James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1884

29 hospitably welcomed. We soon got to work at the practice nets, and improved so much on our Adelaide form that we were installed favourites for the forthcoming match against Victoria; the latter, it was known, would be by no means a representative team, owing to the refusal of the Victoi'ian contingent in Mr. Murdoch’s Eleven to play ; but some thought that Mr. Cooper (who is similar in his style of bowling to Mr. R. C. Ramsay of Cambridge Eleven, 1882) -would prove dangerous to a team who had not quite got rid of their sea legs. ENGLAND v. VICTORIA. F riday , N ovember 17.—Mr. Bligh was still unable to play, and Mr. Tylecote again won the toss and elected to go in. Mi*. G. B. Studd I was bowled off his pads for a single, but Bates and Barlow raised the | score to 72, when the former retired for a splendidly hit 48. Mr. C. T. Studd followed, and the score travelled quickly on to 134, when Cooper proved fatal to Barlow ; the three next wickets fell in rapid succession, but Messi's. Studd and Tylecote caused the bowling to be changed frequently before the former was clean bowled by M'Shane for 56—an invaluable contribution. The 200 was hoisted soon after Mr. Leslie’s appearance; but, without further addition to the score, Mr. Tylecote was stumped off a cui’ly one. By some vigorous hitting Messrs. Vernon and. Leslie raised the score to 257—Cooper’s bowling coming in for some well-merited punishment—when Mr. Vernon was clean bowled. Morley stayed while the score was carried to 273 and was then bowled, Mr. Leslie carrying out his bat for 51. The Victorians lost 2 wickets for 16 ere stumps were drawn. S econd D ay , N ovember 19.—The Victorian team soon collapsed foi; 104, the chief incidents of the innings being the steady defence of Rosser, the hard hitting of Messrs. Kelly and Turner, and the success of Mr. I Read’s lobs. On following their innings they did better, and, when stumps were drawn, had scored 121 for 7 wickets. T hird D ay , N ovember 20.—Thanks to the fine hitting of Bruce, a young left-handed batsman, the Victorians managed to avert a single innings defeat. Mr. G. B. Studd and Barlow went in to get the required single, and, the first ball going to the boundary for 4 byes, we won the match by ] 0 wickets. From the first two matches it was apparent that neither in Melbourne nor Adelaide was there anyone to fill the place of the colonial represen­ tatives in Murdoch’s team. M'Shane and Bruce are two good left- handed bowlers; and Cooper, who has the faculty of breaking a ball two or three feet on an iron wicket, is liable to get good batsmen out before they are in. Score, and analysis :__ Barlow, b Cooper G. B. Studd, b Cooper Bate* c Swift, b M'Shane... 9* 5/ Studd, b M'Shane A. G. Steel, b Cooper... )V. W. Read, b Edwards •• •• •• ••• •• •• ••• •• 44 1 48 56 2 1 E. F. S. Tylecote, st Turner, b Cooper C. F. H. Leslie, not out r»« ••• ••• G. F. Vernon, b Scott Morley, b Bruce............... Extras I I I • • • I M •• I I I •• M l Barnes, c and b Cooper 1 Total .............. . ••• ••• 2 In the second innings Barlow scored (not out) 0, Mr. G. B, Studd (not out) 0, bj 4 ; total 4.