Cricket 1905

116 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 11, 1905. THE AUSTRALIANS. THE MATCH AGAINST GENTLEMEN OF ENGLAND. ( first of the tou r ). Played at the Crystal Palace onMay 4, 5 &6. Drawn. It might have been expected that, since the Australians have been boomed in the Press as never Australian team was boomed before, a very large crowd would have assembled at the Palace to see this match. But on the first day the crowd was very small indeed, on the second it was no larger than is seen at any ordinary first-class match at the Palace, and on Saturday, when in brilliant weather there was a prospect of seeing both sides bat, only about four thousand spectators were present. Dr. Grace had got together a side which, at any rate on paper, was very strong in batting, but the bowling at his disposal was very weak indeed. What was worse, his bowlers, with the exception of Beldam, could not get their length, and as the fielding was at times shockingly bad, without being good at any period of the game, it was not very sur­ prising that the Australians, who were in full practice a few wetks ago, should have made a great many runs. The contrast between the fielding of the Australians and the English­ men was most marked. Many of the Eng­ lishmen could not pick up the ball cleanly; some of them frequently failed to stop it when it came straight to them at a moderate pace, while others, especially in the outfield, ran so slowly that they could stop nothing which was not within a few yards of them. The throwing in was poor in the extreme. On the other hand, the Australians fielded in their usual brilliant manner, and hardly a run was given away in the course of the game. In running between the wickets the Australians showed admirable judgment; they even ran sometimes when a ball went fairly hard to Jessop at mid-off, but it is pretty safe to say that if they try this experi­ ment very often they will suffer for it. The Gentlemen, in the first innings, simply threw away two valuable wickets by what are politely described as “ misunderstandings.” To most Englishmen the chief interest in the match lay in whether C. B. Fry would be able to break through the spell of bad luck which has attended him in Austra­ lian matches, and whether Cotter, the new and much-discussed Australian bowler, would distinguish himself. Fry came out of the ordeal with the greatest credit. Cotter did nothing to show that he possesses unusual ability or unusual pace. But it must be remembered that Mr. Spofforth in 1878 did not attract any attention at all in his first match in England, although it was a low scoring game; he took one wicket for 39 runs. It was in his second match — the famous match against the M.C.C.—that he astonished the world, and possibly Cotter may very soon follow his example. At the end of the Crystal Palace match he was as much a dark horse as ever. The Australians batted first on a soft and easy wicket, and although Trumper failed, it was goon pretty clear that there was nothing in the bowling to prevent the Australian bats­ men from doing themselves justice. Duff showed excellent form. Hill was by no means comfortable at first, but when once he had played himself in, he batted in his old and inimitable way. He and Noble put on 122 for the third wicket, and so well did the two men bat, and so simple did they make the bowling appear, that everything pointed to a very large score. But when once the partnership was broken the bowlers began to make some headway, and the innings came to a somewhat abrupt conclusion about half an hour before the time for drawing stumps. W. G. took Warner to the wickets with him, but after Cotter had bowled an over play was adjourned on account of the bad light. On the next day Warner was run out, and when Fry, after a somewhat unsteady beginning, had found his feet, and was playing the bowling with delightful ease, he also was run out through no fault of his own. Beldam and Poidevin both showed good form, but were dismissed before they became dangerous. Maclaren was completely off colour during the few minutes that he stayed at the wickets, and Jessop was either intimidated by the bowling, or wanted to make sure of his ground before hitting, at any rate he played an exceedingly quiet game. Lawton, like Fry, showed entire confidence in his ability to play the bowling, and was never at any loss to know what to do with it ; if he could have found anybody to stop with him he might have made a hundred, but the last three men are not batsmen, and two of them fell ready victims to Cotter. Trumper again failed when the Australians went in a second time with a lead of 114. He made a good old-fashioned mowat a ball from Beldam, timing it perfectly, but it kept very low, and he hit over it by an inch or two. Hill began quite as badly as in the first innings, and for some time he could do nothing with Beldam, who was bowling uncommonly well, and keeping a beautiful length, beating the batsmen time after time. On the other hand, Brearley was, as a rule, very short and inaccurate. Duff, as in the first innings, played excellent cricket, and when Noble and Hill came together they took charge of the bowling. The wicket was playing well, and, bar unexpected accidents, anyone could see that there was nothing in the bowling to get either man out, for neither of them is in the habit of getting himself out. Long before the time for drawing stumps it was only a question of how many runs they would make, and when the day’s play ended they had brought the total to 201, Noble being not out 69 and Hill not out 82. The Australians were thus 315 runs on with eight wickets in hand. Nobody supposed that Darling would declare his innings closed on Saturday until he had made his position absolutely secure, and as there were men in the Gentlemen’s team who can score at a great pace and, what is more, are likely to do so, he allowed his men to complete their innings and thus gain a good start in the average table. Hill was unfortunate enough to miss his hundred, but Noble ran his total to 162, hitting fiercely after he had made his hundred. The partnership produced 172 runs in a couple of hours, and the batting of the two men was attractive enough to please the most exacting spectators. Hill was at the wickets for two hours aud a h<*lf, and Noble for three hours and a half; Noble’s hits included three 6’s and fourteen 4’s. Most of the rest of the team made runs at a good pace, and when the innings came to an end only two hours remained for play. But these two hours gave Fry and Maclaren the opportunity of getting some excellent practice against McLeod and Hopkins, the only two bowlers who were tried, and the Australians may have to pay dearly for this in the future. A ustralians . First innings. V. T. Trumper (N.S.W.), b Brearley ........................ 2 R.A.Diiff (N.S.W.),c Robson, b Brearley ... .................23 C. Hill (S.A.), c Maclaren, b Jessop...............................87 M. A. Noble (N.S.W.), c Warner, b Odell . ... 60 W. W. Armstrong (V.), c Robson, b Brearley..........37 S. E. Gregory (N.S.W.), c Poidevin. b Jessop.......... 0 J.Darling (S.A.), c Maclaren, b Odell...............................23 A. J. Hopkins (N.S.W.), c Odell, b Brearley ..........22 C. E. McLeod (V.), b Jessop 0 J. J. Kelly (N.S.W.), not out 1 A. Cotter (N.S.W.), c Odell, b Brearley........................ 3 B 8, lb 4 .................12 Second innings. b Beldam .......... 7 c Fry, b Brearley 38 b Brearley..........93 c Poidevin, b Jessop ..........162 cJessop.bBeldam 14 b Beldam .......... 1 c Lawton, b Bel­ dam .................65 b Brearley..........37 not out ..........27 cWarner,b Brear­ ley .................It b Odell ..........43 B 18, lb 3,w 2, nb 2 25 Total... .270 Total 526 G entlemen of E ngland . First innings. Second innings. W. Cf. Grace (Lon. County) (capt.), c Duff, b Cotter... 5 1’. F. Warner (Middlesex), run out ......................... 0c Duff, b McLeod 10 G.W. Beldam (Middlesex), Ibw, b Armstrong ... .!. 11 L. O. S. Poidevin (Lanca­ shire), c Hopkins, b Arm­ strong ..................................18 not out.............. 8 C. B. Fry (Sussex), run out 23 notout..............45 A.C. Maclaren (Lancashire), b Hopkins......................... 1 b Hopkins.......... 48 G. L. Jessop (Gloucester­ shire), c Darling, b Cotter 28 A. E. Lawton (Derbyshire), cTrumper,b Hop- not out............................... .40 kins................16 W. W. Odell (Leicester­ shire), b Cotter.................. 4 C. Robson (Hampshire), b Cotter ....................... ... 1 W. Brearley (Lancashire), c Kellv, b Armstrong ... 11 B 12, lb 1, nb 1...............14 B 1, w 1 ... 2 Total ....................156 Total (3 wkts) 129 A ustralians . First innings. Second innings. O. M. Ii. W. O. M. R. W. Beldam ......... 8 2 28 0 ........... 41 3 207 4 Brearley .......... 22 4 87 5 .......... 37 5 141 4 Odell................. 24 1 82 2 ........... 15 2 57 1 Grace................. 3 0 16 0 ........... Jessop ..........19 2 45 3 .......... 15 1 65 1 Lawton .......... 4 0 31 0 Beldam and Odell each bowled a wide and Brearley two no-balls. G enti . kmen op E ngland . First innnings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Cotter .......... 17 3 47 4 ........... Armstrong ... 23 5 48 3 .......... Hopkins .......... 9 1 36 1............ 17 2 54 2 Noble .......... 3 0 11 0 .......... McLeod ..........18 1 73 1 Armstrong delivered a no-ball and Hopkins a wide. SURREY v. ESSEX. Played at the Oval on May 4, 5 and 6. Surrey won by 185 runs. On the first day of this match the wicket was so much in favour of the bowlers that each side com­ pleted an innings, Surrey having an advantage of 15 runs. A good start was made for Surrey by Hayward and Hobbs, and Holland played excellent cricket. But when Buckenham once began to make headway he dismissed the tail one after the other in a summary manner. Reeves bowled very steadily and well, but Young seems to have lost his old skill. Essex began badly by losing Kane for a duck’s egg, and although seven men in the team made double figures none of them ever looked like making a long stay at the wickets. The three Surrey bowlers who were tried all bowled with effect, and Lees, who, as usual, met with discouragements in the way of bad luck, kept up an end for two hours and a-half without ever becoming at all erratic. The wind on Thursday dried the wicket so much that when play was resumed on the following morning bowlera could make the ball do very little. From the first ball that he received until the end of a stay at the wickets of three hours Hobbs, the new Surrey player, was quite master of the situation. It was hoped by Surrey men that he would prove good enough to take the place, of Abel in the team before long, but it is pretty evident that he is never likely to be another Abel, for he does not seem to be at ail