Cricket 1897

154 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. M a y 20, 1897. T he return of M. R. Jardine and C. P. Foley to first class cricket has been attended with the greatest success. So far, Jardine has scored 4 and 17 ; 21 and 5 ; 52 and 0 ; 1 and 85 ; and Foley 42 and 21 not out; 26 and 47 ; 32 and 40. A co in c id e n ce : In the match against Sussex and M.C.C. at Lord’s last week, K. S. Ranjitpinhji and W . L Murdoch put on 173 runs during' their partnership in the first innings of Sussex. Time, an hour and thirty five minutes. In the match between Lancashire and M.U.C. on the same ground this week, Ranjitsinhji and M. R. Jardine put on 173 runs during their partnership in the second innings of M.C.C. Time, an hour and fifty fire minutes. T h e following remarks about H . F. Boyle areby “ Felix” in the Australasian: “ The veteran got one wicket for 80. He tried to get a hit of leg work on, hut it was no good; they merely thumped him for fours. In the field, however, he managed to get plenty of leg work, and it is due to him to say that not one of his comrades surpassed him in agility ard celerity of movement, though he has 49 years at his back.” A SEASONABLE EXPLANATION. (From the Pall Mall Gazette.) Yes, dear, I made them, the report is true; Nay, sweetheart, neither chide me nor condemn, For oh ! I wish not even, sweet, wilh you To talk of them. You call that ‘ ‘ natural ” —but why that tone ? That sneering tone and that offended air ? Why so incredulous that I alone Could make a pair ? I did. Alas ! that answer seems to vex; Eh? “ Who were my companions F” There were ten; Oh ! why that stem demand about their sex ? They all were men. But sterner still you look and vow aghast, Since thus the papers all report of me My misbehaviour must— Nay, stay ; at last, At last I see ! Smooththatknitbrow; they sayI made ‘ ‘ a pair Of spectacles,” but this is all they mean : That beast Jones bowled me for two ducks - 1 swear That’s all, my queen. S c e n e : The Underground, Tuesday morning:— City Man (looking up from report of proceedings in the House of Lords) : ‘‘This Indian affair seems pretty hopeless.” Second City Man (reading cricket news): “ Oh, I don’t see that. He’s pretty sure to make a good many in the second innings.” T h o u g h the ballot for the committee of the Surrey County C.C. resulted in the election of the eight retiring members, it was a very near thing for the eighth on the list. As a matter of fact, A. M. Latham, the new candidate, was only three votes behind C. A. Stein. It would have been the irony of fate with a ven­ geance if the scrutiny had resulted in the retirement of the latter from the com­ mittee. His credentials, in any case, are of the strongest, as he has the double qualification of birth and a life-long resi­ dence in the county. But beyond this, Surrey cricket has had no better, certainly no harder, worker. Those who have had practical evidence of his untiring efforts to secure young players and keep Surrey in the forefront, will agree that these alone should entitle him to the grateful appre­ ciation of everyone interested in the continued well-being of the Surrey Club. T h e contents bills of the halfpenny evening papers often' display much inge­ nuity, and it is a pity that all of them sh- uld be lost to the world, after a brief life of half an hour. Perhaps the neatest of them on Thursday last, the day of Ranjitsinhji’s 260,. was:— PRINCELY SCORE BY RANJI B y this time next week the Gantlemen of Philadelphia should be leaving America for the first stage of the journey they have to undertake. Some of the enthusiasts who have followed the Philadelphian Teams on the occasion of their two previous visits to the old Country, have already arrived, among them Messrs. A. L. Green, who was at Harrow in 1861, and Morton MacMicbael, the New York journalist who was over here in the first tour of 1884. Mention of the first tour reminds me that a book descriptive of the doings of that party has just been published. The author, Capt. J. P. Green, now Senior Yice- President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, has always been one of the foremost among Philadelphians in extending a welcome to English cricketers visiting the States. A l l the necessary arrangements in anticipation of the erection of the new pavilion and tavern at the Oval are, it will interest those immediately concerned to know, in a forward state. A sketch of the pavilion, which appeared in the British Architect of last week, will give any one an idea of the new building as it will appear from the ground. The com­ mittee are inviting tenders for a leas9 of the new tavern. The plans and con­ ditions are to be seen at the offices of the Solicitors to the club, Messrs. Wilson, Bristows, and Carpmael, Copthall Build­ ings. The builders will commence their work at the end of the present season. W h i l e Ranjitsinhji, Abel, and Mr. Key, to mention only the most notable instances, have been scoring heavily, A. E. Stoddart has, not unwisely perhaps, in view of the very unseasonable weather during the last fortnight, been reserving himself until the conditions should be a little more genial for cricket. According to announcements, which ought to be reliable, he is to make his first appear­ ance of the season to-day for Mr. A. J. Webbe’s Eleven against Cambridge Uni­ versity. Everyone will hope to see him in his best form. His all-round cricket was, as goes without saying, the great feature of the tour of Mr. Priestley’steam in the West Indies. The records show that his bowling was hardly less success­ ful than his batting. I n the great press of high scores since the. season opened, the bowlers have naturally been at a considerable discount. Hence it is the more pleasant to be able to record at least one achievement out of the common, and this time not a bats­ man. Nice, who hai played on a few occasions for Surrey, was the hero of the performance in question. It was in a match for Surrey Club and Ground against St. Paul’s School, at West Kensington, on Saturday. The Paulines were dismissed for 98, and Nice took all thirteen wickets at a cost of only twenty- one runs. D. H . A d am s and W. Scattergood, who will be well remembered as among the most useful members of tlxe Haverford College eleven which visited England last year, are now at Harvard, which is expecting, with their assistance, to make a bold bid for the championship of the Intercollegiate Cricket Association in the States this summer. The first match in the championship games was that be­ tween Harvard and University of Pennsylvania fixed for last Friday. The second University of Pennsylvania v. Haverford was down for yesterday; Harvard and Haverford are to meet to­ morrow. F. M i t c h e l l , lastyear’sCambridgecap­ tain, who is a master at the Abbey School, Beckenham, is going up to Cambridge at the commencement of next month to take part in the trial matches with the ulti­ mate view, naturally, of representing the University against Oxford once more at Lord’s. So at least rumour has it. The report moreover came from a quarter where the information should be thor­ oughly reliable. A n o t h e r coincidence. In his first three matches this year — Leicestershire, Essex, and Warwick­ shire—Hayward has scored 262 runs. In his first three matches last year— Warwickshire, Essex, and Derbyshire— he also scored 262 runs. P b in c e C h r is t ia n V ic t o r , who is now a Major by the way, as Cricket readers will be glad to, see is opening the season in very promising style. The ground of the Aldershot Division is one of the best in the country, and the Prince is par­ ticularly partial to it. He was playing for the Green Jackets against the Division there on Monday and Tuesday, and his second score of 100, not out, was the third of three hundreds made in the match. A g o o d bowling performance is re­ corded in the Adelaide Observer of April 10. It occurred in a match between Bankville and Glenelg on March 27. The