Cricket 1911

28 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F e b . 2 3 , 1 9 1 1 . OBITUARY. E arl C awdor . The Rt. Hon. Frederick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, third Earl Cawdor, was born on February 13th. 1847, and died on the 8th inst., after a long illness. He had a very striking political career, and rendered excellent ser­ vice as a railway administrator. He was President of the M.C.C. in 1908. H. G raham . The news of Harry Graham’s death, which was cabled from Wellington, N .Z., early in the present month, must have been to all his friends good rather than bad tidings. To the man who has been slowly dying for years, “ going at the top first,” Jike the great Dean Swift and Robert Southey, death comes as a happy release. But one cannot help but sorrow when one thinks of “ the little dasher,” as Tom Horan named him, as he was in 1893, good-looking, bright­ faced, clean-limbed, grand bat, and splendid field, seeming then embarked on a fair course, with flags flying and all sails set, and then reflect on the shipwreck that he, or circumstances too strong for him, made of his life. Harry Graham was born at Carlton, Mel­ bourne, on November 29th, 1870, educated at Barwick Grammar School under a head­ master who was himself a keen and able cricketer, played for South Melbourne first eleven when twenty years of age, and was only twenty-two when he came over here first. It was in 1892-3 that he first played for Victoria. He started with 30, hit wicket, v. New South Wales at Melbourne, and followed this up with a splendid 86 not out v. South Australia, playing George Giffen’s bowl­ ing with rare skill and confidence. With only two big matches to his record, he was chosen a member of the Eighth Australian Team, and the cavillers at his inclusion were silenced at his batting for 39 and 65 against New South Wales at Sydney, when, though Bruce made more runs, the youngster shaped better than any other batsman on either side. In England he was a success from the very outset. No variety of bowling seemed to come amiss to him. In his first fourteen innings he totalled 457 runs, including such figures as 67, 64, 59, 55 and 48. For a brief space thereafter he did little, but found his best form again in the match with the North at Manchester, when he and Gregory, the two boys of the side, fairly won the game by their partnership of 94 in 70 minutes at a critical period. Each scored 46. “ The little dasher ” followed this innings with a great 219 v. Derbyshire, making his runs in less than four hours by the most attractive batting. But his most meritorious feat of the tour was done a fortnight later. England had scored 334 at Lord’s. Alec Bannerman, Lyons, George Giffen, Harry Trott and Robert McLeod were all out, with only 75 on the board, when Graham joined Gregory. They added 142 runs in 100 minutes, and, though neither played faultlessly, it would be hard to praise their partnership too highly. Graham’s score was 107, Gregory’s 57. The best performances credited to Graham during the rest of the tour were 83 against the Univer­ sities Past and Present at Portsmouth, when he and Alec Bannerman made 136 for the fifth wicket in a record innings of 843, and 95, free and faultless, against Mr. C. I. Thornton’s Eleven (including Peel, Richard­ son and Lockwood) at Scarborough. In the brief American tour which followed he met with no success. His 68 in the second innings v. N. S. W. at Melbourne in the Christmas Inter-colonial of 1893 was the highest score in the match for his side, as was his 45 in the second of the return at Sydney. He did not play in either match against South Australia. In the following season his health was not of the best, and he was absent from the Vic­ torian team against England and South Australia. But a capital score of 61 against N. S.W. at Sydney earned him a place in the fourth Test match of the rubber, and in it he played the innings of his life. Harry Trott left at two, Bruce at 15, Moses at 26, Giffen, then joined by Graham, without another run scored. The wicket was a regular gluepot one. Gregory and Iredale both departed at 51. Darling, the resolute, joined Graham, made 31, and helped in a seventh wicket partnership of 58. Albert Trott followed, and he and Graham, slamming hard, added 112. Then Graham was stumped for 105. He had been missed at 37 (by Brock- well), at 53 (by Briggs) and at 87 (by Brock- well again), but for all this his innings, under such conditions, was one of the most remarkable in the whole series of Test matches. He did well throughout the season of 1895-6, and was included in the Ninth Australian Team for England quite as a matter of course. Illness kept him out of the side throughout May. He began operations with 38 and 28 v. Oxford University, but thereafter could do nothing right for some time. A beautiful 96 v. Notts., in an innings where Darling was the only other man to reach twenty, was followed by 67 (highest score again) v. York­ shire at Bradford. A little later came 66 v. Hants. ; but the only other success recorded to him through the rest of the tour was a total of 84 (60 and 24 not out) v. Sussex at Hove. He figured no higher than ninth in the batting averages. Again he did nothing of any note in America, and he was also a failure in the team’s short New Zealand tour ; but he showed something of the old verve and freedom in httting up 83 v. Fifteen of Tasmania at Hobart. The seasons 1896-7 and 1897-8 down under were poor in their results for him, as far as first-class cricket was concerned, and he was not even spoken of for the Test matches of the latter campaign. But in 1898-9 he came again, spurred, doubtless, by his desire for a third trip to England. He was not chosen, however, and his dis­ appointment was intense and unconcealed. But he did not hoist the white flag, and it is doubtful whether he ever played better cricket than in the season of 1899-1900, when he totalled 487 in ten innings in first- class cricket. In February he went on tour with a Melbourne C.C. team, including Hugh Trumble, in New Zealand, and did well in practically every match, scoring 67 v. Auckland, 63 v. Wellington, 169 v. Canterbury, 42 v. Otago, and 32 v. All New Zealand. Once or twice his leg-break bowling met with some success, too. The season of 1900-1 wras another good one for him, but soon after he seems to have made up his mind that he would never be given a chance to play for Australia again, for in 1901-2, after making the highest aggregate for Victoria in a small-scoring match against Mr. MacLaren’s English team, and scoring 37 and 14 against South Aus­ tralia at Melbourne, he accepted an offer to join a surveying party in the Gippsland district, and was lost to cricket for the rest of the season. Then came his last season in Australian cricket, and it saw him at almost the top of his form. Highest aggregate scores, with 32 and 36, on a bad wicket—in the first innings especially—in the Christmas match with N.S.W. at Melbourne, he hit up 101 against Queensland at Brisbane a few weeks later, made 59 and 45 v. South Australia at Adelaide, and in his last match for Victoria played in his best style for 38 and 92 against the English team which had visited New Zealand. At one time Graham had intended to go in for dentistry, and I believe he put in some time studying. But he gave up the notion, and seems to have drifted somewhat aim­ lessly, waiting, Micawber-like, for something to turn up. Something turned up during 1903 in the shape of an engagement to coach the High School boys at Dunedin, Otago. He went to New Zealand, stayed there, and died there, a long death, for it must be some three or four years now since he was first spoken of as a hopeless case. It cannot be said that in the Dominion he ever did any­ thing to equal his Australian performances, but he was consistent as a run-getter and bowled his leg-breaks successfully on several occasions. Then he lost his berth, became a victim to melancholia, had to be taken to an asylum, and there lingered for many months more dead than alive, and waiting for the Great Umpire’s call of time. Poor Harry Graham ! He had his faults, like the rest of us, but he made many friends, and they will think of him at his best and regret the sad end of one of the keenest and finest cricketers who ever wore Australian colors. GRAHAM’S PERFORMANCES IN FIRST-CLASS CRICKET. Times Most not in an Total Inns. out. inns. Runs. Aver. In Australia, 1892-3 ... 7 2 86* 262 52-40 In England, 1893 ... 53 3 219 1435 28-70 In America, 1893 ... 4 0 25 30 7 50 I 11 Australia, 1S93-4 to 1895-0 ............. 25 0 105 091 27-64 In England, 1S90 ...32 2 96 547 18-23 In America, 1S90 ... 3 0 5 5 1*00 I 11 Australia, 1896-7 to 1899-1900 .............. 38 1 124 1081 29"21 I 11 New Zealand, 1899- 1900 ............... 0 0 109 373 02*10 I 11 Australia, 1900-1 to 1902-8 ............... 23 1 120 842 38*27 In New Zealand, 1903-4 to 1906-7 .............. 29 0 86 OSS 23-72 Total ...220 9 219 5954 2.S-21 * Signifies not out. Included here are all Graham’s scores in eleven-a side matches in England, regardless of pedantic distinctions as to the precise status of Derbyshire or Warwickshire in 1893, and also the runs he made for the Melbourne Club team against the New Zealand provinces, and those made for Otago and New Zealand after he had settled at Dunedin. GRAHAM’S FIRST-CLASS CENTURIES. 219 Eight Aust. Team v. Derbyshire, Derby, 1893. 109 Melbourne C.C. Team v. Canterbury, Christ­ church, 1899-00. 124 Victoria v. New South Wales, Sydney, 1898-9. 120 Victoria v. South Australia, Melbourne, 1900-1. 118 Victoria v. South Australia, Adelaide, 1899-00. 107 Australia v. England, Lord’s, 1893. 10-5 Australia v. England, Sydney, 1894-5. 103 Victoria v. New South Wales, Melbourne, 1895-0. 101 Victoria v. Queensland, Brisbane, 1902-3.