Cricket 1896

J u l y 16, 1896. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 283 BETWEEN THE INNINGS. There has been little enough in my notes of late about the Australian team, but it may be remembered that from the first I expressed my conviction that it was a good team all round, and would render a creditable account of itself. That my opinion has been justified, I think all will acknowledge. Twelve victories, three defeats, three drawn games, is the record at the time of writing : a splendid record, too. Granted that some of the sides beaten have not been over strong, the way in which the Australians have held the upper hand almost throughout, save for that one disastrous fortnight in June, has been really remarkable. No other Colo­ nial team, save that of 1882, has been so con­ sistently successful. With half of the matches played (I know one can’t have an exact half of 35, but 18 is near enough for all practical purposes), only three have been lost, anl two of the three draws were considerably in the Australian’ s favour. Leaving out of account the two earlier teams, whose matches were largely against eighteens and twenty-twos, let us see how the record of each of the other teams stood when it had played 18 matches. Team. Year. W on. Lost. Drawn. Murdoch’s 2nd ... 1882 ... 12 ... 1 ... 5 Murdoch’s 3rd ... 1884 ... 11 ... 4 ... 3 Scott’s .................. 1886 ... 7 ... 3 ... 8 M ’Donnell’ s ........... 1888 ... 11 ... 4 ... 3 Murdoch’s 4th ... 1890 ... 7 ... 7 ... 4 Blackham’s ........... 1893 ... 9 ... 6 ... 3 The latter half of the tour has still to come, of course; and the Australians may fare as disastrously in that as did M’Donnell’s men in 1888, when 10 of the remaining 22 matches were lost, or Scott’s in 1886, when after seven matches had been won in 18 games, the re­ maining 20 first-class fixtures only yielded two more victories, or Murdoch’s in 1890, when nine of the last 20 games were defeats and only six victories. They may , I gay ; but I don’t think they will. For the great feature of the Ninth Aus­ tralian Team is its reliability. And I say this, bearing well in mind that 18 and that 53 at Lord’s. To even the most reliable of teams such things happen occasionally. For my own part, I should think more of the team if it were a little less reliable and a little more brilliant. It is a great team ; but yet there is something lacking in it. In a wet summer, when great teams not seldom fare as badly as small ones, and the victory is often to the side which has one or two men who can hit out and fear nothing, I hardly fancy it would have done so well. It needs a M’Donnell, aMassie, or a Lyons. Darling, Graham and Gregory can all hit; they are “ dashers,” but not “ pulverizers,” and it is a pulverizer that is needed on occasion. The bowling is distinctly strong, despite the partial failure of McKibbin. Here are the figures of the team thus far. Kelly has caught 19, stumped 7 thus far ; J o h n s has caught 11, stumped 3; Hill (who kept in one innings only) has caught 2, stumped 1. The highest total in an innings against them is England’s 292 at Lord’s. They have scored totals of 462, 454, 382, 374, 347, 328, and 308. In all, the Australians have made 6,426 runs for 265 wickets, their opponents 5,055 for 308 ; respective averages 24*24 and 16*41. Of the individual members of the team little need be said now. All the men who were expected to make runs have made them, though, save for Darling and Gregory, all have had attacks of “ off-colour,” and some have not made as many as one thought likely. Jones has proved himself a much more effective bowler than many of us in England were inclined to think him when he was first chosen ; but, figures notwith­ standing, I don’t think him the equal of either Giffen or Trumble, let alone Spofforth and Turner. McKibbin and Eady have hardly done as well as anticipated; but burly Harry Trott has proved an extremely useful change, and evidently knows when to put himself on and when to take himself off— a great thing in a captain who bowls. He has managed his other bowling judiciously, too; and, if not an ideal captain, he is certainly up to the average. Johns and Kelly are good wicket-keepers, but everyone seems agreed that neither is a Blackham. No one ever said that either was, but perhaps that is irrelevant. Had Yorkshire not been beaten at the week-end as well as Surrey, the Championship contest would have looked all over. As it is, four teams still have a look in for it, for I cannot agree with those who think Surrey out of the running. There is plenty of time yet for Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Middlesex to be set back a bit. The last-named county is the one that will probably have most to do with the ultimate destination of the honours. Not that I think Middlesex will bo first at the end. The Metropolitan team is altogether too unreliable for that to be likely. But Mr. Webbe’s men have &penchant for smash­ ing up would be Champions when they meet them. Lionel Palairet’s 292 is the sixth biggest score ever recorded in first-class cricket, those higher being McLaren’s 424, W .G .’s 344 and 318*, W .W .’s 338, Murdoch’s 321, and Harry Moses’s 297#. Among the “ centurions” of the week are two new names, I congratu­ late heartily both the Gloucestershire wicket­ keeper and the young Horsham player. The week’s records: Kent’s first win. Scores of 519, 462, 454, 436, 418. Thousand runs in Somerset v. Hants matches. In the eleven matches 8756 runs for 352 wickets— average, 24*87. Long stands for a wicket (100 runs or more), week ended July 11 :— July 116...4...B a g s h a w and Davidson Drby. v. Leic. Derby. 6 167...1...Donnan & Iredale Aus.v.Hants. S’ton. 6 131...8...M archant and Martin Kent v. S’sx. H ’stgs 6 140...6. .Baker and Ward Lan. v. Notts N’ham 6 107.. 6...Foster & Town­ send Gent.v.Plyrs. Oval 7 153...5...Pougher & S. R. Wright Leic. v. Drby. Derby. 8 117.. 1...Darling &Iredale Aus.v. Plyrs. Leyton 9 117. ..4...Gregory&Iredale „ „ „ 9 126...8. L.Palairet&Rob­ son S’set v.Hants S’ton. 9-10 106...5...Bainbridge and Diver W ’wk.v.Glos.Bristol 10 140...8...Lohm ann and Read S’rey v. S’sx. Oval l l J.N.P. O sw e str y . SHREWSBURY SCHOOLv. O SW ESTRY.-Played at Shrewsbury on July 11. S h rew sbury S chool . H. Lloyd Jones, b F. N. Humphreys, c H o w ..........................41 Payne, b Sabine ... 37 M. Druce, b R. T. A. B. Leather, c and Gough ..................65 b S ab in e................... 13 C. Kenick, b R. T. R. L. Evans, b R. T. Gough .................. 0 Gough ................... 3 W . P. Salt, b How ... 0 E. G. Jones, not out... 0 G. Moser, b R. T. F. Bowring, b R. T. Gough .................. 0 Gough ................... 8 H. Westby, b R. T. Extras ........... 13 Gough .................. 4 Total ...184 A. E. Payne, b Hum­ phreys .................. H. W . Sabine, c Salt, b Moser .................. F. A. How, c Hum­ phreys, b Moser ... R. T. Gough, c W est- by, b Moser ........... F. J. Gough, c Hum­ phreys, b Moser ... F. O. Roberts, not out ..........................] H. W . Ellis, c W est- by, b Moser ........... J. McNeil, b Moser ... G. Whitfield, b Moser W . Minsha’ l, c Salt, b Humphreys........... L. Roberts, run o u t... Extras ........... Total ........... HONOR OAK v. NORTHBROOK.-Played at Honor Oak on July 11. H onor O a k . A . Jones, c Hooper, b Gibbons.................. 0 R. Carmichael, not out 59 B 10, lb 2, w 1 ... 13 Total (5 wkts.)258 G. S. Harrison, b Higham .................. 6 T. R. Dickason, b Goodall ..................1 2 F. W ilkie, c Willis, b Higham ..................89 H. Burton, not out ... 66 T. J. Gracey, c and b Gibbons .................. 13 W . Tapp, E. Chapman, F. Bellini, and W . North did not bat. * Innings declared closed. N orthrrook . T. H. W illis, b W ilkie 3 C. Springthorpe, b Wilkie .................. 12 C. Higham, b Wilkie 27 H. Goodall, not o u t... 13 J. W . Knowles, b D ickason.................. 6 W . Collins, lbw, b - D ickason.................. 0 W . Green, b Dickason 0 A.H.Smith,bDickason 0 W .O.W illis, c Burton, b W ilk ie ...................10 C.A. Hooper, st Jones, b W ilk ie ................... 1 Gibbons, b W ilkie ... 4 Lb 5, w 1 ........... 6 Total ...........82 SOUTHGATE v. FOREST G A TE .-Played at Southgate on July 11. S o u th g a te . E. P. Sugden, b Bon- toft ..........................92 A. S. Harris, b Steven­ son .......................... 5 R.T.Barker, b Steven­ son .......................... C. T. Ewart, b Bon- toft .......................... 4 A. L. Kemp, c and b Nelson ................. 84 F. G. Payne, W . B. Adams, and H. Chatterton did not bat. ♦Innings declared closed. F orest G a t e . C. E. Wallace, c Hos- king, b Nelson . . 0 D. J. Drake, b Bon- toft ......... 5 W . T. Ricketts, not out ......... 2 B 11, lb 2, w 1 ... 14 T otal........*214 A.Beecroft, b Chatter­ ton ...........................13 L. Stevenson, c Ewart, b Chatterton .%. ... 4 W . Hawkins, c and b Chatterton ........... 0 F. Bontoft, c Drake, b Bicketts ................... 1 A. Owen, c Bicketts, b Chatterton ........... 3 J. Hosking, c and b Chatterton ...........20 L. Mason, c Adams, b Chatterton .......... 0 C. Berry, not out ... 33 C. E. Higgins, b Chatterton ........... 2 W . Nelson, b Ricketts 3 A. T. C lo u c h , b Kemp .................. 1 B 15, nb 1 ...16 Total ... 96 TONBRIDGE SCHOOL v. B. B.’s .- Played at Ton- Bridge on July 8. T on bridge . L. J. Le Fleming, c Carr, b Hubbard ... 51 W . E. C. Hutchings, lbw, b Whitby ... 58 A. R. Power, b Hub­ bard .......................... 4 J. A. D. Langhome, b Carr.......................... E. Beeching, b Carr ... F.Y.Hutchings, b Carr C. T. Scott, c Carr, b W hitby ................... 12 12 E. T. Langdale, c Arbuthnot,bWhitby 11 J. Postlethwaite, c and b W hitby.................. 0 F. W . Orr, st Arbuth­ not, b Carr ...........11 G. A. Mason, not out 16 B10, lb 7 ...........17 Total .200 B. B M. A. Streatfeild, c Langdale, b Mason 17 R. J. H. Arbuthnot, b Mason ......................22 A. Cornwallis, c Lang­ dale, b Mason...........32 G.C.Hubbard, c Lang­ dale, b Mason ... 61 D.W.Carr, c Le Flem­ ing,b Mason ...........25 Major L. T. Spens, b Beeching.................. H. O. Whitby, run out C, Watney, run out ... J.P. S. Hervy, b Posle- thwaite ................... H . W . Smith, not out B 2 ,lb 1 ........... Total ..177 Capt. M ann did not bat,