Cricket 1898

18 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME7 T ed . '24','-ISP'8' confined to men only, but no'extra^sub- scription is charged.” *j keed utt u Bttu “ I suppose your club suffers-'from members playing golf.” “ Yes, I am afraid it does, but not more so than others.” “ Who originated fhe Crystal Palace tours ? ” “ J. M. Henderson, now a well-known golf player, of Wimbledon, was the originator, I believe. The first tour was in Scotland. For some years they were held in Devonshire, Somersetshire, etc., lasting for three weeks, and matches were played at Bath, Wellington, Exeter, Ex­ mouth, Seaton, Sidmouth, Plymouth, and Newton Abbott. The return journey was by way of Salisbury, and two or three matches were then played at the south coast seaside towns. In recent years the tours have been confined to Kent and Sussex.” “ Can you remember any of the most exciting matches played by the Club ? ” “ Perhaps the most exciting was a tie match against Beckenham. The Crys'al Palace scored 123; Beckenham replied with 123 for five wickets, but the remain- iL g wickets fell rapidly without addition to the score. Last year a very exciting match was played v. Bickley Park, when we won by one run.” “ Some big matches have been played on the ground, have they not ? ” “ Yes, the Australians have played three times. The first was against four­ teen of our Club, with four professionals, in 1880; the second against England in the same year; and the third was the match played in 1896, when the England team were disposed of for 39 in the second innings. It was originally intended to play this match on the new sports’ arena of the Crystal Palace Company, but a few days before the date fixed, an alteration was decided upon, as it was feared that the turf on the arena would not be in a condition to last for three days. Oar wickets are admittedly excellent, and have been so since the Club took over the entire management of the ground.” “ Can you tell me the names of members of prominence in the Ciub p ” “ I am afraid my memory will only allow of answering this question in a very brief manner, but we owe a lot to the Noakes family, for in the early days of the club, Wickham Noakes was treasurer for sixteen years, and F. Day, his partner in business, was secretary for some eight years. Gratitude is due also to C. Eistlake Smith, Percy Currey, A. W. Gardner Woolloton and J. Aste, who officia'ed in the offices of secretary and treasurer to the club. Other mem­ bers of prominence, include : G. Strachan (some time captain of Surrey), W. Penn, F. Penn, C. J. Chenery, F. H. Boult, W. Kettlesvell, A. E.Oelrichs, C. W. Burls, H. Hetley, S. Shorter, C. H. Dorman, G. Cosens, G. Marks, and of recent years: C. J. M. Fox, C. Mitchell, S. Coltnan, L. S. Wells, W. F. Umney, our present treasurer, etc.” “ Do you remember the names of any of the cricketers who were in the team with you at Tonbridge f ” “ Raehleigh was captain my first season in the X I. You will remember that the year after he left school he partnered Key in the Oxford and Cam­ bridge match when each topped the century. Among others who were at the school in my time, I remember the names of Jack Le Fleming, G. C. Hub­ bard and C. J. Kortright. I remember that various people accused me when I was captain of overbowling Kortright, but subsequent results show, I am glad to say, that no evil effects have ensued.” “ Does the Crystal Palace Club play Tonbridge School ? ” “ N o ; but we play the Town. There is very little room in the Sjhool list for club matches, as there are so many other schools to meet. The Sehool has gone up in numbers immensely since I was there, for when I left there were about 170 boys, whereas now there are 450.” “ Your most important match of the year was against Brighton College ? ” “ Yes. In those days Brighton had an exceedingly strong team, including, as it did, S. M. J. Woods, J. M. Cotterill, and G. L. Wilson. In the year that they were strongest we nearly beat them, but Cotterill came to the help of his side at a very critical time, and by means of an innings of 60, which included two big hits for six, won the match. I fancy that they won nearly all their matches that year.” THE G IFFEN QUESTION. What is apparently the last word in the discussion which has arisen about the refusal of Giffen to play against Stod- darl’s team, has been spoken by the famous South Australian himself. To a representative of the Sydney Daily 'Tele­ graph, he said: “ I would like very much to play for Australia; in fact, I feel as keen as ever I did, but I tell you candidly that I would be out of pocket if I accepted now the terms we asked for three months ago, when we wrote to Major Wardill. Then I joined in with the others, so that we might act together, though I felt that my own pocket would suffer, and if the promoters had agreed to our terms I should have been bound to make a con­ tract with them. They, however, would not, and Mr. Creswell, the secretary of our association, stated that if necessary the association, in order to secure matches here, would make up the difference be­ tween what we asked and what was offered. Lyons, Jones, Darling, and Hill agreed to Mr. Creswell’s intervention, but from the first 1 said I would not allow the association to make up any difference in my case. Then I felt justified, as I had been left standing alone on what I regarded as a matter of principle, in refus­ ing to accept a sum that would not remu­ nerate me what I would lose by leaving Adelaide to play in the test matches.” “ But,” remarked the reporter, “ it is stated that the association is not making up anything to the South Australian players. You are on the committee and ought to kuow.” “ Well,” replied Giffen, “ I know they are. They may not be in the cases of Lyons, Darling, and Jones, but they have undertaken to make up £50 to Hill. The promoters refused from the first to give Hill the same amount for his loss of time as the others were to receive, because he is only an apprentice, and does not earn so much. At the last meeting of the committee 1 asked whether the association was making up £50 to Hill, and Mr. Creswell had to admit that such was the case.” “ I hen you absolutely decline to accept the terms now offered to you ? ” “ Yes. I cannot afford to take them.” “ Would it not be worth a slight finan­ cial sacrifice to gain the popularity which might be yours if you assisted Australia in the remaining test matches ? ” “ Popularity will not keep me,” was Giffen’s final rejoinder. CUR IO S IT IES OF 1897. ADDENDA. March 5. At Freemantle (West Aus'ralia). Weld Club v. Freemantle. Bateman got three of the former side out leg- before-wicket with c nsecutive balls. June 5. At Guttenburg, N.Y. In an exhibition match between the Americus and Roseville clubs, the former were dismissed for a total of 0 in eleven minutes. Three players, however, were absent. June 12. Islington High School v. High­ bury i ark School. The former were dismissed for a total of 0. July 10. At Sheffield Park. Sheffield Park v. Nutley. For former, G.H, Arlington scored 309. Aug. 9 & 10. Cheshire Gentlemen v. I. Zingari. At Chelford. For the former, C. D. Long scored 132 in his first innings and 136 in his second. Sept. 4, Coal Pit Heath v. Thornbury. At Coal Pit. One of the former was given out for taking more than two minutes to reach the wickets after the previous wicket had fallen. The former side then refused to play, and the latter accordingly claimed the match. Sept. 7. At Shanklin (Isle of Wight). A ladies’ cricket match—Visitors v. ltesidents. The former won by 2runs. Sept. 8. At Eastbourne, The Ladies of Eastbourne played the Gentlemen of Eastbourne, the latter batting with broomsticks, and fielding and howlino- left hand. The gentlemen won by an innings and 14 runs. The return match w^as-played on Sept. 11, when the ladies had the pleasure of winning by 3 wickets and 49 runs. Dec. 11.. At Simonstown (S. Africa). The Navy' v. Simonstown. For the former, Mr. Straubenzee, midshipman of H.SI.S. St. George, took 5 wickets in 5 halls. Dec. 27-30. During the match at Melbourne between New South Wales and V ic­ toria, Trott, Kelly, Noble and Gregory were all more or less incapacitated by sunstroke.^ N E X T ISSUE , T H U R S D A Y , M A R CH 31.