Cricket 1898

July U, 1898 CRICKET : A tVEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 273 written to the Sportsman by Lord Hawke, Mr. Murdoch, Mr. C. B. Pry, Mr. P. S. •Jackson, and the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton. This was fol owed by another from “ W .G .,” who sent a subscription. His example was promptly followed by Mr. Stoddart and Mr. McGregor, who, in forwarding their subscriptions to the Shilling Fund opened by the Sportsman, wrote, “ We hasten to obey the great master, ‘ W. G.’ ” At present only about £4,300 has been raised out of the £10,000 required, but as the object is an exceedingly good one—the providing of a permanent playing field for over-crowded London—it is greatly to be hoped that cricketers at large will do their best to help the Committee. T h e letter written by Dr. Grace is so much to the point that I append it here : TO T H E EDTTOR OP “ TH E SP O R TS M A N .” S ir,— I am heartily in sympathy with the movement, and in furtherance of the deserv­ ing object I enclose you twenty shillings, which I shall he pleased if you will kindly add to the fund. I think it is the duty of every cricketer to subscribe, and I trust the amount required will be quickly forthcoming. —Yours, etc., W . G. G race. Leyton Cricket Ground, July 7. A t the request of the members of the Middlesex team the match against Kent, which had been fixed to begin last Mon­ day (the date of the funeral of Mr. I. D. Walker) has been postponed until August. A r e c o r d for the Eton v. Harrow match :— Mr. O. H. B. Marsham made 14 not out on Friday in an hour and thirty-five minutes. On Saturday, he added 39 in an hour and forty minutes. Total for the innings, 53 in three hours and a quarter—16‘30 per hour. On Saturday, in the second innings, he made 31 in an hour and fifty minutes. Total during match, 81, in five hours and five minutes. Average not quite 17 runs per hour. As Eton were playing for a draw, this was a very great feat for a boy. C hoice name for a cricketer—Dorai Rajah of Puducottah. S e v e n t y - t i i r e e matches have now been played between Eton and Harrow, of which Harrow has won thirty, Eton twenty-eight, while fifteen matches have been drawn. O n Saturday at Lord’s, Mr. E. A. H. Mitchell was presented with a silver bowl by the captains of the Eton Elevens from 1866 to 1897, as a recognition of the great services which he had rendered to cricket at Eton. The presentation was made by Lord Harris who, in a short speech, referred to the ze tl which Mr. Mitchell had shown in trying to discover ability among the boys. Mr. Mitchell stated that he had handed over his duties to Mr. C. M. Wells, because he felt that the work ought to be entrusted to a younger man. He humouredly added that “ although he had ceased to be Headmaster of Cricket at Eton, he aspired to the post of Provost of Cricket.” It is interesting to note that thirty-one out of the thirty-two captains were subscribers, the other, Mr. E. O. Wilkinson, having been killed in the Zulu War. T h e list of E on captains for the years 1866-97 is as follows:— 1868 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1875 1876 1877 tSTS 1879 1880 1881 E. Lubbock C. R. Alexander C. I. Th >ruton W. Higgins Lord Harris G. H. Longman E. O. Wilkinson* Hon. F. J. Bruce Hon. A. Lyttelton W. F. Forbes H. ^ hitfeld C. M. Smith C. T. Studd de Paravicini [ p . j . R. Lucas 1883 1884 ( 18*5 F. Thomas 1886 H. J. Mordaunt 1837 Hon. T. W. Brand 18S8 H. tt. B. Davenport 1889 G. B. Gosling 1891 ( R' C' N rman 189 i D. H. Forbes j-GKE. B -Martin 1895 C. C. Pilkington 1896 C. T. Allen 1897 A. D. Legard 1882 H. W . Biinbridge •Killed in the Zulu War. Some of the surprises of the past week: Baker took six wickets for 28 for Lanca­ shire v. Sussex. Essex got out for 128, on a hard wicket, against the bowling of Dr. Grace. The Eton andHarrow match was brought to a conclusion some fifteen minutes after the usual time (7 p.m.) for drawing stumps in this match. On Monday night Gloucestershire had lost eight wickets for 361 in thejWarwickshire match. On Tuesday morning Mr. W . S. A. Brown and Wrathall played such fine cricket that the total came to 504. T h e question of the possibility of getting a batsman l.b.w. when bowling round the wicket is pretty generally understood in England, even by members of very small and out-of-the-way clubs. In America, however, there would still seem to be places where the l.b.w. rule is not under­ stood, and Messrs. Duke and Son, of Penshurst, have kindly sent me the fol­ lowing note from a correspondent of theirs in Massachusetts : “ Old cricketers in this country are at loggerheads over the possibility of getting a man l.b.w. when bowling round the wicket, and the young ones do not know ; so that in nearly every game that is played here there is dissatisfaction on one side or the other.” If players in Massachusetts would remember that the pitch of the ball is the thing to be considered and not the position of the bowler’s arm, they would be mystified no longer. If the ball from a man bowling round the wicket pitches in a straight line between wicket and wicket it may hit the wicket if it is pitched up very far, or breaks back a little. A length-ball, without break, would miss it. Th e Associated Cricket Clubs of Phila­ delphia have issued a letter from Mr. P. F. Warner, in which he states that he should like to take out two professionals, Attewell and Brockwell, because, although his side will be very strong in batting, he musthave first-class bowlers in order to get the Philadelphians out. Com­ menting on this, the American cricketer says, in the quaint American way: “ Is not this considerable of a compliment from the Middlesex crack ? Mr. Warner is a keen cricketer, and, of course, desires victory to perch upon his banner.” I t would seem, however, that much as the cricketers of Philadelphia would like to see two professionals in the team, the committee is strongly of opinion that the visiting side should consist entirely of amateurs. The Americans expect to find that F. S. Jackson, N. F. Druce, C. J. Burnup, F. G. J. Ford, C. O. H. Sswell, and G. L. Jessop will be included in the team. F o r his cricket club, the Break o ’ D ry, at Hobart, Mr. C. J. E idy has an average of 80 5 in batting, and has taken thirty- one wickets at an average of eighteen per wicket. His highest score was 205. F ra n k D avidson finished off the Notts’ first innings at Derby on Monday after­ noon with remarkable quickness. With the last ball of an over be bowled Oates. An adjournment was then made for tea. When the game was resumed, Davidson with his next ball bowled Wass, and with the next Henson, thus taking the last three wickets with successive balls. His brother George had accomplished the same feat this season in the Derbyshire match against the M.C.C. Th e past week’s crop of “ l.b.w .’s ” : Brann, Montezuma, E. C. Wright, Kortright, Turner, Poore, W. S. A. Brown, Lees, Chatterton, Heseltine, L. G. Wright, Santall and Glover. Ditto of “ run outs ” : Brann, Bildwin (Surrey), Poore and Baker. U p to the present time only two or three individual hundreds have been scored in America this season. Mr. A. M. Wood made 110 for Belmont against Belfield, and the well-known veteran, Mr. Dan S. Newhall, has once more had the pleasure of adding to his list of hundreds. He played for the Veterans of Philadelphia against Catonsville, and scored 119. After he had been at the wickets for some time, he thought it best to confine his attention to singles and boundary hits, because, owing to his long absence from the cricket field, he found that running twos and threes was a burden to the flesh. F o r a wonder the weather at Brighton and Sheffield, where the two benefit matches of the week were played, was quite fine. At Sheffield Wainwright had the pleasure of seeing some 30,000 people on the ground on Monday, while at Brighton a large crowd assembled to see Bean’s benefit match. A subscription was made for Bean on Monday on the county ground, and realised about £26. It is not usual for professionals who play in their own benefit matches to be lucky enough to distinguish themselves, and it was quite in accordance with the order of things that Wainwright should have only made two and Bean 18 and 0. A w r it e r in Cricket Club Life (Phila­ delphia) is greatly exercised in his mind about American wickets and grounds. He says:— ‘ ‘ The more I see of cricket as it is played on American creases, the more I sigh for the