Cricket 1909

84 CR ICK ET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A pr il 29, 1909. The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The Evolution of a Cricket Bat , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. CRICKET IlMrHOVEO MAKE-KEEP THEIR SHAPE'L AS LONGERt CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. B U S # E Y ’S 8 r_DEMON DR IVERS 7 ^ - 6 ARE OUT AND OUT THE B ES T. f Q OTHER GRADES 7 -6 -S '~ CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co., L td ., 36 & 38, Queen Victoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK, Agents all over the world. AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. By F. S. A s h l e y -C o o p b r . In view of the tour of the Australians through England this year, a glance at what has been accomplished in the long series of Test matches between the two countries may be considered of interest. When the teams led by “ Surrey” Stephenson and George Parr went out, in 1861-2 and 1863-4 respect­ ively, they found the Australian standard of play so poor that, in order to make the games at all interesting, tbe visitors were obliged to play against eighteens and twenty- twos. Then an improvement gradually took place, as is evident from the fact that when W.G.’s ” team went out in 1873-4 they were beaten by eighteens both of New South Wales and Victoria. These successes caused the game in the Colonies to increase greatly in popularity, and between the time of the departure of “ W.G.’s ” team and the arrival of Lillywhite’s in 1876-7 a veritable race of cricketing giants had sprung up, amongst whom Charles Bannerrnan, Horan, Spolforih, Midwinter, Blackham, Murdoch, and Kendall were shining lights. Cricket had indeedmade rapid strides. New South Wales, with fifteen men, beat Lillywhite’s men by thirteen wickets, and the result gave them so much confidence that they challenged the tourists to play on even terms. The resulting match was commenced on January 15th, 1877, and was left drawn in favour of the Englishmen. This was the first even-handed match ever played between English and Australian sides. Two months later Australia put a representative eleven into the field against thte visitors at Melbourne, and, as the result of a very noteworthy game, the Englishmen were beaten by 45 runs. The defeated side was composed entirely of professionals, whilst the team representing Australia was drawn from New South Wales and Victoria, South Australia not being at that time a power in the world of cricket. The match was a veritable triumph for Charles Bannerman, who scored 165 before being compelled to retire on account of severe damage to a finger from a ball bowled by Ulyett. He made his runs—the first century ever scored for an Australian side against an English Eleven—off the bowling of Shaw, Hill, Emmett, Ulyett, Southerton and Lillywhite, and over-shadowed his companions to such an extent that the next highest score was only 17. So delighted were the populace at his success that a collection made for him realised £165. In the return match, also played at Melbourne, England won by four wickets, despite Australia’s second total of 259. Early in 1878 it became known that, as the result of the bold front shown in the two games mentioned with the Englishmen, a team from Australia was about to visit us. Most cricketers over here had by that time forgotten the great struggles of the previous year, and anticipated easy victories for the home sides. Although the visitors did not meet the full strength of England, they made history by dismissing a very strong team of the M.C.C. for totals of 33 and 19, Spofforth taking ten wickets for 20 runs and Boyle nine for 17. The match was completed in a single day, the Australians, by their wonderful victory by nine wickets, creating quite a furore. Everywhere they went crowds flocked to see them play, the result being that the receipts were so large that a net profit of £750 was made by each man.* Lord Harris’ team, in meeting the full strength of Australia at Melbourne early in 1879, had to acknowledge defeat by fcenwickets. This fact, and the recollect­ ion of the fine form shown in the previous year by the Australians, caused their visit to this country in 1880 to be looked forward to with a great deal of interest. Their one match against England, at the Oval in Sep­ tember, will long be remembered, not only because it was the first match of its kind ever played in this country, but on account of the superb up-hill fight by the Australians. They had to take the field without Spofforth, their best bowler, and go in against a total of 420. When their first innings closed for 149 the match seemed over. In the follow- on, however, Murdoch, without giving a chance, carried out his bat for 153, exceed­ ing “ W. G.’s ” big score for England by 1 run. Murdoch’s innings cannot be too highly praised, for it was made at a most critical time against our best bowling. In obtaining the necessary 57 runs England lost as many as five wickets, Australia fighting bravely to the last. If was during the first innings of the Australians that G. F. Grace made his memorable catch, one hundred and fifteen yards from the wicket, from a skier hit by Bonnor. These matches, having once been played both in England and Australia, became very popular, and were soon looked upon as the most interesting games of the season. There is no need to allude to them in detail in such a rapid review as this, and especially as Mr. Arrowsmith, of Bristol, has included a capital book on the matches in his three-and-six- penny series. For the time being, therefore, the following table, showing the result of the Test-matches season by season, will suffice:— Season Captain. a rn C3 o 'bo Won bj Austral! Drawn Total. 1876-7 J. Lillywhite, jun. 1 1 0 2 1878-9 Lord Harris ........... 0 1 0 1 1880 W. L. Murdoch 1 0 0 1 1881-2 A. S h a w .................. 0 2 2 4 1882 W. L. Murdoch 0 1 0 1 1S82-3 Hon. Ivo Bligh 2 2 0 4 1884 W. L. Murdoch 1 0 2 3 1884-5 A. Shrewsbury 3 2 0 1886 H. J. H. Scott 3 0 0 3 1S86-7 A. Shrewsbury 2 0 0 2 1887-Sf W. W. Read ........... 1 0 0 1 1888 P. S. McDonnell ... 2 1 0 3 1890§ W. L. Murdoch 2 0 0 2 1891-2 W. G. Grace ........... 1 2 0 3 1893 J. McC. Blackham 1 0 2 3 1894-5 A. E. Stoddart 3 2 0 5 1896 G. H. S. Trott 2 1 0 3 1897-8 A. E. Stoddart ... 1 4 0 5 1899 J. Darling ........... 0 1 4 5 1901-2 A. C. MacLaren ... 1 4 0 1902 J. Darling ........... 1 2 2 5 1903-4 P. F. W arner........... 3 2 0 5 1905 J. Darling ........... 2 0 3 5 1907-8 A. O. Jones ........... 1 4 0 5 Totals ................... 34 32 15 SI In glancing through the scores of the matches one cannot fail to be struck by the fact that, compared with former times, Australia now possesses no hitters of note. Can it be that on the perfect wickets of Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne, where, irrespective of time, matches are played to a finish, batsmen have found it pay better in the long run to adopt slower and safer * The profits made by Australian teams which have visited England have often being very large, e.g.. each member of the 1902' team* cleared over £900, of that of 1878 £750, of the 1896 and 1899 sides over £700, and of the 1882 team about £550. t The England side was drawn from Shrewsbury’s and G. F. Vernon’s teams, both of which toured Australia during 1887-8. § The match at Manchester, abandoned without a ball being bowled, is not included in the summary.