James Lillywhte's Cricketers' Annual 1884

8 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S ' A N N U A L. each innings , a performance which speaks for itself . The sudden downfall of two or three of the best wickets seemed to have paralysed the play of the succeeding batsmen, and Macdonnell , Giffen , and Bonnor fell to successive balls , thus earning Bates the right to a hat, which was duly presented to him, in commemoration of this most remarkable feat. Murdoch, who played with extraordinary caution , carried his bat out for 19, out of a total for the com- pleted innings of 114. The second innings of the Australians was noticeable from the fact that no less than eight scored double figures , though the total reached but 153 , the aggregate of the two innings still falling short by 27 runs of the single innings of the English . Bonnor, whocame in evidently determined not to be again caught by our adventurous " silly mid-on," made, in the course of his innings of 35, some tremendous hits , one of which hit the palings in front of the pavilion with a force which made that obstacle shake again . Bates waswell backed up in the bowling by Barlow and Barnes , who bowled steadily , and kept the runs down; and our fielding throughout , including this time, wonderful to relate , the catching , was very close and good. The attendance , possibly through the anticipated easy victory of the Australians , was very muchsmaller than before , hardly half as manybeing estimated to be present in the three days. "Nothingsucceeds like success " proved in this instance a true maxim, for while the papers were loud in our praises , they proceeded to administer to our luckless opponents a lecture of crushing severity on the badness of their training , and their uncricket -like preference for the pleasures of picnics , parties , etc. accusations as fanciful as the writers w h om a d et h e m. " W h i l ethe English fasted at home," so said one writer , " the Australians were to be seen drinking champagne in the bush "- asomewhat exaggerated method of de- scribing the fact , that whereas our eleven had been compelled to refuse giving up one of their only two days' practice to a picnic , kindly organised on their behalf, the Australians , who had been on the spot during the whole fortnight that w e were away, had, to their supposed cost , gladly accepted so pleasant a w a yof obtaining a day's rest fromcricket . Fourteenth match (v. Murdoch's Eleven) , Sydney, January 27, 28, 30, and 31. After the unexpected result of the last match the greatest excitement prevailed as to the issue of this the decisive match of the three . The lucky coin did the trick again , and gave us the advantage of first innings , on so fast and true a wicket , that our first innings of 247 was not enough to makeour minds at all easy with regard to the result ; and this total would have been considerably less but for the splendid form shown by Tylecote and Read, these two putting on no less than 115 during their partnership . Rain falling during the night made the match look all in our favour , but, unluckily , it continued to fall in showers at intervals during the whole day, and our bowlers had to bowl with a wet ball on a cutting -through wicket-result , one wicket only downfor 133, a state of things which, for all our bowlers ' dis- advantages , did Murdoch, Giffen , and Bannerman the greatest credit . Our catching , was, as usual , contemptible . On Monday, in spite of more heavy rain , the ground , which drains wonderfully quick , was ready for play by eleven o'clock . After an hour's usage, however,the wicket became caked and difficult , andwith the exception that Bannermanincreased his score by fine and plucky cricket to no less than 94, the innings showed no remarkable features . With the unfortunate dilemma of two sticky wickets to choose from (two wickets having been arranged for the match by agreement ) our second innings , though it began fairly well , fell away sadly towards the end, the wicket being cut up at both ends by Spofforth's heels to such an extent that Horanbecame an un- playable bowler ; perhaps , if we would, we could say no more than that . A total of 123 left our opponents 153 to win, and opinions were numerous and varied as to whether the batsmen or the sticky wicket would be more effective . These doubts were soon set at rest by the fine bowling of Morley and Barlow, who, bowling throughout , succeeded in dismissing the Australians for 82, 26 of which came from the timely bat of Blackham, whose play under difficult con- ditions is so well known. So ended this well-fought match, the last of the