Cricket 1908

6 8 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 16 , 19 0 8 . SOME CHAPTERS OP AUSTRA ­ L IAN CR ICKET HISTORY. B y J. N. P e n te lo w . S outh A u stralia v . V icto ria . (Continued from page 55.) S ou th A ustralia v . A u stralia . The return was a great game, South Australia, though minus her all-round champion, playing an uphill fight with pluck and perseverance. For a start Charles McLeod (32) and Worrall made 81 for the first wicket of Victoria. Worrall, who hit up 79 in 100 minutes, and Trumble (43) added 57 for the second. McMichael (97) and Harry Trott (68) added 129 in 84 minutes for the fifth. At the end of the first day the score was 320 for five. Then rain affected the w icket; but in spite of that Stuckey played finely for 52 not ou t; and the total reached 428. If the tail- enders had got out sooner the visitors would not have made so many runs. Stuckey had helped to tide over the worst stage of the w icket; and Darling (34) and Lyons (64) made 101 before they were parted, for the fourth match in succession sharing a three-figure partnership for the first wicket. Lyons had a bit of luck ; in fact, the Victorian catching—or attempted catching—was singularly poor. Clem Hill did not need the leniency of the field, how­ ever. His splendid 135, made in a little over 55 hours, was chanceless. Evans (28) helped him to put on 77 for the seventh wicket; and Jones and he had a partner­ ship of 90 for the eighth. The fast bowler hit magnificently for his 66, the same total that he had reached in the 20th match, and his best against Victoria. The wicket had now receovered; but Jones bowled finely, and young Victor Hugo chipped in with a very useful performance, and Vic­ toria fell for 112. With only 147 wanted to win, South Australia’s chance looked an odds-on one. But Trumble and Roche bowled in deadly fashion ; the field backed them up in a manner that presented the strongest contrast to the bungling of the first innings; only Fred Jarvis, who hit out for 31, and Clem Hill, who played very steadily for 29, could do anything; and Victoria won by the narrow margin of 26, in a match in which over 1,000 runs were scored. George Giffen’s presence would probably have reversed the result. Perhaps not, though. For George was there in the first match of 1898-9, at Ade­ laide. He was there, but his bowling was not even thereabouts. Two wickets for 176 was his record for the game. Victoria, with first innings for the ninth time in succession, had 400 up with only 5 wickets down, and totalled 507. Giller and Wor­ rall added 166 to the second wicket, Giller and Graham 83 for the third, Stuckey and Laver 68 for the fifth, Stuckey and Peter McAlister (his first appearance for Victoria in any match) 63 for the ninth. There were three centuries in the innings. Giller (116) was a solid rock of defence for 5I hours; Stuckey took two hours less over his 134, and Worrall three hours less over his 104. Graham’s 51 were made in 70 minutes. None of these was chanceless; but the smaller .scores of Laver and McAlister (36 and 21) were so. South Australia replied with 331, Clem Hill being top-sawyer with 86, made in about twice as many minutes; Jones made 42, and Lyons, JReedman, and Chinner (a debutant) 38 each, the last-named not out. Trumble bowled magnificently, and had 8 wickets for 129. Victoria’s second innings was only noteworthy for a two hours’ innings of 73 without a chance by Bruce, who sel­ dom did himself full justice against the Wheatfielders. Wanting 394 to win the home side went down with an awful slump before Giller’s accurate trundling. The South Melbourne man had 7 for 51 ; and South Australia lost by nearly 300 runs. Darling was absent owing to a family bereavement. The return match of the 1898-9 season was a very one-sided affair. Victoria batted first on a perfect wicket. The first half-dozen batsmen performed only moder­ ately ; but No. 7, Frank Laver, played out the rest of the innings, making 137, and had splendid support from Bruce (52), WTarne (63) and Trumble (70). The total was 455. Then rain spoiled the wicket; Trumble and Charles McLeod had a bean­ feast ; Darling (62 in the first innings) and Hill (27 and 33) alone did anything much ; and .South Australia went under by an in­ nings and 218. Fred Hack made his first appearance against Victoria in this match. There was some big scoring on both sides in the first game of the season 1899- 1900, at Adelaide ; but Victoria had all the best of the deal. Harry Graham scored an aggregate of 160 in the match, Harry Stuckey 126, Robert McLeod 105, Peter McAlister 70, S. McMichael 67, Hugh Trumble 52, and D. Sutherland 50. On the beaten side Hack totalled 148, Reed­ man 60, and Hill 55. Giffen was absent hurt in their second innings, having made 39 in the first, and taken 9 wickets for 246 in Victoria’s two ventures. The analysis looks nothing great; but the other bowlers took only 10 wickets among them for more than twice as many runs. Collins bowled exceptionally well in S.A.’s first, varying pace and pitch with fine judgment. Graham’s first innings of 118, though marred by three chances, was a really at­ tractive display. He batted 2 hrs. 50 min. Hack’s 115, lasting about 4 hrs., was every bit as good in its way. Though nearly 1,300 runs were scored in the match there was only one three-figure partnership, Graham and Trumble adding 102 for the fourth wicket in Victoria’s first. Warwick Armstrong made his first appearance against South Australia, and shaped well for 32 not out in the first innings, though his form then hardly promised such great things as he has since done. The return at Melbourne was a very similar game. Victoria again had first innings—the twelfth time in succession !— and were more or less on top throughout, finishing up with a victory by 181 runs. Their scoring was very level, too. In the match Graham made 99, Trumble 95, Wor­ rall 79, McAlister 77, McMichael 73 and Laver 65. Clem Hill’s play was the out­ standing feature on the other side. His second innings of 126 not out occupied just under 3^ hours ; and he gave only one diffi­ cult chance. Hack (37) helped him to add i i i runs for the second wicket; but the nine other batsmen made only 58 among them. In the first innings, Fred Jarvis was top scorer with an excellent 66 ; Hack made 54, and Darling 40. John Victor Saunders made his debut for the home side in the series; and his left-handed trundling had no small share in the result. Reedman bowled in really good form for the losers. In the Adelaide match of 1900-1, South Australia at long last secured first innings ; but nevertheless the home side lost the match by eight wickets. A wretched start was made, six wickets being down for 65 ; but then Matthews, making his debut, played the pluckiest of cricket for 79, and Arthur Jarvis, who had made few big scores for years past, did some fine cutting in his 67 not out, and helped him to add 121 for the ninth wicket in an innings that totalled only 267. McAlister (62) and Graham (47) added 92 for Victoria’s second wicket; but six were down for 172, and a big score hardly looked likely. At this point Charles ’McLeod joined Armstrong, and the pair put on just 100 before “ Lightning ” left for 52. C. H. Ross, the wicket-keeper, was next; and he stayed until Armstrong left, after scoring a faultless 118 in 2§ hours. The two added 130 for the eighth wicket 5 and Ross carried his bat to the end for 67, curiously, the same score made by the rival stumper, the total being 403. South Aus­ tralia’s second innings was only noteworthy for a fine stand by Hill (70) and Ernest Leak (46), who added 102 for the second wicket. After they had been parted Collins and Saunders created a slump, and Victoria won with ease. The “ cabbage-gardeners ” put the re­ turn to their credit even more easily, although on a rain-spoiled pitch the fine bowling of Travers (9 for 30) sent them to the right-about for 76 at the outset. South Australia did a little better with 107, thanks in the main to Hill’s 46. Then, with the pitch all right again, Victoria ran up 446. Graham made 120 in just over 2§ hours, a good and attrac­ tive, but not a chanceless innings; Arm­ strong ran up 102 in 2 hours 25 minutes ; McMichael made 76 and McAlister 74. There were three long stands. The board showed 157 before the first wicket went down, Graham and McMichael being the batsmen ; Graham and Armstrong added 77 for the second wicket, and Armstrong and McAlister 99 for the third. Dashing innings of 43 in as many minutes by Dick ” Bailey and 40 in 45 minutes by Hill were the best features of the match’s last innings, in which Saunders (5 for 38) proved very deadly. There was only one match in 1901-2, owing to the presence of MacLaren’s Eng­ lish team in the colonies, and that one was played at Melbourne, as were the single fixtures of two years later and of the season just ending, the arrangement being that the visiting side should take a third of the receipts. Lyons had now retired; Darling had gone sheep-farming in Tasmania; George Giffen found him­ self unable to play in away matches ; and altogether South Australia was somewhat weak, though there were young ones com­ ing on who were soon to fill some of the gaps. The 410 with which the visit­ ing side led off in the 32nd match was almost entirely the work of four men, Hack (n o), Hill (95), Fred Jarvis (80), and Leak (68), scoring 353 among them. Hack and Hill added 156 for the second wicket, and Jarvis and Leak about a hun­ dred for the fifth. Hack’s n o took 4 hours 20 minutes, and showed him as a defensive player of great ability. Hill’s 95 occupied just half as long. Jarvis made his 80 in 85 minutes, by fine hitting with only one chance. Leak took four mortal hours for his 68, at one period batting an hour for 4. The great feature of Victoria’s reply was the partnership of 150 for the seventh wicket by Stuckey and Laver. I he left-hander made his 130