Cricket 1897

J uly 15, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 285 Captain Wynyard in the long field, and within a minute or two was brilliantly caught in the long field by the Hamp­ shire captain. Last week the Hampshire Rovers, on their ground at Hillsea, played the Isle of Wight College, and declared with their score at 308 for six wickets, without a single man being out. One batsman retired after making 102, two others after making about 50, another after making 41, and two more with their scores at between 20 and 30. M r. C. J. Pool last week only missed scoring two hundreds in a match by 12 runs. For Mr. T. Horton’s X I. v. Mr. Austin Mackenzie’s X I. he made 107 and 88. In the same match Sir T. C. O’Brien made 118 for the opposing side. No less than 537 runs were made in three hours and three quarters in the half-day match on Saturday between Teddington and Whitgift Wanderers at Bushey Park. The wicket was, of course, perfect and very fast, and the bowling from the start was hit all over the field; there were no less than 84 boundary hits. Guy Turner and Geoffrey Marks put on 115 for Whitgift’s first wicket, and J. P. Harvey and H. L. Turner another 110 before the innings was declared closed, 314 runs being registered for a couple of wickets. A. J. Crowder and R. S. Lucas for Teddington made 174 runs for the second wicket before being parted, and Lucas topped the century, hitting a six (over the pavilion) and 16 fours in his 116. This is his first appearance this year after a severe illness, and everyone will con­ gratulate him on his recovery and his success. The scores in this match must have about broken the record in more ways than one, for two separate stands of over a hundred were made for the first two wickets of the Whitgift Wanderers, while a third stand of nearly 200 was made by Teddington; the 314 of the Wanderers took only a little over two hours to make, and Teddington put on 223 in an hour and three quarters. It is not well to inquire too particularly in such circum­ stances as to the bowling averages. A lis t of the hundreds which have been scored in the Eton and Harrow match will be found below : E. Bayley, 152 in 1841; A. K. Watson, 135 in 1885 ; A. W. Ridley, 117 in 1871; C. P. Foley, 114 in 1886; W. F. Forbes, 113 in 1876; A. W. T. Daniel, 112 not out in 1860; C. J. Ottoway, 108 in 1869; E. Crawley, 100 in 1885 ; R. B. Hoare, 108 in 1888; J. H. Stogdon, 124 in 1895; and H. C. Pilkington, 101, B. J. T. Bosanquet, 120 in 1896, T. G. O. Cole, 142 in 1897. I n the first innings of the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord’s on Monday, Gunn scored 19 off an over from Mr. F. G. Bull. The hits were 4, 4, 4, 4, 3. As showing the present strength of professional cricket, says the Daily Telegraph, one could select a very fine Players’ Eleven from those who have not been chosen this season, either at Lord’s or the Oval. Such a team might consist of J. T. Brown, Tunnicliffe, Denton, and David Hunter, of Yorkshire; Albert Ward, Briggs, Frank Sugg, arid Mold, of Lancashire ; Brockwell, of Surrey ; Davidson, of Derbyshire; and, to make the bo aling sufficiently strong, Hallam, Cuttell, or Walter Mead. The Philadelphia record now stands as follows :—Won 2 ; lost 5 ; drawn 2. June. 7—Oxford, v. Oxford Univ’ty ; drawn. 10—Manchester, v. Lancashire ; lost by 7 wickets. 14—Cambridge, v. Cambridge Univer­ sity ; lost by an innings and 165 runs. 17—Brighton, v. Sussex; won by 8wkts. 21—Lord’s, v. Middlesex; lost by 7wkts 24—Oval, v. Oxford Past and Present; lost by 7 wickets. 28 —Sheffield, v. Yorkshire ; drawn. July. 1—Bournemouth, v. Hampshire ; lost by 5 wickets. 8—Edgbaston. v. Warwickshire ; won by 5 wickets. 12—Nottingham, v. Notts ; Drawn. Not before its time, the question of qualification is being raised in county cricket. Rumour, based in this instance on reliable information, has it that excep­ tion has been taken by a southern county to the credentials of an amateur who has figured with success for another shire this season. The matter has been brought before the committee of the M.C.C., who represent the court of appeal. The attitude of the Marylebone Club in refusing to take the initiative, in fact, to act the part of policeman for the county clubs, is correct enough no doubt in its way. At the same time it must always be an unpleasant task for a county to object to any player, and generally the disposition has been, as it will no doubt continue to be, rather to bear the ills of a known infringement of the rules than to undertake the thankless duty, and, in­ deed, in some cases the odium of a formal objection. Still, there are limits to all things. In this connection it would be interesting to know how the authorities recognise the fact of a player who has admittedly represented two counties within the last few weeks, with the first provision of county cricket that a cricketer cannot play for more than one county in the same season? To be precise, the case is that of Stee­ ples, who played for Monmouthshire and Derbyshire in turn, and has within the last few days been representing Mon­ mouthshire again. Mr. H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, who was absent from the Surrey Eleven in the recent Yorkshire match, was tu have reappeared in the county team at Lord’s to-day for the return match with Middlesex. Unfortunately he injured one of his fingers badly while playing last week, so that he will not be avail­ able till Monday next at Southampton, where Mr. N. F. Druce, the Cambridge captain, is also due to assist Surrey. By the way, reliable information credits Mr. Leveson-Gower with the acceptance of the office of Secretary to the London Playing Fields Committee. His energy and personal influence should be of the greatest assistance to a most deserving institution. R. H. Lambert, the Irish cricketer, to whose doings we alluded last week, did another fine all-round performance for Leinster against Phoenix on Friday and Saturday. It is one of the great matches of the Dublin season, and to the large total of 407 for six wickets amassed for Leinster, Mr. Lambert contributed 178 (not out). The only chance prior to reaching the century was one of stumping. He also took 11 wickets in one match for 172 runs, and coming so soon after his 189 (not out) and six wickets for 23 runs against the Curragh Brigade, this stamps him as a good goiug cricketer. His figures for the season now stand 1,116 runs, 17 innings, four not outs, average 86; and he has secured 93 wickets. F. H. Browning, the old Marlborough boy, in his day one of the prettiest and best bats in Ireland, scored 100 for Phoenix in the second innings. Mr. Lambert, though Irish born, is a son of Mr. T. D. Lambert, an old Manchester man, and he was educated at St. John’s College, Preston. D u ring the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s there were some remark­ ably fine catches. The most striking was one by Mr. Jessop, who caught Hirst at mid-off with the right hand high up, from a very hard drive. Mr. Jessop could not quite close his fingers on the ball, but stopped it, and caught it at the second attempt. Mr. Bull made two brilliant catches, one low down at extra imd-off and the other in the long field. The absence of George Lohmann from Surrey cricket this season, it is only reasonable to conceive, is regretted by those on whom rests the responsibility of the c aunty’s affairs as much as, or, indeed, more, perhaps, than any one outside. But, after all, the matter would seem to be entirely one of principle, and quite un­ connected with any incident of last year, as some of the papers, which have been apparently stating his case seem to think. The Surrey Committee, it may be stated, offered Lohmann, in the event of his deciding to come to England this summer, fifty pounds, which represents a sum (in excess of his second-class return passage from the Cape, and this, in addition to the usual fees for matches in which he played. A FEW years ago Sussex men always looked with some trepidation at the reports ol matches in which their county was playing, feeling that its efforts might