Cricket 1898

M ay 5, 1898. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 105 C r i c k e t : WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.G. THURSDAY, M AY 5 th , 1898. $a\)tlton Gossip, The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. S a t i s f a c t o r y in every way is the position held by Gloucestershire at the beginning of the present season. The balance in hand is now £2,300; four years ago it was £258. A t the annual general meeting of the County C.C., it was announced that the Secretary’s salary had been increased b y £100, that the benefit to Roberts produced some­ thing short of £500, and that it was hoped to give subsidies to local clubs for the encouragement of rising talent. began the season by scoring 100 out of 133 while he was at the wickets, for Mr. Dailey’s X I. v. Sutton. T iie well-known cricket annual pub­ lished by Frank Sugg is likely to attract some attention this year, for it contains some exceedingly outspoken remarks by Sugg on the financial aspects of Aus­ tralian tours, an article by F. S. Jack­ son on Ranjitsinhji, a portrait of the lattar in his Indian dress, and various other items of interest. The annual may be obtained at 32, Lord Street, Liverpool, post free, for four stamps. A m on g the anecdotes, old and new, in the above annual, is one which is related by Frank Sugg as having occurred last season, during the time that he was engaged, as usual, as cricket coach at Clongowes Wood College, Ireland. The cricket ground is very large, and it is no difficult matter to get a seven, or even an eight, run out. During the progress of O n Thursday last, Mr. MacLaren (and Mrs. MacLaren) and Board landed at Plymouth, and on the follow ing day the rest of Mr. Stoddart’s team arrived at Tilbury. To interviewers Mr. Stoddart re­ ferred to the “ barracking” in Australia, and remarked that not an angry word was heard between professionals or amateurs through­ out the tour. Mr. Stoddart stated that he was unable to say whether the tour had been a financial T h e Ohandos (Booksellers’) C.C., of which Mr. S. S. Pawling is the vice-president, was started last sea­ son by some of the employes of publishing and foreign bookselling firms in the West End, and its success has been considerable. With a view of placing the club on a popular basis, and at the same time preserving its special tr a d e _____ character, the committee has de­ cided to reduce the subscription to a nominal charge of 2s. 6d., with an entrance fee of Is. Applications for membership may be made to the honorary secretary, Mr. D. J. Rider, 15, Marden Road, Southwark Park, S.E. T h e Regent’s Park- Games Association has given a silver cup, to be compel td for by junior cricket clubs which play in the park. There is no entrance fee, and practically no restrictions. Anyone who has ever watched the contest between small clubs in Regent’s Park will prophesy that there will be some interest­ ing scenes in connection with this cup. The war between Spain and America (as at present carried on), will be child’s play to this competition. O f well-known players who have already made big scores this season, R. E. Foster, the Oxford blue, has only missed his two hundred by a few runs. For University v. Magdalen (Oxford) he made 186 last week. Y . F. S. Crawford A DRIVE TO THE BOUNDARY. a match the ball was hit into the far corner of the ground, where the grounds­ man happened to be rolling a practice wicket. The roller went over the ball, completely imbedding it, although the ground was pretty hard. It was most amusing to see the batsmen running between the wickets, whilst the fielder was kneeling down, trying to dig it out with his fingers; it was still more amusing to see him run towards the wicket and pull up a stump, with which to unearth it. In the meantime, the batsmen had been adding to their score, and could have got more runs had they not stopped to join in the laughter of everyone on the field. W i t h the selection of the match against Surrey, at Brighton, on July 11 and following days, by George Bean, for his benefit, the list of benefit matches for the season is now complete. T h e r e has been considerable discussion in Australia over the report to the New South Wales Cricket Association by C. lim nerman, the umpire, that Storer had said to him in the last match against Australia, “ Y ou are a cheat, and you know it.” At a meeting of the Associa­ tion, Mr. A. H. MiC Arthur moved — “ That the conduct of Storer be reported to the Marylebone C.C.” Mr. Firth moved an amendment—“ That the matter be referred to the Australian Cricket Council.” The amendment was carried. D u r in g his short stay in Colombo, after leaving the Ormuz, K. S. Ranjit­ sinhji took an opportunity which offered itself of playing in a cricket match. Mr. Priestley was also stayiDg in Cjlombo at the time. A match had been arranged between the Lancashire Regiment and the Royal Artillery, and it was decided that the two visitors should play— one on each side. The spin of the coin gave Ranjitsinhji to the Regiment, but al­ though when he went to the wickets be played himself in carefully, he was caught for 20 by Mr. Priestley just when he seemed well set. In the second innings ho was caught for seven. Mr. Priestley, having hurt a finger, did not bat. The scores of the match will be found on page 101. . I n the course of his innings of 87 made for the “ B ” team against the “ A ” team of Ballarat, a player named Dudley hit seven 4’s in suc­ cession. T h e first b ig match of the Madras C.C. season was against Ootaca- mund, on April 10 and 11. Madras made 183 in the first innings, and to the general surprise, allowed Ootacamund to knock up 400 for nine wickets (innings declared). Madras, with four hours to play, actually set about trying to win the game. E. H. D. Sewell scored 16 off the first over by 4, 6, 4 and 2, and 26 were scored in the first two ____ overs. It was not until about six wickets had fallen that the forcing game was found to be hopeless, but it was then too late to make a draw, and Ootacamund won in an innings. In the course of the innings the field was brought up very close for a batsman named Simpson, who thereupon promptly made two drives in an over for six and seven. A s e r i e s of articles, entitled “ The Annals of Sussex Cricket,” has been commenced in the Brighton Gazette by Mr. A. D. Taylor. They give great promise of being very interesting. The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to “ Peeps of the Past,” a well-known book b y a well-known Brightonian, Mr. J. G. Bishop. Mr. Taylor is also beginning a series of articles in the Hove Gazette on “ Famous Sussex Cricketers, Past and Present.” “ H a s it ever struck you how fortunate South Australia is to have had Darling and H ill come along to so literally take the places of Lyons and Giffen ? Five