Cricket 1898

8 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J a n . 27 , 1898. W ANTED, Yols. 4 and 9 of Scores and Biographies. Could exchange Vol. 1.—State lowest price to Manager, Cricket, 163, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C.__________________________________ ____________ F OR SALE, Vols. 1 to 15 of Cncket, set of Wisden’s Almanack. John Lillywhite’s Companion, and a lot of old Crietet Books. Football Annuals, &c.— X ., care of Manrge' of Cricket , 168, Upper Thames Street, London, t.C . Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TEE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C. THURSDAY, JAN. 27 th , 1898. IMPORTANT NOTICE! Six numbers are issued during the Winter as heretofore, from October to March inclusive, as follows: — No. 467.-THURSDAY , OCT. 28. No. 468.-THUHSDAY, NOV. 25. No. 469.—THURSDAY, DEC. 30. No. 470.—THURSDAY, JAN. 27. No. 471.- THURSDAY, FEB. 24. No. 472.—THURSDAY, MARCH SI. The six Winter numbers will be forwarded immediately on publication for Is. 3d. The amount must be sent to the Manager of Cricket, at the Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. ^ a \ J t l t o u G o s s i p . The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— Hamlet. M r . J a m e s I n g r a m , of Ades, Chorley, Sussex, and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, who died on Christmas Day, was one of the few surviving representatives of public- sohool cricket in the middle of the thir­ ties. He was a member of the Harrow eleven of 1834 and did his share in both matches that year against Winchester and Eton as batsman as well as bowler. Another old Harrovian of a slightly later generation passed away last au'umn without, as far as I know, any notice in the papers. I refer to E. Calverley, who was in the Harrow elevens of 1844 and 1845, and who played for Cambridge University in 1846 and three following years. When at Harrow his name was Blayds but he subsequently changed it to Calverley. He died on September 15th last, aged seventy-one. M r. F. S. A s h l e y -C o o pe r calls atten­ tion to a fact not mentioned by any paper, that Mr. A . C. MacLaren has scored three consecutive centuries in first- class matches, even if the game between Mr. Stoddart’s eleven and Queensland and New South Wales is not reckoned first-class. Or the breaking of records there is no end ! At Pietermaritzburg, in Novem­ ber, 1897, Capt. R. M, Poore (7th Hussars) and Capt. Mainwaring (R.D.F.) put on 273 for the first wicket of Pietermaritz­ burg Garrison v. An Up Country Eleven, the first-named gentleman scoring 174 and the latter 104. This is the highest score for the first wicket at Pietermaritz­ burg. F r o m the Australasian :— “ For my own part, I sincerely hope that George Giffen will play. The sum he has asked, £150, is by no means unreasonable, seeing that he will be absent without pay for four months, and devoting his whole time to filling the coffers of the M.C.C. and the Sydney trustees.” An article in an Australian magazine by Ranjitsinhji has roused the Adelaide newspapers very considerably, which is hardly surprising, as the Prince has gone “ baldheaded” for South Australian cricket and cricketers. He emphatically condemns Jones for throwing ; he speaks of the “ rather primitive conveniences ” of the pavilion and dressing room ; and he damns nearly all the South Australian batsmen with faint praise. With refer­ ence to Ranjitsinhji’s remarks the Advertiser, in a scathing leading article, says “ Prince Ranjitsinhji has committed an astonishing blunder in tactics—not to say in good manners and common polite­ ness. . . . The right of the Hindoo prince to a place in a team representing England against Australia is more than doubtful; but the point has never been raised by Australians, and the heartiest of welcomes has been offered him in this country. He has repaid it by an act of which his captain, for example, could never have been guilty, and it may be feared that this will seriously affect the reception given to him, at any rate on his later visits to Adelaide.” S e v e r a l Australian papers comment on the fact that the literary' polish noticeable in the “ Jubilee Book of Cricket” is lacking in Ranjitsinhji’s article. O n the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 27, various members of the Stuckey family were playing cricket at Melbourne. In Pennant matches Harry Stuckey made 206, not out, William, 73, not out, and George, 72, not out. In other matches, Albert scored 25, not out, and his sister 70, not out. This makes a total for the afternoon of 476 in five not out innings. O n the following Saturday, Harry Stuckey increase! his 206 by 92, so that he only wanted a hit for two to make his 300. The total made by his side (he was playing for East Melbourne against Carlton), was 655, of which no less than 592 were up before the fourth wicket fell. The longest partnership was 248. There was big scoring in the other Pennantmatches at Melbourne onthesame days, Melbourne putting up 494 against South Melbourne, North Melbourne 346 against Hawksburn (253 for 4 wickets), and St. Kilda 317 against Richmond. L. W. P y e , a biography of whom appeared in a recent issue of Cricket, has again been scoring heavily. In an Electorate match at Sydney, on Dec. 4, Central Cumberland made 343 for one wicket, Pye being not out, 215. W h a t is termed “ the great Giffen puzzle” has apparently not yet been solved. Everybody concerned, says the Sydney Mail, appears to be playing at cross purposes. The selectors want Giffen to play, the team want him to play, so do the public, but Giffen won’t play for some mysterious reasons on which there has so far been no authoritative enlightment from either side. The “ reasons” are claimed, variously, to be a question of money and a question of injured feelings. At any rate, the team evidently sympathises with Giffen—it has declared so, and it has even discussed the question of declin­ ing to play without him—and the public sympathises with Giffen. Therefore, it is time, for the sake of all parties, that the mystery, whatever it is, was cleared up and the blame placed on the right shoulders. It seems that when the list of the Australians who were chosen to take part in the first match against Mr. Stoddart’s team was given by Trott to the newspaper reporters, he had acci­ dently omitted the name of Darling. The result was that the list was posted up all over Sydney before the error was discovered. The secretary of the Sydney Club ground was the first man to see the list, and he asked Trott, in surprise, whether he was sure that it was right. Trott thinking that the secretary was, perhaps, astonished that Lyons was chosen, cheerfully assured him that there was no mistake whatever, and that as chairman of the selection committee he thought he ought to know what he was talking about. T iie choice of C. McLeod for the first great match excited a great deal of comment among Australian cricketers, who generally considered that he was “ notin i t ” as a bat with several other men, while any fine performances of his as a bowler had escaped their notice. But Trott was convinced that as a bowler he had only been unfortunate and that he could bat exceedingly well. The Australian captain’s judgment has once more been excellent. It certainly seems that some faith was wanted to consider McLeod as a bowler who was likely to distinguish himself, for he had done very little of note in the last two seasons. In 1896-7 in club cricket he took four wickets for 203 runs, and in intercolonial cricket two for 157 ! This year, previous to the first big match, he had played for Victoria against Mr. Stoddart’s team and against South Australia, taking one wicket for 127. And this is the man who had such a fine analysis in the third match against the Englishmen ! I t is rumoured that C. T. B. Turner is about to take up his residence in Johannesburg. A eew choicenames of players in anative team which recently beat the Madras C. C .:—Rajagopolchari, Amurthalingam, Buchibaboo, Seshachari and Soobrayaloo. N E X T IS SUE , T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 24.