Cricket 1896

S e p t . 3, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 401 W ISDEN’S CRICKET ALMANAC, 1879 to 1896; Lillywhite’s Green, 1868-69-71-76-78-83-85, FOR SA.LE; best reasonable offer accepted.— D o d r id g e , 63, Digby Road, Finsbury Park, London. B ACK NUMBERS of Cricket for sale, 1888 to present time, either singly or in volumes. Par­ ticulars on application to R. J. B ro w n , 71, Quayside, Newcastle-on-Tyne. C RICKET GROUNDS made or repaired. Top dressing and draining done. Advice and esti­ mates given. 20 years experience.—C. W h it e la w , Woodford Green, E. W ISDEN’S ALMANACK.—The Editor of Cricket is anxious to obtain Wisden for 1875 to com­ plete a set. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 168, UPFER THAMES S TREET, LOUDON, E.C . THURSDAY, SEPT. 3rd, 1896. $3a\ultou (iosstp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. To tbe list of batsmen who have gained a sudden and surprising success with the ball must be added the name of Denton, who for Yorkshire took five of the South of England wickets in the first innings for 42. M r. S p o i t o k t i i has taken part in two first-class matches this year. Against the Australians for the Wembley Park Eleven he took eleven wickets for 106 ia the two innings; and for a South of England X I. v. Yorkshire nine for 82 in the two innings, so that his average is 9 '4 0 per wicket. F or the third time within a fortnight Mr. Stoddart and Mr. Douglas have put on more than 150 runs for the first Middlesex wicket, their latest perfor­ mance being 166 in the second innings against Kent, at Lord’s. Mr. Stoddart’s last seven innings have produced, 94 and 36, 93 and 41, 6, 0 and 127; and Mr. Douglas’s last eight: 87 and 42, 69 and 5, 8 and 24, 2 and 65. T h e present Australian team, like every one of its predecessors, has shewn, that, when it had become a little accus­ tomed to dead wickets, its batsmen and bowlers could adapt themselves to cir­ cumstances readily enough. Since the England match at the Oval they have had to do without hard wickets, and they have done much more than merely hold their own. Earlier in the season a dead wicket was a novelty to them, and it is not astonishing that once or twice they did not do themselves justice on them. T h e report of* a match between Rapid City (Manitoba) and the English Reserve will be found elsewhere in Cricket. With reference to the match, J. H. Bush writes : “ You will see that even in this far away part of the world we still play the old game, and I believe that the twenty-four players who took part in the match are all Englishmen, Of course, the wickets are bumpy, as it is very difficult to level the land, which we have to take on the wide prairie.” W h en McKibbin seemed to be an absolute failure in England and was regarded as a fraud, it was frequently pointed out in Cricket that he was really a great bowler, that he ought to suc­ ceed, and that he had been most unlucky. Absurd as these statements may have appeared at the time when they were made, they have been quite justified. M r T. B. G a b r ie l , the honorary secre­ tary of the Streatham C.C., writes as follow s:—“ I see in your this week’ s issue you state that the Leinster C.C. were not defeated in their recent tour. This is erroneous, as the visitors were defeated by Streatham C.O. I shall be glad if you will correct this by a statement in your next issue. Our friends are such good sportsmen that I feel certain they would prefer that the mistake should be cor­ rected.” In the Lancashire match at Liverpool McKibbin took thirteen wickets in all for 38 runs, which is as good as anything that has been done for a very long time. “ T h is day,” writes R. T., “ begins the ‘ Hastings Cricket Week ’—now in its tenth season—which, through the untir­ ing energy of Mr. William Oarless, the Hon. Secretary of this annual, has now become so popular, and is looked forward to with so much pleasure by all classes of cricketers as a soothing and cheery re-union, after the heavy labour and fever heat of county contests, and battling for the ‘ Championship ’ title. The Hastings Week has gained its popularity from the fact that the best cricketers that are available can be seen on these occasions. The two matches are South of England v. Australians, and North v. South; and as Mr. W. Carless has again secured strong teams of most of the best batsmen, bowlers and all­ rounds, there is no doubt the week will prove as highly attractive as ever, the more so, as this will be the last oppor­ tunity of seeing the Australians, who have been so deservedly popular, and proved by their doings such a strong and representative combination. And the best wishes of R. T. are that they may have a pleasant return journey, and land safe and sound—in health and happiness —from dear old England to their Colonial homes.” T h e famous aggregate of 2,739, made by W. G. in 1871, has at last been exceeded. When the Surrey v. Sussex match began, K. S. Ranjitsinhji was only eight runs behind, and until he had made up the arrears he played with very great caution. By his two scores of 38 and 10, he has brought his aggregate to 2,779. H e has still a chance—a bare chance only, for the wickets in the two remain­ ing matches are likely to be greatly affected by the rain—of making another hundred, and so exceeding W .G.’s record, made in 1871, of ten hundreds in a season. Two or three correspondents have written to say that W. G. made eleven hundreds in 1869, and one of them even gives the exact totals and the matches in which they were made. But W.G. only made six hundreds in that year, as may be seen in any trustworthy book of reference. Up to August 3rd the Australians had made eighteen individual hundreds, but since then the total has been at a stand­ still. The total made against them continues to stick at three. In the course of the match between Leyton and Finchley last week, three of the Leyton team were run out off suc­ cessive balls, and a fourth run out followed almost immediately afterwards. The unfortunate batsman could not in any of the four instances blame his partner for his downfall. I t will be news to the majority of Cricket readers, that Mr. Cave, the British Consul, on whom in the absence of his chief the whole conduct of affairs rested during the recent troubles at Zanzibar, is none other than B. S. Cave who was a contemporary of R. S. Lucas in the eleven at Merchant Taylors School, and subsequently did good service for the Richmond Club, not only on the cricket field, but also for some time as its Hon. Sec. He was distinctly above the average of school cricketers, if I remember rightly. A good wicket-keeper, he was at one time very near having a trial for Surrey in that capacity. T hough the composition of the team has varied considerably in proportion as the vacancies in the first eleven have had to be filled, “ Surrey Second ” have gone through another season without suffering a defeat. Considering that they have played the picked players of such counties as Worcestershire, North­ amptonshire, Staffordshire,Herefordshire, Bedfordshire, and Glamorganshire, as well as Lancashire’s second, they have good reason to be proud of the fact that they have not been beaten for four years. Their last reverse, unless my memory is at fault, was in 1892, when they went down before Bedfordshire at Luton. In the fierce light of first-class cricket, the unobtrusive personality of the scorer is mostly obscured. Hence it is par­ ticularly gratifying that he is at times not altogether without honour in his own county, at all events. The presentation, made at the end of last week, to Mr. J. Crow, by the committee of the Kent County C.C. and Kent cricketers, was a very graceful recognition of loyal and conscientious service extending over nearly a quarter of a century. For twenty-two years Mr. Crow has acted as scorer for the Kent County C.C. with a