James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1891

T H ES E V E N T HA U S T R A L I A N T E A M. 2 5 Although several of the memberswere uniformly fast and brilliant , the fielding wasscarcely so good as formerly , andwenoticed morethanonce a lack of thatcohesion that nerve and pluck in playing an uphill game-which was such a markedcharacteristic of Mr. Murdoch's previous combinations . In fact , it is not too muchto say that the match with England at the Oval was lost and w o nowingto the catches droppedb ythe Colonial fieldsmen. It shouldbe borne inmindthat five of the first seven engagements were brilliantly wonby the Australians , and manypeople anticipated for them a highly successful tour . Duringthe month of June they did not win a game though , and this naturally wenta long waytowards turning the tide of public opinion . Yetw edonot thinkthatpropercredit hasbeenaccorded themfor the nine d r a w ngames, six or seven of which were moral victories for them. Thus, against Cambridge University the visitors wanted only 195 runs to win with all ten wickets to fall , after scoring 351 in the first innings ; against Middlesex they were 198 ahead withtwo wickets in hand; against the North of Englandthey were 126 runs on with half their wickets to fall ; they would have put Derbyshire in to get 130 runs on a bowlers ' wicket ; they held a winning advantage over Gloucestershire ; against Cambridge Past andPresent their opponents hadonly two mento go in, andwere 106 in arrear ; they hadthe best of the draw, on paper, with Oxford andCambridge Past and Present ; and in the last matchof the tour, at Man- chester , they were 253 in front with six wickets in hand. It is a pity that some of these drawngamescould not have been played to a definite issue . It is matter for regret , too ,that the fixture -card of the Seventh Australian T e a mcontained no engagement with the Gentlemen of England, owing to the great difficulty of getting together a team representative of the amateur talent of the country. It was hoped, when Mr. Boyle madethe generous offer of giving the whole proceeds of a matchfor the benefit of the Cricketers ' Fund, that a meeting with the Gentlemen might be arranged ; but unfortunately it wasfoundquite too late in the year for anything like agood side to be collected . Consequently the visitors left our shores without having once encountered the amateurs of England. If not successful from a cricketing point of view, it has at least been shownthat one effect of these biennial visits is to steadily increase the cordial feeling existing between the MotherCountry and her Pacific Colonies . Exponents of the grand old game, British and Colonial -born alike , cannot butderive great benefit from this interchange of courtesies ; and whilst holding to the opinion that the full strength of Australia is not yet equal to that of England, wehave no doubt that the promoters of the next Australian Team will have taken to heart the lesson of 1890 , and will send home a band of cricketers better fitted all round to try conclusions with our strongest elevens . T h em e m b e r sof thet e a mw e r eas follow:- WILLIAMLLOYD MURDOCH(Captain ), N e wSouth Wales. Born at Sand- hurst , Victoria , October 18, 1855 . JOHN MCCARTHYBLACKHAM, Victoria . Born at Fitzroy , near Melbourne, M a y11, 1855. 1 8 6 1. SAMUELPERCY JONES, N e wSouth Wales. Born at Sydney, August 1, CHARLES THOMASBIASS TURNER, N e wSouth Wales. Born at Bathurst , N e wSouth Wales, November16, 1862 . JOHNJAMES LYONS, South Australia . Born at Gawler, South Australia , M a y21, 1863 . GEORGEHENRYSTEVENS TROTT, Victoria . Born at Collingwood , near Melbourne, August 5, 1866 . JOHNJAMES FERRIS, N e wSouth Wales. Bornat Sydney, M a y21, 1867 . FRANCIS HENRYWALTERS, Victoria . Born February 9, 1860 . 1