Cricket 1897

D ec. 30, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 477 MR . STODDART’S TEAM IN AU STR A L IA . THE QUEENSLAND & NEW SOUTH WALES MATCH (XIII.) ( s ix t h o f t h e t o u r ) . Hayed at Brisbane on Nov. 26, 27 and 29. Drawn. If the match had been played against Queensland, and Queensland only, there would have been some interest in it, notwithstanding that the Colony is much weaker than Victoria, New South Wales, or South Australia. But when men from New South Wales were included in the team, and the number increased from eleven to thirteen, the match had very little more importance than an up- country match. Turner, who has of late been residing near Brisbane, as Cricket readers know, appeared in the team, but failed to distinguish himself. Mr. Stoddart won the toss for the first time during the tour. His men gave an excellent account of themselves, aided by particularly bad fielding, and at lunch time on the second day the score was no less than 457 for four wickets. This proportion per wicket was not kept up afterwards, but until the turn of the tail came, runs came with monotonous regu­ larity. MacLaren and Druce were the heroes, raising the score from 230 for three wickets to 482 before they were parted. Ranjitsinhji looked set for a hundred, when he was caught and bowled by McKibbin, who, despite the hardest of luck, took five wickets for 158. Some of the batting for Queensland was par­ ticularly good, but as the men who made the runs were all well-known N.S.W. men, there is nothing surprising in this. L. W. Pye, the New South Wales man who has scored so well in club matches this season, played so well for his 55, that it is more than ever surprising that he was not chosen to represent his colony against the Englishmen. S t o d d a r t ’ s T e a m . J.R.Mason,c Donahoo, b McKibbin ..............74 "Wainwright, run out.. 37 K. S. Ranjitsinhji, c and b McKibbin ... 67 Hayward, c Bradley, b McKibbin ..............31 N. F. Druce, c Howell, b Byrne ................... 126 A . C. MacLaren, c Ire­ dale, b Turner............181 Hirst, not out ...........75 A.E.Stoddart, c Brad­ ley, b McKibbin ... 13 Board, b Byrne........... 4 Briggs, b Byrne........... 0 Bichardson, c Byrne, b McKibbin ........... 5 Extras.................23 Q u e e n sl a n d . Macdonald, b Richard­ son .......................... 0 Gregory, lbw, b Hay­ ward ..........................77 Iredale, c Stoddart, b Ricberdson .......... 23 Bradley, c MacLaren, b Richardson........... 3 Total Pye, c MacLaren, Briggs ............... Jones, b M ason... , Turner, c and Stoddart................ Bichardson, not out. McKibbin, not out . Extras ... . ..636 b .. 55 son ... .................19 Total (8 wkts.) 316 M r . S t o d d a r t ' s T e a m . R. W . R. W . McKibbin... ... 158 5 Turner........... ... 94 1 Bryne........... ... 122 3 Q u e e n sl a n d . R. W . R. W . Richardson ......... 74 4 Stoddart ... ... 9 1 Briggs ... ......... 97 1 Wainwright ... 30 0 Hayward ......... 21 1 H iist .......... ... 51 0 Mason ... ......... 17 1 THE TOOWOMBA MATCH (XVIII.) (SEVENTH OP THE TOUR). Played at Toowomba (Queensland) on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Drawn. On a very fast matting wicket, the visitors, whose order of going in was entirely altered for the occasion, began badly enough, and it was not until eight wickets were down that anything like a stand was made. Hayward and Wain­ wright then got complete command over the bowling, with the result that the score was reasonably large. The local eighteen, thanks to good cricket by Thomas, 85, and King, 25, beat this easily, and were able to declare at 243 for thirteen wickets. In their second innings the Englishmen did fairly well, but Ranjitsinhji, for the second time in the match, was a failure. M r . S toddabt ’ s T eam . Storer, b ........... .................... 3 b ....................... 2 N. F. Druce, c ..................13 e ..................... ... 34 Hearne, c and b .......................25 Hirst, c ... .................... 2 not out...................42 K. S. Ranjitsinhji, c ........... 0 c ....................... 8 J. R. Mason, c .................... 4 not out...................12 Richardson, c and b ...........11 Board, run out ...................... 12 Hayward, c ..............................68 c .......................13 Wainwright, b ..................4 j Briggs, not out .................... 0 Extras ......................14Extras ................. 4 Total .................... 197Total (4 wkts.) 115 H earne.. Storer ... Hirst ... 197 T o o w o m b a . R. W . 80 5 42 3 32 2 Mason ........... Wainwright... Druce ........... R. W . . 4 1 . 4 1- 0 1 THE NEW ENGLAND MATCH (XXII.) ( eig hth of th e tour ). Played at Armidale on Dec. 3 and 4. Abandoned. Another variation in the usual order of going in was made in this match, Richardson, for a change, going first to the wicket with Wainwright. Riin and a matting, wicket, which became very bad, prevented the Englishmen from making many runs, and play was greatly delayed. At the close of the day, the home team had scored 8 for the loss of a wicket, against a total of 141 by Mr. Stoddart’s team. No play was possible on the second day. M r . S t o d d a r t ’ s T e a m . Richardson, Wainwright, b ... A. E. Stoddart, c Hayward, c ........... J. R. Mason, c ... N. F. Druce, c ... Board, c .................. Hearne, b ........... A. C. MacLaren, and b.................. Storer,b .......... Briggs, not out .. Extras ... Total ... THE FIRST AUSTRALIA MATCH. (N IN T H OF TH E T O U R .) Played at Sydney on Dec. 14, 15, 16 and 17. Mr. Stoddart’s team won by nine wickets. Without consulting the captain of either side the trustees of the Sydney cricket ground decided on the night of Thursday, December 9th, that there should be no play on the morrow—the day when, according to the programme, the match should have begun. They were moved to take this step, which gave rise to much discussion as to the power of trustees to upset all arrangements, partly by the condition of the ground after heavy rain and partly by the consideration that if the match were postponed for a day Ranjitsinhji, who was unwell, might have sufficiently recovered to be able to play. Stoddart formally protested against the action of the trustees, as was only proper, but apparently there was more excitement in England over the affair than in Australia. On the Saturday the weather was too bad for cricket. A cessation of rain on the Sunday gave the wicket achance of drying, and thanks in all probability to the Bulli soil, which has been found so successful, the ground had almost entirely recovered by the Monday, when the Englishmen, having won the toss, took first innings under the captaincy of MacLaren. Ran­ jitsinhji was not quite well, but was able to play; Stoddart stood out on account of a family bereavement, while Board was not required. The Australians were at full strength, with the exception that George Giffen declined to play. The very large crowd which had assem­ bled soon had an opportunity of showing its enthusiasm, for Mason, whose reputa­ tion as a dangerous batsman had been made in Australia as well as in England, was out for six runs ; but it was a long time before another of the Englishmen followed him to the pavilion. It was not thought advisable to send in Ranjitsinhji first wicket down as usual, and indeed he was kept back until nearly the end of the day, but Hayward admirably filled his place, although shortly after he began his innings he was so badly hurt that a runner was allowed for him. The edge of the bowling was taken off long before he was out for a remarkably good innings of 72. When he was caught the score was 162 for two wickets. Meanwhile Mac- Laren had been steadily getting nearer to his hundred, and during another long partnership with Storer he succeeded in attaining the obj ect which is the ambition of every batsman, especially in such a match. He was out at last for 109, one of the best of the many fine innings which he has played. Storer kept up his repu- tion, and Druce made things lively while he was in. When about an hour remained for play five wickets were down for 258, a satisfactory total which was consider­ ably increased before stumps were drawn, Ranjitsinhji and Hirst keeping together for the remainder of the time, the former scoring 39 and the latter 37. Total, 337. In the three previous matches against the colonies the Englishmen had fielded ail the first day and had disposed of about the same number of wickets for about the same number of runs, but on the following day they in each match got rid of the remaining batsmen for very few runs. This, however, was not to be the fortune of the Australians, for when the game was resumed Ranjitsinhji and Hirst were both in great form, while the tail behaved nobly. The partnership between Hirst and Ranjitsinhji produced 124 runs, of which Hirst claimed 62—a good and well hit innings. When he left Ranjitsinhji had scored 59, and, realising that he had better make hay while the sun shone, began to score at such a rapid rate that when only the three bowlers, Heame, Briggs and Richardson, remained to assist him he had reached his hundred. When Richardson went to the wickets Ranjit­ sinhji had made about 120, and the N E X T ISSUE, THURSDAY , J A N U A R Y 27.