Cricket 1908

38 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M arch 26, 1908 Martin played-on with 9 added—at 290—and 6 later Dodds was caught off Braund. At 290 Burn’s fine innings came to a close. He hit two 5’s and fourteen 4’s in making 112 out of 247 in two hundred and twenty minutes, and, apart from a chance to Young at the wicket off Blythe when 97, made no mistake. He showed strong defence, and cut and drove in capital style. Richardson was bowled without a run at 302, and after Forster and Paton had added 15 without being separated, rain came down and caused the match to be abandoned shortly after 5 o’clock, when Tasmania, with only two wickets in hand, were still 25 runs behind. Score and analysis:— E ngland . F. L. Fane, c Martin, b Eady ...................02 Hobbs, c Forster, b Paton ...................58 Hayes, lbw, b Eady... 1 K. L. Hutchings, c Hawson, b Paton ... 51 Braund, c Martin, b Richardson ..............14 Hardstaff, c Tabart, b Richardson ............106 Rhodes, c Paton, b Windsor .................119 Gunn (G.), c Eady, b W in d sor.................... 1 R. A. Young, lbw, b E ady.........................20 Blythe, c and b Eady 10 Fielder, not out... Byes, &c. Total ...455 First innings. R. Hawson, c Braund, b Fielder .......................... 0 T. A. Tabart, b Braund ... 11 W. R. Forster, b Fielder ... 0 E. A. Windsor, c Hobbs, b Braund ...........................34 C. J. Eady, c Hayes, b Braund ...........................29 C. Martin, c Fane, b Blythe 0 K. E. Bum, b Braund ... 8 W. Richardson, c Hutch­ ings, b Braund ........... 6 N. Dodds, st Young, Second innings. b Hutchings ... 2 st Young, b Braund ........... 5 not out ........... b Hardstaff ... 2 c Hutchings, b Rhodes ... b Rhodes 66 , 7 ; and b Rhodes...112 b Braund ... Hutchings, 0 Blythe.......................... 6 Braund 4 D. Paton, b Hutchings 7 not out 10 F. Hanson, not out ... 8 Byes, &c.............. . 4 Byes, &c. .. 8 Total .......... .113 Total (8 wkts) 317 E ngland . O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Eady.......... 32 2 4 127 4 Martin ... 4 1 15 0 Windsor ... 27 7 113 2 Hanson ... 6 0 25 0 Paton ... 18 3 58 2 Hawson ... 4 0 18 0 Richardson 13 1 55 2 Tabart ... 4 0 36 0 Fielder... Blythe... Braund Hutchings T asm ania . First innings. O. M. R. W. 7 3 17 2 24 11 34 2 19 5 55 5 1-5 0 3 1 Rhodes Hardstaff Second innings. 31 5 8 1 22 10 4 1 M. R. W. 3 69 6 48 103 48 29 12 14 th M a tc h .— v. VICTORIA. Played at Melbourne on February 1, 3, and 4. England won by 330 runs. The non-representative character of the home side, owing to the duration of the match at Sydney between New South Wales and Victoria, naturally detracted greatly from the interest in the game, and it was not surprising the attendance was small. A good deal of dissatisfaction was caused by the non­ inclusion of Ellis, Stuckey, and J. Horan. This was the return to the match played in mid-November. Jones again played for England, who left out Young, Braund, Fielder, and Rhodes, whilst G. H. S. Trott made a welcome reappearance for the State. The absencc of Tarrant from the Victorian side would have taken place even had he been on the ground ready to play, owing to the Melbourne Club receiving the following cable from the Middlesex C.C.C.:— “ Rule passed forbidding cricketer to play for Colony and English County in the same year. Feeling strong. Please not play Tarrant again for Victoria. Com- pensate if necessary.” England, winning the toss, went in first and were opposed by Trott (slow leg- breaks) and Speirs (fast-medium). A t 14 Gunn was lbw, and Hayes, who followed in, batted so brightly but recklessly, that 46 were put on in eighteen minutes before he was caught at mid- off for 30, which included four 4’s. Hutchings did little and at 89 Hobbs, who played a sound and attractive innings, was fourth out for 30, which contained five 4’s and took fifty-seven minutes to compile. Hardstaff and Fane, effected a great improvement by adding 108 for the fifth wicket in sixty-seven minutes ere the latter was c aud b for a featureless 36, which contained four 4’s. The good work was continued by Crawford, who reached 50 jn forty minutes and cla’med 69 of the 103 runs added for the sixth wicket in fifty minutes. He drove with great power, hitting a dozen 4’s and a 6 —the latter, a straight drive off Laver, smashing a chair in the grand stand. Jones failed to reach double figures, and at 327 Hardstaff offered an easy catch to cover-point, which was accepted. The Notts player scored 122 out of 247 in one hundred and fifty-five minutes, hitting a 6 (to long-on off Trott) and thirteen 4’s. He reached 50 in seventy minutes, punishing Fry (slow) for four 4’s in an over, and completed 100 in an hour and three- quarters, but was not seen at his best for when 30 he was missed by Speirs in the slips off Trott, when 78 by Hazlitt in the same place—a difficult ch an ce- off Laver, and when 100 by Delves at mid-off off Hazlitt. During the two hundred and twenty-five minutes the innings lasted Trott bowled with fine judgment, keeping a good length and taking half the wickets for 116 runs. Against Barnes and Blythe the home side lost a couple of wickets ere the end of the day for 28, Trott being bowled at 5 and Carroll meeting with a similar fate eight runs later. The batting of the Victorians calls for no detailed description, the whole side being disposed of in just over a couple of hours for 77. The most remunerative partner­ ships’were 18 by Vaughan and Healy for the third wicket and 13 by the latter and Fry for the fifth. Barnes and Blythe bowled well on the good wicket, especially the former, who had four short-legs and two deep-legs when delivering round the wicket. Although leading by 261, Jones, in view of the approaching Test match, decided to let his men have some batting practice in preference to calling upon the home side to follow-on. A capital start was made by Hobbs and Gunn, who sent 50 up in thirty-eight minutes, and 100 in seventy-four. The Surrey man scored the faster of the two, but when 44 was missed at point by Laver off Trott; he reached 50 in seventy minutes, and a little later made a fine straight drive out of the ground off Speirs for 6. When 118 had been scored in eighty- three minutes Gunn was caught at mid-on for a stylish innings of 48, which contained three 4’s. Hayes made only 7, but, with Hutchings in, the total was advanced at a fine pace, the pair putting on 71 for the third wicket in twenty-nine minutes. Hutchings, who claimed 51 of the number, hit eight 4’s and was caught at mid-on. With Hardstaff in, Hobbs reached three figures in two hours and a- quarter, but at 237 was caught at mid-off for an attractive and accurate innings of 115, which lasted 145 minutes and contained the 6mentioned above and thirteen 4’s. Four runs later the innings was declared closed, leaving Victoria 503 to win. In the remain­ ing hour of the day the State made 35 for the loss of Vaughan, who was missed at square-leg by Hobbs off Barnes when 7, and bowled by that bowler when 15, at 21. For some time on the third morning the Victorian batting was a repetition of that in their first innings, Woodford being dismissed at 35, and Healy and Delves at 43. Carroll and Trott, by cricket which was at times rather slow, added 54 for the fifth wicket before the latter played-on, but with a single added Fry succumbed to Crawford. Carroll played a good game and added 24 for the seventh wicket with Rush, who was out to a fine left-handed catch at point, and 49 for the eighth with Laver. He hit six 4’s in making 61 out of 128in one hundred and fifteen minutes and was out to a fine catch at short-leg. He was twice missed —each time by Barnes—at mid-on off Hayes when 13 and at point off Crawford when 55. Baines again bowled admirably. The takings during the three days amounted to £253 13s. Score and analysis:— F. Laver, c Hardstaff, b Barnes ........................... G. Hazlitt, lbw, b Barnes... N. L. Speirs, c Hobbs, b Blythe...................................10 J. R. Woodford, not out ... 4 Leg-bye ................... 1 c Hobbs, b Barnes 20 c Jones, b Barnes 0 not out .......... 1 c Jones, b Barnes 13 Leg-byes ... 7 Total ... ...........77 Total.......... 172 E ngland . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Speirs ......... 11 3 49 0 . . ... 7 2 23 0 T rott... ...........25 1 116 5 . . ... 8 0 39 0 Hazlitt ... ... 20 3 84 1 . . ... 10 1 49 0 Fry ... ........... 5 0 33 0 . . ... 4 1 12 0 Laver... ...........14 3 38 3 . . ... 12 4 48 1 Carroll .......... 6 1 11 1 . . ... 11 0 62 3 V ictoria . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Barnes ...........21 10 32 5 .. ... 21-5 13 85 5 Blythe ...........19-2 5 41 4 .. ... 20 6 52 2 Crawford ... 1 0 3 0 . . ... 20 4 63 2 Hayes . . ... 3 0 15 0 E ngland . First innings. Hobbs, b Trott ...................30 Gunn (G.), lbw, b Trott ... 7 Hayes, c Delves, b Trott ... 30 K. L. Hutchings, c Carroll, b H a z litt.......................... 12 Hardstaff, c Fry, b Laver...122 F. L. Fane, c and b Laver .. 36 J. N. Crawford, c Delves, b Carroll..................................69 A. O. Jones, c Vaughan, b L a v e r .................................. 9 Barnes, .not out .................. 7 Humphries, c Fry, b Trott 7 Blythe, c Delves, b Trott... 2 B 5, lb 2 ................... 7 Second innings, c Delves, b LaverllS c Laver, b Carroll US* b Carroll ........... 7 c Laver, b Carroll 51 not out., not out... B 6, lb 2 Total •Innings declared closed. V ictoria . First innings. F. Vaughan, b Barnes ... 16 G. H. S. Trott, b Blythe ... 4 E. V. Carroll, b Blythe ... 6 G. Healy, c Gunn, b Blythe 14 F. Delves, c Fane, b Barnes 4 H. Fry, c Crawford,b Barnes 8 T. Rush, run out.................. 0 338 Total (4 wkts)*241 Second innings. b Barnes ...........15 b Blythe .......... 30 c Jones, b Barnes 61 ’ ” 11 4 1 b Blythe run out .......... b Crawford.......... c Barnes, b Craw, fo r d .................. 15 th M a t c h .— v . AUSTRALIA. (F o u r t h T e s t.) Played at Melbourne on February 7, 8 , 10 , and 11 . Australia won by 308 runs. Of the three previous Test matches Australia had won two and England one, and therefore the result of the present match, deciding as it would the rubber, was looked forward to with the greatest interest. It may be mentioned that the gross takings of the three matches mentioned had been £8,819. Jones played in his first Test match of the tour, those who stood down from the England side being Fane, Young, Blythe, and Hayes. Except that Hartigan was unable to appear, owing to business reasons, S. E. Gregory being included in his stead, the Australian team was identical with that which played at Adelaide. The home side won the toss and went in first in splendid weather on a perfect wicket, Noble and Trumper being opposed by Fielder and Barnes. Only a single had been scored when Trumper was caught at slip without a run, and at 13 Hill was bowled by Barnes. These two disasters naturally caused tho Australians to play a cautious game, the result being that at the end of an hour the total was only 40. Braund and Crawford took up the attack, and McAlister, when 13, gave a hard chance off the first-named to Jones at short-leg. |Rhodes, Fielder, Barnes, and Crawford bowled in turn, the result being that at 89 Noble, who had hit four 4’s, was bowled by tho amateur for a sound innings of 48 made out of 89 in one hundred and thirteen minutes. With Gregory in the 100 went up two hours and a quarter from the start, but with 3 added McAlister, who made some good late cuts and hit three 4’s, was out to a fine catch at slip for 37 made out of 89 in one hundred and seven minutes. Two runs later Gregory was out to an easy catch at point, and upon his dismissal Englaud had got 5 wickets down for 105. The temperature was then 99*25 in the shade. Ransford, upon joining Armstrong, put some life into the game and, despite several bowling changes, made 50 in eighty-four minutes. Altogether, he scored 51 of the 91 added with Armstrong for the sixth wicket in an hour and a half, making some superb off-strokes; he hit six 4’s, aud was out to a clever catch at slip. A t the same total—196—the seventh wicket fell, Armstrong, who had batted one hundred and forty minutes for 32, being bowled by Crawford. He had played a slow game which was featureless save for a big hit for 6 to long-on off Braund. Macartncy batted twenty-five minutes for 12, but no one elso reached double figures, the innings, after lasting two hundred and seventy-five minutes, closing for 2 1 4 -a small total taking the excellence of the wicket into consideration. Barnes and Fielder maintained a fine length, and Crawford changed his pace and disguised his slow ball well. The fielding was of a high standard throughout, the Englishmen evidently being determined to make a very great effort to win the game, and thereby save the rubber—for the time being at least. Before play ceased Gunn and Hobbs made !*, all credited to the latter, without loss. During the day the attendance amounted to 9,928, and the takings to £364. During the night rain descended heavily, the consequence being that the wicket was ruined. It was cruel luck for the Englishmen, who had accomplished a very great feat the day before in dis- posing of their powerful opponents for 214 on a perfect pitch. Play could not be resumed until twenty minutes past two, when the over-night not outs were faced by Macartney and Saunders. Hobbs forced the game admirably, and quickly out-distanced his partner, who was missed by McAlister in the