Cricket 1899

M arch 23, 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 . 41 wickets. On the fourth evening of the match New South Wales, with three wickets in hand, only had to make eight runs to win when stumps were drawn, and the crowd was considerably annoyed that the game should be adjourned to the follow ing day. But rain had kept the wicket wet and pretty easy all day, and as there was a possible chance that tbe bowlers m ight do something remark- eble on the morrow, it was but natural that South Australia should prefer to wait. I n a match played at Ascension Island on January 17tb, between Officers and N.C. Officers v. Rank and File, J. W. Ingram, able seaman, clean bowled six wickets with six consecutive balls. - •~f'ar f ' " W it h reference to the poem which appeared in the December issue of Cricket, “ Firefly” w rites:— “ I have read with interest Mr. Ashley-Cooper’ s references to the match referred to in Love’s poem , but am afraid he will have to make further enquiry into the matter, as I think he will find, if he makes a calculation, that June 18th, 1744, was a Thursday, not a Monday.” A t the present time Mr. Ashley-Cooper is away in the country, far from his books, but he says that he w ill certainly look into the matter as soon as he returns to town. C k ic k e t e r s in South Africa were sur­ prised that Mr. A. B. Tancred was not chosen to play in the first match for the team representing A ll South Africa against Lord Hawke’s team. H e has been away from home a good deal this season, but when he has played he has shown clearly enough that he is still a first-class batsman. T h e trophy presented b y Colonel Pennycuick to be competed for annually b y the native schools of Madras, was won this year b y the Presidency College. This makes their third victory in four years. In the final match Narayana Bow scored 20, the highest score of his 6ide, in the only innings he had, and took six wickets for 23 in the first innings, and eight for 8 in the second. R e f e r r in u to an umpire’s decision in the return match between New South Wales and Australia, “ Short Slip,” in the Sydney Mail, says:— “ There was an appeal by Lyons for a catch at point, but ihe umpire disallowed the appeal, and C. Bannerman, the other umpire, subse­ quently said that the decision was a good one. The burly South Australian threw himself forward full length on the ground and, to me at the top of the members’ pavilion, it certainly appeared a fair catch. Asked about it afterwards Lyons was not sure, but, said he, ‘ the thought that I made the catch is stronger than the thought that I didn’t.’ ” M ention was made in the last issue of Cricket of the score of 231 not out made on January 7th by C. J. Eady in Tasmania for Bieak o ’ Day v. D frwent. There were nine wickets down. When the game was resumed on January 14th, Mr. Eady was caught at the wicket off the third ball in the first over without adding to his score. B elow will be found a complete list of Australians who have scored 200 or more in an innings in first-class crick et:— W . L. Murdoch, N.S.W . v. Victoria, 1882........... 821 H. Moses, N.SW . v. Victoria, 1888 ................... 298* V. Trumper, N.S.W . v. Tasmania, 1898 ......... 292* W . L. Murdoch, Australian X I. v. Sussex, 1882 286* W . L. Murdoch, Aust. X I. v. Com. Aust., 1888... 279* G. Giffen, S.A. v. Victoria, 1891 ........................... 271 P. S. M’Donnell, N .8.W . t . Victoria, 1886............ 239 G. Giffen, S.A. v. Victoria, 1891 ............................ 237 H. Graham, Auet. X I. ▼. Derbyshire, 1893 ... 219 W . L. Murdoch, Aust. X I. v. England, 1884 ... 211 J. Darling, S.A. v. Queensland, 1899 ................... 210 H. H. Ma^sie, Aust. X I. v. Oxford, 1882 ........... 206 C. Hill, S.A. y. N .S.W ., 1896 ....................................*06* G. Giffen, S.A. v. N .8.W .. 1893 ............................ 205 G. Giffen, S.A. v. England, 1887 .............................2^3 S. E. Gregory, Australia v. England, 1894............ 201 C. Bill, 8.A. v. England. 1897 ............................ 200 •Signifies not out. This year V . Trumper scored 263 for N .S.W . v. New Zealand, and McAlister 224 for Victoria v. New Zealand, but it would perhaps be going a little too far to include them in the above list. I n an electorate match at Sydney between Waverley and South Sydney, C. Gregory, a brother of Sidney, made 110 out of a total of 140 for the latter club. When the total was 129 he had scored exactly a hundred. I t is evident that Jim Phillips, the old Middlesex bowler, appreciates the New Zealand bow ling, for at the beginning of January he scored 110 not out for Canter­ bury v. Wellington. A N e w Z e a l a n d aboriginal named Barker has scored four hundreds this season, and has an average of over fifty runs. G. L . W ilson , the old Sussex cricketer, made 114 on January 7th and 14th for Melbourne against Carlton in a Pennant match. T h e reporting of cricket matches in India would seem to be at a low ebb, if one may judge from the remarks of a writer in the Madras Mail, who says:— “ It is cruel at times, the utter ‘ rot ’ one reads in the sporting columns of the leading papers out here. A certain section buy their paper to read how the pig market’ s getting on, another section [poor chaps !] to read the decision in the Dreyfus case, a third to read that questionable portion of the daily press where the births come before the marriages, but a very large section take in their paper almost only for the sporting news, and as cricket is the English game par excellence, it is not unfair to suppose that the cricket portion of the sporting column is literally gobbled up. Trouble is taken to be most accurate for the benefit of the first three sections of the reading public I mention, but for the sporting fourth, anything. Now, you Johnnies who own and edit papers, this ain’t fair. There is no reason that any extra expense need be in­ curred. Present reporting staff, if it will only read, mark, learn and inwardly digest reports from the Sportsman, Cricket, &c., &c , will do quite well. And it ought to be made to do so. At present it is just an eyesore.” A f t e r playing in the match between South Australia and Queensland, at Brisbane, Clement H ill and A. Green broke their journey home at a house situated between two villages named Muswellbrook and Aberdeen, whose cricket clubs had been opponents for many years. For four years Muswell­ brook had been unbeaten, and with a view to paying off old scores the rival village persuaded H ill and Green to play for them, and on their consent being obtained at once sent off a challenge, which was Accepted. The story of this match is thus told by the Australasian :— “ The wicket was a concrete one. Muswell­ brook won the toss, and stnt Aberdeen in. The first two men scored 40, and Hill went in first wicket down, took guard, and glanced casually round the ground. The bowler was ‘ Billy Lipscomb,’ Muswellbrook’s champion cricketer. Hill played the first two balls carefully, arid placed the third neatly to leg for a single. In the two next overs he ran up to seven. Then came the downfall. He back cut Lipscomb like lightning, but the ball was snapped up by slip within a few inches from the ground—a magnificent catch, and up to Trumbellian form. A . Green fared little better, for, after he had totted up 11 by careful play, the redoubtable Lipscomb clean bowled him. Aberdeen’s innings closed for 114, and, after a very exciting finish, the Brookites could only make 106. L e es W h i t e h e a d returned to England on Wednesday last after completing a sixth month’s engagement with the Georgetown Cricket Club, Demerara, where he did good work and made many friends. In the match between Victoria and Tasmania C. J. Eady scored 124 runs in his two innings and took thirteen wickets in all for 129 runs, his best performance of the season. Since Eady began to play for Tasmania he has, according to the Tasmanian Mail, scored 594 runs in eleven completed innings, average 54 ; and taken 45 wickets for 617 runs, average 13‘7. O n page 46 will be found a letter from Mr. G. H . Gibson correcting a mistake made in Cricket of January 26th, and also referring to cricket in Ceylon. T h e Germantown and Belmont cricket clubs (Philadelphia) have arranged to tour through Canada this season. A CRICKET c u r i o s it y : — In a local match at Melbourne on February 4th, the Brighton C.C. made 329 against Port Melbourne, who at call of time had put on 119 against this total. O f these runs P. Vaughan scored nofewer than 101. The scores of this innings are appended. P ort M elbourne . F. Vaughan, not out ...........-..................... 101 T. Lansdowne, run ou t......................... * ... 8 J. litzpatrick, not o u t .............................. 5 Extras............................................. 6 Total (one w ick et)......... 119 A S o u t h A f r ic a n critic who was much impressed by the bow ling of Albert Trott describes his feelings as follows :—“ Trott handles the ball as innocently and harm­ lessly as a child does an orange, recedes