Cricket 1897

370 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 19, 1897. NONDESCRIPTS’ TOUR. Although commencing under rather un­ favourable circumstances, the tour in North Devon this year may be written down as “ the most enjoyable on record,” even though that expression may have b^en used many times before in the same connection. The unfavourable circumstances above mentioned were, besides accidents, the absence of our usual captain, L. Corke, and of three other members of last year’s team, including one of our best bowlers, S. S. Pawling, ard worse still, our great bowler, E. L. Marsden, had strained his bowling arm, and was unable to assist with the ball until the last match. However, except for lack of bowling, our teamwas a good one, and proved itself superior to all those we met on our travels. The usual match at Uxbridgo on Saturday, July 81st, resulted in a win for us, thanks to splendid batting on the part of Monro (76) and Trimen (53). With very little bowling, we got our opponents out for 193, and then made 200 for six wickets. Travelling down to Wellington (Somerset) the same night, we sojourned at the Squirrel Hotel as usual, and met with a warm welcome. The Wellington XT. was not as strong as usual, and to our surprise we got them out for 64. Haycraft and Trimen oponed our innings in promising fashion, when we met with a most unfortunate accident, Trimon having his right thumb so badly in­ jured by a fast ball that he was quite unablo to play until a week later, a terrible disap­ pointment to him and a great loss to us in eveiy department of the game. Our men batted well against some really good bowling, and our total of 268 looked good enough fora single innings victory. Moderate bowling and loose fielding, however, let Wellington pass our score and set us 21 to win, which cost us three wickets, through Marsden and Hutchinson both trying to make all the runs in one hit. Leaving the Squirrel with much regret, we paid a visit to the Middlesex- Somerset match at Taunton, where we heard awful stories of the hot teams waiting for us at Barnstaple and Instow. These stories were for once quite accurate, but the great batsmen we had tomeet did not play up to their reputations. Our own batsmen did wondera, and our bowlers, in spite of ricks, strains, and dropped catches, may be said to have per­ formed miracles, though how they got their wiokets a kind Providence alone could tell. As an instance of our luck, we may men­ tion that we met J. B. Challen in three matches and got rid of him six times for a total of 90 runs. He had bad luck in being run out twice, but the other four times he got himself out off our bowling. To go into details of scores (which are subjoined) would be weari­ some, suffice it to say that we found our very good friend, Frank Townsend, as kind as ever, doing everything in his power to make us feel that we were among friends, even if opponents. Mr. Chanter also entertained us at his private ground at Broadinead, and was indefatigable in looking after our com­ forts, in addition to kindly filling the vacant place in our team and catching the opposing captain. Here we mot A. B. Tancred, J. B. Challen, M. H. Toller, Captain Anderson and others, most of whom played against us later, and all of whom we shall hope to meet again! “ for they are jolly good fellows,” &c. At Instow we weremade delightfully comfortable at the Marine Hotel, and received a very pleasant surprise on our arrival in the shape of an invitation to a dance given by the North Devon Tennis Club. Our dancing men were delighted, andspent a most enjoyable evening \Ve met so many charming partners that none of us wanted to field the next afternoon, when the beautiful Instow ground was brightened by their presence. Unfortunately we were out nearly all that afternoon, and the only men who showed signs of contentment were those in the long field, who displayed quite exceptional agility when they happened to be attending to the game. The Day of rest was spent by some in fishing (with no result), yachting, and trying to enjoy the rather rough sea running, while yet another section attended church, possibly with a view to walking back with some of their afore-men­ tioned partners. Our last match, at Westward Ho ! was somewhat spoiled by rain, and our bowling being rather “ off,” we failed to follow up our big innings of 341 for nine wickets the match ended in a draw, as did those at Barnstaple and Instow, greatly in our favour. We did not lose a match, time alone, in fact, preventing our proving victorious in all the five. Our batting was good through­ out, especially that of Cobb and Haycraft, who were simply in wonderful form, Cobb’s overage being 8)*5 and Haycraft’s 61*1. Leigh-Ibbs, Dunn, Marsden and Wade were good at times, especially Leigh-Ibbs. In bowling Hutchinson rose to the occasion, and being skipperfelt that something was expected of him, which expectations were amply ful­ filled by his taking 32 wickets. The other bowlers proved very useful in getting wickets when wanted, Osborn bowling very well, but with bad luck ; in addition he strained himself early in the tour, but bowlod very pluckily whenever wanted in spite of its being a painful operation. Haycraft, Cobb and Wade were the most successful of the others. Beaton kept the “ sticks ” very well indeed, and gave very few extras. The fielding was very mixed, Haycraft and Leigh-Ibbs bringing off some fine catches, as did Marsden. Ibbs was brilliant everywhere. Cobb at cover-point was simply splendid, and ran several men out before they got to know what his returns were like. We dropped more catche3 than usual, and we should not like to go away again with so little bowling, unless our hands were a good deal safer; providence might not be so kind to us again. To everybody we met on this most delightful tour our thanks are due for the unvarying kindness shown us, and if mentioning names be not invidious, every member of our team would think of Frank Townsend and J. B. Challen first in this connection. We said we would mention no details of the scoring, but the total of 252 for no wicket at Broadmead by Cobb (137) and Haycraft (103), both not out, and Cobb’s 119 at Westward Ho deserve special notice, while as Hutchinson does not look forward to do such a thing again, it may be put on record that he performed the “ hat trick ” at Instow. L.H. NONDESCRIPTS v. U XB RIDG E.-Played at Ux­ bridge on July 31. U x b r id g e . W . R. Collins, c Head, i b Osborn .................. 10 i "Woods, c & b Osborn .. 1*2 W. L. Eves,b Trimmer 30 C. M. Woodbridge, b Trimmer .................. 19 F. G. B. Eves, b Head.. 27 J. C. Hibbert, c and b Trimmer .................. 36 W . F. Hackman, c Osborn, b Matthews 19 C. P. Wills, b Hutch­ inson.................. ... 19 H. M. Carrick, run out .......................... 0 A. I\Lucas,b Trimmer 13 J. A. Walker, not out 2 B 5, w 2 ........... 7 .................194 Totol . N o n d e sc r ip t s . A. R. Trimen, c W ills, ( R. Matthews, not out 23 . 53 |G. S. Hickson, c and b Woods .................. 2 . 76 b Collins F. R. D. M o n r o , < Woods, b Carrick .. F. S. Young, b Wood- bridge... .................. 3 A. Ormsby-Dunn, b W oods ................. 27 K. Leigh-Ibbs, G. F. A Osborn, A. Eiloart and L. C. Hutchinson did not bat. G. Head, b Woods ... 1 B 9, lb 2, w2, nb2.. 15 Total (6 wkts.)..200 NONDESCRIPTS v. W ELLINGTON.—Played at Wellington on August 2 and 3. W e l l in g t o n . First innings. Second innings. Rev. R. R. Luxton, b Os­ born .................................. 0 c sub., b Osborn.. 23 E. W . Ebdon, c Trimen, b Hutchinson.......................... 1 c Dunn, b Hay­ craft..................27 Rev. E. P. Spurway, b Hut­ chinson .......................... 3 b Cobb..................69 Capt. J. Gill, c Haycraft, b Cobb.................................. 19 lbw.b Hutchinson 3 F. H. Fox, o Beaton, b Os­ born .................................. 2 c Cobb, b Osborn 10 Gamlin, b Hutchinson 9 c Haycraft, b Hutchinson ... 7 Rev.W. W. Putman, not out 0 n o to u t................. 5 E. Grinter, b Hutchinson .. 0 b Hutchinson ... 0 R. A. Ebdon, b Hutchinson 0 run out.................32 C. J. Haddon, bTrim en ... 25 b Osborn ...........32 Merry, b Cobb ................... 0 run o u t................. 6 Leg-byes ................... 5 B 2, lb 9 ... 11 Total ................... 64 Total .. 225 N o n d e sc r ip t s . J. S. Hayeraft, b Luxton ...................62 A. R. Trimen, retired h u r t .......................... 8 H. H. Cobb, b Merry 49 H. Wade. cE . Ebdon, b Gamlin ... ...........17 A . O. Dunn, c E. Eb­ don, b M erry..............32 E. W. H. Beaton, lbw, b Gamlin.................. 12 E. L. Marsden, b Gamlin .................. 18 R. Leigh-Ibbs, not out 16 G. F. A. Osborn, b Haddon .................. 9 A . Eiloart, cE . Ebdon, b H addon.................. 2 LI. H u t c h in s o n , b Gamlia .................. 8 B25, lb 9, w l ... 35 Total ...........268 Second innings:—J. S. Haycraft, c R. Ebdon, b Luxton, 11; H. EL Cobb, not out, 3 ; E. L. Marsden, b Luxton, 0 ; R. Leigh-Ibbs, not out, 9 ; LI. Hutchin­ son, b Luxton, 0 ; Leg-byes, 2.—Total (3 wktsJ 25. NONDESCRIPTS v. MR. FRANK TOWNSEND’ S X I.—Played at Barnstaple on August 4 and 5. N o n d e sc r ip t s . J. S. Haycraft, lbw, b Anderson................... H. H. Cobb, lbw, b Anderson................... Harold Wade, c F. N. Townsend, b Mawle A . Orm8by Dunn, c and b Mawle ........... E. W . H. Beaton, b Anderson.................. E. L . Marsden. c Le Marchand, b James 51 50 lbw, R. Leigh-Ibbs, b Anderson G. F. A . Osborn, c and b F. Townsend A. Eiloart, c F. N., b F. Tow nsend........... LI. Hutchinson,c Top- ham, b F. Townsend C.E .R .Chanter,notout E xtras................... Total 0 0 12 ..160 Second innings : J. S. Haycraft, not out, 103; H. H. Cobb, not out, 136; extras, 13—Total (no wkt), 252. F r a n k T o w n se n d ’ s X I. A . B. Tancred, b Hut­ chinson M. H. Toller, c and b Hutchinson ........... J. B. Challen, c Mars­ den, b Haycraft ... C. Beresford, run out Frank Townsend, e Chanter, b Hutchin­ son .......................... F. N. Townsend, c Os­ born. b Haycraft . 10 Mawle, not o u t...........35 E. H. Topham, hit wkt., b Hutchinson 16 B. T. James, e H ut­ chinson, b Wade ... 2 A . Le Marchand,c and b Hutchinson...........13 Capt. H . Anderson, c Marsden, b Cobb ... 15 E xtras.................. 4 Total ..131 Second innings; A. B. Tancred, not out, 67 ; M. H. Toller, not out. 48; J. B. Challen. c Wade, b Osborn, 0 ; Extras, 3—Total (one wkt.), 118. NONDESCRIPTS v. NORTH D E VO N—Played at Instow on August 6. N orth D evon . First innings. Second innings. J. B. Challen. run out......... 0 cMarsden,b Cobb 24 A. B. Tancred, run out ... 4 lbw, b Osborn ... 9 F. N. Townsend,b Hutchin­ son......................................41 s t B e a to n , b Hutchinson ... 42 E.H.Topham ,bHutchinson 21 runout ............. 8 C. Beresford, c Beaton, b Hutchinson......................10 b Haycraft.............10 Frank Townsend, c Leigh- Ibbs, b Cobb ...............21 cHaycraft,bWade 0 Mawle, lbw. b W a d e .......44 lbw ,b Marsden... 17 Major E. Abbott, c Leigh- Ibbs, b Hutchinson........ 9 c Falcon,bHutch- inson..................20 Capt. F. Midleton, c Mars­ den, b H utchinson........ 1 c & b Hutchinson 0 R. Marshall, b W ade......... 9 c M a rs d e n , b Hutchinson ... 0 Capt. H. Anderson, c Os- Born, b Hutchinson......... 6 b Osborn ............ 8 Lieut. C. Lefroy, not o u t ... 1not out.................... 0 Extras.......................... 13 Extras............. 0 Total......... ...180 Total ...138