Cricket 1898

O ct . 27 , 1898. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. 443 BUSSEY'S TO Geo. G. BUSSEY & Co., 36 & 38 , Queen Victoria Street, LONDON; OB DEALERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. M A N U F A C T O R Y — PECKHAM , LONDON. T IM B E R M IL L S — ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK. B E T W E E N T H E IN N IN G S . FIRST-CLASS CRICKETERS o f 1898. (Continued from page 480.) F. H. E. Cunliffe is a distinctly im­ proved batsman. In successive innings for Oxford in June he made 70, 15, 53, and 33 not out; forMiddlesex v. Somer­ set, at Taunton, he ran up 62, and his total of 417 included several other very useful scores. But his howling is scarcely as destructive as it was. At times he seemed as good as ever; his ten wickets for 98 in the Dark Blues’ first match of the season, and his eight for 145 in the ’Varsity game were analyses worthy of him at his best; but, taking one match with another, it can scarcely be denied that he showed some falling-off. His decline may be only temporary, however, and in any case his batting is g-ood enough to make one hope that he will be able to assist his county regularly now that his Oxford days are over. Gregor MacGregor was as good as ever behind the wickets; but as bis highest score in 14 innings was only 31, he can scarcely be said to have bten at his best in front of them. Middlesex was extraordinarily fortunate in the possession of four first- class amateur wicket-keepers—curiously enough, two old Cantabs and two old Oxonians. MacGiegor kept wicket for the county in ten matches ; E. H. Bray in five; andH. Philipson andE. P. Lewis in two each. The last-named appeared in five other first-classmatches, including three of the M.C.C. games, and Gentle­ men v. Players at the Oval, and was quite up tohis oldOxford andWinchester form. J. E. Head, who did so well in America with Mr. Warner’s first team, was given a trial in the county team, and scored 43 v. Cambridge. But for the fact that Middlesex has so many good men at command one would be inclined to think that he might have been played in a few more matches; however, only eleven men can figurein the teamat once, and perhaps the old Cliftonian will be given another chance in the near future. Sir Timothy O’Brien played in only three matches; but with 62 v. Sussex at, Lord’s and 38 v. Leicestershire, at Leicester, he proved that he had by no means forgotten how to handle a bat. After many years of cricket, A. J. Webbe, who has done so much for Middlesex, seems desirous of yielding up the cares of captaincy. He played inbut few matches; but, like the thorough sportsman he is, always held himself available, and once or twice appeared in the team at very short notice. His beat scores were 34 v. Notts at Lord’s, when he and Stoddart made a stand which reminded one of ten years ago, and 27 v. Lancashire at Manchester, when his side was in losing vein. A. T. Coode, who got his blue at Cambridge (scoring 38 and 35 not out v. Mr. Webbe’s team, 38 v. Sussex, 24 and 26 v. M.C.C., and 27 v. Oxford), was tried in one match for Middlesex. He is a promising batsman, who may yet make as big a name at cricket as he has done at football. B. J. T. Bosanquet, the Oxford Fresh­ man, who was unkind enough to take five Oxford wickets for 25 runs when playing for the M.C.C. early in the season, and who ran up ahard-hit 54 not out v. Cambridge, played on the Western tour without success; but he, too, is full of promise. H. R. Bromley-Davenport only played in three or four of the earlier matches; and hig one notable achieve­ ment of the season was his seven Cam­ bridge wickets for 91 runs, when playing for Mr. Webbe’s Eleven. J. N. P. (To be continued.) FOREST HILL. 1st 2nd X I . X I. Matches arraD ged............ ... 30 .. 24 W o n ...................................... ... 15 9 L o s t ...................................... ... 6 ..,. 7 Drawn ........... .......... ... 9 ,. 6 Tie ...................................... ... 0 .... 0 Scratched or no pla y ... ... 0 2 CH IE F B A lT IN a i r k l l ORM ANCES. PlBST X I. B. Batchelor, v. H o lb o m ............................................... 67* B . Batchelor, v. Norw ood................................... £6 HOCKEY. FINEST CLUB MADE AS USED BY THE BEST PLAYERS REGULA TtON CANE HANDLE HOCKEYS, 6/6, 5/6, 3/6. BEST A P P L Y FO R C A TA LOGU E Of those who only played in the latter part of the season, James Douglas and C. M. Wells were decidedly the most prominent. The former was scarcely so consistent as in the last two Augusts ; but his thirteen innings included a 153, a 112 not out, and 82, so that it did not matter much that none of his other scores reached 20. He was never out without scoring. Wells was never out under double figures; and his form with the bat was such as he has not approached before. His scores are worth giving iu chronological order: 101, 77, 29, 59, 15, 24, 36, 11, 11, 19—total 382, average 38'20 He was seldom put on to bowl, Trott and Hearne doing most of the work in August, and when he did go on did not have the success which had attended his efforts in 1895, 1896, and (in smaller degree) 1897. Another old Dulwich boy found a place in the team in the last seven matches, James Douglas’s elder brother, Eobert, now a master at Uppingham. It was a pleasure to see once more this graceful and clever batsman in first-class cricket; and with scores of 64, 54, 30, 28, 27, and 24 in the course of only nine innings he fully justi­ fied his place. C. P. Foley played but seldom, and, to my mind, might have been given a place in the county team somewhat oftener. He scored 31 and 55 for Mr. Webbe’s teamagainst Cambridge, and batted as well as anyone on the Middlesex side in the lost match at Man­ chester, when he carried his bat in both innings for scores of 28 and 20. E. S. Lucas only played v. Cambridge, and scored but four then. Dr. G. Thornton could only make 29 runs in eight innings for his county; but for tbeM.C.C. he ran up 85 not out v. Leicestershire, and 39 v. Derbyshire. R. W. Nichol s was played in three matches, and got a fewruns each time. H. H. Cobb played in the last four games, and, though some of the critics treatedhimvery roughly, musthavesome amount of ability, as he made 108 runs in three completed innings. One charge made against himwas that he mademost of his runs by strokes for which no names were known. N E X T ISSUE, THURSDAY , NOVEMBER 24.