Cricket 1901

THE FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. A ug . 8 , 1 9 0 1 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME 323 BUSSEY’S A T T H E S IG N O F T H E W IC K E T . B t F. 8. A shlet -O oopbk . me, she said, enquiringly :— ‘ And they are not compelled to do that? Not obliged? ’ I assured her the Exertion was purely volun­ tary, and with a Shrug of Wonder she said ‘ Vraiment ? ’ In the Year 1900 the French in Paris beat the English at Football. Mr. Hollingshead, whose reminiscences are always worthy of perusal, is far from being accurate when he gives the date of the first match played by Englishmen in Paris as 1856, as an English cricket club —the A lbion—had then been in existence in Paris for thirty years. And did not a Nottingham team visit the gay city in the forties ? The game was almost intro­ duced into the French capital the previous century, as the Duke of Dorset — “ the good old Duke of D orset” — made arrangements for a Surrey eleven to visit the city under the captaincy of Yalden. The eleven had got to Dover on their way, when, to their great sur­ prise, the Duke met them. H e was flying before the first outbreak of the French R evolu tion ! It was fortunate for Surrey cricket that the Duke met the eleven on English soil. Whilst dealing with French cricket it may not be out of place to remark that in the early seventies France played Germany. Not the least curious thing concerning this match was the fact that the French team was cap­ tained by Mr. C. W . A lcjck , of Surrey secretarial fame. The little Cosme Colony in Paraguay has its own opinions on the Boer war. This is what the Monthly s a y s “ Cosme opinion on South African affairs is 14 to 11 in favour of the Republic, and not two to one as stated in our last. On Foundation Day we played a cricket match, and the pro-Britons had the satisfaction of inflicting a crushing defeat on the pro-Boers.” Some remarkable scoring was witnessed on Tuesday afternoon last on the Central Ground, Hastings, in a match between Hastings and Mr. J. M. Gowenlock’s X I ., the players chiefly concerned being Lets and Holland. In the second innings of the scratch team Lees went in first, and commenced well b y obtaining twenty- four runs (4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 2) from an over delivered b y Mr. L . Parbury, the young Bedfordshire bowler. Holland and Lees obtained 50 runs off Parbury in three overs, and Lees reached his half-century in a quarter of an hour. The pair sent up the hundred in thirty-five minutes, Lees eventually carrying out his bat for 101 made in forty minutes. H ow hard he hit can be judged from the fact that he claimed 92 runs of the first hundred scored, at one time obtaining forty from two consecutive overs. The details of the second innings of the the scratch eleven a re:— Mr. A. V. Straker, b Parbury ... i W . Lees, not out ................. jqi Mr. C. H. Byrde, b Viocett .. 4 F. C. Holland, b bennett .......... Total (three wickets) ... 142 Lees hit two sixes, seventeen fours, one three, and three twos. Additional interest was imparted to the recent meeting of Surrey and Notts as it was the Jubilee match between the two sides. The counties first opposed each other at the Oval in 1851, Surrey winning c o m >-3 O S m fo D co J W * 09 s J w to 3 u <D £> C O CD C O W co per s M o w Q D 7 CO * CO I wmm o 3 & Q D BUSSEY’S The wine-cup, the wine-cup bring hither. Fill it high: we sip nought but the brim ! The quotation—from an old Zingari song—may not be strictly accurate, but the sentiment is there. More than a passing word deserves to be given to the fact that on Saturday last Tate brought his aggregate of wickets obtained in Sussex matches up to a thousand, and in doing 80 he occupies an unique position among Sussex cricketers. Probably no bowler in the whole history of the game has done such excellent work with so good a result as Tate and received such inadequate praise. Had he belonged to almost any other county he would have become very famous. On a good wick et there are few better bowlers in England. Many of his chief successes with the ball have been achieved at H ove, which ground, with its short boundaries and billiard-table wickets, is fit to break a bowler’s heart. Appended will be found details of Tate’s work with the ball in all Sussex matches. The number of balls delivered is given in preference to the number of overs, as in some years the over consisted of four balls, in others of five, and in others of six. The above figures do not agree with those given in the various cricket annuals, but it is believed that they are correct. TATE’S BOWLINS ANALYSES FOE SUSSEX. Matches Year, bowled in. Balls. Kuos. Wickets. Aver. 1887 . 2 80 . 48 . 0 . — 1888 . 15 .. 1609 .. 590 .. 30 . . 19-66 1889 . 12 .. 1631 ... 655 . . 26 . . 25-19 1891 .. 19 .. 3806 .. 1485 ... 95 . . 15-63 1892 .. 21 4324 .. 1834 . 88 . . 20-84 1893 . 20 .. 2653 .. 1142 . . 39 . . 29 28 1894 4 720 ... 343 ... 16 . . 21-43 1895 . 16 .. 3710 .. 1661 . . 85 . . 1954 1896 .. 22 .. 6558 .. 2372 ... 82 . . 28-92 1897 .. 25 .. €035 .. 25S2 . . 101 . . 25*36 1898 .. 18 .. 4523 .. 1854 . . 82 . . 22-60 1899 . 24 .. 5691 .. 2509 . . ISO . . 2390 1900 . 29 .. 6629 .. 2950 . 138 . . 21*37 1901* .. 19 .. 4758 .. 1920 .. 10J . . 19-20 246 . 51629 .. 21925 .. 1002 . . 21-88 * To August 5th, 1901. The merit of Tate’s performance can be best gauged from the fact that only four bowlers in the county’s history have taken as many as 500 w ickets: — Matches bowled in. Balls. Runs. Wkts. Aver. Wisden, J................. { I ! ; . 11!?0;;; Lillywhite, Jas, jun....163...43729 . 13534... 917...14'75 Humphreys, W . A. .. 216.. 23701..16306 .. 767...19'95 Tate, F. W ...................246...51629 . 21925,..1002.. 21’83 Had Tate been in his prime when ball and bat were on an equality, his wickets would have been obtained at a much smaller cost than 21,88 runs apiece. Mr. John Hollingshead gives some interesting reminiscences of sport in The Rambler. He says :— In 1856 I happened to he in Paris, and it was my Fortune to see the first Cncfe<-match ever played in France by Englishmen. The Ground was Part of the Race-course at l,ong- champs, and the Season one of the red-hot Days of August. The Time was Three of the Clock in the After-noon. The Company was large and distinguished, and they watched the violent Work of the Players with Amazement. At last the Head of a small Party—a Lady—could repress her Desire for Information no longer; addressing