Cricket 1899

194 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 15, 1899. AN APPRECIATION OF THE AUSTRALIANS. It cannot but be regarded as a mis­ fortune that every Australian team which visits England is judged not so much on its own meiits as on the way in which it can be c mpared with previous teams in regard to the number of matches won and lost. But this is after all only natural, for, with here and there an exception, an Australian tearnrepresentsthebestbatting snd bowling which the colonies can pro­ duce— in the opinion of the selecting committee. With English teams which visit Australia it would be useless to make the same comparisons, because there are always many men who, for various reasons, have to decline the in­ vitation to go on tour. With regard to the present Australian team, there is no getting over the fact that the selection committee met with no difficulties in the way of refusals', and that in their opinion they had got the very best men who could be found. It is true that the choice did not meet with universal approval in Australia-far from it—but when a selection committee is appointed, there is nothing to do but abide by its choice. Under these circumstances the present team has a very great reputation to keep up. It cannot c implain that it has not had enough variety in the way of weather and wickets, for it has ex­ perienced something of everything which our fickle climate cun produce. Wickets soft and wickets fiery, perfect wickets, wet wickets, tricky wickets—every kind of wicket which the ingenuity of ground men and the cleik of the weather be­ tween tbem could dtvise. It is a question whether any previous team has been exposed to such a severe trial at the beginning of a tour. The next question is whether the pre­ sent team has come through the trial with credit, and to this there can be but one answer. Apart from the breakdown in batting in the Essex match—which must, by this time, be a sort of distant night- male to our visitors—the Australians have astonished eveiybodyby their versatility. When their batsmen landed they were admittedly nearly all men who had no idea of any other kind of game than “ playing lor keeps they found in the East x and England matches that it would be advantageous to them if they could sometimes make runs quickly, with the result that it is a pleasure to see the team batting at the present moment, whereas in 1896 thousands of people who watched an innings by the Australians l egarded it as a penance which they did not deserve. As to the bowlers, one of them has always been discovered who can make the utmost use of a wicket which gives the slightest help— often when the bowlers on the other side have been unable to do anything out of the common with the ball. No better instance of this could be given than the way in which Jones and McLeod utilised the wicket on ihelastday of the M.C.C. match atLord’s. There was 6aid to be nothing whatever wrong with the wicket, for the reason that Hearneand A.Trott wereharmless uponit; and yet Jones was bowling short ones which hit the batsman high up in the body, and length balls which hit him in the ribs, while with McLeod the ball seemed as if it were alive. Perhaps if Trott had gone on at Jones’ end when the innings began, he also might have been as trying to the batsmen as Jones, and might have brought about a collapse, for the same fire which helped Jones might have helped him, whereas Hearne did not require the same part of the pitch— but the experiment was not tried, and there the matter ends. Not a little of this adaptability of the Australian bowlers has been due to the judgment of the captain, for it is very obvious that if the bowler who could do a lot of mischief does not get a chance of bowling at the right end, or even of bowl­ ing at all, a great opportunity is missed. It may be said that even a child would know this, but unfortunately it seems to escape the notice of some of our English captains. Darling does not waste time. If he sees that a batsman is easily playing a bowler, he does not wait until some orthodox number of runs have been put on before ordering a change—indeed, it would be nothing to him if the batsman had not made a run, if he thought that another bowler had a better chance of get­ ting him out. In this he shows himself to be an excellent successor to Harry Trott, one of the best judges of the psychological moment who ever captained a team. It is only when the bowlers have been con­ fronted withan absolutely flawless wicket, as at Oxford and in the first innings at Cambridge, that they have all been re­ duced to the level of ordinary mortals who have to content themselves with the hope that something will happen even­ tually, and it is not at all unlikely that it is here that the status of the team will be decided. It is very certain that if the University players can make heaps of runs on a perfect wicket against the Aus­ tralians, other men can do so if they get a chance, and then a wet day, or a break up of the wicket might easily lead to disastrous results. Tins is where the un­ fairness of comparison comes in. At the present moment, when England cannot put a realty fast bowler in the field, and when the majority of our bowlers have drifted into an almost mechanical style, it seems to cricketers as a body that the Australians have a decided pull over us; but we have still a few men who bowl with their head and can take advantage of a flaw in a wicket— always providing that the opportunity is given them—and it may be that we shall not come so badly out of the big matches as is feared. It is noticeable that on the hard wickets Trumble has not been so successful, and that the great perfor­ mances on them have all been done by Jones and Howell. It would almost seem that in matches between England and Australia the great question, which has not yet been quite solved, is whether these two men can make more use of a wicket which is not perfect than any English bowlers. On wickets which are perfect the batting is so strong on both sides, that there seems noparticular reason why either team should get out at all. When, however, English cricket grounds at the beginning of a season are exposed to an enormous lot of wet, it sometimes happens that even the best of weather for the rest of the year does not bring about wickets which will last for three days, except on very favoured soil, and certainly very few of them have done so this year up to the present. Whatever happens during the rest of the tour it is almost certain that the various representative matches—upon which after all the reputation of a touring teamhasto depend- -willbebattlesbetween the bowlers, for in batting there are now about the same number of men on both sides who can make the best use which can be made of any wicket in any state. If w« still have a few bowlers who can seize an opportunity and stick to it, and if no bad mistakes are made in managing the bowling, we may be able at the end of the season to look back upon the defeats in Australia in 1897-98 as one of the accidents which may happen to any team however well regulated. If not, we shall possess our souls in patience for a few more years, and bully our bowlers until they hardly know themselves, when they think ot their new found cleverness. W . A. B e t t e s w o h t h . M IL L H ILL SCHOOL v. RO YA L IND IAN ENOINEEKINU COLLEGE " A ” TEAM .— Playtd at Cooper’s Hill on June 10. M ill H il l S chool . A. E. Davis, c Griffiths, b Thubron ... 39 W. b. Young, b W ood 44 H. C. Darke, c D *y, b Thubron ...................10 G.C. Hollis, b Peterkin 6 J. Butcher, b W ood ... 7 H. W right, not out ... 10 J. F. tt. Croggon, b W oju ........................... 6 A. J. Knight, b W ood 9 A . J. R. Roberts, b Peterkin................... 0 R. J. Marnham, o Thubron, b Peterkin 1 J. b. Auty, c Dennis, b Peterkin ...........12 B 23, lb 8, nb 4 ... 36 Total ...179 R oyal I n d ian E n gin xebing C o lleg e . C. Grant-Peterkin, b A u t y .......................... 18 H. G Fisher, c Marn­ ham, b Auty ...........24 A . G. Fleming, c and b Butcher................... 0 8. Thubron, c Roberts, b Auty ................... 0 R. Burke, c Wright, b Butcher ................... 1 G. G. Dey, c Croggon, b Auty ................... 1 H. Ashton, c Roberts, b Butcher................... 2 C. bcovell, c and b Butcher ...................18 Y. Griffiths, c Davis, b Auty ................... 0 R. Dennis, b Butcher 6 J. C. Wood, not out... 4 B 6, lb 6 ...........12 Total 86 QUERNMORE SC BOOL (1) v. A U D LE Y HOUSE SCHOOL. —Played at Quernmore on June 7. Q u ern m ore. P. Phillips,c W right, b Leathes ................... 0 W . Durbridge, c Col­ lard, b Ellis ...........23 P. B. bharp, b Leathes 0 H. G. Patrickson, run out ......... ........... 3 D. M. Lewis, run out 33 C.W . Sharp, c Brydon, b Ellis ...................12 S. D. Carpenter did not bat closed. A u d lby H ouse S chool W . 0 . Carpenter, c Wright, b Leathes 5 H. T. Covil, b Leathes 3 J. Zimmermann, b E llis ...........................24 J. Y. Si.va, not out ... 12 B 38, lb 1, wb 1 40 Total (9 wkts)*155 •Innings declared S. Summers, b Phillips 10 R.Collard.cPatrickson, b Phillips................... 7 J .Leathes,cPatrickson, b Phillips......... ... 0 G. Wright, c C. Sharp, b Covil ................... 6 R. Wright, c S.Carpen­ ter, DCovil ........... 0 C. Ellis, b Phillips W . Brydon, c and b Phillips ................... C. Powell, b Covell ... H.Blaxland,cP.bharp, b Covil ................... E. Fuller, run out ... E. Plaietow, not out B 1, nb 2 ........... Total 26 Second innings: S. Summers, not out, 35 ; R- Collard, not out, 13 ; E. Plaistowe, b Phillips, 2; b 7, wb 2. Total (1 wkt) 69.