Cricket 1898

410 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OJT THE GAME. S ept . 15 1898. in some way or other he is a persecuted person. But it would, indeed, he cruel to blame the batsman for this. Like Mr. F. G. J. Ford and other very tall men, Gunn has the reputation among unthinking spectators of being somewhat slow in the field. But such spectators are in the same box as policemen tfho, seeing a cyclist move his feet slowly, conclude that he is not getting over the ground quickly, and compare his pace unfavourably with that of one who is seen to be pedalling: with rapidity. It is to be noticed that batsmen are never known to presume on Gunn’s slowness when he is in the long field. Experience has taught them to beware. It is a little annoying to a batsman, who, having hit a ball which seems to be going well out of Gunn’s reach, to see a very long arm very suddenly stretched out to its fullest extent, and to discover that tbe ball is safely in the hand belonging to the arm. A t times, about half the spectators are convinced that the ball has been tiken on the hound, so utterly impossible has it seemed that the hand could stretch far enough to take it before it reached the ground. Once, at Brighton, where the ground slopes a little on one side, there was a loud outcry when a batsman was to be seen meekly walking to the pavilion, after having hit a ball in the direction of Gunn, who, without hurry­ ing himself in the least, had apparently picked up the ball on tbe bound when it had touched the ground yards in front of him. But the spectators on the other side of the ground, near the fieldsman, as well as the players and umpire, could see plainly enough that the ball had not gone within a foot of the ground. Gunn’s career had its commencement in 1880, the year in which Attewell made his debut for Notts. Before his appear­ ance in the Notts eleven he had shown pretty conclusively that he knew how to bat, but, like most young cricketers, he did not cover himself with glory in his first county match, which was against Surrey. His scores were 13 not out and 9. After a few failures he made 29 in tbe return match against Surrey—a small- scoring match, in which the Southern county was disposed of for 16. His great chance came in 1881, when the famous strike of the chief Notts’ professionals astonished the cricketing world. With a forethought which did him great credit, Gunn realized that the committee would get the best of it in the end, and he decided to follow the lead of the other professionals. This forethought served him in good stead on a later and still more famous occasipn when it was thought that he himself m ight be the leader. During the time of the strike he firmly established himself iu the Notts eleven by his uniformly ' good play, and in the same year he accepted an engage­ ment on the ground staff at Lord’e, scoring 109 and 105 in minor matches for the M .C.C. In 1882 it was said that he had found his level, and that it was a low one, for, with the exception of an innings of 188 for t! e M.C.C. against Somersetshire, his scoies were generally but small. In t.h follow ing year, however, he showed clearly enough that his apparent decline in the previous season was only temporary, and among his scores were 46 and 77 against Gloucestershire, 52 and 68 against Sussex, and 42 against Y ork­ shire. His average at the end of the season was 25. There was just a possibility that he would be left put of the Notts team at the beginning of the season of 1894, for he seemed in anything but good form. But when once he had made a start there was no longer any possible question of doing without him. From that time to the present day he has shared the chief honours with S irews- bury. Thanks to perfect control over his nerves, and bis great skill, he has nearly always been successful. When he has had to play bow ling which shows the least sign of weakness, he has always been a truly terrible opponent, but he is by no means one of the men who only show up well against weak bowling. On the contrary, he has on stveral occa­ sions made Australian teams wonder why he should ever get out, and his innings of over 200 against them for the Players still stands as one of the best ever scored against them. He has made several records, and of his doings in partnership with Shrewsbury Sussex men could say a good deal. His innings of 236notoutthis year at the Oval, against Surrey, in the August Bank Holiday week, played, as it was, when his side was in a seemingly hopeless position, was a masterpiece of defensive play. In the football field, Gunn has gained international honours at the Association game, playing his first international match in 1884 against Scotland, at Glas­ gow . His height is 6 feet 2i inches. W . A. B e t t e s w o r t h . T H E H A ST IN G S W EEK . SURREY AND SUSSEX v. REST OB' ENGLAND. Played at Hastings, on Sept. 8 , 9, and 10. Rest of England won by four wickets. It often happens during the Hastings week that some batsmen, free from all responsibilities, displays form to which one is unaccustomed, while other batsmen who generally score well are getting out one after the other with curious rapidity. For Surrey and Sussex Mr. Jephson astonished the spectators b y treating the bow ling as if it were of the most ordinary club variety, and out of a total of 254, made no less than 143. He scored quickly enough in making the first hundred; afterwards he outrivalled tbe Mr. Jessop of 1897. This remarkable innings only lasted for an hour and fifty minutes and included no fewer than 29 fours. He was greatly helped by Hay­ ward and Lockwood, each of them putting on over a hundred in partnership with him in about an hour. The rest of the batting was only remarkable for its inferiority to the bowling. Against a total of 254, the Rest of England put on 98 without losing a wicket before stumps were drawn, W.G. being not out 31, and Mr. Macljai m not out, 65. The first \wicket fell at 113, when W .G . was bowled for 40. Mr. MacLaren soon followed him, having made an excellent 72 in an hour and three quarters. From this time the bowlers had the upper hand and the innings closed 78 in arrear. Sussex and Surrey did badly in the second innings, although seve’-al double figures were made. England bad to get 220 At the close of the day they had knocked off 76 for the loss of Mr. MacLaren and W.G. On Saturday Wainwright, S crer, Mr. Townsend and Hirst were all in fine form, and the result was an easy victory for England, although when six wickets had fallen it was quite on the cards that they would be beaten. SUHKEY AND SUSSEX. F irst innings. Abel, c and b Townsend ... 12 Brockwell, c J essop, b Town­ send ....................................... 0 H olland, l vw , b Townsend 6 Q. Brann, b He *rne ............ 5 H ayw ard, c H irst, b Hearne 41 D .L A.Jephson. b H earne...143 Lockwood, b Towus°nd ... 30 W . L . M urdoch, c and b H earne....................................... 5 B utt, 1 w, b H earne ............ 3 T ate (F. W .), not out............ 0 Richardson, c W ain wright, b Townsend ..................... 0 Byes ............................... 9 Second innings, c M acLaren, b H earne ............18 b H earne ........... 14 c H irst, b Hearne 18 not out............ 16 c B riggs bHea’ ne 4 b Rhodes ............ 4 c A lacLarer, b H earne ............14 b Rhodes ............21 c M acLaren. b H ean.e 1 1 c Loard, b Lhodes 6 cJessop.b Rhodes 15 E xtras ... 0 Total ..254 Total ...141 R kst o p E n g l a n d A. C. M acLaren, c Jephton. b Richardson ............ 72 W . G. Grace, b Richardson 4u W ain w right,b Jephson ...1 6 Storer, c B utt, b Richardson 1 C. L . Townsend, c and b Jephson .............................. 2 G. L . Jessop, c Brann, b Richardson.............................. 5 H irst, c B utt, b Richardson 0 Board, c and b Richardson 17 B riggs, c Abel, b Richardson 5 Rhodes, cT ate.t Richardson 16 Hearne (J. T .j, not out ... 0 N o-balls ..................... 2 b T a te .....................28 b Richardson ... 8 c H utt,bRich*rd- son ... .3 7 cAbel.bBro kw ell 33 c Lockwood, b Richardson .. 51 c B utt, b Jephson 10 not o u t................... 35 n o to u t.....................J6 E x tra s............ T otal ..................... 176 T otal (6 w kts) . 2^3 S u r r e y a n d S u s s e x . F irst inniugs Second innings. O. M . R. W . O. M. R W . Townsend ... 2 -2 2 79 5 ............. 7 1 19 0 H earce........... 25 6 85 6 ............. 23 4 72 6 Je s s o p ............ 4 0 14 0 ............... Rhodes............ 6 1 *4 0 ............... 16*4 5 50 4 H irst ............... 3 0 15 0 ................ B rig g s ............ 3 0 28 0 ............. R es t o f E n g l a n d . O. M . R. W . O. M . R . W . R ichardson... 24 3 10 52 8 ................. 2 2 4 3 82 3 T ate ... 8 1 27 0 ............. 2 0 9 1 Brockwell ...10 2 2*5 0 ............... 17 7 53 1 H ayw ard ... 5 2 17 0 ............. Jephson ... 17 2 52 2 ... ... 17 0 74 1 H ayw ard bowled two no-balle. HAMPSTEAD v. MALDEN WAND ERERS. - Flayed at H am pstead on Septem ' er 10. H a m p s t k a d . C. D. D. M cM illin, S m ith ................................. v3 F. K. D. Monro, b M ountford ... 3 F. S. Young, c and b M ountford .............. 1 J . G. Q,. Besch, b Mountford ...........103 H . W oodall, c Ju d d , b A tterbury............ ... 68 *Inniogs declared closed. M a ld e n W a n d e r e r s E . L . M arsden, b Mountfold ........... 0 H. (J. Preston, not out 25 H. <^Trig, c New, b Sm ith ................... 11 W . H. H ale, not c u t 14 B 16. lb 2 ............18 T otal (7 wkts) *264 Ju dd , notout ............ 62 E Sw ift, c Thom as, b M ar-den ..................... 0 A. M ellor. run out ... 19 G.H New c M cM illin, b W oodall ............ 9 C. C. Baron, c H ale, b Woodall . . ... P A . Jennings, b H ale .. 13 B. H. M Sm ith, c and b Hnle .....................12 A.G . R ough,b Wood­ a ll ..............................10 H. Jenson, b Paw ling 0 B. J . A tterbury, not out .............................. 0 B 7, lb 8 ............15 Total (8 wkts) 150