Cricket 1897

M ay 20, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 153 NOTICE ! The Editor guarantees the insertion of the Match Scores of Clubs only when arrangements are made for the publica­ tion of the whole of the season’s scores. The charge is One Shilling each match, with a minimum of One Guinea. Scores not thus arranged for are inserted at the rate of Two Shillings each match if space admits. “ C r i c k e t ” is published on Thursday morning. Piice 2d. Post free 2Jd. Annual Subscription (Inland) 6s. 0d. Summer Numbers (only) - - 5s. Od. Winter Numbers ,, - - Is. 3d. Payable in Advance. Cheques and P.O.O. to bemade payable to the Manager. All communications should be sent direct to the Offices: 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. C r icke t : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, 168, UPPER THAMES S TREET, LONDON, E.C . TH UR SDA Y , M A Y 2 0 t h , 1897. $atotlton The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. N ot the least of the many surprises which Sussex has furnished of late years is the latest. That an eleven should make 418 in the first innings, and then be beaten by 46, would seem impossible to any other county. T h e match affords another proof, if it proves anything, that a bowler, whether he be a new man or not, has precious little chance of doing himself credit if his lot is thrown in with a team very weak in bowling. Bland seems a promising bowler, but to have catches missed off him wholesale, and to have to do most of the work himself, is not alittle discouraging to a beginner. Another bowler who deserves the warmest sym­ pathy of cricketers is C. L. Townsend. In the Gloucestershire v. Yorkshire match nobody else could get wickets; so he had the pleasure of seeing 207 runs hit off him. , O n e cmnot but feel that the intense cold of the past two weeks has been responsible, to a good extent, for the several scores of over 200 which have already been made. The longer the teams have stayed out in the field, the more unable to make catches have they become, and the less have the bowlers been able to feel the ball. Consequently, the making of big scores— when once the batsman has been thoroughly warmed to his work— has been more like the pro­ verbial “ shelling of peas ” than ever. Men who, as a rule, are slow scorers, have almost seemed like hitters. F or future reference the various scores of over 200 made thus far this season, which has lasted only a fortnight, are appended, together with the time taken in compiling them:— hrs. mins. May 11.—N. F. Druce, Cambridge Uni­ versity v. Mr. Thornton’sXI., 227, not out ....................................... 3 50 May 11and 12.— J. A. Dixon, Notts v. Sussex, 268 ................................. 5 10 May 13.— K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Sussex v. M.C.C., 260 ................................. 4 5 May 13and 14.— Abel, Surrey v. War­ wickshire, 250 ........................... 6 15 I t will be noticed that all these big scores were made during four successive days last week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the coldest days of this cold spring. A MORE complete contrast than was furnished by the batting of the M.C.C. and that of Sussex at Lord’s last week can hardly be imagined. For Sussex there were, altogether, nine double-figure innings out of 22; there was one score of 260, and one over 50; five men scored single figures in both innings. On the M.C.C. side there were, altogether, six­ teen double-figure innings; the highest score was 79, and there was one over 50. Every man scored double figures in one of his innings. On the M.C.C. side there were ten innings over 30 ; on the Sussex sidethere were three. It must be remem­ bered that there was only a difference of 46 runs between the teams in a total of 1,156. A gain last week the veterans were much to the fore. Abel made 250, K. J. Key 110, not out (this innings included seven fours in succession, and about half of it was put together while Wood, the last man, was in), W. L. Murdoch, 51 and 12, W. G. Grace, 55 and 17. I t is said that C. T . B. Turner has left Sydney to reside in Brisbane. U p to April 3rd Ernest Jones had taken 21 wickets in club cricket this season at Adelaide for 216 runs, an aver­ age of 10J runs per wicket. I n the cause of charity a match was recently played at Warrnapool (Victoria) between elevens of ladies and veterans. A player could qualify as a veteran if he were 50 years old, or weighed over 15 stone. The veterans were ignominously beaten, the ladies scoring 101 against 17. One of the veterans, feeling that to run after the ball would be too great a strain upon him, persuaded his dog to act as fieldsman for him. This would have worked better if the dog had beenwilling to give up the ball when he got it into his mouth. From the Adelaide Observer ' “ In the Genelg v. Kensington match a well-known explorer was umpiring. The third hall of the over hit the batsman on the leg and the howler appealed. ‘ Not out ’ came the answer from mid-off, the umpire having forgotten to take his place at the howling crease. Two or three overs later the wicket-keeper took the hall very smartly. 1How’s that ? ’ he cried. The umpire, evi­ dently thinking he was appealing for praise for his smartness, replied—‘ Oh, that’s all right.’ . . A l i t t l e book has j ust been brought out by Mr. A. J. Gaston, entitled “ Curiosities of Cricket.” The curiosities arearranged in tabular form, andmention is made in each case of the source from which the information has been derived. Cricket figures pretty frequently in this department of the book. It is difficult to see how any writer on the game can do without this little work. A t luncheon time on Monday last, in the match between Yorkshire and War­ wickshire, Mr, Jackson was not out, 99, and Denton not out, 100. A mong the well-known cricketers who have just missed their hundred during the last six days, are : J. B. Challen, 97 ; B. D. Bannon, 92; A. P. Lucas, 86 (not out); W. S. Hale, 99 (not out) (a particu­ larly hard case, as Mr. Hale could not get a chance at the bowling to make the other run) ; J. H . Kelsey, 98; A. T . Coode, 99. C. J. Burnup missed his 200 by 8. I t is said that, in a local match at Adelaide, three bowlers went on for one of the teams. During the innings each bowler once hit the stumps without removing the bails. This is, to say the least of it, curious. According to the Sydney Mail the Bulli soil, of which so much has been hoped, has not yet had a test under really trying conditions. “ We have not y e t” says the Mail'’1 heen placed in a position to see what would be the result if the sun came out hotly after a shower of rain and baked a wicket top-dressed with Bulli soil. That would be a very severe test, and if it withstood the rays to such an extent as to make a game an open question, the Bulli soil would have solved a problem that has agitated cricketers for many years past. So far the soil has answered satisfactorily, much more so than the stuff, good enough at the time, we used to get from Victoria. I t ' may be that too much credit is being given to the soil and not sufficient to those who have the preparation to attend to.” M r . F . D. G addum , the well-known Cambridge Blue of 1882, writes the fol­ lowing good natured letter:— “ In last week’s ‘ Pavilion Gossip’ you make A. P. Lucas a first-class centurion of 30.years ago ! Are you not rather hard on him ? I had the honour of being in the same house with him at Uppingham in 1874, and doubt whether he had taken any part in first-class matches up to that time, although I am quite prepared to admit that his batting in those early days was of the very best quality.”