Cricket 1897

474 CEICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. D ec . 30, 1897. W ANTED, Vols. 4 and 9 of Scores and Biographies. Could exchange Vol. 1.—State lowest price to Manager, Cricket , 163, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. F OR SALE, Vols. 1 to 15 of Cncket , set of W isden’s Almanack, John Lillywhite’s Companion, and a lot of old Cricket Books, Football Annuals, &c.— X ., rare of Manager of Cricket , 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TEE OAMF. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THCBSDAY, DEC. 30 t h , 1897. IMPORTANT NOTICE! Six numbers are issued during the Winter as heretofore, from October to March inclusive, as follows: — No. 467.—THURSDAY, OCT. 28. No. 468.—THTJBSDAY, NOY. 25. No. 469.—THURSDAY, DEC. 30. No. 470.—THURSDAY, JAN. 27. No. 471.—THURSDAY, FEB. 24. No. 472.—THURSDAY, MARCH SI. The six Winter numbers will be forwarded immediately on publication for Is. 3d. The amount must be sent to the Manager of Cricket, at the Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. $a\)tliott (iosstjp. The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. In the book written by George Giffen and published in instalments by the Queensland Sportsman, by arrangement ■with Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co., the famous South Australian refers to Jesse Hide in eulogistic manner. “ I think sometimes, nowadays,” he says, “ that many Australians forget what they owe to Hide. The first task he set him­ self upon his arrival in Adelaide was to improve the quality of the wickets on the Adelaide Oval, and his English ex­ perience of the preparation of turf pitches soon enabled him, in a climate which, given plenty of water, was in every way suitable, to produce wickets which became a theme of admiration for all visiting teams. Likewise, as a coach, Hide was of the utmost service to South Australian cricketers. His accurate length bowling, and the wise bints which accompanied it, vastly improved the play of our batsmen, who also bad before them, in his watchful batting, an excellent model.” I n the first chapter of the new book Giffen tells a tale about George Ulyett which may be new to readers of Cricket '.— “ At practice the Yorkshireman hit even more terrifically than he did iu the match. 1 recollect him irj ing a new bat which dis­ appointed him. A few minutes of his tremen­ dous driving knocked the face of the blade almost out of recognition. Turning to a young fellow who was behind the net, Ulyett handed him the bat, saying— ‘ Ah doan’t think much o’ bat, laad. Taak it away.’ ‘ What shall I do with it ? ’ asked the young fellow. ‘ Taak it yourself, load. Ah doan’t want it,’ was Ulyett’s reply, and a li ok of blended astonishment and joy crept over the recipient’ s countenance. Doubtless that bat was cherished for many a year as a memento of the cele­ brated and generous batsman.” A new expression comes from Austra­ lia—at least it is new to me—and a writer in the Sydney Mail is responsible for it. Fearful that the eagerness to make short runs shown by two men who were batting would result in a run out, a spectator pathetically appealed to one of the bats­ men to “ drop his kellick.” B e f o r e the match between Mr. Stod­ dart’s team and South Australia, Lyons, at practice, went in for some big hitting. He nearly knocked off Briggs’ head, he upset the paint pot of a man working on the pavilion, and. made a drive on to the roof of the pavilion, not to mention other remarkable drives. T h e Hampshire County C.C. has arranged to give Baldwin a benefit match next year. Attewell will also have half the proceeds of the gate in the home Notts match against Surrey. I n one of the new Electorate matches at Adelaide West Adelaide declared and left Sturt to make 288 in two hours and a half. Just before time there was con­ siderable excitement, for when eight wickets had fallen there still remained half an hour for play. With the last ball of the day the ninth wicket fell. Now the eleventh man on the Sturt side was absent, as the members of both teams knew. Sturt claimed that, as the ninth wicket fell on the stroke of time, they could claim two minutes before sending in another man, and that the game was therefore a draw. On the other hand West Adelaide, of course, claimed a victory. The matter will be decided by the South Australian Association. A r e f r e s h i n g little bit of descriptive writing from the Adelaide Observer :— “ A good-length ball finding Ranjitsinhji’s blind spot honestly beat and touched one of the bails as it passed over the wieket, but the bail, like a weary father who is awakened by his wife in the small hours of the morning to find the baby’s soothing syrup, simply rolled over to its other side and settled itself in its place.” In the last issue of Cricket mention was made of an innings of 195 not out by E. H. D. Sewell in India. Mr. Sewell’s next four innings were 3, 36 not out, 133 and 190 not out. His score of 190 was made out of a total of 244 for one wicket for the Nilgiri News v. Ooty Gymkhana. The scores of the N.N. innings are appen­ ded, as they are somewhat curious. E. H. D. Sewell, not out .................. 190 A. Schnarre, run out ........... ........... 23 A. Anthoo, not out .......................... 23 Extras .......................................... 8 Total (for one wicket) ... 244 I n response to a request made in “ Gossip ” of Nov. 25th that cricket statisticians would point out any record of a county player what was better than that of Albert Ward for Lancashire, I have received two letters, which will be found on page 478. A n incident which one would think was without a parallel occurred in a Pennant match between North Melbourne and St. Kilda. The former were batting on a wet wicket. A fieldsman having stopped the ball tossed it towards the bowler in the usual way. It was inter­ cepted by another fieldsman, who before 1anding it to the bowler wiped it with a muffler which he was holding in his band. Thereupon the North appealed that five runs should be counted to their score on the ground that the second fieldsman had broken Law 41. One umpire “ could not see ; ” the other allowed five runs. There must have been laughter in the land. T h e opinion of George G.'ffen upon the engagement of Albert Trott and other Australians by English clubs must of necessity be of great interest to English cricketers. In his book he says, with careful regard for punctuation : “ While one does not want, unnecessarily, to tread upon anybody’s toes, one cannot help remarking that it is a pity, for some reasons, that an English county, with such an extensive population, has deemed it wise to, putting it colloquially, poach upon our preserves. However, the attrac­ tions which have led to Trott, Roche, and O’Halloran being engaged by the M.C.C. will, doubtless, lead to promising players, who are left in Australia, securing higher remuneration, and thus may soon grow up a class of pure professional cricketers.” A c o r r e s p o n d e n t wishes toknow what is the origin of the names ‘ ‘ Cricket House” and “ Cricket St. Thomas” in the following paragraph from the Daily Telegraph “ After being a long time in the market, Viscount Bridport’s Somer­ setshire and Dorsetshire estates have been sold. The old family mansion, ‘ Cricket House,’ the park of 800 acres, and the greater portion of the surrounding farm lands and houses in the parishes of Cricket St. Thomas, Wincham, and Crewkerne have been purchased by Mr. J. F. Fry, J .P ., of Clifton.” Possibly some reader of Cricket may be able to given an answer. I t must have forcibly struck many cricketers that, although Queensland is by no means as strong as the other colonies, it would have been a wise thingto play the Englishmen on level terms. They would probably have been beaten pretty badly, but they would have got over that in the course of time, and would have gained in­ valuable experience. But for some reason or other which is hard to understand, it was arranged that various players from New South Wales should be pitchforked into the team, which for this occasion only was to number thirteen. When the game was drawn the Englishmen were very easily leading, but there is no possibility of getting over the fact that the match was against odds. Twelve-a-side matches are not uncommon in England, when N E X T ISSUE, THURSDAY , J A N U A R Y 27.