Cricket 1896

J u n e 25, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 241 T H E E V E N T OF 1896. The Latest PatentCricket Bat. After ir any ex­ periments and pro­ tracted trials, F ran k S u g g has at last succeeded in pro­ ducing a Handle, which, from his prac­ tical knowledge, he has no hesitation in asserting is abso­ lutely superior to any other Patent Handle in use at the present time. Section showing top of handle, p a t e n t a p p l ie d f o r “ LANCASHIRE W I T C H , ” 17s . 3 d . e a c h . Carefully Selected Canes, Superior Straight- Grained Blades. F W K SUGG, 32, ItoFd St., Liverpool. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C . THURSDAY , JUNE 25 th , 1896. $a\)tlton The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet A lt h o u g h Gloucestershire was severely beaten b y Middlesex, the cricket shown by some of the team on Friday was wholly delightful to watch. Mr. Heming- way’ s only too short second innings con­ tained cuts as fine as were ever made by Ephraim Lockwood, the famous old Yorkshireman, or Dr. Bencraft, or Chari- wood ; Wrathall’s hitting was as good as anything he has done, and two of his drives into the pavilion were startling; and W .G ., junior, despite his still awk­ ward style, made plenty of hard and clean hits. As for the Doctor, he deserves a para­ graph to himself. Except that he is stouter than he was 25 or 30 years ago, he m ight have been the W.G. of the seventies. H e ran his son off his legs, and made short runs which few men would have ventured upon. H is driving was as powerful as ever, (as witness his hit off H eam e into Mr. Perkins’ room) his cutting as crisp, and his timing as accurate. It was noticeable, too, that about eight out of ten of his ordinary strokes were only stopped by means of great exertions on the part of fieldsmen, so clever was the old man’s placing. In one thing alone did he seem inferior to the W .G . of the seventies ; he shewed a little too much boyish eagerness to have a hit. I t is curious that the seven men who were played in the England team for their batting, viz., W .G ., Mr. Stoddart, Mr. Jackson, Abel, Hayward, Brown and Gunn, usually go in first when they get the opportunity. There was accord­ ingly much curiosity as to whom W .G . would choose to go in with him. W it h reference to a paragraph about “ Cricket Scores and Biographies ” which appeared in Pavilion Gossip last week an interesting letter from Mr. Arthur Haygarth will be found in another column. -------- I t was very interesting to contrast the methods of the two great fast bowlers, Richardson and Jones, at Lord’s. The latter, to use a common expression, put all his eggs into one basket, with the best of them at the to p ; he began to bow l at such a tremendous pace, that it was hardly possible to follow the flight of the ball from a little distance, but each succeeding ball was a little slower until at last it was easy to follow its flight. On the other hand, Richardson, while always bow ling fast, reserved some much faster ones than usual for important occasions. Except for a brief period when he pitched them up a little too far, Richardson kept a splendid length ; Jones was very vari­ able, and relied on his very short one. O f the players who took part in the match at Lord’s, Hayward, Lilley, J. T. Heame, Donnan, Kelly and Eady had not previously played in an England v. Australia match. I n the almost desperate hope of seeing something of the game, there were people who, at full length upon the ground, were doing their best to enjoy the view of the field which m ight be obtained b y looking under the screen at the nursery end. O ne of the most amusing incidents of the game was the effort of Abel to retrieve the ball after it had knocked off the bail on Trumble’s wicket. Under the impression that it was a hit or a bye, Abel sped with his utmost rapidity after the ball, and the crowd, waking up to the situation, applauded heartily, while the English team also entered into the fun of the thing. Amidst thunders of applause, Abel gathered the ball when going at top speed and returned it beautifully to the wicket-keeper. It was almost a pity that such a fine effort should be wasted. I t is one of the most pleasing characteristics of the Australians that they never become slack in the field, no matter how discouraging may be their position. Even towards the end of their long outing on Monday evening there were always found several of the team who threw catches to each other or practised bowling. Am ong them George Giffen was as energetic as a school boy, and even after he had enjoyed a long spell of bowling at Abel and Gunn, he was ready to join any of the others in getting a little practice during the waits. M r . A. V. R u s s e l l , who scored 25 not out for Y oung Amateurs v. Y oung P ro­ fessionals at the Oval in April, played for Newport School, Essex, on June 17 (of which he is captain), v. Bishop’s Stort- ford Grammar School, and took thirteen wickets for 16. He did the hat trick en route, and made 30 runs. A stro n g team of Yorkshire Gentle­ men will cross over to Holland next month under the captaincy of Mr. J. B. BCatt. Amongst the matches already arranged are North Holland at Haarlem, South Holland at Levden, and A ll Holland at. “ The Hague.” Each of these matches is arranged for two days. T h e crowd at Lord’s was two sizfs too large for the ground, and after the luncheon interval it became quite un­ manageable. The police did all that was possible, but despite their efforts the area of the field of play was encroached upon to an extent which mado the b jundary very short indeed. At the Nursery end of the ground a ring had been formed from twenty to thirty yards inside the normal bouudary. I t is greatly to be regretted that the behaviour of many people in the crowd was shockingly bad. Sand and stones were freely thrown about, and even ladies met with no respect whatever. In many parts of the ground it was impossible for spectators to attempt to withdraw from their positions, unless at the risk of getting their eyes knocked out by stones. The vast majority of the spectators came to see the cricket, but a small minority of ruffians succeeded in making the ground more like a bear garden than anything else. ------- S om e time ago “ Dagoneb” in the Referee wrote a seathing paragraph about the behaviour of the Whit Monday crowd at Lord’s. It is to be hoped that if he was at Lord’s on Monday he will be merciful, remembering that even at the best conducted theatres there are occa­ sional disgraceful outbursts, which are not caused by lovers of the drama, but by unscrupulous persons who insist on making themselves a nuisance. A lt h o u g h M r. P. S. Waddy and Mr. Bardswell have both been o f the greatest possible service this season to the Oxford University team, it was not until they had both played a fine innings against Surrey on Monday that they were given their “ blues.” ------- O n e of the most astonishing things in the Australia match was that neither A. E . Stoddart nor Abel was put on to bow l during the long stand made b y Trott and Gregory, and yet both of them are notorious for getting a wicket when the regular bow ling is in a complete knot. T h e Rev. John William Dolignon who died at Cockley Clay Rectory, at Swaffham on June 15th, 1896, aged 83, repre­ sented the Gentlemen against the Players in the match at Lords on July 29th, 1844. In 1832 he formed one of the Eton Eleven v. Harrow and Winchester.