Cricket 1900

42 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a r c h 29, 1800. B r o c k w e l l and J. T. Heame arrived in England on Saturday, after fulfilling th«-ir engagement in India at the Maharajah of Patiala. T h e results of the intercolonial matches in Australia for the past season are as fullows:— Victoria defeated South Australia, at Ade­ laide, by 246 runs. New South Wales defeated South Australia, at Adelaide, by an innings and 392 runs. New South Wales defeated Victoria, at Melbourne, by an innings and 274 runs. Victoria defeated South Australia, at Mel­ bourne, by 181 runs. South Australia defeated New SouthWales, at .Sydney, by six wickets. New South Wales defeated Victoria, at Sydney, by 111 runs. New South Wales won three and lost one. Victoria won two and lost two. South Australia won one and lost three. A n article by Mr. R. D. Walker entitled “ Lords up to date” appeared in the last issue of the Badminton Magazine. Mr. Walker, who is the famous old Oxford and Middlesex cricketer, ends his article with the following remarks :— “ The game has now unfortunately become more or less of a gate-money business, and is conducted in a spirit very different from what it was a few years back. How many six­ pences and shillings are paid at the turnstiles seems to be the chief anxiety of the executive, and even at the School matches this year a leading member was heard lamenting the threatening rain, not because the play would be interfered with, but on account of the consequent loss of half-crowns at the gate.” D u r i n g a match between North and South at Buenos Aires—the match of the Argentine season —a batsman made a big drive to the pavilion. One of the mem­ bers, a Mr. A. M. Barton, ma.de a step or two forward among the spectators, and brought off a brilliant catch low down with the left hand. I n another match at Buenos Aires, be­ tween Northern Camps and Southern Camps, two substitutes played for the South, viz., Lacey (a professional) and Mr. W. A. Forbes. They were allowed to bat, tenth and eleventh on the list. They came together with the score at 138 and put on 141 runs for the last wicket. Tais is within measurable distance of the record, 173 bv Briggs and Pilling for Lancashire v. Surrey at Liverpool in 1885. T H E very best way to preserve a bat in India, says the Madras Times, is to oil both sides of the blade with salad oil twice a week for six months before use, and keep the bat covered up from India’s heat and glare as much as possible. “ No bat exposed to India's heat and drying winds will drive fo r nuts. And don’t you forget it. And that is one reason why most Gymkhanas and cricket clubs have such an excellent stock of firewood on the premises. In season and out the club bats are more often hung out to dry than not, and rub­ bed ever with an oil rag just before master comes to practice in order to provide cor­ roborative detail to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative regarding the exertions of the peons, ground chokras, and other vermin, which are humanely left unshot on many club premises.” T h e appointment of Mr. A. C. Mac- Laren to the assistant secretaryship of the Lancashire C.C.C. should be of inestim­ able advantage to the county eleven. Apart from his abilities as an all round player, his judgment in the captaincy will be invaluable. The team have suffered to some extent lately from the lack of a regular captain, and the moral effect of a skipper on whom they can thoroughly rely will make all the difference in the cricket of the side. T h e Indian Sporting Times is respon­ sible for the announcement that E. H. D. Sewell, who has scored so heavily in India for the last few years, is shortly coming to England to qualify for a first-class county. Which is it ? That is the question. A n o th er instance of three hundreds in an innings. The match in which this was recorded was between South Mel­ bourne and Melbourne in the middle of last month. South Melbourne, after getting rid of their opponent for 141, knocked up 609 for the loss of only six wickets. Of these 319 were made on Saturday, February 10th, and the balance the Saturday following. The full score of the innings was as follows :— Sutherland, b Bruce ......................... . ... 26 iD g leton , b Bruce................................. . ... 0 M ’Leod, c Over, b Gordon................. . ... 126 Armstrong, c Over, b G regory......... . ... 270 M ‘i ormick, not out ......................... . ... 126 Morris, c Davidson, b Gregory......... . ... 19 Colechin, c Over, b Gordon ......... . . . 3 Forman, not out ................................. . ... 22 S u n dries.................................................. 17 Six wickets for ......... .........609 It may be as well to add that the Mel­ bourne Club at the time was visiting New Zealand, so that with Hugh Trumble and others away the Southerners had not the bowling strength of M.C.C. to face. S ome interesting fact about Indian born cricketers were given in a recent number of the Indian Sporting Times-, as they will well bear reproduction they are given in their entirety. Many are under the impression that K. S. Ranjitsinhji is the only player horn in India who has succeeded in attaining a prominent place in the front rank of cricketeis. It is true he is the only native of India who has ever played in first-class cricket, hut there are several others who have done well. H. W. Bainbridge, who is at the present time one of the mainstays of the Warwickshire County XI, of which he is captain, was born in Assam in 1863. He was educated at Eton and was in the eleven for two years and afterwards obtained his blue at Cambridge. J. A. Bush, who in the early “ eighties” was the Gloucestshire wicket-keeper, was born in India in 1850. He has never done much as a batsman and has played no first- class cricket since 1885. A. H. Evans, the famous Oxford bowler of the early “ eighties,” was horn in Tndia in 1858. It is doubtful if the senior University has ever had another bowler quite as good as he was in his prime. The Rev. 1‘ . E. J. Green­ field, who played for Cambridge and Sussex, was born in Bengal iu 1850. He was a good all-round cricketer and played up to 1886. M. R. Jardine was born at Simla in 1869. The Rev. Robert Lang (Harrow and Cambridge) was bom in India in 1840. He was one of the best amateurplayers in the “ sixties.” W. Lindsay, a cricketer who rendered excellent service to Surrey in the later “ seventies” and early “ eighties,” was born in India in 1847. C. B. Pauncefote, one of the very best batsmen Oxford has ever had, and whose early demise m 1882 deprived the county of one of its best players, was born in India in 1848. H. W. Renny-Tail- your, whose name is chiefly identified with army cricket, was born in Indiain 1849. He played for Kent for several seasons with success. S. W. Scott, who assisted Middle­ sex for ten years, was bom in India in 1854. F. C. C. Rowe (Harrow and Cambridge) was horn at Colombo in 1859, and died in 1897. W. Yardley (Cambridge and Kent), one of the best amatuer players in England in the “ seventies,” was born at Bombay in 1849. It is a curious fact that, with the exception of M. R. Jardine, none of these players has ever returned to India. I was under the impression myself that Mr. Greenfield was born in the West Indies. Still, I have no doubt that the Indian Sporting Times is right. S u ssex cricket has, it is satisfactory to know, never been in danger of losing the valuable services of Mr. C. B. Fry for this year at least. The frequent announce­ ment, of his presence in South Africa with Imperial forces have, it appears, been altogether wrong. A cousin of his is nut there, and C. B. Fry saw him off. This may account for the erroneous reports which have appeared of his absence from England. Anyhow, he is in England and looking out eagerly for practice. W. B r o c k w e l l , the Surrey cricketer, has added his name to the small list of batsmen who have made a hundred in each innings of a match. This he accomplished in a match between Mr. W. McGowan’s X I. and Mr. Badesi Ram’s X I., played on the Patiala ground on December 31st. His scores for the latter were 150 (l.b.w.) and 103 run out. A GOOD many reports have appeared in the papers with regard to the captaincy of the Surrey Eleven. At pre ent I have reason to believe the only information of a reliable character on the subject is that Mr. Key hasdecided togive up the position he has so worthily filled for several years. That, I understand, is all that has been actually settled. Still the question of Mr. Key’s successor must be determined very soon now, as the Surrey Eleven play their first match at the Oval on Easter Monday. I t will interest Cricket readers who remember the first Australian Team, that of 1878, to know that F. E. Allan (tbe bowler of a century) has three sons all likely to make their mark in Australian cricket. All of them belong to the East Melbourne Club, and two of them have been doing good work of late. The fourteen-year lad (K . J. Allan) recently took six wickets for 40 in a Wednesday