Cricket 1897

F eb . 25, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 25 F r a n k A l l a n , the bowler who came to England with the first Australian team, has not yet quite given up the game of cricket. In a recent match he took seven wickets for 26, and at times sent down quite a fast ball. He also scored 18 runs. In the same match J. Slight, a well-known old Australian cricketer, made 48. I t is not a little curious, that in one of the Sydney Electorate matches, which answer to the Pennant matches at Mel­ bourne, a side most strongly objected to bat against a lob bowler, on the ground that it was childish to play against lobs. The batsmen may have altered their opinions by this time, for despite their protest the lob bowler went on and took five wickets in a short time. I n a match between the second teams of Glebe and South Sydney, the latter had to make 115 unless they wanted to be beaten on the first innings. With an hour and a quarter to bat they went at their work with a will, and thanks to the missing of catches by the other side through excitement, they had made 104 for eight wickets some twenty minutes before time. Thus the chances were in 1heir favour if the last two men could keep in. As it happened they both got out at once, and their side lost by 10 runs. P. S. W addy , the Oxford Blue, made 62 (not out) at West Maitland (Sydney), on Christmas Day, and was also very successful with the ball, despite indifferent fielding. J. C. NoACK and J. Bushell, for South Adelaide against North Adelaide, put on 319 runs for the fifth wicket. Noack made 248. T he Australian captain was not long in showing his friends at home, that if he generally preferred to play a steady game in England, he still possesses the power to hit. In his 144 for South Melbourne against Richmond, he scored 23 fours. F or the same side, Mr. G. L. Wilson, who is greatly impressing Australian critics, scored 58. His innings is des­ cribed as quite faultless. I n S. E. Gregory’s 68 for New South Wales v. Victoria there were only two fours. T h e police at Sydney have taken pro­ ceedings against twenty-eight cricketers for playing cricket on Sunday. They are charged, under the Act of Charles I., “ with forming a concourse out of their own parishes on the Lord’s Day for the sport of cricket.” The magistrates ad­ journed the case for a month. “ F e l ix ,” in the Australasian, thus describes an escape of W. Bruce in a Pennant match: ‘ ‘ ‘ When you let Billy Bruce off you are generally sorry for it.’ This has often been said, and the Saints were saying it on Saturday with surprising emphasis and abso­ lute unanimity. I dare say if you were to follow them up you would find them saying it all this week. It is .duly set forth by Joe Taylor in his neatly-kept scoring-book that as soon as the graceful left-hander had made 3 he made a miss-hit off Hall, and skied the ball between the wickets. Fred Burton, the wicket-keeper, ran, and Hall ran, too, and as weight will tell all the world over, Hall got the worst of the encounter, and the burly 1keeper ’ stood firm, but smileless, as he reflected upon the foolishness of cricket col­ lisions, and. the disaster likely to result in allowing such a punisher as ‘ Billy ’ to escape. Hall was, undoubtedly, the man who should have gone for the chance.” I n his innings of 78 for Victoria against New South Wales, C. McLeod was ex­ tremely fortunate in umpire’s decisions. He was undoubtedly thrown ou t; the umpire noticed that the bowler had previously knocked off a bail, but did not notice that the ball when thrown in knocked a stump out of the ground. McLeod also knocked out a ball with his hand after it had fallen into his pad, but the umpire was unable to see the action. There seems to be no doubt that McLeod was also caught at the wicket. So hot was it on the first day of this match that the bowlers were obliged to call for sawdust to enable them to hold the ball. T. W. G a r r e t t has now played in more intercolonial matches than any other Australian, including Blackham. For some years he has declared sadly that the match in which he happens to be playing is his very last intercolonial. But he is in better form this year than he has been for some time, and will, it is to be hoped, take part in many more intercolonial matches. His latest feat was to score a hundred against South Australia. Up to Christmas time Cyril Carrington, a Sydney cricketer, had played the following innings this season:— 130, retired, 30, retired, 101, 17, 71, 208 (not out), 53, 50, retired.—Total, 660 runs. S p e a k in g at the annual meeting of the Notts County C.C., the Bishop of South- well told an anecdote of his only achievement on the cricket field—an anecdote so curious that many cricketers must long to be a bishop :— “ It was a bowling feat, they would be surprised to hear,” he said, “ and it took place in a match which in his days was con­ sidered excellent. The captain of the Oxford eleven officiated as a bowler for the teamwith which he was playing, and one of the promi­ nent bowlers of the county was also included. Everything, however, did not depend upon the impression that two good bowlers were reliable to defeat the whole team. Their opponents scored fifty runs, and the case was thought a hopeless one. At that time he (the bishop) was undergraduate, and was full of the audacity which undergraduates possessed. He had never bowled in his life, but offered and was put on. The giant at the wickets stood on the crease and opened out his shoulders to receive the first ball, but happily the change of bowling was effective. The first ball was hit straight up in the direction of the clouds, and it having to come down the consequence was the captain of the Oxford eleven was not likely to let it drop, and away went the first opponent. (Laughter and applause). That brought the other batsman to the place vacated, but he also found the change sufficient to clean bowl him. His example was duly followed by his successor, who went out last. (Laughter). Three men out in the first over for no runs. (Applause). That wholesome scare produced two more wickets in the second over, and the last man was dismissed by the first ball in the third over. (Applause). There were six players, and all of them were sent back in eleven balls without a single run being scored. He would leave the meeting to do the circulating deci­ mal that made the average, and ask them to consider that record as a good one, especially remembering that he had never previously bowled in a match. (Laughter and applause). So the company would see that his life record as a bowler was six wickets, in eleven balls, for no runs. He left this to be measured with the records of the old-established bowlers (Laughter and applause).” T h e score of 428 made by Lord Hawke’s team, and the 119 by P. F. Warner in the first match of the tour (against Queen’s Park) are said to be records for Trinidad. I n the above match the Englishmen put on 87, and the home team 94 for the first wicket in the first innings. C. G it t e n s , who was by far the most successful of the Queen’s Park bowlers against Lord Hawke’s team, taking seven wickets for 104, was last season in the eleven of the Lodge School at Barba­ dos. A CURIOUS method of attempting to appease a jeering crowd was adopted by one of the scorers at Melbourne in the match between New South Wales and Victoria. When one of the home team was given out the crowd loudly expressed its disgust at the decision of the umpire, and the scorer explained, in writing, the circumstances under which the favourite batsman had been given out, and sent the slip of paper round the ground. Even this does not seem to have given satis­ faction. I t is not a little remarkable, that in each innings of Victoria against South Australia eight wickets were down for 141, and that in each innings the remain­ ing batsmen made a moderate score into a good one. T h e famous hitter, J. J. Lyons, has evidently got back all his old form, which he lost for a time chiefly owing to trouble with his eyesight. In the inter­ colonial matches his scores as far as is known at present are, 78, 1, 70, 110, 18 and 14. His 110 was made in a little less than two hours. T h e recent intercolonial matches in which South Australia has taken part afford a strong proof that Jones has not yet succeeded in “ mixing ” his bowling. It has often been pointed out in “ Pavilion N E X T ISSUE, THUR SDAY , MARCH 25.