Cricket 1898

6 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. J a n . 27. 1898. Surrey and Sussex v. the Rest of Eng­ land is a capital idea for one of the Hastings Festival matches. North, v. South has been done to death; and two Gentlemen v. Players matches are really enough for one season. East v. West might be tried, as at Portsmouth in one or two seasons not long a g o ; but the East has a big p u ll; one cannot fairly consider any first-class counties but Lan­ cashire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, War­ wickshire and Hampshire as belonging to the West, and the cracks of one or two of these are difficult to get hold of for festival cricket. In the old days Eleven B ’s used to play All England. Such a side might do so to-day with reasonable prospect of success, for a team strong at all points could be selected from G. Brann, H. W. Bainbridge, C. J. Burnup, F. G. Bull, G. E. Bromley-Martin, J. F. Byrne, Brown, Briggs, Brockwell, Bean, the two Baldwins (Charles of Surrey and Harry of Hants), Barton, Baker, Bland and Butt. But I fear that this is too fanciful an idea to appeal to the minds of this materialistic era. Personally, I am very pleased that the Australians have won two of the first three test matches, and should not, in truth, be at all disappointed should the rubber be put to their credit. To hear some people talk, one might have imagined, after the first game at Sydney, that Trott and his men had not an off-chance of winning even one game. The truth of the matter is that, bar something not much short of a miracle, the side which gets first innings and scores over 500 runs has practically won the game. To admit this would obviously, however, be against the interests of our esteemed evening con­ temporaries, whose lengthy reports are so picturesquely written up from a bald two or three hundred words of Beuter or Dalziel. And there is always the the great first test match in 1894-5 to hark back to. It is not of much use to repeat that the conditions which give the Englishmen their remarkable win in that match are scarcely likely to be repeated within the next fifty years. The scoring of Stoddart and his men in the playing of such an uphill game, was in itself, almost phenomenal. Certainly, never before or since have two such innings as 325 and 437 been played by a team going in against such a score as Australia’s 586. Yictoria played up marvellously well against that 775 of New South Wales, which is still a record in intercolonial cricket; but Victoria’s scores on that occasion were 315 and 322—637 in all—against the 762 of Mr. Stoddart’s team. But even then it was not the scoring of the Englishmen which beat Australia, but the rain and sun. When stumps were drawn on the fifth day, Trott’s men wanted only 64 to win, with eight wickets to fall. In the ordinary course of events the Englishmen might have thought themselves lucky to get down two of those eight wickets. Indeed, had the wicket continued hard and good, Darling and Giffen, the not outs, would likely enough have hit off the runs. But the rain poured down during the night, and then came the bright sun. Says Giffen in his work : “ The match seemed as good as won. All of us thought so that night save Blackham, who feared rain. I know I turned in to rest with an easy mind on the subject. When I awoke next morning and found the glorious sun streaming into my room, I was in ecstasy. But the first man I met outside was Blackham, with a face as long as a coffee-pot. The explanation of his looks came with the remark, “ It has been pouring half the night, George ! ” Poor “ Old J a ck !” At such times as these Blackham could not sleep; he was a man who should never have been made captain of any side, with his highly- strung nervous organisation ; he worried himself almost to death during an im­ portant match. Giffen says that he lost fully a stone during the 1893 tour in England, but it must be admitted that the captain who could have preserved his coolness and good-temper throughout the tour of the Eighth Australian Team, would have been more than mortal. Perhaps, with the firm hand of a Mur­ doch, a Hornby or a Lord Harris over them the men of 1893 would have had a better record in every respect, though.” One cannot quite make out the head and tail of the Giffen affair, but it would not be an exaggeration to pay that, from the reports that have reached us, the various phases through which it has passed, might be summarised as follows : (i.) George says he won’t play in the big matches. It’s all his chaff, he’ll play right enough. (m.) Giffen won’ t play after a ll! What a scoundrel! (in.) We’ve lost the first test match ! Really ! Giffen must be coaxed round. We can’t do without him. (iv.) Perhaps he will play now ! Let’s hope s o ! (v.) He won’t ! What’s to be done ? ( vi .) We’ve won the second test match without him. He doesn’t amount to much after a ll! And so the matter may be said to stand at present. I believe it to be a fact that Giffen has, to a very great extent, the sympathy of his fellow-players ; but I think it is fortunate that their sympathy has not gone far enough to lead them to follow his example, for we don’t want the test matches entirely spoiled by money squabbles. It was only for a week or two that Giffen was so berated and mauled in reputa­ tion in Australia; but on this side the storm of disapproval evoked by his action had scarcely yet died away. A con­ temporary referred to him. a week or two ago as a man of ‘ 1evil temper and excessive conceit; ” When I saw that phrase, “ excessive conceit,” I was re­ minded of a little colloquy I heard at the Oval less than twelve months ago. Abel was batting, had passed the century, and had j ust made a beautiful drive past mid- off. “ Aint he a d’isy?” queried one cockney enthusiast. “ Did y ’ever see anything like ’im ? ” “ Ah, but ’int ’e got a bloomin’ good opinion of ’imself,” growled another. “ See him a-struttin’ out to bat as if the bloomin’ H ’oval be­ longed to ’im.” “ Well, and ’int ’e a right to be conceited ? ” returned the first. “ If you could bat like ’im, the bloomin’ Hoval wouldn’t be big enough to ’old yer.” One doesn’t want to justify a man’s having too good an opinion of himself; but it is impossible to blink the fact that GiBfen is the greatest all-round player •Australia has ever produced, and that only W.G. of all our many great English players can be reckoned clearly ahead of him. There may be those who would rank A. G. Steel, F. S. Jackson, Billy Barnes, and perhaps one or two others as his equals; but no one could put any one of these giants distinctly ahead of Great George of Adelaide. And it is not won­ derful that Giffen should know his worth. The wonder would be if he did not. I was rather amused by some remarks in the Adelaide Observer on the early aspect of the case. It spoke of Giffen’s talking of what he had done for South Australia, and then went on to say that he appeared to have forgotten what South Australia has done for him, implying that it far out-weighed anything he had done for the colony. Well, what has the colony done for Giffen ? It subscribed the greater part of a purse of some £300 with which he was presented a few years back; but after all, £300 is not an immense sum, and can scarcely be expected to buy a man body and soul. Furthermore, he has had long leave from his employment in the Government service—he is in the Adelaide Post Office —in order to make the 1882, 1884, 1886, 1893 and 1896 tours in England, and shorter periods at various times, when required for intercolonial and inter­ national cricket at home; but I believe I am correct in saying that such leave has always been without salary, so that the concession was not a tremendous one after all. I cannot find that South Australia has done more than this for Giffen. It did not make him a popular hero ; his own great feats “ with bat and ball ” did that. And now, what has Giffen done for his colony ? Well, in the first place—and this has been admitted on all hands—he has, by his fine play in England, given it one of the best advertisements it has ever had; and, in the second, he has had more than any other three men to do with bringing his colony to a position of cricket equality with New South Wales and Victoria, which, in the matter of population, number of players and number of grounds, have an immense pull over South Aus­ tralia. It is an open question whether, without Giffen, South Australia would have won any higher place in Australian cricket than those which Queensland and Tasmania hold. The question is sure to arise before the end of the English tour, was ‘the match at Brisbane first-class or not ? On N E X T ISSUE , T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 24.