Cricket 1899

J u l y 20, 1899. C R IC K E T : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E 279 BUSSEY’S , C O U l * j © fa fa & 09 (J iJ fa E J w u - # A " t ( / ) 05 ® £ 3 " I l - s 2 ® - — CD -Q u j <±i E UJ c e ~ _ CO CD !T " c o e^* « a CO CO w CO pers w a fa Ok J. >> u o O .d s s aj s CD CO CO C D BUSSEY’S AT TH E SIGN OF THE W IC K E T . B y i ’. S . A sh le y -C ooper . Owing to the fact that only two days are set apart for the fixture, the match between Eton and Harrow has been left unfinished. This is the fifth occasion in six years that it has been found im­ possible to arrive at a definite result, and such being the case, it is hoped that in future wiser counsels will prevail, and three days be allotted to the fixture. That it is the wish of all to bring the matches to a definite conclusion is shown by the fact that the boys are condemned to play from eleven o’clock in the morning until seven at night— for longer hours, that is, than are considered good for men playing county cricket. Nowadays, Public School batting is so in advance of Public School bowling that, given fine weather, a drawn game is almost certain to be the result unless, of course, one eleven is vastly superior to the other. If the mistake of only allowing two days for the match is persevered with in the future, the boys, grasping the fact that the games will in all probability remain unfinished, will play for their own aggrandisement instead, as would other­ wise be the case, of doing the best for their side. In the recent match, chief honours fell to H . K . Longman, of Eton, and E. M. Dowson, of Harrow, both, by-the-way, qualified for Surrey. Iu each case, too, the batsman comes of a cricketing family, the former being the son of Mr. G. H . Longman, of Eton, Cambridge Uuiversity and Hampshire, and the latter the son of Mr. E. Dowson, the only survivor, with the single exception of William Caffyn, of the grand old Surrey team of the sixties. On the Leyton ground on Thursday last, Lockwood accomplished one of the best performances of his career by obtaining six Essex wickets at a cost of only eighteen runs. His fine bowling was the chief cause of the collapse of the Essex team for the small total of thirty-seven. The wicket, it is true, had evidently been over-watered, and so assisted the bowlers to a certain extent ; but, nevertheless, it was a good performance on the part of Lockwood and Brockwell to bowl un­ changed through the innings and dismiss such a strong batting team for thirty- seven. At one time it appeared highly probable that the Surrey total would not reach three figures, and it was only the welcome stand by Messrs. .Richardson and Key that enabled the county to hold a lead of over a hundred runs when each side had completed an innings. As iu the match against the Australians at the Oval, the majority of the batsmen endeavoured to play a cautious instead of a forcing game, in each case with poor success. Lockwood followed up his suc­ cessful bowling in the first innings by obtaining five wickets for seventy runs iu the second, or eleven for eighty-eight in the match, and so had a great deal to do with the result of the game, which ended in a‘ win for Surrey by nine wickets. The_first county match ever played at Glossop commenced last Thursday when Derbyshire met Lancashire. The choice of Glossop as the venue of the match was brought about by the mayor, Mr. S. H. Wood, who is also the present captain of the county eleven. The match, as every­ body knows, ended in favour of Lanca­ shire by the large margin of 269 runs. It must be very disappointing for the Derbyshire players to be beaten time after time in such decisive fashion. Early in the season Surrey beat them at Ches­ terfield by an innings and 164 runs. Then Nottinghamshire beat them at Trent Bridge by an innings and 180 runs, the Australians at Derby by an innings and 249 runs, and Yorkshire on the same ground by an innings and 160 runs ! Now that the Old Rossallians have con­ cluded their tour the county will be able to enjoy the valuable services of Mr. T. A. Higson, a gentleman who is very use­ ful both as batsman and bowler. The recent match at Trent Bridge between Nottinghamshire and Sussex was the fifty-fifth between the two counties, the first having been played on G. Brown’s ground at Brighton as far back as August, 1835. The two sides, however, have not met regularly since that date, for, with the exception of two games in 1865, no matches were played between 1853 and 1873. Of the fifty-five matches which have taken place Notting­ hamshire have won as many as thirty- eight, Sussex but eight, and nine have been left unfinished. The occasions upon which Sussex proved victorious were at Brighton in 1837, 1840, 1848, 1874 and 1894, and at Nottingham in 1837, 1840 and 1853. It will thus be seen that Sussex have only beaten Nottinghamshire three times during the past fifty years ! So undesirable a record (from a Sussex point of view) must almost be un­ equalled in the history of the game. The last four matches, it is worthy of remark, have all been left undecided owing to heavy scoring. The match last week proved a triumph for Mr. Jones, who followed up his scores of 71 against the Players at the Oval and 90 against the Australians at Edgbaston with two splendid contributions of 86 and 69 not out. These scores, coming after his won­ derful innings of 260 against Gloucester­ shire, prove that he is in finer form this year than ever before. Praise must also be bestowed upon Shrewsbury and Gunn, who both, as usual, managed to exceed the half-century when opposed to Sussex bowling, and to Yine, who followed up his excellent score of 115 not out, against Hampshire, with a capital innings of 75. The great match at Manchester between England and Australia has monopolized the attention of the cricketing public during the past three days. Tne match was the fourth of a series of five set for decision between the two sides. Or the three previous matches only one— the second, at Lord’s—was brought to a definite conclusion, viz., a victory for Australia by ten wickets ; the other two games were drawn, the one at Notting­ ham all in favour of the visitors, and that at Leeds slightly to the advantage of England. Thus the match at Manchester was followed with the greatest interest,