Cricket 1900

J a (J, 25, IS00. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 11 F r o m t h e Sydney Mail :— “ No doubt there are hundreds of excellent cricketers who, having the misfortune to be nipped up by a grand catch or be beaten by an extraordinary ball, have had closed to them a career that, with a slice of luck at the beginning, might have been abrilliant one, while another with less promise has a catch dropped or has not the fatal ball sent to him until he has left the century behind, and is written down as the batsman of the day. I remember one batsman whose ill-luck stuck to him on all big occasions. At his first appearance he played a ball on his foot and then into the wicket, and in the second innings was bowled by a shooter. On another occasion he got on to a sticky wicket, where 10 runs would have been a great performance, then, again, he was secured in a marvellous catch, and his career ended.” F or the thirty-seventh time “ John Wisden’s Cricketer’s Almanack’’ has made its appearance, and the thirty-seventh issue is without doubt the best—which is saying a very great deal. Mr. Sydney H Pardon, its editor, has made still further improvements in the almanack, and it really seems that there is only one other improvement which could be made—the abolition of X ’s and C’s and L ’s and V ’s in the first cxii. pages in the book. The editor has succeeded in inducing Lord Harris and Mr. A. G. Steel to write upon “ Suggested Reforms,” and it goes with­ out saying that they have treated the subject in a practical and common sense way. A PARTNERSH IP of over a hundred runs for the last wicket in an Inter-Colonial match is such a curiosity that the per­ formance by R. W. McLeod and C. H. Ross in a recent match at Adelaide tempts me to give the following table showing the longest stands made for the tenth wicket in first-class matches in Australia: 136, J. O’ Halloran (128 not out) and A. E. Johns (57), Victoria v. South Australia, at Melbourne, January 1, 2, 4, 5,1897. 132, R. W . McLeod (91) and C. H . Ross (39 not out), Victoria v. houth Australia, at Adelaide, November 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 1899. 122, W . Ward (97 not out) and N. Dodds (36), Tasmania v. Victoria, at H otart, January 26, 27, 28, 30,1899. I ll, M. A . Noble (163 not out) and W .P . Howell (48), New South Wales v. Victoria, at Sydney, January 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 1897. 109, W . P. Howell (95) and A . Newell (68 not out), New South Wales v. England, at Sydney, February 5, 7, 8 , 9, 10,11, 1898. 100, G. E. Palmer (76 not out) and W . H. Cooper (29), Victoria v. New South Wales, at Sydney, February 10, 11, 12, 13,1882. I t was fortunate for the New South Wales cricketers that even at the last moment the New South Wales Associa­ tion should have decided to come into line with Victoria in agreeing to the not unreasonable proposals of the South Australians for a share of the receipts in their out inter-colonial matches. What a loss to cricket history if the inter­ colonial between New South Wales and South Australia, at Adelaide, on Decem­ ber 18th, 19th, and 20th, had not come off. As it was New South Wales had the satisfaction of breaking the Australian records all along the line, or very near it. H it h e r t o the highest innings in an intercolonial match had been the 775 of New South Wales v. Victoria, at Sydney, in February, 1882. Not only was that beaten, but the best record for a first- class match in Australia, the 803 for nine wickets of the Non-Smokers against the Smokers, at Melbourne, in March, 1887, was outdone, though only by four runs. As a mere matter of detail I may add that the 839 of New South Wales v. Tasmania, at Sydney, on December 9th, 1898, is not taken into account here. N o b l e , Gregory, and Trumper, too, were responsible for another record in this particular match, the triple hundred for New South Wales. Noble’s contribution to New South Wales’ total of 807 was 200, Gregory’s 176, and Trumper’s 165. As a mere matter of detail it may be as well to record that the new arrangement between South Australia and New South Wales provides that each colony is to receive one-third of the nett receipts in the out matches. T h e list of well-known cricketers who are at the front or cn their way to Sou*h Africa, or have been accepted as volun­ teers, is now a long one. As far as we have been able to ascertain it is as follows. We should be glad if any of our readers would point out omissions:— Lord Harris (has volunteered with the Kent Yeomanry) Major Poore (stafJ) Captain E. G. Wynyard (Welsh Regiment) Mr. F. S. Jackson (4th Battalion Royal Lancaster Regiment of Militia) Mr. C. B. Fry (for hospital work) Mr. J. J. Ferris (with Col. Byng’s S.A. Light Horse) Mr. F. W. Milligan (at Maclutsi Fort, Bechu- analand) Mr. J. F. Byrne (Warwickshire, besieged in Ladysmith) Dr. A. Conan Doyle (for hospital work) Mr. R. P. Lewis, the old Oxford and Win­ chester wicket-keeper (City’s Own) Mr. R. W. Fox (Oxford and Sussex), Dragoons General N. G. Lyttelton (commanding north of the Tugela) Captain W. C. Hedley (17th Field Co. R E.) Mr. G. Kemp, M.P. (the old Cambridge and Lancashire amateur) Mr. G. Hornby, son of Mr. A. N. Hoinby (22nd Cheshire Regt.) Mr. E. A. Halliwell (the well-known South African wicket-keeper, war correspondent at Mufeking) Mr. A. J. Turner (R.A.) Col. Baden Powell (besieged in Mafeking, formerly hon. sec. Old Carthusians C.C. and F.C. in India) Lieut. W. L. Foster (R.A.) Mr. R. O’H. Livesay Mr. E. I. M. Barrett (2nd Lancashire Fusiliers) Lieut. A. H. de Boulay (at the front) Mr. H. G. Pechey, hon. sec. Esher C. C. (Imperial Yeomanry) Mr. C. B. Pechey, Esher C.C. (Imperial Yeomanry) Colonel Spens. Captain Barton. Mr. W. E. Sprot. Captain Bradford. Mr. H. W. Studd. Mr. A. T. Jones (Shropshire). T h e Indian and Australian mail which reached London on Monday brought curiously particulars of two individual scores of over two hundred in different parts of the Empire. The first in point of date was C. J. Eady’s 209 not out in Tasmania for the Break o’ Day v. the Deiwent Club at Hobart Town on December 9th. In the second, which was for Madras against the Behar Wan­ derers, on December 26tb, E. T. B. Studd went in first and was not out 209 at the end of the innings. A c c o r d in g to the Tasmanian Mail Eady, too, carried his bat through the innings. So he did, but when time brought the match to a close only seven wickets were down. The total then was 422. Eady, as many Cricket readers will remember, came to England with the Australian team of 1896. He hardly fulfilled the expectations of bis Tasmanian form in England, though it is fair to say that he suffered greatly from rheumatism during the second half of the tour. That his all­ round cricket is still of a high order was fully proved in the match referred to above. In addition to his score of 229 not out, he took eight of the ten wickets in Derwent’s innings at a cost of only 70 runs. W i l l i a m B r o c k w e l l , who has been having as usual a good time of it this winter in the Punjab with the Maharajah of Patiala, has intimated to the Surrey authorities his desire to have the York­ shire match at the Oval on July 26tb, 27th and 28th next for his benefit. Cricket readers, most of whom know the Surrey player’s sterling worth not only on but off the cricket field, will hardly need the reminder to make a good note of the fact. T h e annual general meeting of the Surrey County Club has been fixed to take place at the Oval on May 3rd. Of late, the custom has been to hold it on the first Thursday in May. In 1897 it was deferred till a little later in the month. But there was a special reason for this, as there was a doubt of the large room in the new pavilion being in readi­ ness for the usual date. A SEASON without a big score by Kenny Burn would come as quite a sur­ prise to Tasmanian cricketers. Even now, though he has been a good time before the public, his capacity as a run- getter does not show any sign of diminution. Already this season he has furnished a sensation in a long innings of 361 for Wellington v. Derwent. The match begun on November 4, was con­ tinued on November 11, and Burn, who was not out 21 on the first day, was not dismissed till he had reached 361. T h e yokel immortalised by Punch, who “ ’ad a hover from Jackson,” found a cricket ball a dangerous missile to face.