Cricket 1899

A p r i l 27, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 89 “ CRICKET” is the only paper in the world solely devoted to the game. T e r m s op S u b sc r ip tio n ( j payable in ad­ vance) : —6/- per annum. Summer Numbers, 5/- ; Winter Numbers, 1/3 (post free). 7/- per annum, post free, Abroad. All subscriptions to be sent direct to the Offices of Cricket , 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. Cricket: A W i l K l Y KLCOED OF I B S OAM I 168, UPPER THAMES STREET, LOUDON, E.G. THURSDAY , A P R IL 27 th , 18i 9. The abstract and brief chronicle of the 1i-ocxe.— Hamlet. T iie team which has been chosen to represent Yorkshire in the earlier matches this season is as follows :—Lord Hawke, F. S. Jackson, F. Mitchell, Wainwright, Brown, Hirst, Rhodes, Denton, Tunni­ cliffe, Hunter, and Haigh. I n the opening match of the first-class season at L ord’s, Sussex will be repre­ sented against the M.C.C. on May 3rd by the follow in g :—W . L. Murdoch, K . S. Ranjitsinhji, G. Brann, C. B. Fry, C. L. A. Smith, Bland, Tate, Butt, Parris, Marlow and Killick. D e p b y s e l r e cricketers have been severely tried for many years, and the outlook for the ccm ing season is by no means hopeful. The report of the com ­ mittee of the county cricket club, which was presented yesterday (Wednesday) announces that there was a loss to the club last year of nearly £150. A diffi­ culty has been found in choosing a captain in place of Mr. S. H . Evershed, who has resigned ow ing to pressure of business, and Mr. S. H . Wood, who was offered the captaincy, has only been able to offer to accept the post after June. With the view c f increasing the interest in cricket throughout the county the Lancashire match is to be played at Glossop, while Surrey and Leicestershire will be met at Chesterfield. W IT H the exception of Mr. F. W . Milligan, who is still in South Africa, the members of Lord Hawke’s team arrived at Southampton on Friday morn­ ing last on the s.s. “ Norman.” D r e a m in g of the b ’g scores made in Australia b y one of the members of the team which is about to make a tour in England, our Spring Poet sends us the follow in g :— Victor Trumper Is a dumper, When the bowling’s loose ; And Victor Trumper, As a dumper, Plays the very doose. In the course of an interview with a representative of the Indian Sporting Times just before his departure from Bombay, K . S. Ranjitsinhji made the follow ing pertinent remaiks with re­ ference to the proposfd visit to England of an Indian team in 1900 :— “ My opinion is that we Indians are not prepared to play first-class cricket yet, though, mind you, it is an opinion I advance with some diffidence, because I do not know much about many of the players whom it is proposed to select. But, at any rate, we have now no reliable criterion of their form, for they have not had to meet first-class men. Now, my suggestion is that we should wait and see how these men shape against my amateur team next cold weather. If they shape well, good. Then we can go ahead with the Indian team, confident that it is not likely to prove a fiasco. If we find that the Indian batsmen fail to satisfy the test, would it not he far better to abandon the tour than for it to prove a failure P” A valued coirespordent writes:— “ I venture to send a few notes to supplement the interview with Mr. Sbuter, which appeared in last week’s cricket. In 1878, in all kinds of matches, he compiled 2.070 runs in sixty-five completed innings. A t Bexley, on June 14th, 1884, he made 304 not out for Bexley v. Enoeiiti. The Emeriti went in first, and scored 131, and then Bexley went to the wickets and scored 402 runs without loss, Shuter making 304 not out, and T. Ash­ down 62 not out, the extras amounting to 36. Shuter first represented the Gentlemen against the Players in 1879, and played in the match for the last time in 1890. Altogether he played in nine matches for the Gentlemen, and had fifteen innings for a total of 182 runs, his highest score being 41, and his average 12-13. T h e r e was a fine piece of generalship on the part of Shuter, the writer con­ tinues, in the Surrey-Yorkshire match, at Leeds, in 1892. On the last day of the match when Surrey had lost seven wickets for 81 runs, Shuter declared the innings at an end, leaving Yorkshire to get 146 runs in two hours and five minutes. It was a case of aut Ccesar aut nullus, Sbuter hoping to dismiss the strong Yorkshire eleven in two hours, and the north-countrynifai hoping to knock off the runs. Surrey eventually won by 17 runs four minutes before time. I n the Adelaide Observer, “ Point ” says:— “ Some little discussion has been going on during the past few weeks in certain subur­ ban cricket circles regarding a very simple matter of a run out. The case is this. A batsman made a stroke, and the bowler, with thoughts intent on stopping the ball, went after it. The non-striker, who was backing up, and the howler collided, with the result that the momentary delay meant all the difference in the man gaining his crease in time. The wicket was put down, and he was adjudged, and rightly so, run out. The first consideration is fair and unfair play, of which the umpire is the sole judge. He was satisfied, and so was the “ aggrieved” party, that the collision was an accident. Put the other side of the question. Suppose that bowler was going ior a catch, and the non­ striker,intent on backing up,quite accidentally ran into him and caused him to lose the chance. Should the batsman who made the stroke he given out because the fieldsman might have made his catch ? It is all in the fortune of war. Certainly the man was unfortunate in the termination of his innings. Another point is that the backer-up was equally blamable, if there were any blame at all, for the collision, and why should a whole side he penalised for an occurrence to which he contributed by his neglect ? ” A t am eetingof the Australasian Cricket Council, on March 11th, a proposal that the Melbourne Cricket Club should bring out the n fx t English Eleven was formerly approved. The follow ing is the text of the m otion :— “ The sub-committee met and unanimously agreed that the Cricket Council sanction and approve of the Melbourne Cricket Club bring­ ing out an English team to play during the cricket season 1900-1901 ; that the manage­ ment of the tour from the first to the last be in the hands of the Melbourne Cricket Club exclusively; that the Melbourne Cricket Club are to submit a programme of the proposed matches to the associations of New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria in good time beforehand, such programme to be adopted unless shown to be impracticable or unreasonable. The associations of New South Wales and South Australia will assist in securing for the M.C.C. the use of grounds in Sydney and Adelaide respectively for test and international matches on the usual terms of payment, the Melbourne cricket ground being reserved for the same purpose, on the same terms as 111 tt on which it is granted in the intercolonial matches; that five test matches be played ; that the three associa­ tions agree to give their patronage and assistance to the matches played in the respective colonies of each such association; that at the close of the tour the net profits shall be ascertained by representatives of the Melbourne Cricket Club and representatives to be appointed by the Cricket Council, or, failing such appointment, then of representa­ tives to be appointed by the three associations; that half the net profits of the tour shall be paid to the three associations in such pro­ portions as may be arranged by the council or the three bodies referred to.” So far so good. But how does this coin­ cide with K. S. Ranjitsinhji’ s expressed intention to take out a team to Australia ? Are they one and the same ? We shall see. T h e New South Wales Cricket Asso­ ciation has a credit balance of £1,616 19s. 2d. for the past season. The net profit from the South Australian match was £848 17s. 6d., and that from the Victorian match £976 10s. 2d. In last week’s issue of Cricket I referred to the unfinished innings of 192 by Kenny Burn at Hobart, for Wellington v. Derwent, on the two afternoons of February 27th and March 4th. On the follow ing Saturday Burn increased his score to 365, aud was still unbeaten when the innings ended for a total of 702. Thus the well-known Tasmanian bats­ man has beaten his own record for the colony, 262 not out, by no fewer than 103 runs. The total of 702 by Wellington is also a record for Tasmania, the pre­ vious best total for an innings being 553,