Cricket 1902

J u ly 31 , 1902. CRICKET r A. WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 311 lasted for four hours and a quarter and was a splendid specimen of skill shown under very great difficulties. Hewaslastman out. Instead of having a commanding lead, as at one time seemed certain, the Australians began their second innings with an advantage of only 37. With two exceptions they completely broke down before the bowling of Lockwood, Rhodes and Tate, although Braund was again quite ineffective. In 25 minutes Trumper, Hill and Duff were all out for 10, but l'arling, when he had scored six, was missed by Tate for a skier, an escape which had an important influence on the result. With Gregoiy as a partner Darling, as in the first innings, played good cricket, and the score was advanced by 54 in an hour, when Gregory was out and four wickets were down. Before stumpswere drawn, Darling, Hopkins, Noble and Armstrong had all been dismissed and the total was only 85. The odd thing about the collapse was that the wicket was in better order than at any other time during the day. This gave the Australians a 1 ad of 122 with two wickets in hand, and the game was now decidedly in favour of the Englishmen, provided that no more rain fell. But the ill-iuck which had followed England all through the test matches did not desert her in this hour of her trial, and during the night it rained for hours, making the wicket so soft that the game could not be resumed until after twelve o’clock, when from the way in which the last Australian batsmen played it was evident that every run would have to be fought for desperately hard. Only one run more was added to the overnight total, so that England had to go in to make 124. The innings began at twtnty minutes to one, with Mac­ larenandPalairet, and by the steadiestof play the score was taken to 36 without loss before lunch time. Trumperwould in all probability have taken risks if he had been batting under similar circumstances, for he would have seen that runs would be more and more difficult to obtain as the day wore on, and that if a victory was to be gained, the time to make it pretty sure was before lunch. But unhappily we had no Trumper, and so the opportunity of taking the bowlers at some slightadvantage was lost. The time during lunch when the wicketwaslying fallowmadeall the difference in the world to it. Soon after lunch Palairet was out at 44. Tyldesley made some useful hits, but was caught in the slips at 68. Mac­ laren followed him at 72. Nevertheless, Abel played so well, and hit so hard, that England seemed practically certain of winning. At one time the score was 92 for threewickets, but atthis total Ranjitsinhjiwas l.b.w. for the second time in the match, and at 97 Abel was bowled, having made 21 out of 25 during his stay of twenty- five minutes. Thus five wickets were down. Still, the hundred went up without further loss, and it seemed impossible to believe that the remaining 24 runs could not be obtained. But worse and worse grew the wicket, and more and more feeble thebatting, while Trumble and Saunders put in all they knew with the ball. Every Englishman pinned his faith on Jackson. The score was taken to 109, only 17 runs being required with half the wickets in hand, but then Jackson hit a full-pitch hard into the hands of Gregory. Six for 107. Lockwood did nothing, and Braundonlymade three. • Eight wickets were nowdown for 109, andoncemore the fortunes of the game had veered in favour of the Australians, for with the fear of defeat before their eyes the batsmen were in a far more uncomfortableposition than thebowlers. The men who now remained were Lilley, Rhodes and Tate, any one of whom in happier circumstances was capable of making the 15 runs required towin, although none of them could be relied on. Every ball was watched with intense interest. Rhodes has been in somany tight places forYorkshire that he was lessaffectedby the trying position than the other men, and if things could have beenleftentirelytohim,allmightyethave gone well for England. It seemed, however, that Lilley would be equal to the situation. He made a magnificent low drive towards the pavilion, putting such power into the stroke that a four seemed a certainty. But, like all the Australians, Hill starts in the direction of the ball the moment that it leaves the bat, and he can get up steamquicker than perhaps any other man in the world, so that he was well on his way before the mischief had been done. Even then it was almost a miracle that he managed to bring off the catch, for he was going at a great pace when the ball came into his hand. But it stuck there, and nine wickets were down for 116. Eight to win. Before Tate could come in the rain fell in torrents, andhe hadamiserable three quarters of an hour in which to think over the state of affairs—one of the most cruel ordeals to which an unfortunate cricketer was ever exposed. Couldhe not be excused if his nerves were unstrung ? Would Dr. Graceor George Giffen, two of the most hardened cases ever known, have felt like stepping out to victory when at last the umpires went out and all was ready ? Tate had to face Saunders, who was beginning his over. Of the eight runs required, four were made by Tate by a clever leg glance off the first ball—a miserable fluke to the leg boundary as it has been termed. Four to win ; three to tie. The next ball was a beast, but Tate stopped it. He allowed tho third to go by, and then came the end. The ball kept very low and beat him, and the match was lost and won. A ustralians . First innings. Second innings. V . Trum per, c Lilley, b c Braund, b L ock- R h o d e s....................................104 w ood..................... 4 R .A . D uff, c Lilley, b L ock­ w ood ......................................54 b Lockw ood ... 3 C.H ill.cRhodes,b Lockw ood 65 b Lockw ood ... 0 M . A . N oble, c and b Rhodes 2 c Lilley, b L ock­ w ood..................... 4 S. E . Gregory, c Lillty, b Rhodes ............................. 3 ltw , b Tate .. 24 J. D arling, c M aclaren, b c P a l a i r e t , b Rhodes............ ......................51 Rhodes ............37 A . J. H opkins, c Palairet, b L ockw ood .................... 0 cTate,bLockw ood 2 W . W . Arm strong, b L ock­ w ood ... ..................... 5 b Rhodes ............ 3 J. J. K elly, n otou t ............ 4 not o u t ................... 2 H . Trum ble, c Tate, b L o ck w o o d ............................. 0 lbw , b Tate ... 4 J .V . Saunders, b L ockw ood 3 c Tyldesley, b Bhodes ............ 0 B 5, lb 2, w 1 ............ 8 B 1, lb 1, nb 1 3 T otal ....................299 E ngland . L .C . H . Palairet, c N oble, b Saunders ............................. Abel, c Arm strong, b Saunders ............................. 6 Tyldesley, c Hopkins, b Saunders ............................. 22 A . C. M aclaren, b Trum ble 1 K . 8. Ranjitsinhji, lbw, b Ti um f le ............................. 2 H on.F . 8. Jackson,c D uff, b Trum H e ............................128 E n glan d . First innings. O. M . R . W . Second innings. O. M . R. W. T o t a l..........86 6 b Saunders............17 21 Braund, b N o b le .................... 65 Lilley, b N oble ..................... 7 L ockw ood, run out ............ 7 Rhodes, c and b Trum ble ... 5 Tate, not ou t............................. 5 B 6, lb 2 .................... 8 b Trum ble ... c Arm strong, b Saunders............16 c D uff, b Trum ble 35 lbw , b Trum ble... 4 cG regory,b Saun­ ders ..................... 7 stK elly,bTrum ble 3 c b ill, b Trum ble 4 b T ru m b le ... ... 0 not out . ........... 4 b Saunders............ 4 Byes ... .. 5 Rhodes .. Tate ............ Braund ... L ock w ood ,. Jackson T otal ............262 A u stra lia n s. O. M . R . W . ... 25 3 104 4 ... ... 11 1 44 0 ... ... 9 0 37 0 ... 20-1 5 48 6 ... 11 0 58 0 Total ,..120 , 14-4 . 5 . 11 17 Trum ble , 43 16 75 4 ... .. 25 9 f 3 6 Saunders .. 34 5 104 3 ... ... 19 4 4 63 4 N oble ... . 24 8 47 2 ... ... 5 3 10 0 Trum per 6 4 6 0 Arm strong ... 5 2 19 0 Hopkins .. 2 0 3 0 O. M . R . W . Rhodes bowled a wide and Lockw ood a no-ball. KOTES FROM SCOTLAND. (B y O ur S pecial C orrespondent .) Aberdeenshire m et Fifeshire at Aberdeen on the 24th inst. in their return m atch in the County Championship. Fifeshire had the first of a soft wicket w hich was not rendered any the less easy by sun appearing at intervals. The visitors, all things considered, did not do badly, especially as they were opposed by one o f the best teams in the com petition. Four Fifeshire wickets were dow n for 74, tnanks in great measure to D . J. B. K irke, who played a beautiful innings o f 41, the top score as events proved. G. M cPherson and R . O. Hutchison—the latter is an old R ugby cricketer—with 23 and 15 respectively also plaj ed very fine cricket. Aberdeenshire, who have a lot of good bowling at their comm and, went in for frequent changes. This policy m et with success and Fifeshire were all dismissed fo r 117. W . W ebster with five wickets was the m ost successful o f the home bowlers. Aberdeenshire did not begin too well as a couple of w ickets were dow n for a score o f runs, but the next two batsm en m ade tne tu lk of the score. W . W ebster gave a very fine display for 65, and was abiy seconded by J. T . Baxter (40) and w hittaker (31), the runs in each case being procured by gocd cricket. Towards the end of the innings Johnson (A .) did well and Aterdeenshire’s venture terminated for 159. B y beating Fifeshire by 32 runs Aberdeen­ shire still maintain their unbeaten record. The second o f the tw o great matches between Perthshire and Forfarshire in the county cham pion­ ship com es off, weather perm itting, at Perth on A ugust 1st and 2nd. T here is, I learn, every pros­ pect o f the crowd swelling on the Saturday to the same gratifying dim ensions—15,003—as on the occa­ sion of the first m eeting, when Forfarshire gained a handsom e victory. The county cham pionship is certainly proving a great success, »nd the interest w ill be sustained up to the very end, as Forfarshire and Aberdeenshire—the two strongest com peting counties at present—play the final m atch of the series on August 23rd. Forfarshire and Aberdeen­ shire, who head the table each with an unbeaten record, both possess finely balanced teams, and the latter especially has nothing o f the nature of a “ tail.” Perthshire have been sho * ing disappointing form of late. On the soft wickets of May and June they were a very difficult team to beat, but since July cam e in they have fallen away from their high estate. Stirlingshire, w ho are also a strong com bina­ tion on paper, have not been seen to much advantage on the soft pitches, but their fielding has been very fine. Fifeshire, for w hom that m ystical weapon, the “ w ooden spoon” setm s destined, bring up the rear with a very poor record. The positions of the Counties to July 26th are as follow s:— P er- Pld. W on L ost D w n. Pts. centage. Forfarshire ... 4 ... 3 ... 0 .. 1 ... 8 ... 100*00 Aberdeenshire 6 ... 3 ... 0 ... 3 ... 3 . lOO'OO Perthshire ... 4 ... 2 ... 2 ... 0 ... 0 ... OO'OO Stirlingshire.. 4 ... 0 ... 1 ... 3 .. — 1... — 100*00 Fifeshire ... 6 ... 0 ... 5 ... 1 ...—5 .. — 100*00 The Forfarshire-Stirlingshire m atch, abandoned w ithout a ball being bow led, is not included in the above table. Perthshire people are nothing, if not enterprising, and they recently got up a novel cricket m atch in aid of the Ibrox Disaster Fund. The m atch was played on the South Inch, Perth, between the “ Gentlemen Carters o f P erth ” and the Powm arry Nonde­ scripts.” The players turned out on both evenings i n ‘ ’ tile ” h its, dress waistcoats, and had on their persons other articles o f wearing apparel associated with the noble game in the “ good old days ” On the second evening shovels were substituted for the ordinary bats, and a great display was given, the m atch proving a decided financial success. T w o interesting m atches in which the fair sex figured were played in Scotland recently. In the first gam e an eleven o f ladies in M offat, Dum frieshire, challenged the St. Ninians School X I . The fair sex did very well in totalling 71 (M iss M . Dysdale5>5; Miss Jackson 14), but had to bow to the superiority of the rising male generation, w ho defeated them by 25 runs, 'lb e other m atch was played at Crookston between elevens o f ladies and gentlem en. The Utter batted with wickets and a very exciting finish took place, the fair sex, w ho m ade 63, being victorious by the narrow m argin c f one run. One lady, Miss Rae, w ent in for Jessopian m ethods, and in her short innings of 19 had four boundaries.