James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1885

33 five on the second day, for a score of 551—the highest total ever obtained in a match between E ngland and A ustralia . It is a curious fact that each of the four tours of A ustralian cricketers in E ngland lias produced one specially sensational game. In 1878 we had the remarkable victory over the M.U.C., when the;reputation of A ustralian bowling was established in a single afternoon ; in 1880, the famous up-hill fight at the Oval, when the second A ustralian Eleven followed on against a balance of 271 runs, and yet in the end only lost by five wickets ; in 1882 the great victory over E ngland by seven runs; and lastly, in 1884, this tremendous score ot 551, After their crowning achievement the A ustralians last summer were seen to high advantage, gaining easy victories over G loucestershire , C ambridge P ast and P resent , the S outh of E ngland -(twice), and the Z ingari . Still the last part of the, trip did not pass off- without disaster, a crushing defeat being suffered at the bands of the N orth of E ngland , The last weeks of their tour, as already stated, saw the A ustralians at their best, perhaps the only man in the regular eleven who had obviously had too much cricket being P almer . Before describing the various matches of the most important cricket tour ever undertaken, I must express a decided opinion that Englishmen had no reason to feel ashamed of the play shown by their own men. Of course, there were serious disappointments, as in the E ngland match at. Manchester, and the C ambridge match at Brighton, but as a set-off we had many brilliant successes. We have, unfortunately, only space to print the scores of the ten leading matches. • ' . 1st Inns. 2nd Inns. . Total. May 12, Australians 212 — 212 Sheffield Park. Lord Sheffield’s Eleven 86 120 2u6 . Australians won by an innings anil Gruns. Lord Sheffield got together a good eleven to oppose the Australians, but a left-handed bowler was sadly needed. From first to last the Colonists had matters all their own way. The Englishmen won the toss, and went in-on a beautiful wicker, but, with the exception of Shrewsbury, who scored 39, no one could do anything .against the bowling of Palmer, ami Giffen. For the Australians, Bannerman-played second W. G. Grace 30, but, on the whole, the batting was little better than before. Palmer and Giffen bowled unchanged throughout both innings, the former taking 10 wickets for 72 runs, and the latter 10 for 121 runs. The fielding was exceedingly smart, the catch by which Midwinter disposed of Ulyett at third man being one of the best of the season. Altogether, the first appearance of the Australians was a most promising one. It was certainly a pity, after the great, trouble taken by Lord Sheffield, that the inatch should not have produced a better contest. * a | j '* « • * , | t . . lf-tlune. 2nd Inns. Total. Australians ■» jp . • 148 1G8 81b Oxford University' iff 209 110 • . 819 Oxford University won by 7 wickets. [ . A most unexpected result, but one u p on which the O x o n ^1 to be most heartily congratulated. fi hough i t c a n n o t be said that,the better side won, no credit must be taken from Oxford, who played a •plendidly keen and spirited game throughout. Ihe great secret o f the 3 {Jl X OiIUUv^I cllivi uniCJLl, MVJl VUV/ xiUOVicwiwuPj amuiuvh litvu capital innings of 94,.though he gave several hard chances. In the r ! innings of Lord* Sheffield’s Eleven, Barnes, scored 34, and Mr. May 15, Oxford.