Cricket 1898

A pril 28, 1898. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 87 LON D O N P L A Y IN G F IE L D S C OM M IT T E E . The London Playing Fields Committee are making the follow ing special appeal for £10,000 in order to purchase Prince George’s Ground, Rayne’s Park :— Every London cricket or football player well knows the great and increasing difficulty which London clubs have in securing any ground to play on. The best is done with the limited area available in the parks and public open spaces, but the applications for accommodation are far in excess of the supply, and allotment becomes more and more un­ certain. Year by year the pressure becomes greater as grounds used for cricket and foot­ ball fall one after another into the hands of the builder. The London Playing Fields Committee was founded in 1890, with the object, among other things, of increasing the supply of recreation grounds by acquiring land and letting pitches to clubs of clerks, working men or boys who, though not able to give the high rents necessarily demanded by persons who let for profit, can yet pay a suffi­ cient chargeformaintenance, and thusleave the public grounds entirelyfor the poorest players. During the seven years of its existence the committee has taken on lease and laid out fields in various localities in London, besides layiog out and maintaining pitches inEpping Forest, by arrangement with the Corporation of London. The committee’s grounds are as follows :— Wanstead Flats (E.), St. Quintin’s (Notting Hill, W .), Burntwood (Wandsworth, S.W .), Brockley (S.E.), Chingford (E.), Chandos (Wormwood Scrubbs, W .), Prince George’s (Raynes Park, S.W.), and Willesden (N.W.) Altogether the committee now provide over 100 cricket pitches and 18 football grounds, which are crowded every Saturday during the respective seasons and are also largely used on other days in the week. But the committee have to quit at the ex­ piration of their leases, and in some cases the land has to be given up at any time when required for building. To secure permanance it is necessary to acquire the freehold. On Prince George’s Ground alone have the committee the prospect of purchasing for a moderate price. This ground of about 25 acres has been in the possession of the Com­ mittee since 1891, under a lease for ten years, with an option to purchase the freehold for £9,800 (and timber extra) during the first seven years of the lease. The option has now been extended for one year more. The committee have laid it out as aplaying field with dressing huts at a cost of over £1,100. One acre, which had been sold for building before the lease was granted, has been bought for the Committee by a generous lover of cricket to prevent restrictions on the the use of the rest of the field. This ground provides 24 cricket pitches in summer and seven football grounds in winter, and is very conveniently situated, being only about 200 yards from Raynes Park Station (L. and S.W.R.),but above the reach of the floods. In anticipation of the expiration of the option to purchase, the fund was started last year, and the committee considered that a scheme for securing as a permanent playing field for young Londoners a ground named after H.R.H. their President might be fitly initiated as a suitable Jubilee memorial for all players and lovers of cricket and football, but it was not thought advisable to appeal widely to others at a time of so many pre-occupations. The sums received or definitely promised up to the end of 1897 amounted to £1,345 16s. 9d. To have made such a fair start at a time when the many pressing calls of the Jubilee were taxing to the utmost the powers of gener­ osity, encourages the committee to hope that the necessary sum may be obtained this year. The landlord, knowing that efforts are being made to obi ain the purchase money, has kindly extended the option for a year. Notice of the intention to purchase must be given by next Christmas. Failing that, parts of the frontage may be taken at any time for building, and the whole field would have to be given up in 1901. £10,000 is a comparatively small sum to pay for permanently securing these 24 acres, already laid out and fully used as a Recreation Ground, where hundreds of young workers in London can gain that physical health and happiness which is so necessary to combat the evils arising from pent-up and sedentary lives. If the present exceptional opportunity is missed, the land will be built over. The money spent in laying it out will be lost, and more than 500 young cricketers will have to go further afield, or, what is worse, give up the game. It is necessary to complete the purchase fund this year. Hence this appeal is urgent. Donations to the fund will be thankfully re­ ceived by : The Hon. E. Chandos Leigh, Q.C., C.B., 45, Upper Grosvenor Street, W. (chair­ man) ; Mr. E. N. Buxton, Knighton, Buck- hurst Hill, Essex (treasurer); Mr. T. Hall Hall, 5, New Square, Lincoln’s Inn, W.C. (deputy chairman); or Mr. H. D. G. Leveson- Gower, 11, Birchin Lane, E.C. (secretary); or they may be paid direct to the committee’s bankers, Messrs. Barclay and Co., Limited, 1, Pall Mall East, S.W. All cheques and postal orders should be made payable to u Prince George’s Ground Purchase Fund,” and crossed “ Barclay and Co., Limited.” Copies of the annual report of the London Playing Fields Committee, and any further information required, may be obtained from the secretary. MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY v. ESSENDON. A RECORD SCOllE. Played at Melbourne, on the University Cricket Ground, on March 5, 12, 19 and 2*3. University won by 1,018 runs. M elbou rn e U n iv ersity . E. Feilchenfeld, c Gaunt,bC.Christian .76 H. Bullivant, not out 139 W. 8. Koss, b Griffiths 32 A.Gray.bH.Christian 22 T Lewers, c C. Miller (sub),b Washington 25 B 31, lb 2, w 5 ...38 L. "Miller, c Ramsay, b Smith....................... 205 H. J. Stewart, c and b Washington ......... 23 C. Miller, c C. Chris­ tian, b Washington 57 E. C. 08borne,b 0 ’Sheal90 W. O’Hara, ht wkt, b Griffiths ................. 7 J.J.Quirk,b Sampford179 E ssendon . Total 1,091 W. Giiffiths, c and b Miller .................26 C. Ramsay, b Feilchen­ feld ........................ 2 M. O’Shea, b Gray ... 1 C. Dalton, c Gray, b C. Miller........................22 H. Christian,bC.Miller 2 G. Washington,b Ross 2 ©omsspontfente. THE RECORD SCORE. To the Editor of C ricket . S ir , —Mr. Ashley-Cooper has misunder­ stood me. I did not imply that the score was an impossibility on paper, but that it was an impossibility at cricket. On paper it is quite possible for one man to have made the whole score off his own bat; but at practical cricket the score is not possible. For as there are fundamental limits to human know­ ledge, indefinable, but patent to the philo­ sophical student, so there are fundamental limits to human effort, likewise indefinable, but easily recognised, each in his own domain, by those who are practically experienced, and observant, and thoughtful. In the domain of cricket these limits, though indefinable, are perfectly clear, and in the case in ques­ tion have undoubtedly been overstepped. If the eleven best bats in the world were opposed to the eleven worst bowlers (of course they must be able to bowl, and not be muffs who did not know how to deliver a ball), the score, under the conditions stated would still be impossible. It would require a combination of favourable circumstances which is inconceivable. Of course, if the men were larking, the one side trying how many runs it could help the other to make, they might be obtained, but it would not be cricket, and the score would not bo a cricket score.—Yours faithfully, G. LACY, Sandgate, April 24th, 1898. C. Christian, not out P. Barr, b Koss.......... W. Sir.ith, absent ... C. Sampford, abseiit J. Gaunt, absent B 1, w 1 .......... Total ......... SYDNEY UNIVERSITY v. MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY. Played at Sydney on March 15, 16 and 17. Sydney University won by an innings and 205 runs. S ydney U niversity . C. Delohery, b Calder 116 W. Shortland, c Gol- ler, b Bullivant ... 152 L. O. S. Poidevin, b Calder .................47 W. Dight, c and b Miller ................. 8 G. R. C. Clarke, c Goller, b Finlayson 100 II. Manning, b Calder 56 Dr Terry.c Finlayson, b Madden.................33 A.J.Blue, c Finlayson, b C. Miller .......... 3 Dr. Stacey, not out ... 12 T. Angi, c L. Miller, b II. Mackay..........20 A .A. King, c L.Miller, b Calder .................14 Extras.................17 Total ......578 M elbourne U niveesity . First innings. Second innings. Bullivant, c and b Clarke ... 11 b Clarke ...... 39 L. Miller, b Clarke .......... 9 b Clarke ...... 76 C. Miller, b King.................64 run out ......40 Madden,cShortland.bUarke 3 c and b Clarke ... 6 Calder, run out .................27 c Poidevin, b Clarke .......It Finlayson, b King .......... 2 c Shortland, b Clarke ........ 5 F. Claike, b Clarke ........ 7b Blue............... 0 Gates, b Clarke ................. 0 b Blue............... 0 Goller, b Clarke ................. 6 n otout............. 6 Mackay, not o u t .................19 b Clarke ........ 6 Ramsden, c and b Clarke ... 0 lbw, b Blue ... 10 Extras........................ 7 Extras ..........18 Total ... ..156 Total..........217 ETON RAMBLERS. MAY. v. Haileybuiy v. Silwood I’ark JUNE. v. Royal Artillery, Woolwich* v. Chri&t Church, Oxford* v. Westminster School v. Home Park, Windsor v. E'on Second Eleven v.Woolverstone Pk., Ipswich (J. A. Berner’s XI.)* v. 3rd King’s Own Hussars, Shorncliffe* v. bhorncliffe Garrison* v. West Kent v. Eton College JULY. v. Goddington (Mr. Miller-Hallett’s Eleven) v. Beckenham v. Household Brigade E:on v. Harrow* v. Gieen Jackets v. Uxbridge v. Aldershot Division* v. Hartsholme Hall, Line. (Capt.Cockburn’sXI.)* v. Esher v. House of Commons, Kingswocd Warren v. Epsom* AUGUST, v. Yorkshire Gentlemen* v. Northern Nomads* v. Mote Park* v. Wildernesse* v. Royal Engineers, Chatham* . v. Buurton Yale* . v. Heythrop Hunt, Chipping Norton Junction’* * Two-day matchcs.