Cricket 1899

0 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J a n . 26, 1899. lion as a member of the county club to be lacking in sobriety and had not steadi­ ness of conduct, the sooner the services of that player were dispensed with so much the better would it be for Leicestershire county cricket. T rumble ’ s intercolonial record for bow ling this season is at present remark­ able. It is as follow s:— 1st inns. 2nd ini]s. wickets. wickets. Victoria v. 8ou1h Australia ... 8 for 123 ... 3 for 36. Victoria v. New South Wales 3 for 45 ... 8 for 58. Victoria v. S. Australia (return) 8 for 7 ... 8 for 39. Thus, in each match he has taken eight wickets in one innings or the other. E . G. H a t e s , who is now in South Africa, made 161 for A ll Comers v. Cra- dock (Port Elizabeth). In a previous match between these clubs he took ten wickets for 29 runs. H a l f awakened out of his winter slumbers, our Spring Poet, mindful of the fact that Ranjitsinhji is reported to have been made honorary colonel of the Maharajah of Patiala’s guard, sends the follow ing. H e apparently lives in the hope that Ranjitsinhji w ill play for Sussex during the com ing season. The Indian Prince to the war has gone, In the Rajah’s guardyou ’11 find him ; His cricket hat he has girded on, And his cricket hoots slung behind him. “ Let ’em all come ! ” cried the warrior- Blue, “ From Yorkshire or Australyer. One Prince is yours, my Sussex true, One Colonel shall not fail yer ! ” A N e w Z pal an d team, as was men­ tioned in Cricket some time ago, is about to make a tour in Australia. The follow ­ ing are the dates as at present arranged : February 7, 8, and 9, at Hobart, v. South Tasmania; February 11, 13, and 14, at Launceston, v. North Tasmania; February 17, 18, and 20, at Melbourne, v. V ictoria; Febiuary 23, 24, and 25, at Sydney, v. New South Wales. S i r F r a n k S w e t t e n h a m , the Resident- General of the Malay States, in reply to the toast proposing his health at a local cricket dinner, said that “ he had often been twitted with putting cricketers to the fore in the Government service. He was not the sort of man to be moved from his course by what people said ; he was always ready to stick up for his own opinion. It had been said with much truth that a great battle was won on the playing fields of Eton. That was only one school out of many where boys received invaluable training on the cricket field. There had lately been a chance of war with France, and he must say that in the event of war he would far rather be in a tight place with men who were cricketers than with men who were not. H e had never known a man who was a lazy indifferent fellow and a good cricketer.” I n November, Holland, the Surrey pro­ fessional, who is now in South Africa, captured an armed Kaffir burglar after a desperate struggle. A t the trial the Kaffir, a man named Keo, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and fifteen lashes. M r. G eorge W h ile y , the honorary secretary of the Griqualand West Cricket Union, asks the follow ing question :— “ The question has arisen here in connec­ tion with a league match, ‘ Can the side first batting declare its innings closed during the first innings in a match which is to be played to a finish if it is permissible ? ’ I am directed to ask if you will be good enough to quote an instance in first-class cricket since 1894?” As no date is fixed for the conclusion of the match, which may go on for ever, there cannot very well be a “ last day,” as mentioned in law 54. In such a case the league committee would presumably make its own decision. A reply to the other question will be found in “ Answers to Correspondents.” W . S. L ees , the young Surrey pro­ fessional, who is fulfilling a winter en­ gagement at Buenos Ayres, made a startling debut in River Plate cricket on December 4. The match was between the Lomas A.C. and Hurlingham Club and Ground. He bowled twelve overs in the first, and eleven overs and a ball in the second innings. Oddly enough in other respects his analysis was identical, as each time there were seven maidens and eight wickets to his credit at a cost of twenty-one runs. C alcutta cricket took a new phase, one of very high scoring, in the match between the Calcutta Club and the Behar Wanderers, begun at Calcutta on December 24 last. The home team were in the whole of the first day, and even then only three batsmen had been dismissed. O f the total of 386, F. T. Paine (120, not out), H . R . Carruthers (100, not out), and Lieut. Bush (93). Seven more runs to the last-named and there would have been probably another record for Indian cricket. B y the way, is the Lieut. Bush, who has been scoring so heavily in India lately, identical with the H . S. Bush who played occasionally for the Surrey Club a few years ago and scored largely for Eastbourne, and, if I remember rightly, made some big scores in English cricket ? T h e Australian team are to leave for England in the “ Ormuz,” one of the crack vessels of the Orient line. She is timed to sail from Melbourne on March 21st, and in the ordinary course should reach Marseilles on April 20th. A ccord­ ing to this the team should be in London on Api il 21st. The first match, it is now settled, will be at the Crystal Palace on May 8th, so that they will have a fort­ night clear for practice. The Crystal Palace and Catford Bridge grounds have both been offered them for this purpose. But they have expressed a desire to be allowed to practice at Lord’s, and the Marylebone Club is certain to entertain the suggestion with every desire to meet the Australians’ wishes. J u d g in g him b y his recent perfor­ mances, one can quite understand that the best judges in India deem K . E. Mistry quite first-class, even according to our English notions of class. His consis­ tent scoring in good company, that is with the Patiala team, would alone justify the high estimate of his powers as a batsman. Bat besides that he seems to be a fair bowler. G eorge L ohm ann , so one hears, is located once more at Matjesfontein, where he spent some time when he first settled down in South Africa. Johannes- burg did not suit him, so that he decided to give up the position he held there. He had been ill, but his many friends will be glad to learn that, according to the last accounts, he was much better, with every prospect of early restoration to health. B om bay Sport is responsible for the statement that Syud A li Hussan, the Aligarh College crack, has consented to make one of the team of Indian cricketers to visit England next year. S cores of over two hundred are not so plentiful in South African cricket that they can afford to be overlooked. Besides, the 210 of Bandmaster Hughes for the Garrison against the Natal Police in Maritzburg on December 13th is a record for local cricket. The full total of the Garrison on that occasion was 347 for the loss of eight wickets. A m atter of 367 runs for five wickets was the outcome of the day’s cricket in the Law and Civil Service v. A ll Comers at Pretoria on December 10th. The latter declared with two wickets down for 204, of which Braund, the Surrey- cum- Somersetshire professional’s share was 74. The other side fared little worse with a record of 163 for three wickets when play ceased. The Tancred Brothers were in it, particularly the younger. A. B. was caught with the total at 52, of which he had only made fifteen. V . M. had better luck, and was not out with just the hun­ dred to his credit at the finish. I t will interest a number of cricket readers to hear that A. E. Gibson, who went to India with both G. F. Vernon’s and Lord Hawke’ s teams, is keeping up his batting reputation ‘ ‘ in another place.” The latest news of him is that he made a very fine score of 154 in a Ceylon match last month. The grounds in Ceylon do not make for heavy scoring, quite the reverse. A . E. Gibson’s 154 is the only hundred that has been made in the Colony in anything of an important match for many a long day. F r o m the Madras Times :— “ The Native Sporting Community of Calcutta gave an evening party to Banjit- sinhji on December 28, the Town Hall being draped with the Patiala and Cambridge University colours. Father Lafont showed a phonograph. The Maharajah of Natore and Mr. Priestly welcomed guests. The Maha­ rajah of Patiala and Ranjitsinhji replied. The latter was presented with a scarf pin of diamonds and sapphires.”