Cricket 1896

386 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 27, 1896. of the little proposal I beg to submit, namely, that it become a matter of cricket etiquette that the victorious county at the end of a season be entertained at a ball, the cost of the affair being borne by all the ( ther counties that figured in the competition, and by such of the general public as care to subscribe; the dance to take place in the principal town in the successful county. We have our race balls, and our football dances and cycling dances, why not a cricket hall ? I say a ball in preference to a dinner, as the wives of cricketers could participate in the event, and it would be some compensation to them for being deprived of their husbands’ society so many hours in a year, as Mr. Shuter so gracefully said when he chose a piano for his wife to play on when he was asked by his cricket admirers to select a present as a mark of their esteem. It would, moreover, be a means of bringing our cricketers’ wives into contact with their husbands’ friends, and would give them an additional interest in the game that their husbands love. Should the suggestion prove acceptable, there is yet time for the event to be inaugurated this year.” A v e r y interesting match, of which the scores will be found elsewhere in Cricket, took place on August 6, at St. Petersburg, between the St. Petersburg Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club and the Nondescripts. The Nondescripts suc­ ceeded in defeating their opponents for the first time. A return match was to be played a week after the date of the first match. T he Leinster C.C., the scores of whose tour in England are inserted in this issue, had only six of the first eleven in the first three matches, and seven in the other two. Despite this not a match was lost, and one of the drawn games would have been a victory but for a bad decision by an umpire. U p to to-day (Wednesday) Eanjit­ sinhji has scored 2,648. This is 91 below the total scored by W. G. in 1871, his best year, so that there is a probability that the Cambridge Blue may beat W.G.’s record of 2,739. He has already tquailed his record of ten hundreds in a season. B y his two splendid innings of 100 and 125 (not out) for Sussex, v. Yorkshire, last Saturday, August 22, K. S. Banjit- binhji has added another name to the list of those who have scored two hun­ dreds in a first-class match. Banjitsinhji is the only batsman who has scored two hundreds in one day in first-class cricket. He was not out, 0, on the previous day. T he complete list of batsmen who have scored two hundreds in a match is now as follows :— 1868. W . G. Grace, South v. North of Thames, 130 and 102*. 1887. W . G. Grace, Gloucester v. Kent, 101 and103*. 1888. W . G. Grace, Gloucester v. Yorkshire, 148 rnd 153. .892. G. Biann, Sussex v. Kent, 1C5and 101. 18fc3. A. E Stoddait, Middlesex v. Notts, 195* and 124. 1896. Storer, Derbyshire v. Yorkshire, 100and ICO*. 1896. K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Sussex y. Yorkshire, 100 and 125*. * Signifies not out.J I n other than first-class matches two hundreds have been scored in a match by W. Lambert, W. Townshend, F. W. Maude, W. D. Llewellyn, D. Gr. Spiro, W. W. Bead, F. G. J. Ford, Captain Wynyard, J. S. Liddell, C. J. Eady, A. G. Bichardson, H. S. Bush, B. A. A. Beresford, E. Beech, A. C. Bannerman, and Miss Deane (in a ladies match in Australia). F ob five times in succession, beginning with the England match at the Oval, the Australian ciptain has lost the toss. He has, however, still a balanca on the right side, having altogether won the toss 18 times and lost it 13 times. I n the usual Monday’s list of batting averages it is remarkable that the first nine men all belong to different counties, Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Derbyshire, Notts, Somerset, Gloucestershire, York­ shire, and Lancashire being represented. Kent appears thirteenth on the list, Middlesex fourteenth, Warwickshire twenty-fifth, Essex twenty-ninth, and Leicestershire fortieth. The Australians begin to appear at the twenty-first place. A curious incident occurred during the latter part of Worcestershire’s innings against the Second Eleven of Surrey at the Oval on Monday. Fereday, in attempting to make a run, was thrown out by Keene. The ball knocked the leg bail off, but the other bail was shifted on to the top of the centre stump, where it remained fairly tight and in its usual direction. I f the South African team, which I have already mentioned is not unlikely to visit England next summer, does be­ come an accomplished fact, it will be under the captaincy of A. B. Tancred, who bears the reputation of being the best batsman in South Africa. If, as is con­ fidently asserted will be the case, it should be a considerably stronger combination all round than that which came here three years ago, it should be able to render a good account of itself with most of the counties. W hat Mr. W. Carless, the Hon. Sec. of the Hastings and St. Leonards week, does not know in the way of cricket organisation is hardly worth knowing. Next Thursday is to see the commence­ ment of the tenth week under his manage­ ment, and if the play is in any way up to the general quality of the players, the cricket should be of a high order. The elevens to represent the South in the two matches against the Australians and the North are to be selected from the follow­ in g:—W. G. Grace, L. C. H. Palairet, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, A. E. Stoddart, C. L. Townsend, S. M. J. Woods, Abel, Hay­ ward, J. T. Hearne, Bichardson, G. Lohmann, and Butt. The North eleven— for the second fixture that is—against tbe South will be—A. C. MacLaren, C. E. de Trafford, Attewell, Baker, Brown, Lilley, Mold, Peel, Tunnicliffe, Wain­ wright, and A. Ward. No less than twelve of the players named, it may be added, represented England in one or other of the three test matches against Australia during the present season. T h e ball with which Mold bowled Lohmann, in Surrey’s first innings in the Lancashire match at the Oval, last week, broke a record which had been unbeaten since 1881. In that summer, H. Bother- ham, playing for the Uppingham Rovers, against the Gentlemen of Derbyshire, bowled a ball which sent the bail 62 yards from the wicket. But on Thursday Mold went one better. The bail, on Lohmann’s dismissal, was picked up at a distance of 63 yards 6 inches from the stumps. I t is not often that upwards of two hundred runs are scored before luncheon. This was what was done, and on a slow wicket, by the Second Eleven of Surrey against Staffordshire at the Oval yester­ day. Moreover, of the 205 runs made in the two hours before the luncheon interval for the loss of two wickets, one batsman, H. B. Chinnery, contributed 115, aud was still in. Mr. Chinnery, who was the most successful batsman in the Eton Eleven last year, is a son of the old Amateur Champion miler. As he is a good all-round cricketer, he should be a useful man for Surrey in the near future. T he total of 17 made by Gloucester­ shire v. tbe Australians in their second innings, is the lowest made against our visitors this year. It even puts in the shade the 18 made by the Australians themselves against the M.C.C., and the 19 of the M.C.C. and Ground against the Australians in 1878. The record in first- class class cricket is still the 12 made by Oxford University against M.C.C. in 1877—a record which will be hard to beat. I n a match between the Hampshire Hogs and the Old Malvernians on Satur­ day, the Old Malvernian umpire called a wide too soon, with the result that the batsman, Mr. J. H. Copleston, hit the ball and was caught. The umpire re­ fused to give him out, on the ground that he had called wide. But in the opinion of most of the players—and among them Dr. Bencraft—the umpire should have recalled the wide, as there was no doubt as to the batsman having hit the ball. This was obviously the best course open to the umpire, but in any case there is no law to prevent a man from being caught or bowled by a hall which in the opiuion of the umpire was a wide. A VERY complete and interesting com- paiison of the performances of K. S. Banjitsinhji in 1896 and W.G. in 1871 is given by Mr. A. J. Gaston in the Argua (Brighton) of last Monday. It is worthy of note that in 1871 W.G. only six times in thirty-nine innings made single figures, and that he was only four times not out.