Cricket 1897

42 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a r c h 25, 1897. honours at Sydney last year, lie put up 206 not out for his own colony against New South Wales. His fourth score is the 241 referred to above. T h e cricket tour of the Old Rossallian club, which was such a success last year, has again been arranged, and comprises the following fixtures — Monday and Tuesday, June 28 and 29, v. Preston, at at Preston. Wednesday and Thursday, June 30 and July 1, v. Northern Noinads, at Grey Friars, Preston. Friday and Saturday, July 2 and 3, v. Yorkshire Gentlemen, at York. Monday, July 5, v. Kendal, at Kendal. Tuesday and Wednesday, July 6 and 7, v. Sedbergh School, at Sedbergh. Thursday, July 8, v. Stoneyhurst College, at Stoney- hurst. Friday and Saturday, July 9 and 10, v. Rossall School, at Rossall. T h e tour has been extended from a week to a fortnight. The names of the intending players include the follow ing: W. A. Clarke, B. Lorrimer, G. P. Wilson, E. Gibb, F. B. Newett, H. A. Hutton, W. Campbell, G. N. Hampshire, A. Whiston, H. E. Daniel, P. C. Phillips, F. E. Proctor, E. D. Matthews, B. A. Y. King, L. Barratt, Rev. A. J. Jameson, A. Walkden and T. A. Higson. T h e following advice is said to have been given by George Giffen to Jones, the Australian fast bowler, before he made his reputation. Whether the advice was actually given or not, it con­ tains a lot of common sense. “ Make the off the leg stump. You will thus give fewer balls right away from the wicket; secondly, when you send one down a bit away towards the leg you have the chance of bowling a man off his pads; and thirdly, when you are on the off- stump, or a little outside of it, you have three chances of getting the batsman— he may snick one and be caught at slip, you may bowl his off-stump, and very often he will play the ball on.” I n the course of an after luncheon speech at Grenada, His Honour, W. S. Commissiong, acting chief justice of the island, said, in congratulating Lord Hawke’s Team on its ability, that he had overheard a lady remark, “ not only have the English cricketers brought with them handsome physiques and excellent cricket, but they have also brought Queen’s weather.” His Honour added that he could best explain the felicity of the observation as regards the weather by saying. “ For some weeks previous to the arrival of our visitors we had torrents of rain and intolerable heat, whilst since their arrival we have been blessed with cloudless skies and altogether most charming weather.” D u r in g the two matches at Grenada H. R. Bromley-Davenport broke a finger in trying to catch a hard return ; H. A. Martin was severely hurt on the head by a rising ball while batting; and H. O. Payne and 0. H. Heseltine had to go under the hands of a doctor on account of strained muscles. A w r it e r in the St. George's Chronicle and Grenada Gazette, who was grestly impressed by the bowling of the English­ men, thus remarks. “ Davenport plied H. A. Martin with fast bills, Leveson- Gower lured and worried him with Bippers, twisters, fast and slow, Trying them all, but still no go, He could not lay the wickets low ; but Martin, the stonewaller of the Grenada team, played a patient game and shewed he was not yet to be fixed.” T h e Adelaide Observer is responsible for the following: “ One of most laughable incidents which has occurred on a South Australian cricket field was witnessed during the progress of the City v. Country match on the Adelaide Oval. Towards the end of the afternoonthe country­ men were very much off in their fielding, and the catching department was being wofully neglected. One of the batsmen had just potted up an easy catch which reached the ground via the bowler’s hands, when a small hoy carrying a large black bag emerged from the pavilion, and with great thought­ fulness handed the capacious receiver to the country captain. It did one good to hear the roar of laughter which this proceeding evoked from the crowd, and among those who enjoyed the joke the best were the fieldsmen themselves.” I n the three matches between Mr. Priestley’s X I. and All Barbados, Clifford Goodman bowled 135 4 overs 29 maidens for 300 runs and 37 wickets —a remarkably good performance against such a powerful batting side, even though the wickets were not perfect. A t the Annual General Meeting of the Yorkshire County C.C., the Treasurer was able to show a balance of £4,243 to the credit of the club. The most important business of the meeting was the discussion of the question of the advisability to raise the percentage of receipts allowed to the different grounds on which County matches are played. A proposition to raise the amount from 15 per cent, to 25 per cent, was not carried, although it was stated that Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield lost by every County match played in their grounds. T h e Annual Meeting of the Kensington Park Cricket Club was held at the Sports Club, on February 26th. The chief busi­ ness done was the election of Mr.J.O’Brien and Mr. Gow to fill the vacancies on the committee, caused by the retirement of Mr. W. F. Thompson and Mr. A. H. Brown. The Chairman, Mr. H. W. Price, drew attention to the long and useful service rendered to the Club by those two gentlemen, Mr. Brown having been 20 years on the committee, previous to which he was Secretary. Mr. Thompson’s period of service dates from 1880, when he became captain, and so continued for seven prosperous years. He has served seventeen years on the committee. The chairman moved a hearty vote of thanks to both gentlemen, which was carried, of course, unanimously, and in replying, they pointed out that their sole reason for resigning was in order to admit younger men into the council of the club. The financial position of the club is satis­ factory, and the ground is reported to be in excellent order. The secretaries con­ tinue as before, viz.—Mr. A. Nicholas, 10, Clarence Terrace. Regent’s Park, and Dr. W. J. Scott, of Thorner’s Chambers, Fenchurch Street. In a match played on January 30, at Elsternwick, between Elsternwick and South Melbourne Wesleys, says the Aus­ tralasian, no fewer than three old Austra­ lian eleven men took part, namely, Frank Allan, Jimmy Slight and W. H. Cooper. Prior to the commencement of pliy, these three veterans, who, by the way, are all South Melbournites, met on the pitch, and, gravely shakinghands,congratulated one another on being still alive in a cricket sense. Tbe subsequent proceedings showed that they were very much alive, for the “ bowler of a century ” sent down 102 balls for 31 runs and seven wickets, and W. H. Cooper captured five wickets for 25. At one time Cooper had four wickets for two. Frank Allen fell leg before wicket for nothing against his old club comrade, W. H-, while Slight made 11 not out. A t Johannesburgh, J. H. Sinclair scored 301 not out, in a recent match for Villagers v. Eoodeport. This is a record for South Africa, the previous highest score being 297 by C. Mills, the Notts and Surrey professional, for Eclectic v. Arabs at Kimberley. J o nes , the Australian fast bowler, has signed an agreement for 12 months with the South Australian Cricket Association. So greatly has C. T. B. Turner fallen off in his bowling, in the opinion of his club, that he is nowadays only used as a second or even third change. M o K ib b in ’ s chief bowling analyses in inter-colonial matches, since he appeared in first-class cricket, are as follows:— V ictoria . o. M. R. w. 1895 ............................ 393 ID 93 8 1897 ............................ 38* S outh A ustralia . 11 111 8 1895 ............................ 285 7 66 8 1896 ............................ 233 Q ueensland . 5 74 8 1895 ............................ 22- 2 66 9 U n u s u a l excitement was caused at Adelaide on January 30, because it was known that Jones was going to bowl in a club match. His first over was tremen­ dously fast and not a ball was touched. After that he was hit about and did not take a wicket that afternoon. He was only kept on for 14 overs. A f t e r scoring over 50 in an Electorate match, Alec Bannerman only missed his hundred by seven runs on the following week. He was batting for four hours, so that his rate of scoring was, for him, by no means slow. In the same match, Noble, who did so well for N.S.W. against Yictoria. in the return, made 166, putting on 28 with Bannerman 257 for the second wicket. Noble is 24 years of age.