Cricket 1899

M a y 25, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 153 Medal to be struck in honour of the performance of the Australians’ tail last Thursday against an England X I. W ith six wickets down the Australians' ecore was only 94. The tail in­ creased it to 222. F o r the purposes of record, it may be pointed out that in the Gloucestershire match against Yorkshire on the first three days of last week, Mr. Troup won the toss, but relying on the softness of the wicket, put Gloucestershire in. Rain, however, upset all his calculations, and Yorkshire, after making 314, won by an innings and 196 runs. Reference to this was omitted in last week’s Cricket b y an oversight. A m o n g the curiosities of cricket, the doings of Mr. A. M. Sullivan, in the Cam­ bridge match against Yorkshire, most certainly deserve a place. H e played him­ self in with such steadiness that he was forty-five minutes before he scored a run. Then, finding that his captain was quite competent to do all the scoring while he could get anyone to stay with him, he was content to keep up his wicket. When he was at last beaten he had made three runs, and had been batting for an hour and twenty minutes. But who can say that his innings was not valuable to his side P O n the top of an omnibus. Three gentlemen, A, B and C, are enjoying the ir Saturday half-holiday : A : “ This ’Ow’ll now.................” B : “ Oh, stow it, I say. We all know what’ s cornin’ .” C : “ I ’m sick of hearin’ it and seem’ it in the papers.” A : “ Sick of what?" C: “ Why, ‘ ’owelling swell ’ and all that sort of thing.” A : “ I wasn’t going to say nothing of the kind. I was going to say that this ’Ow’ll seems to he able to vary his pace a hit.” B : “ So would you if you’d kept hees like he had.” A : “ What’s hees got to do with it ? ” C : “ ’Ark at ’im ! What’s hees got to do with it ! Well, you just keep ’em and try ! ” In a recent college match at Cambridge between the second elevens of Emmanuel and Corpus “ extras ” amounted to 72 out of a total of 221 when Emmanuel were batting. C r ic k e t e r s in Scotland have always to contend with many difficulties, and they are not likely to have received much encouragement from the well-meant effort of the Lancashire team to give Scotsmen a chance of showing their skill. On Thursday last, the day when the match was to have begun, there was no play ow ing to rain. On Friday, Scotland, in the course of an hour, which was all the time available, put on 38 for the loss of one wicket. On Saturday the game was abandoned before another ball could be bowled. T h e r e were many spectators at the Oval on Saturday afternoon who hoped to have the pleasure of seeing W.G. “ bustling for specs” when Gloucester­ shire went in a second time with fifty minutes before them. But the Doctor is a very old hand, and, despite a few lessons which he has received in the course of his career, he has always had a fancy for altering tbe order in the second innings when there ij a question of playing out time. He, therefore, still holds the record of never having made a couple of duck’s eggs in the same match. In the issue of Cricket for December, 1898, comment was made on a decision by Barrass, the Australian umpire. The main facts of the case were not, and are not, in dispute. A bats­ man left his wicket under the impression that he was out, but on being informed that he was not out, endeavoured to return. One bail was already off, and the other bail now followed its example. Bar­ rass gave the batsman “ not out.” Our informa­ tion was to the effect that the decision was given on the ground that, as the wicket was broken, a stump ought to have been struck out of the ground, and we explained that it was not necessary to do this when one bail was still on the wicket. W e have, however, re­ ceived a letter, which ap­ pears on page 150, from Barrass, who explaius that he gave the batsman “ not out ” for an entirely differ­ ent reason. It seems that in his opinion the fielding side tried to “ bounce ” the batsman, and he therefore based his decii-ion on law 43— “ the umpires are sole judges of fair or unfair play.” There are at least two or three famous and greatly-esteemed umpires in England who would not hesitate to act in the same way under similar circum­ stances. “ M a t a wicket-keeper or any fields­ man,” writes Mr. J. Alex. Romeo, from St. Lucia, W .I., “ put down the wicket with one hand or arm, while the ball is in the other ? It is contended here that the sime hand in which is the ball should be used to put down the stumps, but the rule is not definite on this point.” This question has been asked over and over again and can never be answered definitely until the wording of the law is altered. All that can be said is that in practice a man generally pulls up a stump with both hands together, unless he has been gifted b y nature with the ability to grasp ball and stump with one hand. W as anything in the annals of cricket more likely to lead to hopeless confusion than the presence of two J. T. Browns in the Yorkshire eleven whose places of resi­ dence are so similar in name as Driffield or Darfield ? A way out of the difficulty has been suggested. It is to call J. T. Brown, of Driffield— or is it Darfield ?— Brown, senior, and J. T. Brown, of Dar­ field—or is it Driffield ?—Brown, junior. But as the players are not father and son, this arrangement is not quite satisfactory. There is a perfectly simple method which does not seem to have suggested itself as yet. It is to adopt the public school system b y referring to the Brown who has played for Yorkshire for years, and has represented England against Aus­ AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. The avove apparently represents a scene in Assyiia. The three gentlemen seem to be about to make a momentous decision in connection with the lion One of them bears a distinguishing mark which looks like the letters C .P .; the second wears a coronet and is decorated with a white rose, while the em 'lem of a bear and ragged staff appears on the dress of the third.