Cricket 1897

A p r il 22, 1897. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 85 It is a noticeable fact that the four centuries made by Lyons in the inter­ colonial matches since his last visit to England have all been against Yictoria. When shall we hear of his “ getting on ’ ’ to McKibbin and Howell, as he has so often “ got o n ” to Trumble, Trott and Co. ? Trumble was not playing when Lyons’ last century was made; but he played at Melbourne, when the hitter put up 113. Lyor.s and his famous comrade, George Giffen, are the only players who have made ten or more centuries in first-class matches on Australian soil. George still holds the premier place, with eleven such scores against J.J.’s ten; while he has made six in England as against the hitter’s one, having, however, paid us five visits, while Lyons has only been here three times. Giffen’s eleven centuries in colonial first-class matches are:—271, 237, 205, 203, 181, 166, 161, 135, 120, 104*, and 103. The 203 and the 161 were made against English bow ling; the 271, 237, 181, 166, 135, and 103 against Victoria; the 205, 120, and 104* against New South Wales. Lyon’s scores have been:—145, 135, 134, 134, 124, 113, 110, 104, 101, 101. Of these, one of the 134’s was made against Lord Sheffield’s English Team; one of the two scores of 101 against Combined Australia, and for the 1888 Australian team ; the 145 and 124 against New South Wales, and the other six all against Yictoria. The Melbourne men have more than a little respect for the prowess of the two great Adelaide batsmen, as well they may have, seeing that within the last ten years, the pair have between them run up no fewer than twelve centuries against Victoria. Tom Horan, the late P. S. McDonnell and Arthur Shrewsbury are the only other players who have so far been credited with more than four centuries in first-class matches in Australia, “ F elix” having made six, Percy Mac and Arthur of Nottingham five each. The scores were :— T. Horan, 129, 126 and 102 y. N .S.W .; 124 and 117* v. English teams ; and 113 v. S.A. I*■ S. McDonnell, 239 v. Y ictoria; 147, 124 and 112 v. English teams; and 111 for 1884 Austra­ lian team v. Australia. A. Shrewsbury, 236 Non-Smokers v. Smokers; 232 and 144 v. Victoria, 206 v. Sixth Australian Team ; and 105* v. Australia. The following have also made more than two centuries :— Four each :—J. T. Brown, H. Moses, F. A. Iredale and F. H. Walters. Three each:—A . C. Bannerman, S. P. Jones, A . C. MacLaren, W . L. Murdoch, W . W . Read, A . E. Stoddart, G. H. S. Trott and Albert Ward. The long stand made by two such batsmen as Darling and Lyons for the first wicket must, indeed, have been worth seeing. The 196 for the first wicket, which is an Australian record—Lyons and Darling put on 184—by the way, was shared in by an English batsman, as it was the work of William Bruce and Arthur Shrewsbury, in the Non-Smokers v. Smokers at East Melbourne, March, 1887. Among other good first wicket stands on Australian grounds are the following:— 151, by H. Graham and J. Harry, Victoria v. S.A., Adelaide, 1895-6. 108, by H. Donnan and A. C. K. Mackenzie, N.S.W . v. Victoria, Melbourne, 1895-6. Ill, by J. J. Lyons and J. Noel, S.A. v. Victoria, Adelaide, 1893-4. 138, by J. E. Barrett and W . Bruce, Victoria v. N .S.W ., Melbourne, 1892-3. 156, by A . C. Bannerman and S. P. Jones, N .S.W . v, Victoria, Sydney, 1889-90. 103, by R. Abel and A. E. Stoddart, Vernon’s Team V. S.A., Adelaide, 1887-8. Ill, by W . Bates and A. Shrewsbury, Shaw’s Team y. Victoria, Melbourne, 1886-7. 122, by R. G. Barlow and G. Ulyctt, Shaw’s Team y. Australia, Sydney, 1881-2. 125, by A. N. Hornby and A . P. Lucas, Lord Harris’s Team v. N.S.W ., Sydney, 1878-9. Here, as in the list of century-scorers, our own men play a fairly prominent part. Mr. Stoddart’s six centuries for Mr. Priestley’s team in the West Indies must surely constitute a record performance for a single tour. The matches have, of course, no pretensions to first-class rank, but there is some index to the merit of the popular A.E.’s record of six centuries and over 1,000 runs, in the fact that, although the team included at least two other first-class batsmen, in the persons of S. M. J. Woods and E. C. N. Palairet, no one else reached three figures in an innings, and only one other player—- Palairet—had a decent average. In Australia in 1894-5, J. T. Brown and Albert Ward each made four centuries for Mr. Stoddart’s side, and Prank Ire­ dale made the same number for the last Australian eleven; but both these teams played many more matches than did Mr. Priestley’s side. The attainment of a four figure total by an Australian batsman in England is, of course, common enough, the large number of matches played giving every chance to a batsman who meets with any success to so distinguish himself. Charles Bannerman reached four figures in 1878; Murdoch and McDonnell in 1880; Mur­ doch, Horan, Massie, and Alec Bannerman in 1882; Murdoch, McDonnell, and Giffen in 1884; Giffen, Jones, Scott and Palmer in 1886; McDonnell, Bonnor, and Trott in 1888; Murdoch, Barrett, Trott, and Lyons in 1890; Graham, Lyons, Trott, Alec Bannerman, Giffen, Bruce, and Gregory in 1893; Gregory, Darling, Iredale, Hill, Trott, Giffen, and Donnan in 1896. But for an English tour, the instances in which an individual player has reached the 1,000 runs are comparatively very rare. Here are some of them:— Com. Where. Season. Player. Inns. Runs. Aver. Aust. ... 1881-2 ...Ulyett....................37 ...1007 ,.27’21 „ ... 1881-5 ...Barnes ... ...38 ...1314 .. 34*57 „ ... 1886-7 ..Shrewsbury ...30 ...1216 ...40'53 „ ... 1887-8 ...Shrewsbury .. SO ...1113 ...37-10 „ ... 1887-8 ...A.E. Stoddart ...33 ...1221 ...37 00 ................ 1887-8 ...Peel ...................82 ...1023 .. 31'96 ................ 1887-8 ...W . W . Read ...28 ...1000 .. 3571 S. Africa... 1888-9 ...Abel ...................22 ...1075 ..,48'86 Aust. ... 1894-5 ...A.E.Stoddart ...28 ...1332 ...47'57 „ ... 1894-5 ...A.C. MaeLaren..2S ...1129 .. 40‘32 „ ... 1891-5 ...W ard.................... 33 ...1272 ...S8’54 „ ... 1894-5 ...Brown ............ 32 ...1096 ...34-25 The tour of Shaw and Lillywhite’s men in 1881-2 extended to America; but I have only given Ulyett’s figures for the Australian part of it. The figures, of course, include all matches played, and are by no means limited to first-class fixtures. According to “ Boyle and Scott” no fewer than seven of the Australian team of 1880 had scored over 1000 runs when their tour at last came to an end. But as that tour extended over more than a year, several matches being played in Australia before the journey to England, and no fewer than 21 there and in New Zealand after the return, this is scarcely to be wondered at. Only one of the seven had an average of over 20, Murdoch, who scored 2,465 runs 105 innings, with seven not-outs. By the way, speaking of Murdoch, is it true that he is about to resign ihe captaincy of the Sussex team to Kanjit- sinhji ? I have heard a iumour to that effect, and give it for what it is worth. Of course we all understood that the leadership would, in the natural order of things, pass some day to the Indian Prince; but I, for one, shall be very sorry if the old Australian captain gives up first-class cricket yet. J.N.P. ©oiTtsijpontience. N VICTORIAN AND TASMANIAN MATCHES. To the Editor of Cricket. S i r , —Kindly allow me to furnish through the columns of Cricket statistics as to the Victorian and Tasmanian Matches prior to 1869, the date of the so- called find of the first match, furnished by Mr. Clarence Moody of South Aus­ tralia, to your correspondent “ J.N .P.” in “ Between the Innings.” 1851. A t Launceston, Feb. 11th, Tasmania won by 3 wickets. 1852. A t Melbourne, March 20th, Yictoria won by 61 runs. 18)3. No match. 1854. At Launceston, March 4th, Tasmania won by 8 wickets. 1855. No match. 1856. No match. 1857. No match. 1858. A t Launceston, Feb. 26th, Victoria won by innings and 20 runs. 1858. At Hobart, Victoria won by 69 runs. 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 No matches. 1866. At Launceston, February, Victoria won by innings and 25 runs. 1867. At Melbourne, Tasmania won by 5 wickets. 1868. A t Hobart, Tasmaniawon by 69 runs. 1869. At Sydney, February12thand 13th, Victoria won by innings and 265 runs. Mr. Clarence Moody in his capital brochure “ Australian Cricket and Cricketers” strangely gives the date of the first match between Victoria and Tas­ mania as January 1st, 1889. Now that I am dealing with Tasmanian Cricket, I would add that in Volume 8 of Cricket , p. 87, is given a synopsis of the results of matches North and South of Tasmania from 1850 to 1889. Yours faithfully, ALFRED J. GASTON. Brighton, April 17th, 1897.