Cricket 1898

A pbtl 21, 18S8 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 63 1877. On the whole, Varsity cricket in 1877 was of a quieter type than it had been in 1876. Neither side accomplished any phenomenal feat, though both, as will be seen from the tables of matches played and runs made, did themselves fair credit. I t it very questionable whether the better side won at Lord’s. Taking a line through the match of 1876, which Cam­ bridge won easily, one is inclined to think that the light blues should have been the stronger team. Blacker and Greenfield were lost to them, it is true ; but one of the new men on the side, L . K . Jarvis, of Norfolk fame, more than made up for either of these. Oxford had lost Game, Briggs, Boyle, Campbell, Lewis and Dury, and had certainly no new player o f anything like the 1876 captain’s class ; while no fewer than six of the men who played at Lord’s were new to the great game— an unusually large proportion. But, as will be seen when we come to the Varsity match, the victory of Oxford was brought about almost entirely by two players; and these two were fourth year men, though it was only the third ’Varsity match of one, F. M. Buckland having been unaccountably left out of the final selec­ tion in 1874. Cambridge began by losing—by four wickets — their match with a strong eleven of England, for whom poor Fred Grace made 11 and 52 not out, and F. S. Pearson 45 and 32, while William M y- croft had nine wickets for 90 runs. Only two of the ligh t blue batsmen did them­ selves justice—Douglas Steele, who, with 60 and 31, was responsible for nearly a third of the runs, and F . H. Mellor, whose second innings of 46 had much to do with his eventually getting his blue. Charles P ig g also did well in the second innings, scoring 39. Patterson, bow ling as well as ever, had 5 for 43 in the first innings. Then came a match with the M .C.C., drawn when but half finished, owing to rain, and presenting no features of interest, save Luddington’s eight wickets for 28. A win b y seven wickets (12 a side playing) over Surrey followed. A. P. Lucas, whose first three innings had produced but one run, came out of his shell and scored 76; Jarvis made 32 and 28, not out; D . Q. Steel 34in the second and C. P igg 31 in the first innings. Elliott was top scorer in both innings of Surrey with 52 and 36. Patterson, still the mainstay of the Cantabs’ bowling, had eleven wickets for 111 runs. The last home match, that with the Gentle­ men, was distinctly Cambridge’s best performance of the season. The scratch team included I. D . Walker, A. W . Ridley, F. E. R. Fryer, C. I. Thornton, J- S. Pearson, M. Turner, D . Buchanan, and R. G. Henderson; yet it was beaten by an innings and 56 runs. The Cantabs held the upper hand throughout. They got rid of their opponents for 110, R. G. Hargreaves top scorer with 38 not o u t; then Lucas (90) and Alfred Lyttelton (77) headed this score by 32 runs before the first Cambridge wicket fe ll; after which Patterson scored 57, Jarvis 28, Mellor 23, Edward Lyttelton 22, and the total reached 331; the Gentlemen were put out again for 165 (I. D . Walker 50, Thornton 31, Ridley 25); and Cambridge won as before stated. Patterson had eight wickets for 84 altogether; and L. Bury in the second innings took four for 26. A well-contested match with Surrey at the Oval resulted in a win for the ’Varsity by five wickets. The Surrey scoring was evener than that of the Light Blues, six men making double figures in their first innings (Dick Humphrey 51, Jupp 38) and five in their second (G. N . Wyatt 57, Jupp 52, W . Lindsay 50); but Douglas Steel’s 158 was far and away the biggest effort of the match, though Alfred Lyttelton (30 and 24 not out) and L. K Jarvis (36 and 16 not out) were also conspicuous on the ’Varsity side. Six for 115 was Patter­ son’s record this time. Thus far Cam­ bridge had done very well indeed; but the confidence of her supporters had received a rude check b y the end of the M.C.C. match at Lord’s. Her battiDg failed in the first innings, only Patterson (50) and Herbert P ig g (34 not out) getting double figures at a ll; and though the M .C.C. only made 178 at tbe first attempt (T. S. Pearson 58, W . H. Hadow 43 not out, C. Booth 38), and the Light Blues ran up the fine second score of 303 (Lucas 95, Jaivis 47, Patterson45, H . P ig g 32, E. Lyttelton 26), thus setting the club over 250 to get to win ; the game was lost b y six wickets, the Cantab bow ling being most thoroughly collared, so much so, indeed, that every man who went in for the club scored doubles, Pearson follow ing up his first innings effort 37, and W yld end A. A. Nepean being not out at the finish with 104 and 39 respectively. For once in a way the Cambridge captain’s bowling was quite ineffective ; but as Mr. Patter­ son made 95 in his two innings, it was scarcely his fault that the game was lost. Oxford’s first innings in 1877 was the most shocking fiasco of which ’Varsity cricket holds record. The team went in first against the M,C.C, on May 24th, at Cowley Marsh. Fred Morley and Arnold Rylott bowled, and when the ninth wicket fell the score was 12 ! As the captain, A. J. Webbe, had not reached the ground, the innings closed at this total, Morley having taken 7 and Rylott 2 wickets, each at a cost of 6 runs, 174 balls altogether being sent down. The highest score was E. W . Wallington’s 7. Wallington went in second wicket down and carried out his bat. The Club made 124; Wyld 36, A. N. H ornby 30, I. D. Walker 23; no one else after these, the first three men in the batting order, scoring double figures. H. G. Tylecote, who, during his three previous seasons in the Dark Blue team, had taken but four wickets, had 8 wickets for 51 in this innings. The Oxford second innings only realised 35, H. R. Webbe being top scorer with 10, Moiley t-iking 6 wickets for 8 runs, Clayton 4 for 26. The grand total of 47 is the lowest ever made by a side for two innings in a first-class match ; and Morley’s 13 wickets for 14 runs is also indisputably a record. The Oxford wickets in the two innings fell thus:— 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1st 1 1 1 8 8 8 8 12 12 - 2nd 8 17 17 20 27 27 27 27 27 35 Tylecote, E. T. Hirst, Hollings, C. E. Horner, and Jellicoe all made “ pairs of them ” in the match, which was all over in one day. After this terrible ex­ perience, a defeat from the Gentlemen b y 28 runs only was almost as good as a victory. The scoring was small throughout. Two old Oxonians did best for the scratch team, T. S. Duiy making 43 in the first ininings, and T. S. Pear­ son 45, not out, in the second, when A. H. Heath, who never posed as a bowler of anything like first-class pretensions, actually had six of the eight wickets which fell (Hornby and Fred Grace being absent) for only 11 runs. Heath also played the highest individual innings for Oxford, 30 in the first hands; while the captain, with 24 was top scorer in the second. The late R. G. Henderson, for the Gentlemen, had the splendid record for the match of 15 wickets for 98 runs. Against Middlesex, at Lord’s (the first time this match had been played there), the Dark Blues were in much finer fettle, Buckland, who had been unable to play in the two home matches, now joined the team, and in this game did all-round work worthy of W.G. or George Giffen at his best. Four for 14 in the first innings of Middlesex, six for 53 in the second, and an innings of 104 of a total of 308 were his figure?. A. D. Greene played the best innings of his •Oxford career —a very steady 93, not out —and to him and Buckland the victory was almost entirely due. I. D . Walker (22 and 51) and C. I. Thornton (34 and 37) did best for the county. This match was the turning-point of the Dark Blues’ fortunes, for whereas they had lost both the home matches, they won all of the three out games, each of which was played at Lord’s. The batting of the brothers Webbe (A. J. made 40 and 43, H .R ., 0 and47) and Buckland (25 and 19) and the bow ling of H . G. Tylecote (nine for 75) gave them a victory over the M.C.C. in their last trial match b y 50 runs. Cambridge failed as badly in the ’Varsity game as Oxford had done in 1876, though like the Dark Blues in that year, having first innings. A. P. Lucas’s 54 was the only good score in their first innings of 134. Oxford replied with 214, of which, as nearly as possible, tw c- thirds (142) were added for the seventh wicket by F . M. Buckland and H. G. Tylecote. Buckland scored a fine dash­ ing innings of 117, and, going in No. 5, carried out his b a t; Tylecote, by steady cartful cricket, made 39. When Cam­ bridge went in a second time their total fell eight short of that of their first innings, L. K . Jarvis being top scorer with 30; and Oxford, wanting only between 40 and 50 to win, secured victory by ten wickets, the brothers Webbe easily knocking cft'the required runs. Tylecote had nine wickets in the match for 132,