Cricket 1897

344 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 12, 1897 BUSSEY’S BATS. H IGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S BALLS. HIGHEST GRADE. BUSSEY’S GUARDS. H IGHEST GRADE . BUSSEY’S < C C B « GLOVES. H IGHEST GRADE BUSSEY’S ^ r t r m T v s BAGS. H IGHEST GRADE. CRICKETERS’ DIARY I S A G E M F O B 6 d . CATALOGUES ON APPLICATION TO CITY DEPOT— 36 & 38, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. LONDON, OR DEALERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. MANUFACTORY— PECKHAM, LONDON. TIMBER MILLS— E LM SW E L L , SUFFOLK. BETWEEN THE INNINGS. The victory of Essex over Lancashire is indeed a notable achievement, though I think it must be generally admitted that the result might have been reversed had the northern county had first innings, and had Tyldesley been in the team, and Mold sound and well throughout. Into the merits of the con­ troversy which will probably be raised in consequence of Mr. Bull’s action I don’t care to go very deeply. Somehow I cannot altogether persuade myself that in such a case the bowler is entirely to be blamed. At any rate, he is no more guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct than is the batsman who gets out in order that his side shall follow on. It is something of a problem. On the one hand you have a man who, for the sake of his side, wants to get out quickly; on the other a man who, equally for the sake of his side, doesn’t want to get him out quickly. If it be right for A, the batsman, tt) commit the happy dispatch, can it be wrong for 13, the bowler, to give away runs ? Essex is not champion county yet, though she appears to have the best chance of becoming so. But she has at lea<*t one very stiff fight to face first, the game with Surrey ; and I do not think it likely that she will quite wipe up the floor with Hampshire, which, with the military element back in the team and Mr. Lacey playing, is by no means an easy side to beat just now. I read somewhere last week that the Leicester folk had little doubt of the ability of their team to beat Hampshire. Well, the scores at the end of the match read : Hampshire, 378 ; Leicester­ shire, 91 and 92. Apart from the value of his batting, which is great, Captain Wynyard would seem to be able to inspire his men to greater things by the mere effect of his presence in the team, an electric quality which only one captain here and there has. Let us assume, however, that b ssex is good enough to beat Hampshire, but loses to Surrey. Her percentage would then stand at 60 (eight matches won, two lost, six points in ten finished games). Lancashire has, at the time of writing, six more games to play. Among them are matches with Yorkshire and Surrey. We will assume that she loses these two, but wins the other four. She would then have exactly the same percentage as Essex (sixteen won, four lost, twelve points in twenty finished games). But if she can draw with either Yorkshire or Surrey instead of losing, she will stand ahead of Essex. Even by winning the two remaining games, Essex will not necessarily be above Lanca­ shire, for it is quite within the bounds of possibility that Lancashire will win all her remaining matches, which "would once more bring them level, with a percentage of 80. But there is still Surrey to reckon with. If Mr. Key’s men can manage to beat both Essex and Lancashire (a big task, I grant) and also to win the other five matches remain­ ing on the^’r programme, Surrey’s percentage would be 72, and neither Essex nor Lanca­ shire, if once more defeated, could reach this figure. And there is still Yorkshire. Yes ; I know that Yorkshire was supposed to have been put out of count by that defeat at Harro­ gate ; but the county of broad acres still has what one may describe as a mathematical chance. Altogether, it seems likely that we shall see some fun yet. On the ^ ’:ole, perhaps, the best possible outcome for the good of the game would be that Essex should emerge victorious. It would have a wonder­ fully stimulating effect on the other junior members of the first-class ring, one or :%vo of whom are decidedly in need of a tonic of some sort. Last year it was at one time suggested f iat, with his improvement in batting, Peel had lost a good deal of his bowling. But towards the end of July the veteran of the White Rose team proved conclusively that on wickets that suited him he was every whit as deadly as ever. His return to form came in the second innings of Lancashire at Leeds, on the 22nd July, when he had five wickets for 29 runs. He followed this up in the next match with 10 for SO v. Somerset at Dewsbury, and 10 for 79 v. Gloucestershire at Sheffield. This year a similar assertion was made of Briggs, except that no one suggested improvement in batting as either cause of or compensation for his decline in bowling. During the earlier part of this sea«on, it is true, the versatile Johnny had done comparatively little, though against Leicestershire at Leicester (12 for 70) and Derbyshire at Liverpool (12 for 124) he had shown something more than a glimpse of his old form. His return to his very best form, however, was sudden and complete. After being hit for 306 (for four wickets) against Sussex, and failing to get a wicket against either Yorkshire or Somerset, he has during the past fortnight performed in this fashion : v. Glos , at Liverpool, fO overs, 108 runs, 11 wickets, v. Hants, >1Mn-hester, 34 overs, 80runs, 12wickets, v. Kent at Canterbury, 75overs, 135 runs, 13 wickets, v. Essex, at Leyton, 63 3 overs, 119 runs, 8 wickets. These are figures worthy of his palmiest days, and it is fortunate indeed for Lancashire that he should have come back to his best at a time when Mold is temporarily “ crocked” and Hallam is apparently feeling the strain of continuous playing. Briggs has now secured his hundred wickets ; and it is by no means impossible that Mold, Cuttell and Hallam will all follow in his wake before the season ends. Their respective totals are now 96, 75 and 76, while Lancashire has still six matches to play. One would like to see the whole of the four among the hundred-wickets takers. The following is the list to date (August 8) of the TAKER 5OF ONE HUNDRED WICKETS. Date Bowler. when reach* d. 1. J. T. II arne ..................................... June 26 2. T. Richardson ..................................... June 28 3. C. bland ............................................ July 29 4. J. Briggs ............................................ Aug. 3 5. F. G. Bull ............................................ Aug. 6 While here are the SCORERS OF A THOUSAND RUNS. Date Batsman. when reached. 1. R. Abel.................................................... June 24 2. K. 8 . Ranjitsinhji ............................... July 3 3. J. T. Brown........................................... July 13 4. E. Wainwright..................................... July 13 5. G. R. Baker............................................ July 21 6 . G. Brann ............................................. July 22 7. T. Hayward........................................... July 22 8 . F. S. Jackson ..................................... July *26 9. W . G. Grace............................................ July 30 10. G. H. H irst............................................ July 31 11. A. Ward ............................................ Aug. 2 12. C. Baldwin............................................ Aug. 2 13. J. W . Tunnicliffe .............................. Aug. 2 14. J. R. Mason............................................ Aug. 3 15. G. L. Jeasop............................................ Aug. 3 16. D. Denton ............................................ Aug. 6 17. W. L. Murdoch...................................... Aug. 5 Mr. Brann, Baldwin, and Mr. Jessop are new names in the 1,000-runs list, though the Sussex amateur has scored over 900 in, at least, one previous season. One is very glad to see the veteran captains of Gloucestershire and Sussex figuring in the list. Mr. Mur­ doch, who had rather a bad time of it during June, has lately been in fcrm, which reminds