Cricket 1901

J uly 18, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 275 BUSSEY’S AT TH E SIGN OF TH E W ICKE T . By F. S. A shley-C oopek. he made only 7 and 2. Seventy-six matches have now been played, of which Harrow have won 32 and Eton 28, the remaining 16 having been left undecided. The match of 1827 had a very curious ending. Owing to an error of the scorers, it was not properly finished. Eton still requiring 4 runs to win when stumps were finally drawn. The com­ mittee of the M.C.C., however, decided in favour of Eton. The Etonians do not count the match of 1857, as being for players under twenty years of age, nor Harrovians that of 1805 on the ground that several of the players were not members of either eleven. The match of 1857 has been rejected, but not that of 1805. The no-balling of Arthur Mold at Manchester on Thursday last by James Phillips (of Lord’s), in the match between Lancashire and Somersetshire, must not be allowed to pass without a few words of comment. For many seasons past it has been said by some of the frequenters of the chief cricket grounds that a great deal of throwing has taken place in first- class matches. One of the greatest opposers to unfair bowling throughout has been Phillips, and it was at his suggestion that one of the laws was altered so that either umpire could be allowed to no-ball the bowler for doubt­ ful delivery. Last December, it will be remembered, matters were brought to a head when the captains, at their annual meeting at Lord’s, drew up a list of bowlers whose deliveries they considered unfair, and named several At this meeting Mr. MacLaren asked for a pronouncement on Mold’s bowling, and eleven of the twelve captains present condemned the action as unfair, the exception being Mr. McLaren himself. Until last week Mold had not played this season in any match in which Phillips umpired, but on Thursday last he was included in the team against Somersetshire, with the result that Phillips no-balled him on eighteen occasions. In Lancashire cricketing circles Mold is looked upon as a man hardly used to be treated in such a manner after taking part in great matches for so long a period, but there are those who think him extremely fortunate in not having been no-balled years ago. What result Phillips’ action will have cannot definitely be said. Those of us who were acquainted with Dr. MacDonald’s performances in Aus­ tralia knew that sooner or later he would make his mark in English cricket. Against Sussex last week he scored 127, taking fifty minutes to score six and three hours and a-half to obtain his fifty. Altogether he batted six hours and a quarter. At times, as may be imagined, his play was tediously slow, and had he shown better judgment in running, he would have made many more runs. Dr. MacDonald has a great reputation in Brisbane, and the marvellous form he displayed in matches there during the season of 1898-9 constitutes a record for Australian cricket. For the Valley Club (Brisbane) during that season his average was stated to have been no less than 281, CO W i j o E m B m D o s ►i H * 03 s hJ w m a 53 u ® 1 H CO C O CO W s Q o w QD 7 W £ CO I S o cd 0 8 £ BUSSEY’S The meeting of Eton and Harrow at Lord’s is generally productive of good cricket, and the recent match between the two sides proved no exception to the rule. Throughout the entire game Har­ row showed superiority, and won easily on the second day by ten wickets. Eton have won on only three occasions during the last quarter of a century, namely in 1886 by six wickets, in 1887 by five wickets, and in 1893 by nine wickets. If the Harrow victory of Saturday last was brought about by one event more than another, it was by the bowling of A. Buxton, which was responsible for six victims at a cost of 38 runs in the second innings of Eton. There were many bat­ ting triumphs during the two days, chief honours resting with E. E. Lambert and E. W. Mann, of Harrow, and E. W. Marsham, of Eton, the last-mentioned being a brother of the hero of the ’Varsity match of the previous week. The Eton v. Harrow match almost dates back to the time when the game was in its infancy. The first match of which the full score is preserved took place in 1805, but the two sides are known to have met on previous occasions. For cricket antiquarians this match possesses great interest, even if only because Lord Byron, afterwards the famous poet, assisted Harrow. This contest was repudiated altogether by the Harrovians as a bona fide match between the two schools, it being only got up in the holidays among those who were in town or able to come. Several played on both sides who were not in the eleven. Lord Byron certainly was never in the Harrow eleven, though he joined in the game. The victorious Etonians, it is said, after the match addressed the following epigram to their opponents:— A dventurous boys of H arrow School, O f cricket yo u ’ve no know ledge ; Y o u p lay not cricket, but the fool, W ith men of E to n College. Lord Byron, on behalf of Harrow School, sent the following reply:— Y e E ton w ags, to p lay the fool Is not the boast of H arrow S ch o o l; W h at wonder th en at our defeat, F o lly like yours could n e’er be beat. In 1898, John Murray (London), pub­ lished “ Byron’s Letters,” edited by E. E. Prothero. In one of the letters Lord Byron refers to the Eton and Harrow match of 1805 as follows :— W e have played the E to n , and w ere most confoundedly b e a t; how ever, it was some com fort to m e th at I go t eleven notches in the first in n in gs, and seven the second, w hich w as m ore than an y of our side, except B ro ck ­ m an and Ipsw ich, could contrive to hit. A fte r the m atch w e dined together, and w ere extrem ely frie n d ly ; not a single discordant w ord w as uttered b y either p arty. T o he sure, w e w ere m ost of us rather drunk, and w ent together to the H aym arket, w here w e kicked up a ro w ......................... H ow I got home after the p lay G od knows. From the above it will be seen that Lord Byron states that his scores were 11 and 7,.but according to the score of the match