Cricket 1896

A u g . 13, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 355 T H E A U S T R A L I A N S . THE THIRD TEST MATCH. ( t w e n t y - se v e n th OF THE TOUlt.) Played at the Oval on August, 10, 11 and 12. England won by 66 runs. Heavy rain on Saturday and [Sunday made it very evident that the all important match which was to decide whether England or Australia should win the rubber, would be played under great disadvantages— if it were played at all. The England eleven was not definitely decided upon until Monday morning, when it was found that Captain Wynyard was to make his appearance in a representative team for the firsttime, that Stoddart had decided not to play, that Peel’s known skill on a difficult wicket had gained him a place, and that Hayward, who had been left out at Manchester, had been reins;ated. The other seven had played at Manchester. Graham, who has been out of form in recent matches, Johns and Eady, were left out by the Australians. With Monday morning came additional rain, and while at Manchester and Nottingham batsmen were making a tremendous lot of runs, there was nothing to do at the Oval but wait for the good time which might or might not be coming. At last, there was a break in the clouds, and at about half past twelve, it was proposed to begin the match. The captains tossed. Trott was unfortunate enough to lose—at least it seemed at the time that he was unfortunate, but at the end of the second day’splay there was a delightful uncertainty as to whether after all he had not done a good thing for his side in losing. The spectators who had suffered almost in silence, began to pull them­ selves together;the umpires walked to thewickets; and thenrain came again. Again there was a weary period of waiting, and it began to look as if no play would be possible before the m o iT o w, butat a few minutes be­ fore five, the first ball was bowled. Batsmen and bow­ lers were alike handicapped, for even with the aid of sawdust, no decent foothold could be obtained ; on the whole, the bowlers, as was to be expected, had theworst of it. Until the time for drawing stumps—half-past?six —England did ,well; so well that if the wicket played very badly on Tuesday, the Australians had a fair chance of a beating. Jackson and Grace made aparticu­ larly good start,making few mistakes, and playing the bowling pretty easily. W. G. was caught at point a few minutes before time, just when everybody was hoping that England would begin on the next morning with a clean sheet. Me had played a cricketer’s innings for 24. K. S. Ranjitsinhji came in and both he and Jackson kept up their wickets until close of play, when the total was 69 for one wicket. Jackson’s 39 was a splendid all round innings. Tuesday was fine, but the wicket was peculiar, to say the least of it. To the sorrow of those who hoped for some fine cricket from Jackson and Ranjit­ sinhji both men were out very soon after play was resumed, and three wickets were down for 78—a very different thing from one for 69. With Abel and MacLaren in together, the fortunes of England again began to look up, for both played superb, but careful cricket, Abel holding on steadily without making many runs, and MacLaren taking advantage of every ball which it seemed possible to hit. Both are good slow wicket batsmen, although their styles are so different. A lovely drive into the pavilion by MacLaren sent up the hundred, and things looked very well indeed until at 114 the Lancashire (aptain was out for 20. After this the turn of the bowlers, especially Trumble, came with crushing rapidity, and the next six wickets fell for an addition of 31 runs, Captain Wynyard alone doing well; but Abel kept up his wicket until the innings was all but ended, and his long stand was invaluable. When Trumble once got a fair start he was irresistible with the ball, but Giffen was expensive, and McKibbin only moderately successful. Instead of adopting their usual tactics, Darling and Iredale forced the game splendidly; in the half hour before lunch they put on 43 runs and still survived. This was even more promising than the beginning of the England iunings. After lunch the scoring went on uniil there was a reasonable chance that the hundred would go up without the loss of a wicket. At this stage of the game the Australian star was very blight indeed. Fifty, sixty, seventy went up on the scoriug board, and then at 75 Iredale was run out through a fine piece of fielding by Ranjitsiubji, and two urns later Darling was caught by MacLaren. Both batsmen had made risky strokes, and both had been fortunate in escaping, but they played the right game and well deserved their success. There was now nothing to choose between the chances of the two teams, for England had lost two wickets for 78. But there was no MacLaren and no Abel among the Australians who rose up to prevent a collapse, and j ust as Trumble had carried everything before him when he once began, so did J. T. Hearne. Trott, Hill, Gregory, and Giffen were all disposed of for an addition of 8 runs, and the innings seemed over. Hill had been run out very cleverly by Wynyard. When a stand was made by Donnan and Kelly the cricket became slow, for the object of the batsmen was to stop the collapse, and although they did not quite succeed in doing this, they effected a valuable stand. After Donnan was out the end soon came, the Australians being 26 runs behind. Hearne had a wonderful analysis after the first wicket fell, and altogether he took six wickets for 41, a per­ formance as nearly as possible equal to that of Trumble, although the latter had 59 runs made off him for his six wickets. By this time the wicket was very queer indeed, and the lead of 26 which England had gained was not to be despised. After the sudden downfall of the last nine Australian wickets, sur­ prises might well be looked for when England went in a second time. The surprises came soon enough. Presently Jackson was out; W . G. followed him; and then Ranjitsinhji was stumped. Between them they had made 22 runs. MacLaren only made six, but Abel again proved his value on a slow wicket by making a most useful 21 before he fell to Trumble. This wss the end of the disasters as far as Tuesday’s play was concerned, for Hayward and Wynyard kept up their wickets. Five wickets, of which Trumble claimed three, were down for 60, so that England, with five more wickets to fall, were only 86 runs on. Now, if the wicket at the Oval re­ covered as slowly as some other wickets, such a lead would have been sufficient to discourage any team whatever, but everybody knows that it sometimes improves in such an astonishing way —often quite unexpected—that there were all sorts of possibilities for the morrow. The Australians might have to go in to make about a hundred and find that there was no difficulty in scoring, but if rain came in the night they might find run-getting im­ possible. Altogether it was a very pretty situation—a situation which all cricketers could thoroughly ap­ preciate. But on the next morning it was found that the heavy rains, combined with the damage done when play was in progress on Monday, had been too much even for the Oval wicket, which was now more in favour of the bowlers than ever. It was indeed fortunate for England that when the game was resumed they were 86 runs on, for the last live bats­ men were all out for another 24 runs. The sixth wicket (Hayward’s), fell at 67, the seventh and eighth (Wynyard’s and Peel’s), at the same total, the ninth (Heame’s), at 68. This was terrible. Richardson, however, succeeded in forcing the game a little, and when Lilley was out, the total was 84. Four men, Ranjitsinhji, Abel, Hayward and Richard­ sonmade double figures, but small aswere their scores, they were of priceless value to their side. The Austra­ lians had to make 111, with a possible any chance of coming off victorious, although good as they are at playing an uphill game on a hard wicket, it was quite another thing to make runs on that which was before them on Wednesday. Richardson and Hearne began thebowling, but theformer w’as taken off after the first over, and replaced by Peel. The beginning of the match was startling. Before a run had been scored Hearne bowled Darling; at three, Iredale was caught off Hearne, who bowled Giffen at 7. Then came Peel’s turn, and at the same total he had Trott caught off him at extra cover by Brockwell, who was fielding for Ranjitsinhji ; it was amagnificent catch. Thus four of the best batsmen—perhaps the best four at the present time—were out for 7. Hill and Donnan went at 11, Gregory at 12, Kelly at 19, and Jones at 23. McKibbin was the only man on the side who made double figures, and when he was out for 16, the innings closed for 44. Hearne and Peel bowled in a remarkable manner. In the course of the match, Hearne took 10 wickets for 60, and Peel 8 for 53. For the Australians, Trumble took 12 for 89. Such performances as these are seldom seen- fortu­ nately for batsmen. As was natural, the fielding on both sides was almost perfect, for the ball travelled just fast enough to enable a man to show himself at his best. E n g lan d . First innings. Second innings. W. G. Grace, c Trott, b Giffen...............................24 b Trumble............ 9 F. S. Jackson, c McKibbin, b Trumble........................45 b Trumble............ 2 K. S. Ranjitsinhji, b Giffen 8 st K e l l y , b McKibbin ... 11 Abel, c and b Trumble ... 26 cGiffen.bTrumble 21 A. C. MacLaren, b Trumble 20 b Jones .......... 6 Hayward, b Trumble.......... 0 c Trott, bTrumble 13 Capt. E. G. Wynyard, c Darling, b McKibbin ... 10 c Kelly, b Mc­ Kibbin ... ... 3 b Trumble.......... 0 c McKibbin, b Trumble.......... 6 Hearne (J. T.), bMcKibbin 8b McKibbin ... 1 Richardson, not out .......... 1 not out..............10 Extras........................ 1 Extras.............. 2 Peel, c Donnan, b Trumble 0 Lilley, c Iredale, b Trumble 2 A u str a lia . First innings. J. Darling, c MacLaren, b Hearne ......................47 F. A. Iredale, run out ... 30 G. Giffen, b Hearne ........... 0 G. H. S. Trott, b Peel ... 5 S. E. Gregory, b Hearne ... 1 C. Hill, run out .................. 1 H. Donnan, b Hearne ... 10 J. J. Kelly, not out ....... 10 H. Trumble, b Hearne ... 3 E. Jones, c MacLaren, b Peel ................................ 3 T. R. McKibbin, b Hearne 0 Extras .................. 9 Second innings. b Hearne .......... 1 c J a c k s o n , b Hearne .......... b Hearne ......... c sub, b Peel c Richardson, b P eel................. b P e e l................. c Hayward, b Peel lbw, b Peel.......... not out................. b P eel................. 3 c Abel, b Hearne 16 Extras.......... 2 Total... ...119 Total ... 44 E n gland . First innings. O. M. R. W. Giffen .......... 32 12 64 2 . Trumble......... 40 10 59 6 ., 93 o 21 ~ McKibbin Total ...145 Total Second innings. O. M. R. W. ... 1 0 4 0 .. 25 9 30 6 - ............. 20 8 35 3 Jones ... 3 0 13 1 A u str a lia . First innings. Second innings. O. M.R. W . O. M.R. W. Peel .................... 20 9 30 2 .............. 12 5 23 6 Hearne ............ 26*1 10 41 6 ............ 13 8 19 4 Richardson ... 5 0 22 0 .............. 1 1 0 0 Hayward ............ 2 0 17 0 ............ ABBEY SCHOOL (BECKENHAM) v. SHEFFIELD PARK JUNIOR XI.-Played at Sheffield Park. A bbey S chool . W.E.Cornabe.not out 127 | Extras....................12 R. D. Craig, b Bull ... 1 — J. D. Craig, not out ...164 | Total (I wkt) *304 N. C. Phillips, W. H. Johns, B. Tuff, P. T. Spencer Phillips, B. T. Kenward, C. E. G. Thurlow, T. A. Tapp, and J. H. C. Brougham did not bat. * Innings declared closed. S h effield P a r k J unior XI. First innings. B. T. Fuller, c Comabg, b Tapp ............................... 7 H. W. Bull, cR . Craig, b J. Craig ............................... 0 H. H. Welfare, b Tapp ... 16 G. Diplock, run out .......13 W . Saunders, c Tuff, b 8.- Phillips ........................ 8 A. J. Dubber, b S.-Phillips 0 T. Diplock, b S.-Phillips ... 3 W.M.Mitchell, b S.-Phillips 2 F. T. Neal, b Tapp .......... 0 F. C. Manklow, not out .. 0 A. T. Fuller, b Tapp.......... 0 Extras......................... 3 Total ... 52 Second innings. c Johns, b Tapp... 6 st R. Craig, b S.-Phillips ... 2 b Tapp................. 3 b Tapp................. 5 c and b Spencer- Phillips .......... 3 not out.................16 not out................. 5 Extras......... 7 Total (5wkts) 47 INCOGNITI v. SOUTH WILTS.—Played at Salis­ bury on August 7 and 8. I ncogniti . H.A. Francis,bSwayne 90 P. F. Hadow,cSwayne, b Newton................. 1 E. M. Barrett, b Mal­ den ........................ 0 H. J. Mordaunt, c Brown, b Newton ... 13 M. Dunman, cMalden, b Swayne.................40 H. G.Barlow,bSwayne 96 B. H. Drury, bNewton 31 SirW.Russell,bMones 5 E. Barrett,b Morres... 11 W. J. Synnott,Jnot out 25 W. P. Carpmael, b Swayne ................. 0 Extras.................10 Total ...322 S outh W ilts . First innings. Rev. J. H. Audland, b E. Barrett..................................27 P. H. Morres, c Dunman, b D rury..................................18 J. Harman, c Hadow, b D rury...............................28 Second innings, c Russell,b Drury 1 b Russell ......... 6 c Dunman, bMor- daunt not out... P. Newton, b Drury .......... H. J. King, c Dunman, b D rury............................... 7 runout... A. H. Delme-Radclif, cRus- sell, b Drury ............. 14 A. R. Malden, not out ... 22 J. M. Swayne, b Mordaunt 3 H. W . Cobb, b [Drury....... 0 A. Brown, c Francis,bDrury 8 1 , 37 ... 26 ... 13 ... 30 ... 0 ... 17 Rev. G. Hill, b Drury......... 0 Extras...........................14 Total .................... 146 runout........ b Mordaunt b Mordaunt b Mordaunt c Hadow, b Fran­ cis ...............54 c Russell, c Drury 1 Extras........22 Total.......208