Cricket 1900

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. J uly 5, 1900. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 243 BUSSEY’S i </> L U J o fa fa » ca bS z ^ s fa — co 53 J si « / » » " S i - 53 L b l g C O J _ CO CO •“ CO CSJ C O CO fa a i P « f S M o fa o a °t c o * CO I 0 fl c3 B C D c s BUSSEY’S AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. B y F. S. A s h l e y -C o o p b r . When interviewed a few years ago by the Strand Magazine , Mr. A. P. Lucas, if 1 mis­ take not, when asked his opinion about the advisability of a captain going in first on winning the toss, stated that as far as he was concerned he would almost invariably elect to bat first. Last Thursday evening he must have wished that he had followed the advice he tendered on that occasion, for, on winning the toss, he had sent his opponents in, with the result that when stumps were drawn for the day they had scored 434 runs for the loss of but half their wickets. But any other captain would have followed the same course, for rain had fallen somewhat heavily in the early hours of the morning, and, in conse­ quence, the wicket was to some extent affected. A similar incident occurred at Lord’s seven years ago, when the Australians, having won the toss and sent in the M.C.C., had to go in against a total of 4*24, Flowers and Mr. Marchant each exceeding the cen­ tury. The feature of the Derbyshire innings, and of the match, was Mr. Wright’s faultless innings of 170, which contained eighteen four’s and took about four hours to compile. Prominence deserves to be given to the fact that, owing to lameness, the batsman was obliged to have the services of a runner. Storer’s long innings, which exceeded Mr. Wright’s by six, was marred by a chance to mid-off when the batsman had made sixty. Long before the Essex innings was concluded, it became obvious that the game could result only in a draw, Carpenter and Mr. McGahey both exceeding the hundred. The former is in excellent form this year, batting better than ever before, and on Saturday last reach­ ing his thousand runs, he being the third player to do so this season. Mr. Jessop’s remarkable hitting against the West Indians at Bristol last week will cause the match to be historical. In twenty minutes he scored 50, and in forty-three minutes 100, he and Mr. Townsend at one period of their partnership adding 105 runs in thirty minutes, his own share being 83. Altogether he was in exactly an hour, during which time he scored 157 out of 201. This hitting is almost without parallel. In the following table a few instances of very fast scoring are chronicled, from which it will be seen that Mr. Jessop’s recent perform­ ance has seldom, if ever, been beaten. No cricketer is included in'the following list who has scored less than a hundred runs. EAST SCORING. Rns. Mias. 10v) ia 19, V. F. S. Crawford, V . F. 8. CrawforJ’s X I. v. J. C. Crawford’s X I., at Cane Hill, September 16th, 1899. 101 in 30, A. Hutchinson, County v.Tow n, at Narra- cote, Adelaide, 1897. 101 in 40, G. L. Jessop, Gloucestershire v. Yorkshire, at Harrogate, July 29th, 30th, 31st, 1897. 104 in 35, F. W . Ninham, Mount Barker v. Meadow, in South Australia, December, 1896. (Ninham was last man in.) 120 in 37, A. C. M. Croome, A.8.W interbotham’s X I. v. Thornbury, at 'Jhornbury, Septem­ ber, 1890. 167 in 60, G. L. Jessop, Gloucestershire ▼. West Indians, at Bristol, June 28th, 29th, 30th, 1900. 169 in 70, G. H. Aitken, Warminster v. Westbury, at Warminster, August 26th, 1899. Mr. E. M. Grace, for Thombury v. J. D. Tanner’s XI., at Thornbury, August 19th, 1873, scored 259 in 100 minutes, out of a total of 331 for seven wickets. Whilst dealing with fast scoring, attention may be drawn to some extraordinary hitting which took place in a recent college match at Oxford. The match was between Keble and Wadham, and the former going in first scored 435 for four wickets in two hours and ten minutes, C. R. Wetherall making 98, W. E. Thompson 123, and H. A. Barres 138. It would seem as though college cricket was as much the home of the cricket miracle as up-country cricket in Australia. A curious incident occurred on Tuesday last at Nottingham in the match between Sussex and Nottinghamshire, whilst A. O. Jones and W. B Goodacre were batting. The latter returnedaball hard to Cox, who was bowling, off whose hand it went into Good- acre’s wicket. At the moment this occurred Goodacre was over his crease, and of course was given out. Several instances of this occurring might be given, Beldham being out in a similar fashion as far back as 1787 in a match in Bishopsbourne Paddock between the Earl of Winchilsea’s Side and Sir Horace Mann’s Eleven. In this match Beldham was dismissed in a very extraordinary manner in each innings. In the first, Purchase intended to throw the ball to Lumpy, but it fell short and hit the wicket. I f Lumpy had handled the ball, Beldhamwould not have been out. But in the second innings Beldham’s partner hit the ball straight, which just touched the bowler’s (Lumpy’s) hand and hit the wicket before Beldham had time to recover his ground. To-day, weather permitting, the sixty- sixth ’ Varsity match will be commenced at Lord’s, and, judging f^om the doings of the two elevens, everything points to Oxford proving successful. In their trial games the Dark Blues have displayed excellent form in all departments of the game, whilst the batting of their captain, who has made large scores most consistently, has been one of the features of the cricket season. It is difficult to account for the curious form displayed by the Cantabs. On a few, very few, occasions they have played a very good all-round game, but they have often collapsed in an extraordinary manner against bowling which, as a rule, has not been considered strong, and batsmen who have yet to make a reputation in great matches have found few terrors in the ’ Varsityattack. Obviously, Cambridge’s weakest point is bowling, and the University was unfortunate in having, in Dowson, Hind and Driffield, three left-handed bowlers in residence at one time. If Mr. Taylor can manage to stay in any length of time Cam­ bridge may make a good fight. Beyond a doubt the Dark Blues possess by far the more formidable eleven, and, unless anything unforseen happens, Oxford should prove successful in the event of a result being arrived at. According to the Sportsman of Monday last Leigh dismissed Newton without scoring in a match in the North Staffordshire League on Saturday last. Instances of an eleven being disposed of without a run are numerous, the earliest recordedinstancebeing when Litcham, Dunham and Brisley disposed of Fakenham, Walsingham and Hempton for nothing in Norfolk so far back as 1815. What must have been one of the most exciting matches ever contested was played in the midland counties about 1838 between Diseworth and Kegworth. The former went in first and made 1, the hero of tho innings being the vicar’s groom. An easy victory was antici­ pated for Kegworth, but to everybody’s amazement the team collapsed in the most surprising manner, being disposed of before a run had been made. It is unfortunate that the score of this unique match is lost.