Cricket 1908

54 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l g, 190 &. SOM E C H A P T E R S OF A U S T R A ­ L I A N C R I C K E T H IS T O R Y . B y J. X . P e n t e l o w . S o uth A u st r a lia v . V ic to r ia . ( Continu'd//om page AT.) The game of 1885-6 (No. 7) was another closely-contested one, with South Australia winning by a comparatively small margin. George Giffen’s all-round form in this match was immense. A scoie of 20 to start with, then nine wickets for 91, next a second innings of 82, and, to finish up with, eight wickets for 110! N«w men for the home side were C. G. Godfrey (who, with 38 and 80, scored more than the crack), a man who might have won real fame in the cricket-field but for the claims of business, and a far greater player who did win real fame, John James Lyons, whose first essays of 29 and 23 were by no means unpromising. John Mcllwraith, Jem Phillips (who bowled well), John William Trumble, C. H. Ross and R. Houston, all appeared for Victoria in the series for the first time ; and so did a far greater than any of these, George Henry Stevens Trott, whose 54 not out and 21, four wickets for ‘26 and three for 95, represented much the best all­ round work done for Victoria. He was only 18 then. Giffen and Godfrey added 139 for the fourth wicket in South Australia’s second. William Midwinter (59 for once out, and six wickets for 48), Sam Morris (24 and 25, and nine for 80), P. G. McSbane (39 and 49), and John Mcllwraith (72 in the second inn­ ings, when he made 63 of the first 90 scored) were the prominent performers for the winners in the eighth match, which Victoria Avon pretty easily. Godfrey, with 40 and 13, was highest aggregate scorer for S.A., as he had been a year earlier with bigger figures. George Giifen failed as a batsman, but, though unwell, did splendid work with the ball. Worrall made his debut against S.A. in this game. The ninth match, at Adelaide, with the visitors represented somewhat weakly, is memorable only for George Giffen’s wonder­ ful all-round form. First he took eight wickets for 65, John Mcllwraith, with 88 , m akiD g more runs than the other ten men on the side. Then he scored a splendid 166, Godfrey (52) and Noel (47) being his best supporters, and finished up with six for 60. South Australia’s 407 vas the first 400 aggregate in the series. John Reedman, who for many years did yeoman service for S. A., made his first appearance in the game, going in last, and failing to score. George Giffen, 135, 19, and thirteen wickets for 159. Next best batsmanfor S.A.,Reedman, 43 and 17. No other bowler took more than one wicket. Such was the 1888-9 match from a South Australian point of view. It ended in a win for Victoria by 14 runs under very queer conditions. With eight wickets down in their second innings, the home side looked hopelessly beaten. Then Wigley missed an easy catch ; Tom lloran (53 not out) and J. E. Barrett (39) made a determined stand ; Giffen agreed to play on after time in order that the match might be finished early the next day ; wickets fell fast before Bruce, Drysdale and Phillips, and the result was as stated. A muddle, altogether. The next match was a worse muddle, though. W roigly given out by the umpire —let it be said, without hesitation, that the decision was not only wrong, but absurd— George Giffen absolutely refusod to go, and added 76 runs to his score, which then stood at nine only, before Hugh Trumble (a notable debutant in this match, Robert McLeod being another, and, on the other side, Fred Jarvis a third) bowled him. Haldane (70), who played a very fine innings, helped him to add 108 for the fourth wicket. In the second innings Lyons actually made 134 of 227 from the bat, hitting magnificently. The winners’ batting (for, as was certainly for the best under the peculiar circumstances, Victoria did win the match, though only by 18 runs) was far more level. In the two innings Harry Trott had an aggregate of 108, Sam Morris made 86 , Drysdale 75, and J. E. Barrett and Blackham 68 each. Hugh Trumble bowled magnificently. Fifteen wickets for 199 was his share ; his coadjutors took 5 for 299 among them ; and Giffen and Reedman, who did the best work for the losers, 15 for 328 between them. Such figures have an eloquence of their own. Very different was Trumble’s experience in the next match, begun on New Year’s Day, 1891, at Melbourne—one wicket for 104! With 20 and 48, however, the tall bowler made more runs than anyone on his side except Harry Trott (0 and 81) and William Bruce (58 and 13). Houston scored 54 and 8 ; but the rest did little, Blackham achieving a pair. Giffen had twelve wickets for 192 in the match; the men at the other end took five for 204 among them. But greater even than his bowling was the champion’ s batting. For eight and a-half hours he was at the wickets, going in first down and being out ninth, and there was only one chance (at 65) in the whole of his magnificent innings of 237, made out of 407 while he was in. Lyons ran up 53 in 45 minutts. Blinman (50) helped the big scorer to add about a hundred runs for the fifth wicket; and Noel (49) stayed while 119 were put on for the seventh. The Australian champion’s performance in the thirteenth game, at Adelaide, some nine or ten months later, was a curious parallel of what he had done in the twelfth encounter. There he had made 237 and taken twelve wickets for 192 ; now he ran up 271 and took sixteen for 166 ! For two successive appear­ ances against one side this must assuredly be an all-round record—508 runs in two innings, 28 wickets for 358! Lyons and Walter Giffen were the other chief contributors to the total of 562, a new record for these games. George Giffen batted for seven hours, and gave only two chances, at 90 and 155. Lyons also ottered two chances in his finely hit 104. The younger Giffen was damaged by a hard return from his brother when he had made 65 in excellent style, and had to retire hurt. The bowling of Jem Phillips— 60 overs, 156 runs, 6 wickets—was wonder­ fully good. Walters and A. N. A. Bowman, the first two men in, scored 50 and 52 respec­ tively in Victoria’s first; but fewr of the other’ s did much, and, as these two both failed completely in the second innings, Blackham (22 and 31) was the highest aggre­ gate score for the losers in the match. Laver made his debut on this occasion. In 1892-3, with the inauguration of the Sheffield Shield Competition, began the arrangement of home and home matches, since only three times interfered with. There was nothing phenomenal in the game at the turn of the two years played at Melbourne. George Giffen made 32 and 92, and took 8 wicktts for 206 ; but for him such figures were merely ordinary. Dr. Barrett sent in South Australia to bat on a rain-soaked wicket; and his judgment paid. They were all out for 73. But for Percy Lewis, who played splendidly for two hours for 85, Victoria would have fared little better. In the visitors’ second innings, besides Giffen’s 92, there were scores of 66 not out by Arthur Jarvis, 50 by Reedman, and 39 by Hiscock The home side wanted 241 to win, and Harry Trott, Bruce and Trumble went for 40. Worrall (39) helped the dogged Barrett to add 62 ; and then “ the little dasher,” Harry Graham, came ia and rushed up 86 of the remaining 139 requir. d. The Doctor carried his bat for 68 . This was Graham’s first match against S.A., and the second match in which he had played for Victoria. Ernest Jones made his debut for the other side. There was some remarkable cricket in the return, which occupied five days and ran to over 1,200 rnns. Giffen’s share was 43, 181, 9 wickets for 147 and 2 for 68 . He baited 6 J hours with only one chance for the bigger score. Lyons hit well for 72 and 62 ; but Blinman (41 and 18) was the only oth r home batsman who reached an aggregate of 50. Victoria, in their first innings, had seven wickets down for 163 when the late Robert McLeod and Frank Laver came together. These two added 198 for the eighth, each reaching the century. McLeod’s iunings was practically perfect; but he never quite realised the promise of this and the season or two before it. Apart from these twro, Harry Stuckey made 93 in the match, Harry Trott 72, and Jack Harry 64 for once out. Phillips bowled in splendid form, 141 balls for 39 runs, 6 wickets, and 264 for 100 runs, 4 wickets. Victoria’s victory enabled the colony to figure as first holders of the Shield. In the sixteenth match the lowest total was 181, the highest under 300, and there was some good level batting-. George Giffen made 24 and 103, and A. H. Jarvis 51 and 64. Tnese two added 138 while together in the second innings. Frank Walters scored 19 and 95, John Worrall 43 and 58, and in their second innings this piir exactly equalled the stand of Giffen and Jarvis. Joseph Dar­ ling, playing his first game in the series, gave a forecast of future prowess in his good nrst innings of 63 not out, the best individual performance in the first half of the match. Charles McLeod wras a newcomer on the other side, and did good work with the ball, in the first innings especially. Giffen had eight for 160; the other S. A. bowler (six in all) nine for 289. By the winning of this match and the return at Adelaide, South Australia became holders ot‘ the Sheffield Shield for the only time thus far. Toe return was a very similar game. S.A. made 316 and 276, Victoria 222 and 312, and the margin was 58 runs as against 74 at Melbourne. Lyons (21 and 101 ), George Giffen (29 and 89 not out), John Reedman (113 and 27), and Joe Darling (87 and 24) were the big scorers for the winners, the only other double figures being Dyer’s 40 in the first, and Noel’s 17 in the second innings. “ Lightning ” McLeod bowled splendidly and with grc it pertinacity ; his analysis of 72 overs, 128 runs, 9 wickets in a gross total of 573 from tie bat is speaking. Jack Harry (50 and 82), Robert McLeod (16 and 70), Laver (42 and 44), and Stuckey (37 and 27) compared with, but did not balance, the four big scorers on the winning side. Fred Jarvis showed better results with the ball than usual; he never justified Giffen’s high opinion of him, but at the top of his form he was a more than useful fast bowler. But Jones was the man who impressed the critics most. His bowling in the last innings of the game, terrifically fast and a splendid length, settled the late of the match, and won his side the Shield. Victoria had needed 371 to win, and began the last day with only