Cricket 1902

J u l y 31 , 1902. CRICKET : A WEEKLY- RECORD OF THE GAME. 315 THE PRESS AND THE TEST MATCH. Below will be found omments from vari us newspapers on the result of the match between England and Australia at Manchester:— It may seem ungracious to assert that the Australians had all the luck o f the game, but it is nevertheless the fact, and they are, I believe, sportsmanlike enough themselves to admit it.— St. James's Gazette. People who reflect w ill readily see what a splendid performance it was to run the Colonials to such a fine finish. T he lottery of the toss was enough to lose us the match in itself, for it is comm on know ledge how easy the wicket was when Australia hit up 175 runs for the loss o f only one wicket. This was an overwhelm ing lead, and thereafter E ngland had to play a tremendous uphill game. N ot until the m ischief was done did the wicket become the least bit difficult, while it was never really treacherous until England went into bat.— Standard. Une of the greatest cricketers we have ever had is credibly reported to have described E ngland’ s luck at Manchester on Thursday as atrocious. I f he had attempted to say what it was on Saturday he would have found the language inadequate for his purpose. N o one would, for a moment, wish to disparage the magnificent bow ling by which the A us­ tralians gained their three runs victofy, but it was the cruellest piece of ill.fortune for the E nglishm en that the w icket should be spoilt by five hours’ rain on Friday night. A task in the last innings that had promised to be quite easy was increased in magnitude three­ fold, and it proved ju st too m uch for the team. O f course, it will be argued that the 124 runs ought to have been made.— Daily Telegraph. H ad no rain fallen E ngland could scarcely have failed to w in b y a good m argin of wickets, for the pitch on Friday, when Jackson and Braund made their b ig stand, and when Lockw ood’s fine bow ling, ably backed up b y that of Rhodes, knocked out eight Australian wickets for 85 runs, was absolutely plum b. T he rain was a cruel misfortune for us ; but w e ought to have won, rain and all.— Daily Express. T he Oval match o f 1882 was contested on a difficult pitch throughout, luck being fairly evenly distributed; on the present instance at Old Trafford it was adm ittedly all one way, and from the time of tossing till the absolute finish the Englishm en found them ­ selves handicapped by Fate.— Sportsman. T hough they have won the tw o great games that have been fought to a definite conclusion, the Colonials have by no means demonstrated their superiority. Tw elve hours’ rain at Birm ingham saved them from a crushing defeat, the w inning of the toss at Sheffield practically carried w ith it the w inning of the match, and in the match that ended yesterday they had all the luck, and after obtaining a commanding lead were out­ played, and had there been no change in the conditions yesterday, no reasonable man can doubt that the Englishm en would have gained the victory to which their superior play had entitled them. As it happened, rain came to spoil the wicket and Australia just snatched a w in.— Referee. N o doubt the public is grow ing impatient at this constant reiteration of E ngland’s lucklessness, but this impatience is no greater than the irritation felt by cricketers that Fortune’s favours are so consistently awarded to Australia and that a m irage-like barrier should crop up to protect the Colonials when it has seemed that nothing could save them. . . . . B y Friday night, we had turned a crushing defeat into a victory assured in the absence of further rain. But there is an angel sitting up aloft with a special brief for the Australians, and in the early hours of Saturday the rain came pelting down as if it could never stop.— Daily Chronicle. W h ile we heartily congratulate the con­ querors, as sportsmen we can do no less, let us extend the right hand of sym pathy to Maclaren and his m en, for they battled m ag­ nificently, and then lost b y a mere boundary stroke; a sort of thing that with the least luck a batsman m ight have scraped through the slips or snicked on the leg side. But Dame Fortune fought on the other side, and that is why we offer our condolences to the English eleven.— Athletic Neivs. It is not w ith the smallest desire to depreciate what the Australian team have done that we state the Fates have been signally kind to them and adverse to England in these matches. N o luckier team has ever come over to this country than the present Australian com bination. Mr. Darling has been the darling of fortune in a literal sense. —Yorkshire Post. T he result was absolutely unexpected. W h en England went in with only 124 runs to make people had no doubt that the runs w ould be made, for the loss, perhaps, of a few wickets, perhaps for the loss of none. But again the weathei came in as a strong factor in the game, and now it declared for the Australians. There had been five hours o f steady rain during the night. The damaged pitch was flooded, and there were pools about in the early m orning, though the water soon sank into the earth. It was a pitch for the bowlers, and on it Trum ble was at his m ightiest.— Manchester Guardian. One cannot be accused of lack o f sports­ manship in pointing out that the Australians gained the victory by sheer good fortune, and that luck went w rong for England throughout the whole o f the match. This m ay sound ungenerous to our opponents, but it is nevertheless a fact that can hardly be disputed.— Leeds Mercury. It was, therefore, E ngland that had all the best of the game when the players re­ assembled on Saturday m orning. U nfor­ tunately there had been heavy rains for several hours overnight, and the wicket was rendered exceedingly difficult for run-getting. —Liverpool Daily Post , L O N D O N A N D C O U N T Y B A N K v. N A T IO N A L B A N K .—Played at Dulwich on July 22 a n d 23. L ondon and C ounty B ank . H .L.H ear8um ,c K ing, b Spencer ... 71 E .F.R obinson.c Archer b M ole ............ 4 C W .G oddard,bM erry- fleld ............................. 19 J. K night, P. F . A llen, S. G. M arsh, E . A . Tealby and H . T yte did not bat. • Innings declared closed. C.R.Trow ell,b Spencer 49 P .W . H ubbard,not out 52 J.A .B ienvenu,bTaylor 10 B 8 ,lb 2, w 1 ..1 1 T otal (5 w kts) *216 T. Baines, b G oddard 2 ft. Archer, b G oddard 0 H. B . M ole,c Goddard, b H ubbard ............ 7 E .A .T aylor.bE ubbard 0 A . D . Spencer, b G odd­ ard ... .................... 6 H .O . Bennett, b G odd­ ard ........... ... 37 O.Vavasour, c K night, b Hubbard ............ 1 N ational B ank . B .F . K irg. b Goddard E .Buckeiidge, run out A . J. U nderhay, c Trow ell, b Goddard L . Merry field, not out B 10. lb 1 ............ T otal ... L O N D O N A N D C O U N T Y B A N K (-.) v. ST. N IC H O LA S. —Played at Dulwich on July 1«' and 18. S t. N ich o la s. Challice, b spaldiD g M ott, b M a rtin ............ C x, b M artin ............ W atts, b M artin............ Hand, b Francis............ Hocker, b M artin D ay, b Spalding... . Tanswell, c F rancis, b Spalding ..................... W atts, b M artin Edward, not out S ade, c M artin, S p a ld in g ............ Extras ............ T o t a l............ L onddn and C ounty B ank (2). I F. W . H unt, t B ocker ................... G. Broad, b H ocker . Sutton, not out .. .. E xtras ................... H . A . Francis, b W aits 50 G. Sp tiding, c M itt, b W itts .......... 0 R. G. Marsh, b W atts 2 W . H .M artin, cW a t's, b H o c k e r..................... 6 F A . Spackm an, b H ocker ................... 44 R J . ( ram phorn, b W atts............................. 0 P . S. Roberts and J. Boore did not bat. 806 13 T otal (8 wkts) 129 N A T IO N A L B A N K v. N A T IO N A L P R O V IN C IA L B A N K A .” —Played at Low er Sydenham on July 26. N ational P rovincial B ank . A . D . Phillips, b M ole 50 A .F .A ylen, c Tessier, b Taylor ..................25 H . L . Stephenson, b Taylor .....................26 W .F ile,cM ole,bT aylor 2 H . S. Johnson, b M ole 18 W . H. Fear, not out... 14 L.J.G riffiths,c Tessier, b Mole ........... 2 G.F . Skelton, notout 7 B 4, lb 4 ........ 8 T otal (6 wkts) 152 E . E. P. G oodwin, A . O. W illiam s and C. M . Tapley did not bat. N ational B ank . H . B. M ole, b Tapley 23 A. A rcher, n o to u t ... 22 S. Baines, b Johnson.. 10 Byes ..................... 9 R . Baines, not out 36 — S. Taylor, c Fear, b T otal (3 wkts) 100 Phillips ..................... 0 N A T IO N A L P R O V IN C IA L B A N K v. U N IO N B A N K .—P laytd at Low er Sydenham on July 21, 22 and 23. U nion B ank . Anson, c A rm strong, b E ich-rds ... Stevenson, n >t out Summers.c Vrmstrong, b R i h-ud.s ............ Hughes, b K ichirds . W hicker, b Kichards ... Sim on, c Harrison, b Johnson ............ Robertson, c Aylen, b P rice ............................. Franklin, c File, b M cConachy ............ H elson, not out............ B 7 , lb 7 ............ Total(7 wkts) 128 N ational P rovincial B ank . J. Price, run out . ... 21 C. R K . Sym ons, c W hicker, b O ’Byrne 2 A . H ariison, c and b Anson ...................13 E . W . Arm strong, not out ............ ............20 J . W . Richards, c & b W h ick e r....................10 H C. J . M cConachy, b ...................................... 0 W . File, not out ... 4 B 6, lb 3 ............ 9 T otal (5 w kts) 79 H . L . Stephenson, H . S. Johnson, A . F . Aylen and W . Fear did not bat. IN C O G N IT I v. LESSNESS P A R K .-P la y e d at A bbey W ood on July 2^. L essness P ark . T . A . Bairs, bM iller 0 Spring, b F elton ...6 4 Rev. H ewetson, b Be­ vington .................12 E . C. K ing,c Cipriani,b Felton ................... 7 G. C. Beasley, c and b F elton ................... 3 I ncogniti . G .W Fosbery, c Cross­ dale, b F e lto n ............ 1 H . A llen , b Bevington 44 J . Shuter, not out ... 91 A . Rutter, not out ... 42 B 18, lb 4, w 5 ... 27 T otal (6 w kts) 291 A . B. Cipriani, b M ead 4 A .B .V oules.bR utter . 15 T.A .B evington,bA llen 49 E. G. Felton, b A llen... 49 R . G. Cowley, lbw , b Spring ............ 26 G. Crosdale, c Beasley, b Spring ..................... 6 R . H . D illon, c R utter, b Spring .....................12 A . B n w n , b Spring ... W alsh,cRu ter.bAllen H ullat, b Spring C. C. H .M il'er, not out B 3 ,lb 2 ............ Total ...1