Cricket 1898

J a n . 27, 1898. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 5 BUSSEY’S “ DEMON D R IVER ” CR ICKET BATS ARE THE GRANDEST MADE. BUSSEY’S <CCB« CR ICKET BALLS RETAIN THEIR SHAPE, AND LAST LONGER THAN ANY OTHER, BUSSEY’S LEG GUARDS ARE EXCEPTIONALLY GOD, AND THE LIGHTEST MADE. BUSSEY’S BATTING GLOVES ARE FAR SUPERIOR TO THE USUAL CLASS. BUSSEY’S V A D V / CR ICKET BAGS ARE OF THE HIGHEST CLASS. BUSSEY’S < C C B « SCORE BOOKS ARE THE MOST APPROVED. BUSSEY’S • <GCB« DIARY AND COMPANION IS A GEM FOR SIXPENCE. CATALOGUE ON APPLICATION TO 36 & 38, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON; OR DEALERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. MANUFACTORY— PECKHAM , LONDON. TIMBER MILLS— E L M S W E L L , SU F FO LK . BETWEEN THE INNINGS. There is not much of absolute novelty about the programme for the season of 1898; but in what little there is Essex bulks very large indeed, for two of the three new county matches owe their inception to her fine performances of the last two seasons. Both Essex v. Kent and Essex v. Gloucestershire are genuinely attractive fixtures; and although Middlesex v. Leicestershire may be slightly less so, one will feel some curiosity to see bow the Midland batsmen —who did little of note in 1897—will shape against Jack Hearne and Albeit Trott. By the way, I should not be surprised if that pair—Hearne and Trott —attain to a bracketed celebrity, equal to that of Turner and Ferris, Boyle and Spt fforth, Shaw and Morley, Peate and Emmett, Martin and Wright, and Mold and Briggs. Great bowlers have often operated in pairs ; and how often has it befallen that the breaking up of such partnerships has resulted in the marked deterioration of both men ! Speaking of Middlesex v. Leicestershire, though, it may happen that Pougher (let us hope as good as ever in 1898) and Woodcock will effect the surprise, especially of Webbe, Stoddart and Co., chance to happen upon such an Aylestone wicket as were those on which Surrey fell more than once in days when Leicestershire was still a second-class county. This match is an absolutely new one, and so is Essex v. Gloucestershire; but the Leyton men met Kent twice in 1887, and, if I remember rightly, W. H. Patterson carried his bat right through the Kent innings for a century or there­ abouts in one of the matches. Nor is Essex v. Oxford University quite a novelty, for the teams met in 1891, when Oxford, playing weak owing to Lionel Palairet’s marriage, gave the county their only win of the season. I fancy Middlesex v. Cambridge University is a new game; at any rate the County and the ’Varsity have not met for many years past, though one can remember several games between Middlesex and the Daik Blues—notably that in 1887 at Chiswick, when Mr. Key ran up 281, and an immense scoriiig match in 1876, when only twenty fuur wickets fell for 1,217 runs, which was, if I am not mistaken, a record total to that date. Middlesex scored 439 and 166 for four wickets; Oxford made 612, every man reaching doubles, and W. H. Game rattling up 141. Of the twenty- two players engaged in that game only A. J. Webbe (who scored 98) still plays first-class cricket regularly ; but C. I. Thornton, whose share was 93 (14 and 79) is also seen in the field once or twice in each season. Few men equal Mr. Webbe’s record of over 20 years’ first-class cricket. Of course there is no need to refer to the marvellous career of the Master of them all, equalled in length only by that of Mr. Hoinby in recent days (though Mr. Hornby has been for years only an occasional participant in first-class cricket, while W. G. has played as regularly as anyone); he was playing years before A. J. W., but ( f the others who started out before or about the same time as the Middlesex leader (to say nothing of many famous players, the beginning and end of whose careers his has overlapped) few now remain. In the coursa of compila­ tion of a table of averages, I had occasion a day or two ago to dip pretty deeply into Wisden for 1878. How many men were there playing first-class cricket in 1877, think you who were still playing in 1897? W. G., of course; A. J. Webbe, C. I. Thornton, A. N. Hornby, W. W. Read, Shrewsbury, A. P. Lucas—and here we must stop, for I cannot remem­ ber one more. I am glad to see that the Cantabs once more meet Surrey. Of all the many matches between the two ’Varsuies and the various county sides, this has pro­ duced the finest games. Seldom, indeed, has Surrey been so strong but that the wearers of the Light Blue have fought them to a good finish, though in the days of Surrey’s weakness there were times when the county had to take frightful trouncings from the young men from the banks of classic Cam. At random just now I opened my copy of the first-class scores of 1872, and there stared me iu the face the record of one such beating. And small wonder that Cambridge should win by an innings and 8 runs when her team included such doughty warriors as W. Yardley, C. I. Thornton, G. H. Long­ man, F. E. R. Fryer, F. C. Cjbden, and W. N. Powys 1 That was the year in which the Cantabs ran up 388 in the great match at Lord’s, Longman and Tabor scoring 104 for the first wicket, and Yardley making 130. By the way, theie were 15 first-class centuries scored in that year, and the three Graces accounted for eight of the fifteen ! What counties have the two ’Varsities met? Writing from memory, I can answer for it tint Oxford has played Lancashire, Yorkshire, Eisex, Middlesex, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and K ent; Cambridge, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, Notts and Hampshire. So far as I cm recall, no match has ever been played by either against Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire or Warwickshire. I hope to return at some future time to the history of ’Varsity cricket, not with any intention of dealing with it exhaustively, for I am not qualified to do that, but to treat of it as one from an outside position may fairly do. Meanwhile it is pleasant to note a great improvement in recent years in the average quality of both teams, and especially in that of Oxford. There were men who got their colours for Oxford between 1879 and 1891—many men, one might say—who would not have an out­ side chance of getting them nowadays; and, though the character of both sideo’ programmes has stiadily improved, the results are far more flattering than they were wont to be ten years or so ago. N E X T ISSUE , T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 24.