Cricket 1899

382 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A u g . 31, 1899. W ith reference to the remark in the chat about Major Poore which appeared a week or two ago, Lawn Tennis says :— “ When writers about cricket invade the sacred domain of lawn tennis, they so generally act as if they had conquered the country, and. had learned all that can he known about it, that we are not surprised to find Cricket a little astray in its account of Major R. M. Poore’s connection with lawn tennis. Inachat about the Major in a recent number of Cricket, it is stated that: ‘ In bygone days he was well known as a good lawn tennis player, winning the West of India Championship at Bombay two years in succession, and gaining a prize in the Handicap Singles at the Beck­ enham Tournament in 1889.’ ” W h a t really happened, says Lawn Tennis, is that the Major won the Singles Handicap (second class) in that year with half 15 start from S. H . Hughes, who was at scratch. But he was “ let in ” by the handicapper, who did not know with what a good player he was dealing, and undoubtedly ought to have been in the first class. He also played in the Handi­ cap Doubles with E . K . Perkins, and survived to the penultimate round. The Major used to play a good deal of lawn tennis at Salisbury, and well-known players who met him at the time con­ sidered that his form was first-class. If one may judge from the way in which he plays cricket, it is a very great pity that he has never taken part in lawn tennis tournaments of late years. Fob the benefit of our readers who may be going to Germany for their holidays, and may therefore like to study the language a little, we give on page 387 the scores of a match played at Berlin a few days ago— printed in the sweet German way. A match was played recently near Grantham between a team of ladies and another of boys selected from two or three villages. The boys were not handi­ capped in the usual manner, but bowled as fast as they could and hit as hard as they could. The ladies had the worst of it, but they fielded well, one of them, Miss Sale, making three in a few minutes, which must be quite a record in its way. The Grantham Journal, in describing the match, ends with a delightful little touch: “ Three hearty cheers having been given by the ladies and their supporters for their visitors, the latter were regaled with cakes and lemonade by Miss Sharman (the captain of the home team) at Pre- bendal House, and all seemed to have enjoyed themselves greatly, and expressed a wish to ‘ play a return to-morrow.’ ” The following fancy case is given by “ The Tice,” in the Madras Times :— “ One run is required to win the match, B ., the last batsman, is of the type that never makes an intentional run. B ., however, has no flies on him, to use a phrase current in Parliament; he sees.the first ball would just miss his off-stump, so he backs sharply towards square-leg, taking care to keep within his ground. The ball, only two inches off the off-stump, passes B., fa r out o f his reach. Ought the umpire to call Wide ” and give B ’s side the match through B’s sharp-practice ? During the match between Glouces­ tershire and Somerset, at Taunton, Mr. W . Troup, who has so successfully acted as captain of the Gloucestershire team since the retirement of Dr. Grace, was presented by the county amateurs with a clock in oak casing, and by the profes­ sionals with a silver spirit flask. A t the close of the season Mr. Troup returns to India to resume his duties as District Superintendent of the North West Provinces Police. THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS. (From our Agricultural Correspondent.) The drought of the last three months has had a shocking effect on the crops. Nothing has grown except Averages, which, however, have increased in size to such an alarming extent that they have become almost as bad a plague as rabbits in Australia. As to Analyses, one might search through a countryside without finding a good specimen. A great many people, who have generally been successful with Catches, have this year failed to do anything with them ; it is re­ ported that they use too much butter on their fingers when they are trying to gather them. The recent rain has come too late to have much effect, but already I have noticed a few Analyses showing up much better than before. To Mr. W . T . Sheppard, the hon. sec. of the Crofton C.C., I am indebted for the following :— An amusing incident occurred at Narra- way’s Farm, Acton, on Saturday, August 26. Two matches were down for decision on the ground in question, viz., Kildare Reserves v. Crescent (Hampstead), Kildare III. v. Crof- ton (Streatham). The two visiting teams were first on the ground, and, not unnaturally, mistook each other for the Kildare. The captains tossed for choice of innings and the losing side took the field. Just as the first ball was about to be delivered a genuine Kil­ dare player came on the scene and pointed out the mistake, which caused, as you may imagine, no little laughter. This was not all, however. Sensational cricket followed. Crofton dismissed their opponents for nine runs, six being byes, and one a no-ball. Catterson took six wickets for no runs, and Heyman four for two. Heyman’s no-ball, too, clean bowled a batsman. The score of the Kildare innings is appended. Crofton made 152. K il d a r e . Abrahams, b Heyman Taylor, b Catterson ... Bouvier, b Heyman ... Hill, b Catterson WestoD, b Heyman ... Dalton, c Laine, b Catterson................. Crabb, b Catterson ... Carter, b Heyman ... Arkless, not out Vickers, b Catterson Aisles, b Catterson ... Extras ... .......... Total ......... “ I n your paper of last week,” writes Mr. J. M . Smith, “ the following con­ tradiction curiously occurs:— On p. 358, Richardson said, ‘ I was lucky enough to get a wicket with the first ball I bowled in county cricket.’ On p. 359, Mr. Ashley-Cooper writes, ‘ Another bowling feat which deserves more than a passing reference was performed on Monday by Blythe. He was making bis first appear­ ance for Kent, against Yorkshire, at Tonbridge, and clean-bowled a wicket (F. Mitchell’s) with the very first ball he delivered. It was over a quarter-of-a- century since a professional had previously achieved this performance.’ Which is right ? ” [The obvious answer is “ Both.” Richard­ son’s victim was caught. It may also be said that Surrey v. Essex was not a first-class match at that time.] A ft e r the prolonged drought it is quite a pleasing change to be able to record that the play on Monday was curtailed in every match as follows :— Blackheath, Kent v. Surrey, 1 hr. 10 min. Leicester, Middlesex v. Leicester, 1 hr. 20 mins. Edgbaston, Warwickshire v. Derbyshire, 1 hr. 35 m. Scarborough, Yorkshire v. M.C.C., 2 hrs. 15 mins. Aigburth, Australians v. Lancashire, 2 hrs. 35 mins. Taunton, Somerset v. Gloucestershire, 3 hrs. 30 mins. Portsmouth, Sussex v. Hants, play £ hr. late. Some very quick scoring was done at Warminster on Saturday. Westbury had made 223 leaving Warminster with an hour and a-half’s play before them. War­ minster put up 208 runs in an hour, won the match in an hour and twelve minutes, and at the end of the hour and a-half had scored 265 runs for eight wickets. For this remarkable result they were chiefly indebted to Mr. G. H . Aitken, who scored 169. His innings included half a dozen hits out of the ground. Few, if any, clubs in England can boast of such a fine record as the Epsom Club. When the century was young the club used to contend against Sussex, Hampshire and Middlesex, and how fine a team it could place in the field can be imagined when it is stated that in 1815 it beat Middlesex at Lord’s by an innings and 358 runs. Bearing these things in mind it is of interest to learn that two records in connection with the club were beaten in the match against Sutton, at Epsom, on the 11th inst. For the old club, A . J. Green carried out his bat for 212, his partnership with Mr. C. F . Adamson (64) for the seventh wicket realising 204. In a recent match at Baybam Abbey, Mr. H . A . Cooper, and Mr. V . P. L9ese, playing for Lord Camden’s X I . v. Lam - berhurst, went in first and scored 232 for the first wicket in eighty minutes. I.OBD C am den ’ s X I . H.A. Cooper,c Ballard, b Standford .........232 V. F. Leese, c Lang- home, b Greigsby ... 97 G. H. Streatfeild, b Standford.................. 7 A. "W. Cornwallis, not out ...........................41 Extras............... ..27 Total (3wktB)’ 404 J. N. Tonge, Major L. Spens, H. Streatfeild, the Kov. J. II. Savory, Lord Camden, W . Crump, and Ferris did not bat. * Innings declared closed. Mr. Cooper’s innings of 232 was completed iu two hours and twenty-five minutes, and included four 6’s, a 5, and forty 4’s. The Bcore of the unfinished innings of Lord Camden’s X I . is appended. Lam - berhurst made 230. [On Feb. 13, 1894, at Melbourne, the Melbourne Club made 291 runs in an hour and a quarter against fifteen of the Bridge Road Trades.— Ed.]