Cricket 1897

A pr il 15, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 73 T h e county umpires for the season have been chosen by the county captains as follows:—It. G. Barlow, W. F. Colli- shaw, R. Clayton, W. Draper, L. Hall, G. Hay, W. Hearn, J. H. Holmes, Arthur Hide, J. Lillywhite, T . Mycroft, J. Potter, G. H. Remnant, Walter Richards, C. E. Richardson, W. Shrewsbury, M. Sherwin, A. F. Smith, J. Street, R. Thoms, V. A. Titchmarsh, J. J. Tuck, W. A. J. West, John Wheeler, W. A. Woof, and A. Young. M r . A. C. C oxhead writes as follows : “ I enclose a statement of a hypothetical result of the county championship in accordance with existing rules. I intend no disrespect to Essex, and hope her sea­ son may be as successful as I have fore­ cast it, but what would such a champion­ ship be worth ? ” Essex plays 14 matches. Wins 7, more or less closely. Draws 6, more or less unfavourably, including 1 to Yorkshire. Loses 1 to Yorkshire—a hollow business. Result points 6 = *75 of completed matches. Yorkshire plays 26 matches. Wins 20, including 1 with Essex. Draws 1 with Essex. Loses 5 to counties which Essex does not play. Result points 15= ’60of completed matches. A lt h o u g h Mr. G. L. Wilson went to Adelaide as one of the twelve men chosen to represent Victoria, it was decided be­ fore the match that he should stand out. This seems to have very greatly surprised most of the local critics in Australia, who have persistently spoken of his decided claims to play for the Colony. “ F elix” neatly sums up the general opinion. “ Considering the fine club form shown by Wilson during the past season, backed up by his splendid performances in Eng­ land, 1 am one of many who think he should have had a place in the Victorian Eleven throughout the season. I feel certain that Victoria does not possess four better batsmen than he, not to speak of his excellent fielding and useful change fast bowling, especially as we have no bowler on the side with any pretensions to pace.” B e l o w will be found tables giving the position of the Australian Colonies in this season’s matches, and the totals and aver­ ages made by the teams. P ositions . N .S.W . 8.A. Vie. W on. Lost. N.S. Wales........... — 1 1 1 1 4 — 8. Australia ... 0 0 — 0 1 1 3 V ictoria ................................ 0 0 1 0 —13 T otals and A verages . “ or” 8 W kt- A '’«- agsT W kt- Av»- N.S. W ales... 1,868 61 30-62 1,613 80 20'16 B.Australia 1,719 69 24-91 1,760 70 25-14 Victoria ... 1,797 80 22'46 2,011 60 33'51 W hen asked if he could get much break on while the South Australians were batting, Roche remarked “ I haven’t had a chance of seeing, for Lyons bashes the ball out towards the fence as soon as it leaves the pitch.” T h e total of 184 made by Darling and Lyons for the first wicket in South Aus­ tralia v. Victoria is twelve runs less than the Australian record. I n the three innings which he has played for his club this season (up to February, 27th) Clean. Hill has made 420, his highest score being 241 not out. He has not done particularly well in inter­ colonial matches on the whole. S e v e r a l Australian papers announce that Mr. Spofforth has decided to return to Australia. T h e latest scores made by Coninghatn for his club, the Glebe, are 176, 117, 80, 58 and 111. During the season he has made 612 runs in senior cricket. O f a total of 118 runs^made by A. J. Hanigan for Redfern v. Paddington (Sydney) no less than 99 were made by boundary hits—21 fours and three five3. A. E. T ro tt was married on Wednes­ day, February, 24, and left Australia with his wife on the following Saturday for England. J. Phillips also left Australia on the same day. A n interesting story is told by “ Felix” of Caffyn the famous old Surrey player, who is now living at Hertford. “ On the appearance of Frank Allan as a colt, to play in his first intercolonial match, in 1867, Billy Caffyn watched him sending down a few. Frank Allen was wily even then, and pent down nothing hut slow stuff of uncertain length. At the finish Caffyn went up to him, and said, “ So you are the young fellow who is going to howl us out. I tell you what—we’ll score 600 off- you, and I wish they could keep you on at both ends.” In the match Caffyn came in, and found Frank came off the pitch so fast, and with such a fine length and work, that he could not get him away, even in his favourite spot, to cover; and after the players had got to the pavilion Caffyn went up to Frank and said—“ Young fellow, you’re a much better bowler than X thought you were, and cute, too ; I think you’ll make a name for yourself. ’ ’ Billy was a good judge, and Frank relishes to this day how he ‘ had ’ the veteran.” A f in e performance was recently done by J. W. Trumble (a brother of Hugh), who came to England with the team of 1886. He took five wickets for eight runs, and made 45, not out. He was chosen as the captain of the county team which was to play against the Melbourne Club on a turf wicket, as a sort of test game for rising cricketers. The worst of it is that a young player, however good he may be on matting, is almost certain to make an ignominious display when he is first put on to a turf wicket. T h e r e is a fast bowler in a village called Gympie, in Queensland. He is spoken of as having bowled, at practice, a ball which went right through bat, wicket, net, and fence, after which it chased the manager of a gold mine. T h e match between two colleges in Ceylon, which is inserted on another page of this issue, will be interesting to any of our readers who think of changing their names. They will be certain to find s >inething taking. K en t will presently have another ground available for its county matches if the committee should feel so disposed. Ousted from its old headquarters by force ma/'eure in the shape of the enterprising builder, the Dover Club has found a new habitation midway between Dover and Kearsney. Just now it is not very accessible, but when the electric tramway in progress is completed, which will be very shortly, the public will be brought cheaply as well as quickly almost up to the entrance. The ground, which is most picturesque, is altogether about eleven acres in area, and every convenience in the way of pavilion accommodation and entrances is being provided. The grass centre which has been laid by G. G. and Alec. Hearne is bordered by a cycle track which is to be formally opened on Whit Monday. T h e annual general meeting of the Surrey County Club is to be held on the second instead of the first Thursday in May as usual. The later date has been fixed on for this year no doubt to enable the executive to complete as far as possi­ ble their budget in view of the approach­ ing heavy expenditure in the shape of new pavilion and tavern. T h e plans of the new buildings, it will be of interest to state, have been finally approved by the committee and have given great satisfaction. Lancashire men will no doubt take it as a compliment that the pavilion is very much on the lines of that at Old Trafford, in fact based on that model. Mr. Thomas Muirhead, of Man­ chester, of the firm of Muirhead and Baldwin, of London and Manchester, is responsible for the designs in each case. W. W. R e a d , who is j ust getting over a rather bad bout of influenza, was off yesterday to Paris for a short holiday to recuperate, in view of the approaching strain of a heavy cricket season. Captain Key and H. D. G. Leveson-Gower will be the other regular amateur members of the Surrey Eleven this summer. It is just on the cards that a fourth amateur, in the person of a well-known young cricketer, may also find a place. W h a t has become of that chirpy little paper Australian Cricket ? It can hardly be a case of suspended animation as a consequence of the expiry of the cricket season down under, because no copy has reached us for some weeks. The parent Cricket has been mourning for its child for the last two months and^refuses to be comforted. The following comes from far Westralia and for it Cricket has to thank Mr. Alfred Goldberg of Perth, W.A. The incident took place in a match between the Weld and Freemantle Clubs on the Freemantle