Cricket 1904

A pril 21, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 75 position, but the choosing of representa­ tive English sides must be a source of exceptional worry. But I now venture to put on paper the team that I should like to see perform ing against the M.C.C., though possibly, either from business or other reasons, some of my selections may not be able to play ” :— A. 0. Maclaren Hon. F. S. Jackson C. B. Fry K. S. Ranjitsinhji H. Martyn g . l . r Lockwood Haigh Gunn (J.) Hargreave Hearne (J. T.) M r . J esso p adds that in the field there would only be one “ rabbit ” in the above team, but he declines to mention his A m o n g the racket players who entered for the Amateur Championship are H . K Foster, the Worcestershire captain, and his brother, B. S., who played so well for Maivein College last week in the Public Schools Championship. B. S. Foster drew a bye in the first ronnd and scratches in the second, but his brother has won his first two rounds. The championship is s'.ill in progress. W h e n asked by a representative of the Press which team he considered the stronger, Mr. Stoddart’s or the M.C.C., George Hirst said “ You can’ t compare the tw o teams, for the simple reason that the conditions were not the same. Stoddart’s team were beaten b y the weather; this lime we had something very like an English summer— the coolest Bummer, they say, they have had in Australia for years.” T he death is announced of Mr. J. W. Atkinson, the well-known “ bone-set­ ting ” surgeon, who was often consulted by cricketers. M r . H . C. B ir o n , who has been chosen as the Liberal candidate for Hythe, at the next general election, is a nephew of the Rev. H . B. Biron, the well- known old Kent oick eter. Mr. H . C. Biron’s father, who died some years ago, was Stipendiary Magistrate at the Lambeth Police Court. IN THE YEAR 1862. SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE FIRST MATCH PLAYED BY AN ENGLISH TEAM IN AUSTRALIA. The follow ing extracts from a long and entertaining article are taken from the Melbourne A rgu s: — “ Amongst the picturesque memories of the sixties, is the first match played by English cricketers on Australian soil. It opened on January 1, 1862, when H . H . Stephenson’s ‘ All England Eleven ’ took the field against Eighteen of Victoria, on the Melbourne cricket ground. The English teim had been imported by the firm of Spiers and Pond, as a private speculation. The cricket of the early days was not like the cricket of to-day. Billiard-table wickets had not been invented; the battiog was plain, the bow ling fast, and fairly straight, but without ‘ devil,’ and large scores were rare. Most of the Victorian players had learned their cricket in the old country as youths, and none of them pretended to b i up to All England Eleven form. Therefore, the com ing of the English champions caused a sudden and unique outburst of excite­ ment, which stirred all classes of society throughout Victoria and the adjoining colonies. People who were quite ignor­ ant of the difference between an ‘ over ’ and a ‘ bye ’ talked for days in advance of the wondrous deeds of the English players in the old country until expecta­ tion was wrought up to a point of tension. Tne attendance at the match was, com ­ paring the difference in population and the prices charged, greater in number and value than the latter day test matches can draw. Railway facilities were very limited, people from mining camps and bush hamlets travelled over 200 miles by coach, and many voyagers oim e by steamer from Sydney, Adelaide, and Tasmania. “ Fifteen thousand persons paid for admission to the ground on the first day, at rates that would be impossible now—■ five shillings to the grand-stand, and half-a-crown for the privilege of standing in the mid-summer sun on the dusty ground around the oval. Outside the club enclosure there were ten thousand spectators on the Jolimont H ill slope, who had paid a shilling each for that ‘ coign of vantage,’ whence they got vague and distant glimpses of the play. The trees in the surrounding paddock were laden to the topmost brancti with adventurous climbers. The high-class, descriptive reporter of the day— in a two-column introduction to three columns of details— thus sketched his first impression of the scene : ‘ On reaching the crest of the rise the splendid mass of the grand-stand, upwards of 700 feet from end to end, was discernible through the trees (all primeval gums) forming a graceful arc round the eastern side of the ground, while stretching out from it on various sides came tents and pavilions of varied form and size, and gay with divers colours, completely encircling the reserved space.’ The ‘ splendid mass ’ of the grand-stand, architecturally, was a structure in the early Australian style, hardwood frame­ work, covered with cilico and lavishly decorated with fligs and banners. The ‘ pavilions,’ also of wood and canvas, wdre restaurants and refreshment booths. The Melbourne C.C. committee for their own use had the old wooden club-house which preceded the present brick struc­ ture. Members were admitted to the grand-stand on the same terms as the public. There were no ‘ deadheads,’ no ladies’ tickets. The rival teams were accommodated in separate canvas mar­ quees. “ New Year’s Day, 1862, was an Aus­ tralian summer’s day of the most perfect and delightful quality—clear, blue sky, bright sunshine, and a cool zephyr-like breeze from the south. A t 10 o ’clock many thousands of active pedestrians were converging upon the cricket-ground from all points of the compass, and a long procession of assorted vehicles was ploughing up the dust, and bumping over the ruts along Richmond Road. At 11 o’clock the stand and enclosure were crowded, the excitement was becoming intense, strains of music filled the air, and the hum of voices was continuous. The scene was very gay and splendid. L idies in the grand-sfcand were numerous, and their costumes made a blaze of colour throughout the long curve of the struc­ ture. It was the epoch of crinoline skirts, coal-skuttle bonnets, and pork- pie hats. “ A t half-past 11 the English team arrived and passed through the gates, led by the dignified and elegantly dressed Mr. Pond, greeted by tremendous cheers from within and without the arena. The ruddy-faced Englishmen doffed their caps and waved them vigorously as they walked to their marquee. The Victorian players, who had been practising on the oval, hastily withdrew to their tent, and the officials proceeded to clear the battle­ ground. A rumour that George Marshall, the Victorian captain, had won the toss, thrilled the multitude from end to end. A t twenty minutes past 12, the starting time, the English Eleven tripped into the oval. Then there was a pause. His Excellency the Governor (Sir Henry Barkly) had not yet arrived, and the opening of the game was postponed until he appeared. Meanwhile the Englishmen entertained the crowd by throw ing the ball about and showing their skill in catching. Some of their feats were con­ sidered miraculous. A t half-past 12 the Governor arrived ; there was great cheering, the English team waved their caps, and then there was a solemn hush, until George Marshall and Jerry Bryant were discovered passing from their tent to the wickets, bat in one hand and white hat in the other, whereupon there was more cheering. “ Every eye was fixed upon the field as the English captain placed his m en :— Mortlock, lo n g -s to p ; Lawrence, slip; Iddison, p oin t; Bennett, cover-poin t; E. Stepheusen, m id -on ; Hearn, mid-off; Sewell,long-field o n ; Griffiths,long-leg; Mudie, square-leg; Caffyn, as bow ler; and the captain himself at the wicket. “ The luncheon intervaland other inter­ vals of an irregular kind greatly reduced the period of actual play. Referring to this the reporting critic w rote:—“ The tardiness (of the Victorians) was more than once the subject of unfavourable remark, as were also the frequent—and one would imagine scarcely necassary— visits they paid to the booths during the day, leaving the batsmen for nearly ten minutes at a time to themselves. The correction of this objectionable habit would be a most desirable thing.” “ On the third day the attendance was immense, and the financial success of Spiers and Pond’s adventurous specula­ tion was assured. There was a record of nearly 20,000 admissions, at five shillings in the three days, and about an equal