Cricket 1897

248 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. Ju ly 1, 1897. BUSSEY’S < CGB-K BATS. H IGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S BALLS. H IGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S GUARDS. H IGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S < C C 1K < GLOVES. H IGHEST GRADE BUSSEY’S BAGS. H IGHEST GRADE. CRICKETERS’ < C G B « DIARY IS A GEM FOB 6d. CATALOGUES ON APPLICATION TO CITY D E P O T - 36 & 38, QUEEN YICTORIA STREET. I.OXTDON. OR DEALERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. M ANUFACTORY— PECKHAM , LONDON . TIMBER M ILLS— ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. BETWEEN THE INNINGS. ‘ ‘ How long is it since Sussex won two first-class matches in aweek ?” asked someone of me last Sunday ; and, remembering how few victories had fallen to the lot of the Sussex men of recent years, I thought it quite possible that one might have to search back some twelve or thirteen years before finding a parallel for last week’ s fine victories over Kent and the Cantabs. But a hurried look through Wisden has soon convinced me that I am wrong. In July, 1894, Sussex beat Notts at Brighton and Kent at Catford Bridge on July 25 and 27 respectively; in 1893 the two Whitsun-week matches against the Western counties at Brighton were both won ; and in 1891, Hants (not then first-class, however), Gloucestershire, and Kent were all beaten in successive matches. Unquestionably Mr. Murdoch’s team is going far better just now than for some time past; and now that that fine batsman, Mr. William Newham, has once more run into form, the side is a very formidable one. Killick has yet to break the spell of ill-luck that has hung over him ; his highest score so far this year is only 48, and, except against Essex and Somerset, he hasnot done anything with the ball to make up for his indifferent batting; but everyone knows that the Horsham man is a really fine cricketer, and his running into form is only amatter of time. The puzzle will be whom to leave out when Mr. C. B. Fry is available. Bland’s bowling figures are really wonderful for a Sussex trundler—63 wickets for less than 19 each. Only three men —Jack Hearne, Richardson, and Hayward—are ahead of him in the matter of wickets, and the work he has done is distinctly creditable to a new man. His early deeds have not been so sensational as were those of Yorkshire Harrison in 1883; but it is likely that he will be more useful to Sussex in future seasons than was the Tyke to his county after that one wonderful year. To see two Lancashire bowlers other than Briggs and Mold doing the greater part of the work in the attacking department seems strange; but at Taunton and Bristol last week Cuttell and Hallam were the star per­ formers, while the two older men had com­ paratively little to do. In the two Western matches the figures were :— Hallam,111-2 overs, 187 runs, 14 wickets. Cuttell, 106 „ 175 „ 13 „ Mold, 60 155 „ 8 „ Briggs, 31 „ 85 „ 5 „ It must be years since the County Palatine could muster four first class bowlers; and if one or two of their best batsmen were not slightly off colour, I should think the Lanca­ shire men the most likely candidates for Championship honours, in spite of the fact that Yorkshire seems new quite in 1896 form again. “ Give a dog a bad name and hang him.” Notts have long ago earned a reputation for making draws; and I have heard people talking this year as though the six drawn games in which Notts have taken part were drawn through the slow play of the men from the Trent. Now this is certainly not fair. Admitting that even nowMr. Dixon’s men are not the quickest scorers in England, I still maintain that only in one of the matches they have played this year have they been greatly to blame for slowness. This was the Middlesex game at Lord’s, when they occu­ pied the whole of the first day in scoring about 200 runs. The matchei with Lanca­ shire, Kent, and Surrey at Nottingham were completely ruined by rain ; in the game with Kent at Gravesend the Notts men played the pluckiest of uphill games, and at Trent Biidge against Yorkshire they scored quite as fast as the champions, and to within an hour of the finish were holding quite the upper hand. Could a really good fast bowler be found (such a man as poor Fred Morley, say) Notts would make strong running for first place, for they have a wonderfully strong batting team, and if there is no first-class bowler on the side except Attewell there are five or six useful change trundlers. As in 1896 Abel has won the race for the 1000 runs, and Jack Hearne has been the first to secure 100 wickets. Abel is five days and Hearne a fortnight later than last season in reaching these figures. However, Ranjit­ sinhji was second among the scorers of four figures then, and will probably be so again, while Richardson can hardly fail to prove runner-up to Hearne, as he was last year. Nearly a score of batsmen have now made over 50 > runs; and as, given fine weather, several should reach 1000 during the next three weeks or so, the following list of the first dozen to do so in 1895 and last year will probably be of interest. I give in each case the date on which the 1000 was reached, and I limit the 1896 list to English bat?men. Three Australians were included up to the end of July (Darling, Gregory, and Iredale) ; but as, of course, their names do not occur in 1895, and cannot do so this year, the lists will be more useful for purposes of com­ parison without them. SCORERS OF THE 1895. "W. G. Grace, May 30 Abel. June 26 K.S.R’njitsinlji.J’lyS A .E . Stodilait July8 Ward (A ). July 9 Lilley. J my 12 S. M J. Woo Is.July 17 llearne (A ), July 29 H. W. B’nb’dge,Aug. 1 Davidson, Aug. 2 Quaife (W .), Aug. 5 Tumiicliffe, Aug. 8 THOUSAND RUNS. 18)6. I. Abel, Juue 19 2 K.8.Kanjitsinhji,Jul9 3. Brown, June 24 4. W . G. (irace, June 26 5. Gunn, June 27 6. Hayward. July 14 7. ‘tunnicliffe, July 21 8. F. S. Jackson, July 23 9. Storer, July 25 10. Chattel ton, July 23 II. A.E.Stoddart,July25 12. Bio> kwell, July 3u Of those in the 1895 lUt who are not included in the 1896 one, Lilley, Alec Hearne, and Walter Quaife did not reach four figures last year; Ward, Mr. Woods, Hr. Bain- bridge. and Davids >n were later in doing so. Gunn and Brockwell are the only two in the 1896 Vst who were not among the scorers of 1000 runs in 1895. In the casts of the bowlers I shall give only the first four in each year. It will be seen that there was only one change in personnel, though there was some shifting of places. TAKERS OF 100 W ICKETS. 1895. | 1896. 1. Richardson, June 2t 1. J. T. Hearne, June 12 2. AJold, June 28 2. Richardson, June 18 3. Martin, July 17 |3. Mold, July 21 4. J. T. Heame, July 19 I 4. Attewell, July 23 Some really good batsmen have been having runs of very bad luck lately. Mr. Key’s last five innings before his 79 at Birmingham had only totalled 17 runs. Mr. Leveson- Gower’s last five have only realised 23. Frank Sugg had only made 71 in his last nine innings before the 51 he ran up at Bristol. A while back, sandwiched between scores of 112 and 90 by David Denton, came innings of 9, 1, 14 and three successive ducks. Mr. G. S. Patterson’s seven innings so far have only realised 50 runs. Twenty-two is the total of the last five innings played by the veteran captain of Sussex, who started