Cricket 1899

J une 8, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 185 W s have received the following myste­ rious communication from Stratford-on- Avon :— “ The commentators are all wrong. What I wrote is as follows :— Alarums : Excursions (several of them). Enter H a y w a r d , prepared for the fra y ; to him K a x . ii , fiercely fighting. R an ji : Rescue, my Lord of Surrey, rescue, rescue! For Grace retires through this bee-keeping man ; Jackson is howled, so notable in danger, And Fry is slain, and Gunn is blown to hits, Calling for vengeance on the head of Jones. Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost! Alarums. Enter G il b e r t , th e future Dtjke of G loucester . G lou . : A draw! a draw! my secretaryship for a draw! R a x ,n : A draw, my lord ? I ’ll h elp you to a draw. G lou . : Slave, I have set my heart upon a draw; And yet, behold me standing idly b y : I think there be six Howells in the field ; Naught have I done to-day because of him. A draw! a draw! my secretaryship for a draw ! Exit." S u r r e y men need not be despondent, writes Mr. C. A. Stein. Not only did the county cut all its previous records with the bat on Tuesday week, but on the same day E. M. Dowson, the Harrow captain, whose services will shortly be available, playing for the School against a fairly strong Harrow Town Eleven, took five wickets with five successive balls. F o r the sake of comparison I have placed side by side the names of the players in the England team last wetk, the members of Mr. Stoddart’s team of 1897-98, who played in the matches against Australia, and the men who played for England in 1896 at home : 1896 1897-98 1899 J. T. Hearne J. T. Hearne J. T. Hearns K . S. Ranjitsinbji K. S. Ranjitsinhji K. S. Ranjitsinhji Hayward Hayward Hayward W . G. Grace ------ W . o . Grace P. 8. Jackson ----- F. 8 Jacks* n W . Gunn ------ W . Gunn A. E. Stoddart A. E. Stoddart ------ T. Richardson T. Richardson ------ ------ W . Storer W . Storer ------- G. H. Hirst G. H. Hirst A. C. MacLaren A C. MacLaren ------ J. Briggs J. Briggs ------ R. Abel J. R. Mason W . Rhodes A. Lilley E. W ain^right C. B. Fry J. T, Brown N . F. Druce J. H. Tyldes’ ey r apt. Wynyard R. Peel G. A . Lohmann T h e Rev. Philip Browne writes:— “ It is, I think, worth noting thf>t in the four innings in which he kept wicket last we< k in the matches Kent v. Essex and Kent v. M.C.C., Huish, the Kent stumper, did not give away a single bye! ” D r . G r a c e has resigned the captaincy of the Gloucestershire county team, and thecommittee has acceptedhisresignation. T h e following letter is from Mr. John Aste, ju n .: — “ It may be of interest to Cricket readers to know that Mr. F. D. Browne, an old Dulwich boy, who made his first appearance in the Kent team at Lord’s last week, has been doing great things this Reason for the Bsckenham C.C. His record is Inns. N ot out. Runs. Average. 8 ........... 2 ........... 599 ........... 85-4 made up as follows :— May 6. v. R ichm ond................. 14 ,, 10. v. T on bridge................. 32 ,. 13. v. Stieatham .................105* ,, 22. v. W anderers.................109* „ 24. v. Burl’s............................ 48 „ 27. v. Guy’s ......................... 56 „ 31. v. Blue Mantles ......... 109 June3. v. Wimbledon ...........126 * Signifies not out. In view of the failure of some of the Kent team this season, one would think that Mr. Browne on his present form should be a welcome recruit.” W h e n Lord Beaconsfield, on the occa­ sion of a great European crisis, brought Indian troops to Malta, he created a precedent which had far-reaching results. Who at that time would have guessed that England in her dire extremity would be saved from disaster on the cricket field by an Indian Prince, or that Middlesex, once so exclusive, would gain a victory over Yorkshire by the aid of its two Australian auxiliaries ? I n the England v. Australia match, four amateurs represented England, and seven professionals. In the first innings the amateurs made 128 out of 184 from the bat, and in the second innings 103 out of 147 from the bat. On the other hand the professionals took all the Australian wickets (or as many as fell) between them, with the exception of three. F r o m o u r s j e c i« l r a c in g c o r r e s p o n d e n t w e d e r iv e t h e fo llo w in g u s e fu l in fo r m a ­ tio n : — As I had put my money on Flying Fox, I thought I could afford to run down to Nottingham to see the first heat in the cricket Derby. Kangaroo led off, but the pace at first was shockingly bad. When England took up the running things looked better, but his effort was not sustained, and half way round the course Kangaroo was leading by a good lot. Kangaroo still made the running, but the pace was always slow, and when in the straight something went w rO D g with England’s forefeet, it looked all over except shouting. But England struggled on very gamely, and the judges gave it a dead heat, although I should say that Kangaroo was quite a long way in front. I append the betting on the course :— 3 to 1 on Fine Weather (wanted) 6 to 1 on Hirst (offered and taken) 6 to 4 on Drawn Game (not wanted at all) 5 to 4 on Kangaroo 6 to 4 against Loser of Toss 6to 1 against Brockwell (offered hut not taken) I t is to be hoped that it will be a long time before one is able to say “ Le Lan­ cashire est mort. Vive le Leicestershire! ” — at least, as far as Lancashire is con­ cerned. But just at present the northern county is very much off colour, while Leicestershire seems to be coming on in a very marked manner. The loss of Hallam has been very seriously felt by Lancashire, but when Mr. MncLaren is able to take his place in the team again, it is almost certain that the Red Rose will bloom oncemorewith additional freshness. O n the top of a ’bus, Saturday even­ ing. Cricketer discovered, smoking. Enter old gentleman, in spectacles, with a ciicket edition in his hands. Cricketer: “ Would you mind telling me what happened at Nottingham ? ” O. G .: “ Nottingham ! I didn’t know that.............. Has there been a murder, or a big accident, or what ? ” Cricketer: “ Well, I ’m rather afraid from what I see on the contents bills that there has been a big accident. Kangaroo fell off his perch on to a lion and knocked spots off him.” O. G. : “ Bless my soul. The thing’s incredible! ” Cricketer (about to descend) : “ So I thought until to-day.” I n the England v. Australia match three men were run out, and two were lbw. Their ave-ages on Monday, when added together, came to 174 68 runs. M r . H . W . C a p p e n , who was some time ago the honorary secretary of the Colombo C.C. (Ceylon), is now living at Betchworth, where he takes an intense interest in the doings of the local clubs. With regard to two of these clubs he writes :— “ You may possibly like to have particulars of the following cricket curiosity, which took place in a match between Dorking Early Closing C.C. and the More Place C.C'. (Betchworth). The match took place at Dorking on Whit Monday. The D.E.C. team went in first and made 99. More Place responded with only 41, but in the second innings of the Dorkiug Early Closing C.C. they only made 5, of which two were byes. The whole team were bowled by two brothers, Balcombe, and their analyses reads as follows: S. Balcombe, 3 overs, 2 maidens, 1 run, 6 wickets; J. Balcombe, 3 overs, 1 maiden, 2 runs, 4 wickets. This left our club 64 to get to win. They got 61 and lost by 3 runs, S. Cummins hitting up 50 not out.” W i t h the fine weather the l.b.w. and run out epidemics seemed to have almost died out, but they have returned again with iiicreased deadliness. Since the last issue of Cricket the following have been victims. L.B .W .—Alec Hearne, W . L. Knowles, II. M. Braybrooke, Tate (Hampshire), Webb (Hampshire), Tait, Geeson, Frank Sugg, W . Quaife, Storer, Noble, Gunn, Captain Wynward, S. M. J. Woods, J. Worrall, M. A. Nob'e, Butt, Straw (twice in same match), Lilley, W . Quaife, Brockwell, Storer. Run Out. —C. Robson, C. E. De Trafford, Radcliffe, Lees, Clement Hill, Hayward, F. Iredale, C. L. Townsend, J. R. Mason, Arnold, W. L. Foster, T. S. Fishwick, Charlesworth. In M.C.C. v. Australians, no fewer than five men were given lbw and one man was run out. There seems something wrong somewhere.