Cricket 1901

D e c . J9, 1901. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 47 1 T H E M A T C H A G A I N S T O F N E W C A S T L E (N .S .W .) A N D D IS T R IC T . SEVENTH OF THE TOXJll. P layed at N ew castle on Decem ber 8 and 9. D raw n. Winning the toss, the Englishmen made 315, the highest scorers being Mr. McGahey 52, Mr. Jessop 49, Gunn 44, Tyldesley 37, and Mr, Garnett 31 not out. When stumps were drawn, the home team had lost four wickets for 86. But they did better the next morning, and when they were disposed of their total was 241, McKay beiDg the highest scorer with 68. Braund took 6 wickets for 96, Gunn 4 for 54, and Barnes 3 for 57. In their second innings the English­ men made 216, Mr. Jessop for once being seen in great form. His innings of 85 included four 6’s. The home team had scored 73 without loss when the game was drawn. T H E F I R S T M A T C H A G A I N S T A L L A U S T R A L IA . P layed at Syd n ey on Decem ber 1 3 ,1 4 and 16. W o n b y M r. M acL aren ’s Team b y an inniDgs and 124 runs. To have a score of nearly six hundred knocked up against your best bowlers by fourteen “ locals ” out of eighteen in an up-country match in Australia is not an encouraging experience for a team a few days before a “ test” match, and it is highly probable that the visiting team was not displeased that its bowlers had not to try their luck against the best bats­ men in Australia until a large score had given them considerable confidence, lt is not a little remarkable that the Aus­ tralians did not, after an interval of years, find it necessary to go outside the team which came to England in 1899 for its present representatives, and it is not a very encouraging sign of the progress made by the younger generation in Aus­ tralia. The twelfth man, it is true, is a newcomer, but the Travers, the Marshes, etc., who ought by this time to have come very prominently to the front, hive not been thought worthy of notice. It might have been a wise thing to try George Giffen once more, for his services, if the wicket had given him any assist­ ance, might have been of the greatest uee. As it was, not a single man was chosen except those who had played in England in 1899. MacLaren did his duty and won the toss. The modern fashion of com­ pletely upsetting the usual order of going in seems to commend itself to him, and he took Hayward with him first to the wickets, thus at one swoop risking the only two men in the team who had ever played in Australia. But the move, was eminently successful at first, and even afterwards, when there were ominous signs of a breakdown, the order of going in justified itself by results. Cricket in these “ test ” matches in Australia is a tedious business, for where time is of no object whatever, a man has no induce­ ment to let himself g o ; as long as he can keep up his wicket he is doing well for his side, for runs must come, sooner or later, if men keep in. Accordingly, MacLaren and Hayward adopted the motto, “ Everything comes to him who waits,” and they waited so well, that by lunch time the score wes 85, and when at last they were parted, it had risen to 154. So far things looked exceedingly prosperous, but Tyldesley (who has not yet got into his s'ride), and Mr. Jones failed, while Jessop who scored 24 while Quaife made two, did not do himself justice. The result was that when stumps were drawn the score was only 272 for six wickels — good enough in its way, but not good enough for such a match played on such a wicket. Much depended on Lilley and Braund on the next morning. They both rose to the occasion splendidly, and although they made runs more quickly than is quite orthodox in Australia, they took no risks and gave no chances. They put on 124 runs by the most interesting cricket. By the time that they were separated the bowling was so lifeless that the tail helped themselves to it and the last wicket added 30. As a result of these ups and downs the total was 464, which was large enough to give the bowlers confidence. Before stumps were drawn they had given a very fair account of themselves, disposing of three men for 103. But Hill still survived with 42 not Out to his credit, and as long as he was in existence anything was possible in the way of big scores, for he has often shown himself capable of taking the whole thing on his shoulders. Gregory had played excellent cricket for 48. When the game was resumed on the Monday morning the position was on the whole decidedly in favour of the English­ men, but there seemed no possible reason why there should not be a fine struggle before the issue was decided. No one could have foreseen what was about to happen; but whether the wicket played queerly for a time or whether preliminary disasters upset the nerves of the batsmen —a most unlikely thing to happen to the Australians—there was such a collapse duriDg the first quarter of an hour’s play that the home team was practically placed out of the running, and nothing but the most brilliant efforts could have saved the situation. The first misfortune happened when, after the total had been increased by nine, Hill played on to Barnes. The bowlers were delighted, and naturally worked for all they were worth, but it could not have occurred to any of them that in another two or three minutes they would have brought about the dismissal of Howell, McLeod and Kelly without a single run being added to the total. Thus seven wickets were down for 112. Darling now played a great game, but there was no one to help him very much and the innings closed for 168. Five of the wickets had fallen for 65 runs to Barnes, who thus entirely justified Mr. MacLaren’s high opinion of him. Blythe took three wickets for 26 and Br und two for 40. The Australians had to follow on, and made a bad start, for Darling was splendidly caught at square leg by Mr. Jessop, with the total at 12. Hill came in — the hope of Australia — and was bowled by Braund before he had scored. Nothing could now stay the victorious progress of the Englishmen. The bowlers bowled at the top of their form, and the fielding was brilliant in the extreme. For once the Australians seemed to have accepted the Turkish doctrine ( f “ Kis­ met,” and although Trumper, Gregory, Howell and Trumble all played a great game they none of them ever locked like stemming the tide which had set in so strongly. Long before the game was brought to a conclusion the disappointed crowd began to express its disgust at the turn which affairs had taken, and the batsmen had to listen to a running fire of adverse comments. Braund was this time the most successful bowler, taking five wickets for 61. Blythe had four for 30 and Barnes one for 74. Thus the first big match fell to the Englishmen. E ngland . A.C. MacLaren, lbw, b McLeod .............116 Hayward, c HilJ, b Trumble ..............69 Tyldesley, c McLeod, b Laver . .................. 1 Quaife, b Howell ... 21 G.L.Jessop, b McLeod 24 A. O. Jones, c Kelly, b Noble........................ 9 Lilley, c Laver, b McLeod ................ 84 Braund, c Jones, b McLeod ................ 58 Gunn, c and b Jones .. 21 Barnes, not out......... 26 Blythe, c Trumble, b Laver .................20 Extras................ 15 Total ...464 A u str a lia . First inniDgs. 8. E. Gregory, c Braund, b Blythe............................... V. Trumper, c and b Barnes M. A. Noble, st Lilley, b Braund ........................ C. Bill, b Barnes................. W. P. Howell, c Braund, b Blythe............................... C. E. McLeod bBarnes ... J. J. Kelly, b Blythe......... J.Darling,cQuaife, b Barnes F.Laver, c Quaife, b Braund H. Trumble, not o u t......... E. Jones, c Jessop, b Barnes Extras........................ Second innings. C MacLaren, b Braund ......... 43 c Lilley, b Blythe 34 c Lilley, b Blythe 14 b Braund .......... 0 not out............... 31 bBlyihe .......... 0 c Barnes,b Blythe 12 c Jessop,bBraund 3 stLilley,bBraund 0 c Lilley, b Barnes 26 c Jones, b Braund 2 Extras......... 7 Total ... . 168 Total ...172 CRICKET a t t h e RIVER PLATE. H U R L IN G H A M v. B E L G R A N O . Two good performances were done in this match, played on November 11th. In both E. D. Ayling had a share. Going in first, he carried his bat through the innings for Belgrano. The other notable feat was by C. M. Belton, who helped him to add 166 for the last wicket. Belgrano won by 253 runs and a wicket. H u b lin oh a m . C. W . Thompson, b Barnard .................11 G. Holland, b Penman 0 F. J. M«-ndl, c H. Doming, b Barnard 4 E. D. Drabble, b Bar­ nard ........................ 2 B. F. R. Bedford, c and b Penman.......... 0 D. Leighton, run out 0 A. Lace, b Penman... 7 E.L.Wilson.b Penman 0 F. J. Bennett, b Pen­ man 13 E. Robson, not out.. 0 J. T. Darch, c H. Doming, b Penman 0 Total 37 B klobano . E. D. Ayling, not out 171 W. Graham Brown, lbw, b Th' mpson ... 2 J. D. Shepard, c andb Thompson................ 2 G. C. Barnard, c aud b Robson ................. 1 C. E. Dickinson, b Thompson......... ... 1 H. Doming, st Darch, b Bennett.................15 R. F. Doming, b Bennett .................17 W. 8. Penman, b Thompson'................. 5 A. Leuuda, b Eennett 0 J. H. K. Loos, b Ben­ nett .......... ..........12 0. M. Belton, not out 59 Extras................. 5 Total (9 wkts.)...290