Cricket 1900

J an . 25, 1900 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD oF THE GAME. 0 W. T. P e r r ATON, who with W. Morgan did such a fine performance with the bat for the Up-country team at the finish of the match against a Victorian eleven on November 24th, should be well worthy of a trial in a better match. In the game referred to he waB batting three hours and fifty minutes for his 182, which was only marred by one chance when he had scored 82. Last season for the Mary­ borough Club he made 1,306 runs, and had an aversge of 95 in Association games, and one of 56 for all matches. His highest score was 146, one of five innings over a hundred. He plays in good style and is of the punishiDg order with a great variety of strokes. He is thirty-two years old. C o m m e n t in g on the way in which Narain Rao, one of the best native bowlers in India, has been overworked, “ The Tice,” in the Madras Times says:— “ Such a thing as ‘ nursing’ your bowlers and batsmen exists in the game called cricket, and it may not be generally known that a good deal of J. G. Greig’s batting successes in Bombay Presidency cricket is due to the fact that E. B. Raikes, as skipper, placed Greig short slip both ends, and hardly over put him on to bowl—though Greig is one of the very best bowlers in the country, let alone Bombay—and saw to it that second slip and short or long leg did their share of running after the byes. Consequently, when Bombay’s opponents batted first Greig came to the wickets with R. M. Poore or the late Capt. Trask, R.A.M.C., as fresh as paint, or as nearly so as could be, and as a result was infinitely more a thorn in the Parsees’ side than if Raikes had trotted him all round the ground or bowled him a lot if Newnham and Sinclair were off the spot. I quote his case as a more local one ; such 1 nursing ’ occurs in every county match at home every day, and the sooner native skippers realise that such a thing as ‘ nursing ’ exists, the b e t ie r for their chances of winning. A year or so back Rajagopalachari was palpably over­ bowled in a very similar manner, and it takes years for a bowler to get back to his former form, if ever he does.” I t is worth noting that the proposed new rule by which a tide cannot follow on in a first-class match unless it is 150 runs behind on the first innings, and only then at the option of the other side, will not be adopted in Australia, where, by a ruling of the Cricket Council, the follow- on is not optional, but a fide goes in again if it is 200 runs behind. In the match at Adelaide between South Aus­ tralia and Victoria, South Australia were 156 runs behind on the first innings, but Victoria batted next. P r a n k L a v e r made his first appear­ ance for Melbourne on December 2nd, after his return to Australia, and went out for a “ duck.” Clement Hill took five wickets for 71 for Adelaide against Port Adelaide on the same day. I t is rumoured that St. Lucia is not particularly keen in the matter of sending representatives either to Trinidad or to Barbados in order to carry out the pro­ posal to play the Windward Islands before the selection of the team for England, says the Sentry (St. Vincent), and that Grenada also is somewhat cold. Even so, there is a possibility of a team being got up with the inclusion of Mr. Mignon and another, or two more cricketers from Grenada. This need not he an enterprise requiring a draw on the funds of the cricket committee of either colony. If the representative cricketers could go to Trinidad and each man stand his personal expenses the idea could still be carried out. I he best men here are keen on the trip, and if the Grenada representatives co-operate with them we are sure the result would be beneficial to both colonies. I f one may judge from a remark in the Queensland Sportsman, those English club secretaries who grow careless about sending match reports as the season advances, have their prototypes in Aus­ tralia:— The third set of Q.C.A. electorate and club matches was brought to a termination on Saturday. An evidence of the “ tiredness” of cricket secretaries•may be found in the few matches reported, even two senior con­ tests not being noted in any newspaper.” T hehk was a remarkable finish to the innings of Melbourne Second against Fitzroy Second. Seven wickets were down for 70, and two more fell shortly afterwards, but the last two men com­ pletely upset all calculations, and when stumps were drawn for the day they were still in, aud the score was 344. MacGregor was not out 146, and D. White not out 70, made in less than three- quarters of an hour. T he Kent home matches will Ve played as follows:— Canterbury:—Lancashire, Surrey, Wor­ cestershire. Catford:—Yorkshire, Gloucestershire. Maidstone:—Essex. Tunbridge Wells:—South Africans, Sussex (2nd XI.) Tonbridge :—Sussex, Middlesex, Hants. Blackheath :—Notts, Somerset. Club and Ground matches will be played at Charlton Park, Forest Hill, Hythc, Catford, Bromley, and Gravesend. T h e r e is not likely, says the Madras Times, to be any truth in the rumour that Oom Paul is presenting an average bat for the highest average in the visitors C.C. at Pretoria. From the Adelaide Observer :— It is understood that an arrangement is about to be made with Ernest Jones whereby his services will be retained by the South Australian Association for another year. G eorge G iite n took four wickets for 62 for West Adelaide v. West Torrens on November 18th, and, going in ninth, scored 2 runs. On the same day Darling made 76 and Lyons 40 for East Torrens v. Sturt, while Lyons took seven wickets for 40 runs. Giffen is, without any doubt, still one of the very best men in Australia. In the South Australia match against Victoria he was the only bowler who could make any impression on the batsmen, and, although he received so little assistance, he came out with an excellent analysis in both innings. He also scored 39 runs in the first innings, but owing to an injury to his hand he could not bat in the second innings. Jones was practically useless on the perfect wicket, in each innings 97 runs being hit off him for a single wicket—a total of 194 for two ! Against New South Wales, Jones took one wicket for 210 runs. This brings his record for the two matches to three wickets for 404 runs, which must surely be unique. T h e Maharaja of Patiala has sent to Lord Roberts a splendid Arab charger as a present. Every native chief in India has now offered to send horses to the Cape. W r it in g about cricket in Durban, “ Umpiiv, ” in the Natal Mercury says :— “ Stturdajs are slill hanging heavily. There is a little cricket indulged in usually, but it is of such a character that little interest is taken, although, were it serious, there is the material in town just now to give capable displays..................... There were more spectators watching the game than we usually see, even at a League game, and it goes to point out that either people are hard up for some­ thing to do, or that we have a number of strangers in town who adore the king of games for cricket’s sake. Let us hope this lull will be an impetus to next season’s games.” H o w a r d , the young New South Wales bowler who met with such success in the two matches against Queensland, plays for the Waverley club at Sydney, and did not appear in first-class matches at all last season. He varies his pace with great judgment, and gets a lot of work on his (-low ball. Critics in Australia prophesy that he is the coming man. J. H. S in c l a ir , the young South African who batted so brilliantly more than once in the test matches against Lord Hawke’s team in the early part of lt99, has another and more important game to play this spring. According to the Times correspondent at Sterkstroom, he has been doing good service with the South African contingent attached to General Gatacre’s force. H e is attached to Little’s Scouts; and the Times correspondent credits him with a fervent desire to hit the Boer attack as hard as he punished the bowling of Albert Trott, Haigh, Cuttell, and Mr. Milligan in the test match at Cape Town last April to the tune of 106 runs. Sinclair, on his enrolment as one of Little’s Scouts, it appears, found himself in a rather amusing quandary. There was no patrol jacket large enough for him at the moment, either at Sterkstroom or Naauw- poort. If fortune should smile on him so far as to allow him to visit England in