Cricket 1902

1 8 0 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 5 , 1902. ENGLAND v. AUSTRALIA. THE FIRST MATCH. (EIGHTH OF THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR.) Played at Edgbaston on May 29, 30 and 31. Drawn. The first of the five matches between England and Australia can only be described as a fiasco, in which the wretched weather played a most prominent part. Vast prepara­ tions had been made by the Warwickshire county authorities, and only fine weather was required to make the match a big success. But the weather, which had suddenly taken a turn for the better on the previous Saturday, again veered round to wet on the Wednesday night, and after a comparatively fine day on the Thursday, rain completely spoiled the remainder of the match, eventually causing it to fizzle away to an ending unsatisfactory alike to Englishmen and Australians. The Englishmen had infinitely the best of the game, and not even the glorious uncertainty of cricket could have given the Australians the victory, or have saved them from defeat, if only the rain had kept off on the Saturday morning. On the other hand if the Austra­ lians had been defeated, their lot would have been exceedingly hard, for whereas the home team batted on a wicket which, while it was not perfect, gave a really great batsman a chance of making runs, the Australians had to go in on a pitch which was made for Rhodes and Hirst. Moreover, the Australians were without Trumble. The play on the first day was alternately disappointing and exhilarating from the point of view of an Englishman. The great batsmen who went in very early seemed for the most part too nervous to do themselves justice. Fry was bowled in Jones’s first over, Maclaren was run out through a misunderstanding with Ranjitsinhji, such as one is accustomed to see in small club matches when a ball is played to a good field at third man—in this case the third man was Clement Hill. And to crown the disasters Ranjitsinhji, after batting for fifty minutes without showing any signs of confidence, was dismissed by a good bajl from Armstrong for thirteen runs. Total 35 for three wickets. Meanwhile Jackson, who is happily never in the least disturbed by anything which his companions may be doing, had come in with his usual confidence, and looked like staying. When he was joined by Tyldesley the fortunes of the game under­ went a complete change, and the batsmen became masters of the situation. The two Northern players showed splendid cricket, and without being separated raised the score from 35 to 99 before lunch, which was taken at half-past one. But at 112 Jackson’s fine innings came to an end ; it was in every way worthy of a great player. It was now that the Australians made two mistakes in the field for which they were heavily punished. When his score was at 43 Tyldesley was missed at mid-off by Jones off Noble, and again by Darling off Noble. Between these two mistakes Lilley was out, and there would have been six wickets down for 121 if either of the catches had been held, and England might have been out for about 150. Tyldesley was also, still with his score at 43, within a very little of being caught and bowled by Armstrong, although this could not possibly be described as a chance since the ball would have been just out of the reach of any field on earth. Once more the fortunes of the game took a turn in favour of England. With the redoubtable Hirst as partner Tyldesley went on his way rejoicing, and from this time the Australian bowlers never had a look in. Try as many changes as he would, and he made a lot, Darling could not for once find the bowler who was capable of making any impression on the batsmen, and it was not until the partnership had lasted an hour and a quarter for 91 runs that Hirst was caught in the slips for an excellent 48. Jessop and Braund did not get going, but before the latter went Tyldesley had made his first hundred in a match against Australia. Soon after the arrival of Lock­ wood Tyldesley was l.b.w. for a brilliant innings of 138, made in the course of four hours and twenty minutes. The total was then 295. Now came the most lively cricket of the day. Lockwood, who is by nature a hitter, although circumstances have of late turned him into a very steady player, was put in so very late that steadiness would have been of precious little use to his side. Accordingly he laid himself out to make runs, and as Rhodes was in the same humour, the two men, without being separated, increased the total by 56 runs in thirty-eight minutes, so that when stumps were drawn the England score stood at 351 for nine wickets. There was heavy rain in the night at Birmingham, and although it ceased at about ten o’clock there was no sun or wind to dry the wicket, so that play was not resumed until three o’clock, when Lockwood and Rhodes increased the total by 25 runs, before the innings was closed, their unfinished part­ nership having produced 81 runs. The Australians had now no possible chance of winning, and it was quite on the cards that they would be beaten, for although the wicket was not by any means one of the worst on record, it was not by any means easy. No one was prepared for the startling downfall of the famous Australian batsmen. With the exception of Trumper, who is certainly so far this year the great batsman of the team, not a single man ever looked like holding his own against tho two Yorkshire bowlers, tight runs had been made when, after a consulta­ tion, Maclaren put on Braund for an over to enable Rhodes and Hirst to change ends. This was the turning point of the innings. Duff was finely taken off Rhodes by Jessop, who was close in at silly point. Braund made a typical “ Braunder,” as in Australia they describe a magnificent catch in the slips, which disposed of Clement Hill, Gregory was l.b.w., Darling caught off a hard hit to cover by Jessop, who took the ball as if it were the simplest sort of catch in the world, and Lilley did a pretty piece of stumping which disposed of Noble. Thus half the wickets were down, and the score was only 25. What followed was even worse for the Australians. It was a debacle of the most pronounced kind, and the innings was over for 36, which is the lowest total ever made in a test match, either in England or in Australia. Rhodes had a wonderful analysis, but Hirst may be said to have begun the rout, by taking three out of the first four wickets. The Australians followed on, and when stumps were drawn at twenty minutes to six on account of the bad light, eight runs had been scored without loss, so that they still required 294 to save the innings defeat. On Saturday the wicket was so saturated by the rain which fell in the night that it was only after weary hours of waiting that it was possible to play again. The crowd were admitted at half-past four at their own risk, and proceeded to crush each other in the most alarming manner in their eagerness to get inside the ground, and several people were inj ured. When at last it was announced that it was possible to resume the game, all interest in the match had died out, for the wicket was too soft to be of much use to the bowlers, and almost any team could have held out on it for an hour and a quarter. The Australians easily accomplished their task. E ngland . Hirst, c Armstrong, b Trum per..................48 G. L. Jessop, c Hc p- A. C. Maclaren, run out ................ ... 9 C. B. Fry, c Kelly, b Jones.......................... 0 K. 8. Rinjitsinhji, b Armstrong ...........13 F. S. Jackson, b Jones 53 Tyldesley,lbw,bHowelll38 Lilley, c Jones, bNoble 2 kins, b Trumper Braund, b Jones Lockwood, not out , Bhodes, not out Leg-byes ... . 6 14 52 38 3 Total (9 wkts)*376 *Innings declared closed. A ustralia . V. Trumper, b H irst... R. A . Duff, c Jessop, b Rhodes ................... C. Hill, c Braund, b H ir s t ........................... S. E. Gregory, lbw, b H ir s t ........................... J. Darling, c Jessop, b Bhodes ................... M. A. Noble, st Lilley, b Rhodes ................... 18 W . W . Armstrong, c Lilley, b Rhodes .. A. J. Hopkins, c Lil­ ley. b Rhodes J. J. Kelly, not out... E. Jones, c Jackson, b Rhodes ........... W . P. Howell, c Fry, b Rhodes ........... B y e s ................... Total ........... i Second innings Trumper, c Braund, b Rhodes, 14; Duff, c Fry,*b Braund. 15; Bill, not out, 10; Gregory, not out, 1; B 4, w 1, nb 1.—Total (2 wickets), 46. E ngland . O.M. R. W . O. M. R. W. Jones ... 58 9 76 3 1Armstrong .25 6 64 1 Noble ...4 4 15 112 1 Howell .. 26 8 58 1 Trumper... 13 5 35 2 |Hopkins ... 6 2 23 0 A ustralia . First innings. Second innings. O. M . R. W . O. M. R. W . H irst................. 11 4 15 3 .......... . 9 6 10 0 Rhodes ........... 11 3 17 7 ............ 10 5 9 1 " « - ~ 5 0 14 1 “ 7 0 Braund ... 0 1 0 ... Jackson Rhodes bowled a no-ball, and Hirst bowled a wide. YORKSHIRE v. DERBYSHIRE. Played at Dewsbury on May 29, 30 and 31. Abandoned. Despite the absence of F. S. Jackson, Hirst and Rhodes, the York shirtmen were in great form on the first day of the match, and after scoring 393, pot rid of two Derbyshire men for 21 runs. The chief feature of the day’s cricket was the innings o f 1C6 by T. L. Taylor, made in two hours and three quarters. During his partnership with Haigh 141 runs were made in an hour and three quarters. Tunnicliffe and Whitehead were also in fine form. There was no play either on Friday or Saturday. Y obkshibe . Lord Hawke, b Hulme 12 Whitehead, not o u t... 61 Hunter, b Forrester . Oyston, b Lawton . Ringrose, b Hulme . B 16, lb 2 ... . Total ... . 5 220 18 Brown, b Bestwick Tunnicliffe, c Storer, b Hulme ...................54 Denton, c Bestwick, b Hulme ......................13 T.L.Taylor, bWarren 106 Washington, b Forres­ ter .............................16 Haigh, c Chatterton, b Lawton ..................... 82 D ebbtshibe . L. G.Wright, c Taylor, Needham, not out .. 8 b Brown ................... 1 j Nb 2, lb 2 ............ 4 Locker, lbw, b Haigh 8 — Chatterton, not o u t ... 2 I Total (2 wkts) ... 23 Storer, W . Sugg, A.E. Lawton, T. Forrester, Warren, Hulme and Bestwick did not bat. Y orkshire . M . R. W . O. 9 91 1 I W arren... 6 7 125 4 Sugg ... 4 5 66 2 I Lawion... 8 O. Bestwick... 27 Hulme ... 38 Forrester... 20 M. R. W . 0 30 1 0 34 0 0 29 2 D bbbyshibe . O. M. R. W . O. M. R. W . Haigh ... 7 1 9 1 I Oyston . . . 2 1 2 0 Brown ... 8 3 8 1 | Haigh and Oyston each to lle d a no-ball. M.C.C. & GROUND v. KENT. Played at Lord’s on May 29, 30 and 31. M.C.C. won by one wicket. The team which represented the M.C.C. was com­ prised chiefly of professionals. aLd was, perhaps, a little stronger than usual, while the Kent team, on the other hand, contained the names of few well known men. From first to last the bowlers held the upper hand, and the only really big innings was by Seymour, who made 60 in an hour and fifty minutes