Cricket 1896

J u ly 9, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 273 T A nd it is simply as a question of policy i that such a manoeuvre must be treated. It has been pointed out that in other games similar moves may be employed without incurring the slightest fear of a charge of bad sportsmanship, but it is unnecessary to retVr to other games, for cricket is, by its devotees, considered to be on a higher plane than all other gamf s. The only question to be considered is whether in the absence of any law bearing on the pt int, by giving away a few runs or deliberately losing a wicket or two, the desired object of winning the match can be attained. If a captain thinks that by doing this he can gain an advantage, he has as much right to do it as to put the other side in first when he wins the toss, on a wicket which he thiuks will suit his side later in the match. If he makes a miscalculation in either case, he has to. suffer for his error of judgment, as did Mr, Mitchell in the ’ Varsity match. I t may be interesting tto recall a few other occasions on which a side has given its opponents a temporary advantage in order to win the match. In 1892, in the Canterbury week, Walter Wright and Walter Hearne were together for the last wicket when Kent wanted one run to save the follow-on. At this stage of the game, the Kent captain, Mr. W . H. Patterson, had a short conversation with Hearne, which was interpreted by Attewell, who had to bowl the next ball, as advice to promptly get out. Attewell thereupon bowled a very wide wide to the boundary. Notts won the match half- an-hour before time, and gained a distinct advantage by this manoeuvre. In the match between Suirey and Notts, at Trent Bridge, in 1887, before the closure rule came into force, Mr. Shuter, seeing that there would be no time to get Notts out in their second innings if the Surrey tail played to make runs, advised them to throw away their wickets. They did so, and just managed to win the match. The first five Surrey batsmen had made 259 between them; the total was 289. Surrey had not beaten Notts at Trent Bridge since 1870. Last year, after Mr. MacLaren had made his 424 against Somersetshire, a consultation of the Lancashire players was held, and it was arranged that the tail should get out as quickly as possible, in order that there might be time to get Somerset out twice. This plan resulted in success. I n a recent match between Femhurst and Trotton, A. E. Baker took all ttn Fernhurst wickets for one run, out of a total of eleven. Appended aie the details of his analysis, by which it will be seen that he took five wickets in succession. l w | w ' | w * | * | • w w w W W I . W I . J w . I I t is odd that Mr. G. O. Smith was the last man chosen in the Oxford team, both in 1895 and this j ear. He made 34 not out and 100 not out against Kent, and five against M.C.C. in the two matches last year which preceded the great match; this year he made 41 and 85 agaiiibt M .C.C., after having been left out of the team in the Sussex match. Against Cambridge his scores have been 51 not ut and 2, and 37 and 132. G. O. S m it h will not be available next year, nor will Warner, Foster, Mordaunt, Leveson-Gower, Lewis, and Hemingway. In the ordinary course of affairs, Mitchell, N. F. Druce, Grace, and Gray will be able to play next year; Cuoliffe, Marriott, Wilson, arid Burnup for the next two years; and Pilkington, Waddy, and Jessop for the next 3 years. F o o tb all was exceedingly well repre­ sented in the University teams. G. O. Smith, Barnup, and Bray are Association Blues, and the two former are Inter­ nationals. Hartley and Mitchell are Rugby Klues, and the latter is an Inter­ national. G. J. Mordaunt has often played in the Oxford Rugby Fifteen during the last few years. It will be remembered that Raikes, an Association Blue and International, disputed the last place in the Oxford team with G. O. Smith. I n the first three matches played by the Northern Counties C.C. (Inverness) this season, W. Ross and D. Macdonald have been remarkably successful with the ball, getting rid of their opponents for 24, 20 and 5 (of which one was an extra). In the last match (against Inverness Col­ lege) Macdonald took 7 wickets for 2 runs, and Ross three for the other 2 runs. The Northern Counties made fair scores iu each match. S in c e the Australia v. England match, in which he was not chosen to play, because he had been entirely out of form, Iredale has been seen to great advantage. His scores are as fo llow s:— 13 and 94, not o u t; 22 and 114; 9 and 40 ; and 106. I n the same four matches, Graham, who like Iredale, had not previously done himself justice, has scored 96 and 6 ; 67 and 29 ; 8 and 6 ; and 66. “ O x f o r d ’ s brilliant and well earned victory on Saturday,” writes a corres­ pondent, “ was only a fitting termination to the University careers of the majority of the team. Messrs. Leveson Gower, Mordaunt, Foster, Warner, Smith and Lewis, having all been in residence four summers, will not be eligible another year. As the first five are batsmen, per­ haps equal as a quintette to any ever up in one and the same year, their figures may be of interest to some Cricket readers. They are certainly worth recording. B attin g A v erages . Times not Highest Inns. out. Runs, score. Aver. G. O. Smith ... ... 24 ... 3 .. 761 ... 132 ... 36-5 H. K . Foster ... ... 44 ... 5 .. . 1,362 ... 121 ... 34-36 G. J. Mordaunt ... 61 ... 3 .. . 1,906 ... 264*... 31-15 P. F. Warner... ... 32 ... 0 .. . 966 ... 90 ... 30-6 H . D. G. L.-Gower 60 ... 3 .... 1,579 ... 95 ... 27*40 H undreds . G. J. Mordaunt, 1894, 100 v. Sussex. G. J. Mordaunt, 1895, 264* v. Sussex. G. O. Smith, 1895, 100* v. Kent. H. K. Foster, 1895, 121 v. Cambridge. G. O. Smith, 1896, 132 v. Cambridge. * Signifies not out. Against Cambridge, G. O. Smith has done best, scoring 222 runs in three com ­ pleted innings. Foster is next with 212 for five completed innings. The captain is a good third with 201 in eight innings. Mordaunt and Warner have been com ­ parative failures in the great match. A word of praise, too, must be given Mr. Lewis, certainly one of the most brilliant wicket-keepers Oxford ever had. The loss of all these, together with Messrs. Raikes, Bosworth-Smith, Clayton, Stan­ ley, Barlow and others, will be felt next year. It is worth mentioning that no less than eleven fourth-year men have succeeded in making centuries in first- class or other trial matches.” B y scoring 122 in the second innings of Derbyshire v. Yorkshire, Storer has made four hundreds in three successive matches, a feat which has not been accomplished by any other cricketer. His last six innings have been 100 and 100, not o u t; 143; 16 and 122; and 52. A n o t h e r addition to the noble army of Benedicts. This time it is Aubrey, otherwise “ Round the Corner” Smith, the old Cantab and fast bowler of Sussex, who is to enter the married state and at an early date. Am ong the wedding an­ nouncements last week was one of C. E. Ratcliff, an active and intelligent officer of the Barnes C.C. for some years. A good friend in Adelaide has kindly sent particulars of a double century to supplement the list given in Cricket early in the season. So far, too, to the best of my knowledge, it has not seen the light of print in England. Playing for Ka- punda against Eudunda, two teams belonging to a Country Association in South Australia, H. Pellew scored 102 and 104. In each case, too, he was not out, and what is more, he carried his bat throughout both innings, which of itself shouldbe near a record. Pellew, who atthe time was j ust turned seventeen years of age, was a member of the Prince Alfred College team when Clem H ill made 360, not out, then the highest individual score in Australian cricket. It may be as well to add that the performance men­ tioned above has been fully authenticated. T iia t music hath charms no one needs to be reminded. But in the summer time, even iu some of the best regulated establishments, its charms fail to attract when the national game comes on to the scene. From May to September the young man’s fancy, as a rule, lightly turns to thoughts of cricket. A day or two ago, the master who teaches the boys the violin in a well-known school, not many miles from London, placed the situation forcibly before his chief thusly : “ I cannot get much good work out of my pupils during the cricket term. If I turn my back for a moment during a lesson, to play something on the piano, I find my boy practising a forward stroke with his bow .” T h e close of the match between the Gentlemen and Players at the Oval yes­ terday, recalls another exciting finish in the same contest on the Surrey Ground thir­ teen years ago. In the game of 1883, H . Rotherham, the last man, came in with