Cricket 1897

J une 17, 1897. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 219 F IKiT-CLISS BOWLER AND GOOD BAT would tour with club, for week or fortnight, for expenses, during August or September.— H.K., 141, Queen’s Road, Bayswater. C RICKET GROUND WANTED (exclusive) for Season 1893, with or without pavilion, near London.— Address S e c r e t a r y , c / o J. W. Vickers, 5, Nicholas Lane, E.C. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TEE GAME, 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LO'IODN, E.C. THURSDAY , J U N E 1 7 th , 1897. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. T h e finest performance of the year, so far, has bean the bow ling of Richardson in Surrey v. Leicestershire on a bowlers’ wicket. His analysis in each innings is so remarkable that it deserves a special place in “ Gossip.” Firat innings— 12overs, 8muidens, 6runs, 5wickets. Secondinns.— 12overs, 6maidens, 14runs, 7wickets. A GREAT many first-class matches have been fiaished in one day, but Surrey v. Leicestershire at Leicester on Thursday last was the first since 1894, during which year three matches were finished in one day, viz., M.C.C. and Ground v. Sussex, at Lord’s, May 2 ; Lancashire v. Somerset, at Old Trafford, July 17 ; and Yorkshire v. Somerset, at Huddersfield, July 19. Surrey has twice previously appeared iu the list ; on May 13, 1872, against M.C.C. and Ground at Lord’s, aud on August 2, 1888, at .Old Trafford, against Lancashire. C lo s e matches of the season :— Lancashire beat Derbyshire by 1 wicket. The last two men had to mike 8 runs to win. Oxford University beat M.C.C. by 13 runs, the last two M.C.C. men making 32. M.C.C. beat Derbyshire by two wickets, the last two men putting on 74 runs. Sussex beat Somerset at Brighton by one wicket, the last two men having to score 15 to win. Yorkshire heat Derbyshire by one wicket, the last two men making 65 between them. This is an extraordinary record for scores m ide by the last two men. Mft. B r a n n ’ s two in the second innings of Sussex against Somerset is the first single figure innings that he has played for a long time. His scores this year have been as follow s :— 66 and 0, 47 and 12, 126, 38 and 2 not out, 68 , 32 and 2. So fir, all the benefit matches this year —Frank Sugg’s, Gunn’s, W. Hearn’s, and, lastly, Carpenter’s—have been greatly spoiled by the weather. Although no rain »ctually fell at Cambridge, the wicket was so queer that Hampshire had no ch iu c s , and the only w nder is that Cambridge did so well. Mr. Druce’s 117 was the only hundred made in the matches at the end of the week, and the only other man who nearly approached a hundred wat Tuunicliffe, with 92 for Yorkshire against Kent. O v e rh e a rd in a G .N .R. train:— First Cricketer: “ D ’youknow . I cm never make runs on the H illtop ground. For six times now I have played there without getting a single run. Now on our own ground I am always all right. Why, last Saturday I made 15 and felt quite at home all the time ! ” Second Cricketer: “ Just the same thing happens to me, y ’know, on the Hilltop ground. I can never play for ward there. There must be something the matter with the wicket, for at home I can play forward quite com fortably.” First Cricketer: “ That proves what I said. There must be something clearly wrong with the H illtop wicket.” In both matches played by the M.C.C. at the end of last week the club had to make a certain number of runs in the second innings, and before long seemed to be quite out of the running. In the Derbyshire matcb, Mead and Albert Trott, for the ninth wicket, pulled the match out of the fire in a most astonishing way, putting on no less than 74 runs in 40 minutes. At Oxford, Mr. Vernonand R jche almost succeeded in doing the same thing, also for the ninth wicket, and managed to get within 13 of the number required to win. In the Oxford match, however, there was no other batsman to follow, as Sir T. C. O ’Brien was absent, having hurt his foot. W r it in g in the Australasian about the departure of Roche, O ’Halloran and Trott for England. “ Felix ” says : “ It does not say much for those iu authority in connection with Victorian cricket that our leading professional bowlers find no incentive to remain in the colony. Directly an opportunity offers now, they are off to England, simply because the income derived from their labour here is nothing more than a bire existence, with no prospejt whatever of better days in store in the shape of increased emolument or substantial reward from a benefit after years of service. Ju icin g by our present Victorian biw ling, I am sadly afraid that we shall never get R inj i aud Co. out.” A. J. B leeckmore, an underhand, very fast bowler in South Australii has since 1889- 90 taken 279 wickets for hi- club for 2 560 ruus —an average of 9 5 runs per wicket. In the interview which appears in this week’s Cricket, Mr. C. P. Wilson gives a theory t> account for hitters getting more than their fair share of the runs while they are in. It would b« interesting to know whether hitters agree with Mr. Wilson, or whether they have any theory of their own on the subject. C a n e H i l l received a check on Satur­ day. Kensington scored 285 and then dismissed them twice in an hour and three-quarters for 13 and 47. In their first innings E. V. Gardner took six wickets for a single run, C. E. Currie taking the other 4 for 7. In their second innings E. V. Gardner took 7 wickets for 10 runs, making a total for the match of 13 wickets for 11. It will be noticed that L de Montezuma scored 105 for Ken­ sington. Via. G. Li. W ilso n ’s last innings for Melbourne—the last of the season—was one of his best, good as have been many of his efforts. He b itted in perfect form for 110 against Richmou I, an I his cuts were espejially a Imire I. His iunings included fifteen fours. T h e following note by “ Felix ” will be keenly appreciated by cricketers who have had the pleisure of knowing Mr. Wilson. “ He seemed to experience a difficulty in gauging certain deliveries by Sholl on the off side, one over in pirticular being of such good length that Wilson, though he went at every ball, could not manage to get hold of one, and the result was that Major Wardill and other M.C.C. men gave Wdson a little round of ironic il applause, which caused that capital bats­ man to turn and favour them with a fascinating smile.” U n d e r the up-to-date tide of “ The B it of the Victorian Era ” an interesting little book has been published by Messrs. Ge >. G. Bussey & Co., at the Sports Manufactory, London, S.E. The evolu­ tion of a cricket bat from the grow ing timber to the fiaished article is described and well illustrated by means of numer ju s photographic reproductions. Trie b iok will be sent post free on application to Messrs. Bussey. W he n , on last Thursday evening, the Cricket Extra of the Star announced— Surrey won by inngs 94 runs, Wood lbw b Richardson 5. cricketers in London thought that there must be some mistake, for referring to the scores it was found that Wood was not out 4 and Knight not out 2 —no wicket down. The i le i naturally occurred to everybody that it might have c <me on to raiu an I that telegrams had baeu mixed, for it seemed most unlikely that the game was really over. But the Star was right, as it usually is ; in fact it is wonderful that, iu the hurry, so very few mistakes iu the scores are made ny the evening papers. T h e r e were two bowling performances on the good wickets this week worthy of the best days of Alfred Shaw. Against the Notts batsmen, on Monday, J. T. He true bowled 40 overs and three balls, 24 maidens for 52 ruus and five wickets, and against Kent for Warwickshire, Cresswell b>wlei 45 overs, 17 maidens, for 52 ruus an 1 four wickets. There was not much aggressive play going on while these two bowLrs were at work. T h e beginning of the Middlesex innings on M mday against Notts was so curiously unlike wnat is usuilly seen wneu the metropolitan county is at the wickets, that spectators must have wondered whether the batsmen had been hypno­ tised. For the first twenr.y minutes not a single run was scored. It is no wonder