Cricket 1898

S ept . 15, 1898 ORIOKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 417 that cricket, even first-class cricket, is still a game, and that the players have some right to be considered. At present they do not seem to be generally of the opinion that the hours of a full three-day match are too short, or the labour in­ volved too light. Former experiments have not encouraged the idea that the time of play can be advantageously ex­ tended, nor is it to be taken for granted that extension would sensibly diminish the number of drawn matches.” Among the reminiscences which ap­ peared in the Weekly Sun of the Rev. W . F. G. Sandwith, the Norfolk captain, the follow ing is delightfully quaint:— “ In the vestry, while all the choir were taking a last good look at me, as if I was some rare curiosity, my sour little friend, the sacristan, deigned to come up and ask me to inscribe my wretched name in the Preachers’ Book. ‘ Sandford, I think,’ he added. “ ‘ No,’ I said, ‘ Sandwith.’ “ ‘ Sandwith ! ’ he exclaimed. ‘ Do you ever play cricket P’ “ ‘ Sometimes,’ I answered. “ ‘ Do you ever play for the county P’ “ ‘ Sometimes.’ “ Then he looked very hard at me (and so did the men and boys), and gasped ou t: ‘ Then was it you that made one hundred and twenty-three for the county last week ? ’ “ ‘ Yes,’ I meekly answered. “ And he could only find expression in one impassioned monosyllable, ‘ Lor ! ’ and stood looking approvingly at me, with the others. “ I felt I had conquered. It was quite clear that he was a cricketer at heart, and would have dealt more kindly with my miserable shortcomings if he had only known.’ ’ M r . Sandwith thus describes a momentous occasion when he had to make a very difficult catch :— “ I stepped backwards and backwards until I felt the woodwork of the boundary screen touch my hack, and there was that ball still ascending, without apparently having the slighest idea of ever coming down again, and all around there was a silence that could be heard. But this was simply nothing to what followed. Close to me stood two gentlemen, who took an intense interest in that ball and myself, and as I waited in fear and trembling I distinctly overheard this conversation being carried on with animation:— “ ‘ My eye, what a h it! Why, he won’t be anywhere near i t ! I tell you it will go clean over his head ! ’ Then, after a pause : ‘ No, it won’t, though ! Look, look! Do you think he’ll get i t ? ’ ‘ No,’ said the other dismally, ‘ not he, ’taint likely. Just look at his face ; does he look as if he would get it P’ “ He did, though.” “ A MOVE is to be made regarding the number of large gum trees on the Park Lands lyin g between the Adelaide Bridge and the Adelaide Oval,” says the Adelaide Observer. A t the present time, as fre­ quenters to the ground know, the euca- lypts are scattered “ promiscoug” all over, and the latest intimation is that the City Council is going to be asked to pro­ vide a suitable avenue for pedestrians from the roadway to the entrance gates. If this suggestion is carried into effect the already pretty Oval will have its beauty enhanced b y an approach gratifying to the eye and appreciable by the large crowds who visit the summer and winter sports. A n eleven of English cricketers from Nottinghamshire recently played at Paris a team of sixteen selected members of the Paiisian clubs —Albion and Standard. The Englismen won, scoring 134 against 109. The match has made a great im­ pression on a writer in a German con­ temporary, who, in describing the match, says : “ Took in Paris an international cricket match between a team, from the members of the Parisian clubs Albion and Standard composed, and a team from Nottingham under the leadership of the known cricketer Marshall place.” The writer then expresses his absolute astonishment that eleven men could possibly beat sixteen. The latest news from Australia is very sad. The Melbourne Argus saj s that the friends of Mr. Harry Trott, the well- known cricketer, will regret to learn that he was on August 8 seized with a very serious illness. Mr. Trott, while visiting his mother at Doncaster, fell suddenly into a fit. He remained for some time in a rather serious condition, and it was deemed advisable to send for his wife. Subsequently he recovered consciousness, and so improved that it was thought quite safe to remove him to his home in South Melbourne. In the train, however, he had another seizure, and though he recovered before he reached the termination of the journey, he had a further attack later in the evening which lasted for more than an hour. Dr. Thomson was summoned when Mr. Trott reached his home, but despite his care there was a recurrence of the paroxysms at ten o’clock. At a late hour in the evening the patient had recovered some­ what, but his condition is such as to cause his friends grave anxiety. Next week the review of the Incogniti season of 1898 will appear in Cricket. It will as usual, I am pleased to say, be from the pen of “ R . T .” Sotjth African cricketers will, during the com ing winter, have the advantage of shaping their batting on the model of a good young player—Holland to w i t - only this time it will be the Surrey, not the Leicestershire player. F. C. H . is off very shortly to Cape Town to fulfil an engagement there. B r o c k w e l l , too, will be leaving E n g­ land very soon, early next month, I understand, for his second winter with the Maharajah of Patiala. As far as I can gather, Brockwell and Holland will be the only Surrey cricketers out of England during the next few months. Hayward had more than one good offer, rumour has it, for this coming winter. But Very wisely, one may fairly add, he has decided to stay at home and rest. The Committee of the Surrey County Cricket Club have voted a sum of £60 to the fund being raised for the purchase of Raynes Park by the London Playing Fields Committee. By the way, is it late news that G. J. Mordaunt, of Oxford and Kent fame, has succeeded another old Oxonian, H . D . G. Leveson- Gower, as secretary of the London Playing Fields Committee ? The new secretary’s address is 66 , Eccleston Square, S.W. Among the deaths in the Daily Telegraph of Saturday last, I notice that of St. John Boultbee, of Tasmania, second surviving son of the late Captain Edward Moore Boultbee, of Bedford, aged fifty-seven years. Cm this be the amateur who played for the Surrey Club a good deal, late in tbe sixties, and repre­ sented the county on a few occasions F The age does not quite agree with that given him in “ Scores and Biographies,” but come, very near it. The follow ing are some of the latest hundreds:— AUGUST. 30. N . Z. Graves, U nited States v. Canada ... 128 SEPTEMBER. 8. D . L . A . J ephson , S urrey and S ussex v . B est op E n g l a n d .............................................143 10. J . G. Q. Besch, H am pstead v. M alden W anderers...................................................................103 12. E. H . D. Sew ell, M r. W arner’s team v. Gentlemen of T o ro n to .......................................122 12. F. M itchell, M r. W arner’s team v. Gentle­ men of Toronto .................................................128 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. H ampst ead .— The forecast was good enough, not­ w ithstanding that it w as wrong. The hum our was not in a part, but in the whole. T .R .—You said that you would send your nam e and address. J.A .R .—The plans are not yet definitely settled, hut a vi*it would give him great pleasure if it could be arranged. H .T.H .—K ortright, B utt, Brockwell (H earne). T .S.—Thanks. N ext week. MR. WARNER’S TEAM IN AMERICA. THE MONTREAL AND OTTAWA MATCH (14). FIRST MATCH OF THE TOUR. Played at Montreal on September 8 and 9. Mr. Warner’s team won by 88 runs. Mr. W a r n e r ’ s T e a m . P. W arner Burnup .. M itchell Sew ell ... H ill W inter ... L e e ............ Bosanquet G ilbert ... W a lk e r... Boyes ... T erry ... H ill Acland ... Strickland W alters... Philpotts A . W arner .. B r«y ........... B e re n s........... Penn .......... E x tras. T o tal. M ontreal and O ttaw a . B ell . Hodgson Soutnam Wood ........... Goodwin E xtras.. .. 16 ,. 28 0 .. 0 .. 6 . 130 . 19 ■I . 1 T o tal. , 82 In their second innings, M r. W arner’s team scored 106, and the home team 65. In the Canadian first iuniogs Bosanquet and W inter each took five wickets. THE MATCH AGAINST GENTLEMEN OF ONTARIO. SECOND OF THE TOUR. Played at Toronto on September 12,13 and 14. M r . W arner ’ s T eam —First innings, 437. C. J . Burnup, 23; P. F. W arner, 42; F. M itchell, 128; C. O. H . Sewell, 122; A. W arner, 32 ; E. H. Bray, 32. O ntario . —First innings, 133. Chambers, 24; Lyon, 20. Second innings, 100 for four wickets. M arshall, 37. The m atch was to be finished on September 14th.