James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1886

1 2 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. ground in such density that several times the batsmen and fieldsmen laid down flat till it passed over to avoid being almost suffocated . The knowing ones foretold that this meantrain, and they were correct , as before daybreakon Sunday it fell in torrents , and continued during the greater part of the day. O nvisiting the ground in the evening it was found to be flooded ; but although morerain fell during the night , the weather cleared at daybreak, and a strong wind, with sunshine , quickly dried the ground. A start was madeat noon, but it w a s soon evident that the bowlers would have the best of it, the ball breaking and getting up dreadfully . In spite of this Barnes added 48 before he was yorked out by Palmer. Scotton raised his score to 82, when he was finely stumped. Double figures by Bates , Flowers , Read, and Attewell advanced the English score to 369. After luncheon the wicket , which had dried very rapidly , was again good. M.Donnell once more hit in rare form for 83, and it seemed certain that he would a second time reach a century , when a misunder- standing between Giffen and him resulted in his being run out. Murdoch failed as in the first innings , but Giffen played up so well that the total at the close of the day was 152 for four wickets , Giffen being not out 43. Rain again fell during the night , and what little chance the Australians had was soon settled on Tuesday. The remaining wickets fell for 39 runs, Bannerman, who wassuffering from aninjured finger , being unable to bat. Withonly 66 to get to win, and the ground rapidly drying , it was any odds on England. Although Flowers and Scotton were quickly out by two smart catches , Shrewsbury and Barnes soon madethe required number, and wonthe match by eight wickets a few minutes after one o'clock . The Englishmen were, of course , greatly pleased at their decisive victory , which was all the more creditable as they certainly had the worst of the wicket . Very little cause was allowed Murdoch for any complaint , the South Australian arrangements being well-nigh perfect . I nthe afternoon, before the matchcommenced, however, whenit wasimpossible to get competent menfrom Melbourne , he objected to any of the Englishmen standing umpire, and wheninformed it was hardly likely two good mencould be found in Adelaide , still persisted in his objection . Consequently some bad decisions were given by one m a n; in fact , he seemed to go by contraries , as generally when out he gave menin, and vice versa , though , it must be said , his favours were pretty equally distributed . Thereturn to Melbourne was very unpleasant owing to a bad passage , and most of the two teams, who went in the same boat, were very sea-sick . O n reaching the capital of Victoria we found G. F. Hearne, from Lord's , and Henderson, of Surrey , had arrived , having been seventy -two days sailing from Plymouth. W ealso found, with deep regret , that our old friend and landlord , Mr. Harry Edwards, was dead and buried . Alfred Shaw, whohad been left in Melbourne, followed his remains to their last resting -place . Thenext match was against twenty-two of Maryboro', a mining townabout 140 miles from Melbourne. The wicket was far from good, and the match ended in a draw all in favour of England. Shrewsbury , Briggs , and Barnes w e r echief scorers. & Thefollowing fixture was quite sensational , and was at Sandhurst , against eighteen of the Bendigo district . After the eighteen had been disposed of for 8 2, the eleven commencedwhatproved a remarkable innings. Scotton and Shrewsbury at starting were very slow in scoring , but on Scotton retiring , Ulyett madematters very lively , 114 for two wickets being the state of the gameon the cessation of play. O nthe next day runs came at the rate of over 100 an hour throughout , four-and-a-quarter hours' batting realising 462 runs . Bates by some wonderful hitting made107 in seventy -two minutes ; Ulyett, 75 in one hour; Flowers and Briggs scored 92 and 98 respectively with great rapidity , the latter being not out with Attewell , thirty -seven . All this , though, wasbeaten by Barnes , who scored 109 ; the total when the match was left drawnbeing 576 for six wickets , the highest score ever madeby any English eleveninAustralia. Avery tedious journey from Sandhurst to Ballarat followed . Several hours