Cricket 1904

A ug . 25, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 367 A GOOD F IN I S H . The follow ing description of the end of a school match is taken from “ Pear­ son’s Magazine,” and is from the pen of Mr. Hesketh Prichard, the Hampshire cricketer :— “ A t lunch time the Grayburgh score stood at 108 for six wickets, of which Alvinson was responsible for 69 not out. “ In the lunch interval, Henderson sought him. ‘ You must knock that left-hander off his length,’ he eaid. “ ‘ I ’m going to try, sir.’ “ And after lunch he did try. Eilt, the left-hander, had taken five of the six wickets, three falling to a swinging yorker, which came in with his arm. The four outstanding Grayburgh batsmen were, Alvinson knew, almost certain to be defeated b y that ball. So he set himself to upset Kilt. He knocked 14 off the first over and in the second lifted the ball over the pavilion rails. In vain did Hilt try his trick of the first innings and drop one a little shorter. It was pulled to the square leg boundary. Seeing with what contempt Alvinson treated the bow ling, the tail of Gray­ burgh took heart and fairly outdid themselves. All the time Alvinson hit and hit until people began to wonder whether his stamina was not even finer than his cricket. One hundred and fifty went up with seven wickets down, then followed a breathless pause before a 4 saved the innings defeat. But the next ball was too much for No. 9. “ By this time Alvinson had g ot 98, and there were tw o balls to go. No. 10 came to face the bow ling. Down went the ball terribly straight and fast, aud the loosened leg stump was shot out of the earth. Yalcou, the last of the Grayburgh team, walked out from the pavilion very white. The moment was one of conflict and deep excitement. Archbury made ready to cheer Hilt’s hat-trick. Grayburgh prayed Yalton might survive, and allow Alvinson to make his century. Yalton took a trembling guard. E ilt went back a very long way and ran up to the wicket very fast. Yalton afterwards said that ball broke a foot, Alvinson put it at four inches, but however that may be, it whizzed by the wicket, eluded the wicket­ keeper and. counted four byes. “ Off the first ball of the next over Alviuson completed his 100, and then turned to the tactics of the first innings and ran for the bow ling. On this occa­ sion the Goddess of Cricket deigned to smile. The score reached 197 before Yalton had to take the ball again, and when he did take it the goddess was kinder yet, for she must have made a positive gap in the slips to let it through. “ As the cheers which greeted the 200 burst out, Alvinson faced the bowler and hit three consecutive 4’s, and the run successfully made off the sixth ball was of so apparently impossible a nature that Grayburgh hailed it with something akin to delirium. " ‘ I f he stays another twenty minutes,’ said Henderson, ‘ we’ll make a match of it.’ “ In the next four overs the score rose to 230, but alas! the pace was too fierce to last. Yalton lost his head and tried to be supeifluously clever. H e hit the ball quite hard to cover and called for a run. Cover threw his wicket down before he was three parts of the way across, and the Grayburgh innings was over. The figures hoisted were 237— 10— 7. On the further side of the board in solitary grandeur, 148 marked one of the finest — some say the finest— innings played in the Grayburgh v. Archbury matches. “ A t ten minutes to four Archbury went in to make the 76 runs they required to w in ; at four none but an optimistic Grayburgh partisan could have dared to question their certainty of victory. But at ten past four—to such changes does the Yalkyrie of the cricket field, she who hovers above the wicket to choose the bowled, treat us—misgiving began to trouble the Archbury eleven, as they watched the progress of the match from the window of No. 1 dressing room. “ Alvinson had advised Hart to stake his all, and put on lobB. So Hart staked and won. Simson, lbw , Cartar caught b y short leg dashing in, Hodderdale clean bowled. N or did the list of slain end there, for Yalton did his share of the slaughter, and seven wickets were down for 51. At this point Cbalbury, he who had made ninety-eight in the first Archbury innings, began to play precisely the game Alvinson had played. For Chal- bury lobs had no terrors, and his hitting powers stood out in relief against the background of his comrades’ failure. The game is now worth follow ing run by run. Tbe seventh wicket had fallen to a catch off the s t o n d ball of the lob bow ler’s over, and the batsmen had crossed, bo that Chalbury took the bow liiig. The third ball he drove along the ground for two, the fourth he played, aud numbers five and six found the boundary. This raised the total to 61. “ Yalton’s first ball was bow led to Ferris, No. 6 in the Archbury team, for when the wickets began to fall, the Archbury c*ptain had altered his place to N o. 9. Imagine, then, the Grayburgh applause when the first ball spoilt the enemy’s scheme. Ferris returned to the pavilion, and No. 10 tilled the breach. “ I now give an extract from a cricket- writer, whose pen is more flowery than my o w n :— “ This let in A. A. Smith (nephew of T. V. Smith), who faced the devastator. He snicked the remaining deliveries off his timber-yard in good style, but without in­ creasing the aggregate. It was now the turn of Calkhurat to toss up the rubicund pillule. This he did to Chalbury’s entire satisfaction. His first delivery was smashed to the ropes for a quartette (66—8—0), the second was bludgeoned to the on for a brace (67—8 —0), the third was too tweaky, and slowed the pace of scoring. Ditto Nos. 4, 5, 6, all of which partook of the nature of the earthworm. Off the third delivery of the ensuing over Smith snicked a lovely four (71—8—0), but the B ixth gave the trundler his saccharine revenge.” “ To resume humbly in I obb ornate language, five runs to get and one wicket to fall constituted a position of affairs sufficiently exciting. The question was, should the lob bowler be taken off ? Alvinson thought not, and as he passed Calkhurst he said a few words. The lob bowler nodded in despair. “ Chalbury saw it com ing—a full pitch to leg. Now he had noticed immediately before that there was no fine long leg, so he let the ball pass him, and then hit it with all his strength. H e hit a trifle under the ball, and it rose high. “ A cheer followed close on the stroke, then died away abruptly, for Alvinson, on the square leg boundary, had antici­ pated the stroke and was off at Bpeed. At first it looked impossible that he should get to the ball in time. Archbury men say a puff of wind swung it towards him. Grayburgh declare the same puff swuog it away, but however that may be the fact remains that Alvinson g ot to the catch with one hand, knocked it up, and, racing on, caught it. So was the match won for Grayburgh by 5 runs.” J. C. LOVELL’S X II. v. EDDINGTON HOUSE X II.—Flayed at Eddington, Kent, on August 16. E d d i noton H ousb XII. First innings. ekcond innings. H. M. Smith, b E. D. Lovell 37 c Gann, b E. D. Lovell .......... 6 H. Admans, b E. D. Lovell 69 b E. D. Lovell... 61 E. u. (itinn, b Kobinson ... 1 c E. D. Lovell, b Kobinson......... 0 R. Pembroke, c Qolds, b Kobinson .......... .16 runout...............10 A. Law, c J. S., b E. D. c Gold*, b E. D. Lovell ........................ l Lovell .......... 7 F. Price, b Kobinson 8 b Robinson . ... 8 T. Dilnot, c Golds, b Kobin­ son ............................... 4 b E. D. Lovell ... 12 L. Lovtll. b E. D. Lovell ... 16 b E. D. Lovell .. 9 J. A. Lovell, c Robinson, b E. D. i-oveil ................14 bE . D. Lovell .. 25 R .J. v\acher, b Robinson.. 0 b Holinson.......... 0 A. Holliday, not out ......... 1 b Robinson.......... 6 O. Lovell, b Robinson.......... 1 n otou t................ 0 Extras.......... .......... 4 E xtras......... 8 Total ...162 Total ........142 J. C. L ovkll ’ s X II. First innings. Second innings. F. Odell, b Dilnot ..............8 b Price......... 0 H. Line, run o u t.................... 8 not o u t................ 11 K . Robinson, b L a w .......... 6 c Admans, b „ ^ , Pembroke ... 6 F. P. Rider, b I aw ..............4 c Law, b Price ... 10 W. H. Golds, lbw, b Law... 14 b Price................... l E. A. Kryrner, c & b Di not a b Piice..................10 Dr. Seuior, c Pembroke, b Dilnot............................... 3 not ou t.................... 0 J. W . E. Murray, b Dilnot 10 E. D. Lovell, lbw, b Law ... 1 E. T. Gann, b D im ot.......... 0 S H. Flindt, b Law ..........10 J. S. Lovell, Lot o u t .......... 0 Extras ................. 6 Extras........... 6 Total 71 Total (6 rkts) 43 HAMPSTEAD v. BUSHEY\-Played at Hampstead oa August 13. H amprtkad . H. Wade, b Barron ... 2 A. J. East, c and b Golding .................28 8. Oxlade. b Harford. 10 A. A. Barron, b Golding ................. o N. B. Dearie, not out. 0 B 12, lb 1, nb 1 ... 14 A. R Tiimen, c Rigby, b Barron ... 17 E. L. Marsden, b Barron ................. o A. J. Orr, c H. M., b J. 8. Hatford..........20 B. 8. Foster,c H *rford, o Barron..............21 T. M Uarmiloe, b Cuihbertsou ..........20 C. C. Brachi, b Barron 0 B ushet . Golding, b Wade ...13 1 J. B. Orr, st East b H. M. Harloid, b - -’ Barron ... 33 A. Butcher, run out . a J. R. Turner, c Urr, b Wade........................ 4 G.H.Rigby,b Marsden 5 J. H. Hebb, not out... 78 Total . 134 Marsden......... ... 7 E. id. Cuthbertaon, not out .......... 2 B 2), lb 7 ... 27 Total .. 29j