1b l,w 2, nb 1 16 Total (7 wkts) 172