Cricket 1898

M arch 31 , 181'8. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 41 S P E C IA L JN O T IC E ! SEASON 1898. J. lillyw h itX FROWD& Co. (The original old established firm of Lillywhite), M anu facturers and Outfitters OF EVERY • ESCRIPTION OF CRICKETING and LAWN TENNIS Gods, FOOTBALLS and UNIFORMS, BOXING GLOVES, GOLF, CYCLES, AND ATHLETIC GOODS CENERALLY. All Goods correct Pattern, Best Style and thoroughly seasoned. An immense Stock to select from. Illustrated Catalogues Post Free. Liberal Cash Discounts. Frowd’s Patent Special Driver Bat is unapproached for sterling quality, and still holds the title of the King of Bats. M anufactory and W arehouse :— 2, NEWINGTON CAUSEWAY, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 & 74, BOROUGH RD., S.E. W est E nd B ranch :— 24, HAYMARKET, LONDON, S.W. SHIPPERS AND THE TRADE SUPPLIED. Cricket: A WEEKLY RECORD OF TEE GAME. 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.G. THURSDAY, MARCH 31 st , 1898. IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. With this issue we complete the Winter Series of Cricket. The Weekly Numbers will recommence THURSDAY, APRIL 14 th , AND CONTINUE TILL THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 nd INCLUSIVE. “ CRICKET” is the only paper in the world solely devoted to the game. Term s o f S ubscription payable in ad- vance) :—6/- per annum. Summer Numbers, 5/- ; Winter Numbers, 1/S (post free). 7/- per annum, post free, Abroad. All subscriptions to be sent direct to the Offices of Cricket , 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. $atulton The abstract and brief chronicle of the time.— ______ Hamlet. D u rin g the match between New South Wales and South Australia it was necessary to have a new ball ten times, from which it may be inferred that the ground was in an exceptionally hard and rough state. W h ile fielding for Tasmania against victoria, F . S. Pictet fell and broke his arm. M r. S to d d a r t went on with lobs in the fourth Australia match, with Richard­ son at the other end as a contrast. Th e following extracts from the South Australian Register, referring to the smoke from the bush fires during the innings of the Englishmen in the fourth Australian match, show that the fates were not exactly propitious to the visiting team:— ‘ ‘ The Melbourne Club ground, being in a hollow, the smoke was specially thick, and the fieldsmen on the far side of the field appeared as white streaks moving about with ghostly strides. The heat of the sun alone would have made the weather unpleasant, for it was so intense that the thermometer re­ corded 100° in the shade, but an erratic thunderstorm had burst over sundry portions of Melbourne on Sunday night, and nature’ s process of heat, extracting moisture from the . ground, caused the air to be steamy and frightfully uncomfortable. Such weather is not fit for cricket, and there is no doubt, quite apart from the bad light handicapping the batsmen, that the oppressive atmosphere was not conducive to any player displaying his very best qualities, a remark which applies more particularly to the Englishmen, who are quite unaccustomed to such con­ ditions.” ‘ ‘ The light was shockingly bad at twenty minutes to six, when the Englishmen began their second innings; in fact, it must have reminded them of one of their own London fogs.” ‘ ‘ The smoke was still hanging about, but not so heavily as on Monday, and the light, though still imperfect, was not so adverse to the batsmen until the last hour of play, when the frequently passing suburban trains emitted more smoke, which drifted over the ground. In such distressing weather it was not surprising that the attendance fell off.” A f t e r reading the above extracts, it is not very easy to see where the following comes in :— “ Several of the batsmen got a start, indeed, all who went in to-day got into double figures, but not one of them could make a long score, a fact which speaks volumes for the excellence of the Australian bowling and the tact with which it was manipulated.” “ A F o r m e r S t y g ia n ” writes:— It is satisfactory to know exactly what “ Scores and Biographies” actually does say about W . Sapte’ s record (40 runs in ten minutes) at Ealing, and I am obliged to Mr. Alfred Graston for quoting it in January’s Cricket. If, however, the incidental details are as he says, it is, I should imagine, more than likely that the main fact could not have been obtained from very trustworthy sources. It has every appearance of having been brought up a long time after the date. First of all, H. S. Doming (sic) should be H. S. Dominy; then the match was not played on June 18, 1886, but on July 7 that year (see Cricket , of July 15th, 1886). As regards Doming (Dominy) being' in ‘ 1four hours for 46,” this again I take leave to doubt, as he went in second wicket, and took out his bat for 42 ( not 46) out of a total 265, which on an Ealing wicket in 1886 is most unlikely to have ever taken four hours to obtain ; the pace was a good deal better than this, I know, for the latter part of the innings. Mr. Sapte’s memory is, I daresay, quite as good as my own, but I can safely say he is mistaken when he states that Mr. “ A. Meder ” (which should be A. Mefler, the real name of a gentleman playing under the pseu­ donym of P. Darwin) “ duly timed it ” at the time. As I say, it was undoubtedly a bit of real fast hitting, and all I take exception to is the record of so many runs in a fixed number of minutes, as it was not timed, but was merely a “ comparative-about” business. But if the incidentals, date and names, are so wrong in “ Scores and Biographies ” it can­ not be treated as of much worth even when duly entered in that sacred volume. Mr. A. M. Latham, who still plays in M.C.O. and other cricket, was playing in the same match and got 48, and I daresay he will bear me out, that though it was fast scoring he has no recollection of the watch being brought into use. If it was, how was it that the “ Pavilion Gossiper” of Cricket never made any mention of the fact while it was still fresh in everybody’s memory? He is not usually so remiss. “ To correct a slip in ‘ Pavilion Gossip’ of the December number,” Mr. R. S. Shepherd, joint-editor of Bombay Sport , writes, “ in which, on the strength of information from Mr. F. S. Ashley- Cooper, it is stated that Major Piercy, Dorset Regiment, scored two centuries in one match, at Wellington, in 1893. I have it on Major (now Colonel) Piercy’s own authority that he has never scored two centuries in consecutive innings. The Asian, I believe, credited him with a ‘ brace,’ but erroneously. I write to cor­ rect the mistake as I was at Ooonoor (a mile from Wellington) at the time, and following the cricket then played closely, and also as a matter of interest to statis­ ticians, for statistics of the only game can never be too perfect! ” A bo o k which deserves to have a place in every cricketer’s library is published by James Bowden, 10, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. It is entitled ‘ ‘ Concern­ ing Teddy,” and its author is Mrs. Murray Hickson, the norn de plume of Mrs. S. A. P. Kitcat. Although some of the stories of which the book is made up only incidentally refer to cricket, one feels in reading them that the hero, a small boy home for the holidays, regards the world from the standpoint of a cricket enthusiast. Teddy is a philosopher, but not a prig. All the stories are good, but, perhaps, the best of them is one called “ A Smoking Concert.” W h il e Hill was playing his splendid innings at Melbourne, in the fourth Australia match, George Giffen was shewing at Adelaide that he has not lost the ability to get runs. He was batting for three hours and a quarter, during which time he made 163, including no less than 30 fours, and was still not out when stumps were drawn. J. T. B r o w n and Braund, who are both engaged by the Cape Town C.C., have scored consistently this season. Brown has also performed with much success as a lob bowler, while Braund has proved an acquisition to the club as a wicket-keeper. In a match against Robben Island, on Feb. 15, Braund made 38 runs by his first nine hits, which included two sixes; altogether he made 45 in less then ten minutes. It is stated that Brown will return to South Africa next winter. K l o n d ik e has attracted the attention of J. S. Lohmann, who has given up his