CRICKET CHAT.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9763, 26 June 1897, Page 3

CRICKET CHAT.

«* Weekly Press and Referee."

Dark Bun.] W. Mendelson, the ex-New Zealaoder scored 25 for Jesus College against Selwyn College at Cambridge on May 3rd. On the following day playing for his college against Uriel, College Oxford, .on the ground of the latter, Mendelson scored 49 before beine bowled. On May 13th Mendelson scored 110 for Jesus College against Magdalene College, *"« ue then stumped. Jesus made 302 for seven wickets against 100 by their opponents. Surrey and Essex played a drawn game at the Oval on May 10th, 11th and 12th. Scores :—Essex 316 (McGahey 94, Pen-in 63 and A. P. Lucas 59 not out) and 244 for eight wickets—innings declared closed — (Lucas 57 not out, Fane 46 and Carpenter 39) ; Surrey 199 (Hayward 66 and Key 37) and 269 for seven wicket* (Abel 95, H. B. Chinnery 46 and W. W. P*ead 45). Bull bowled best for Essex, taking nine wickets for 93 runs in the first innings. On the same days Lancashire beat Derbyshire, at Derby, by an innings a,nd 220 runs. Scores :—Derby, 127 and 73;' Lancashire, 420 (Ward 162. Paul 65, S. M. TendaU 38, and Tvldesdale 35.) Mold and Hallam divided the bowling Jhonours for the victors. The season was opened at Cambridge on May 6th, when the Seniors match was played, the sides being captained by G. H. Simpson and E. Garnett, the latter's winning by ten wickets. Scores :—Simpson's team, 176 and 238 (J. H. Stogdon 100 and Simpson 64); Garnett's team, 409 (H. H. B. Hawkins 91, E. A. Kidman 70, E. B. Worthington 63, and E. Garnett 54), and 7 for no wicket. | On May 10th and following days the Cantabs played against C. I. Thornton's team, and they won by 334 runs. Scores : — Cambridge, 169 (Stogdon 40) and 385— innings declared closed—(N. F. Druce 227 not out, H. H. Marriott 73, Jessop 37, and Stogdon 31); C. I. Thornton's team 132 (Lilley 37 not out) and 88. Jessop and Shine bowled well for the winners. j The season opened at Lord's on May sth and 6th, when Nottingham defeated a fairly strong team representing the Marylebone Club and Ground by 43 runs. Scores:— Notts 112 and 101; .M.C.C. and Ground 106 (Storer 40) and 64. Dench, a colt, and Attewell bowled best for the winners, and 'Martin and J. T. Hearne for the losers. On May 10th and two following days M.C.C. and Ground met and defeated Yorkshire at Lord's by seven wickets. Scores :— Yorkshire 274 (Moorhouse 78 and Brown and Tunnicliffe 54 each) and 217 (Lord Hawke 63 not out and Tunnicliffe 34) ; M.ti.C. 266 r,(Martin 71 and C. P. Foley 42) and 229 for three wickets (P. F. Warner 108 not out, A. E. Trott 62 and C. W. Wright 33). J. T. Hearne bowled best for the winners, and Wainwright was the most successful trundler for Yorkshire. Commenting on the above match a writer in Cricket says .-—Roche, the young Melbourne bowler, did not meet with any success to Bpeak of in his first match in England— M.C.C. v. Yorkshire—but as he had only been in the country a few days, this was hardly to be expected. At the same time it would seem almost too much to hope that he will turn out to be another Spofforth or Turner, for although he gained very great credit on one or two occasions during the past Australian season, he was not considered a phenomenon. But he is young, and may find that wickets in England suit him to a nicety; at any rate, he is certain to have a thorough trial. The Gloucestershire Colts match, which was played at Bristol on May 3rd and 4th, was chiefly remarkable for the batting of W. G. Grace junior, who scored 80, and the bowling of C. L. Townsend, who took twenty-six wickets for 71 runs during the game, which was easily won by the eleven. Surrey beat Leicestershire at the Oval on May 3rd and 4th by an innings and 285 rnnsJ Scores :—Surrey 560 (Abel 144, Hayward 130, Key 66, Read 62 and H. D. LevesonGower 53); Leicestershire 197 (Tomline 70) ' and 78. Richardson and Hayward divided the bowling honours for the winners. Any idea of George Lohmann's return to resume his place in the Surrey eleven seems now ,*to have been given up by those who ought to know (says Cricket). Presumably he has made up his mind to settle permanently in South Africa, and there seems, to be little chance that he will be seen again on Englsih ground, at least in firstclass cricket. By the way, mention of South Africa recalls the fact that A. B. Tancred, acknowledged to be the best batsman South African cricket has produced, is over in England at the present time. "J.N.P.," who writes those readable articles "Between the Innings" in Cricket, a few weeks ago asked his readers if they could supply him with the scores of the match between New Zealand and Queensland, which waa played last season. A Mr J. H. Ferguson forwarded the score, and commenting on the game " J.N.P. " writes: —I am afraid it is somewhat out of date for inclusion in Cricket now; but, as it is undoubtedly a gonuine intercolonial game, and, as I believe, that both colonies will be found playing a much more important part in Australasian cricket during the next few years than of old, I wanted it to place among my own records of the game. The island colony won in really fine style by 182 runs, outplaying their opponents from Bananaland throughout. ... A. B. Williams, who played an innings of 73 against the Australian team, was not included in the side, nor was Fisher, the left-hand bowler, of whom the tourist formed so high an opinion. Baker scored 40 in his second innings against the Aus* tralians; and A. E. Ridley, who made 9 and 30 v. Queensland, also performed well against the stronger side with 23 and 20. I am lumping these two/ matches together (though that against the Australians cannot be considered as first-class, since the home team played fifteen men), because they are undoubtedly the most important matches played in the colony for some time past. It is to bo honed that Mr Stoddard's next team will visit Jsew Zealand, for the cricket there would seem to have improved a,good deal since the last visit of an English team— Shrewsbury's, nearly ten years ago. ; Nottinghamshire opened their season auspiciously at Trent Bridge ground by defeating Sussex by an innings and 74 runs, after declaring their innings closed when they had only lost seven wickets. Scores :— Sussex, 255 (Brann 66 and Murdoch 44) and 119; Notts, 448 for seven wickets(J. A. Dixon 268 not out, Shrewsbury 56, and Dench 44). Dixon's score is the record for the ground. Attewell bowled well for the winners. Some heavy scoring was witnessed in most of the first-class matches commenced in England on May 13th, but we shall have to wait for the results of the various contests until the next English mail arrives. Surrey made 602 against Warwickshire, who replied with 153 and 24 for no wicket. For the former Abel contributed 250, thus beating •is previous best in a first-class match by 19, while Key made 110 not out, LevesonGower 81 and Hayward 57. Yorkshire made 494 against Gloucestershire, who only scored 155 (W. G. Grace 55 and Hale 47 not out) and 84 for three wickets. For Yorkshire, Hirst made 134, Wainwright 100, Brown 72 and Jackson 68. We learnt by cable that Ranjitainhji scored 260 and Murdoch 51 for Sussex against M.C.C. and Ground. The pair became associated with the score at 88 for two wickets, and 173 were added to the score before the old Australian captain was stumped. The Indian was out with the total at 376> and he took just over four hours to make his 260, which included two hard chances in the slips. Sussex scored 418, and the club responded with 266 and 201 for five wickets*. At ?oxford in the Freshmen's match F. E. Cunliffe's side scored 439 (C. E. Wright 100) against 179 for six wickets by G. R. Bardswell's side. O'Halloran and A. E. Trotfc, the Australians, played for M.C.C. and Ground against Wiltshire at Swindon on May 14th, and the former scored 20, but O'Halloron made a bad start, being bowled before he had scored. The latter, however, took four wickets. Lord Hawke's English team played their fourteenth match of their West Indian tour at Georgetown on April Ist and two following days, when they defeated British Guiana by nine wickets. Scores:—British Guiana 146 (E. F. Wright 44) and 174 (A. B. Clarke 36 and G. C. Learmond 33) ; Lord Hawke'* team 279 (Bardswell 71, Bromley-Davenport--53 and Whatman 43) and 42 for one wicket. Bromley-Davenport bowled best for the winners. The final match of the tour was commenced on April 12th, when British Guiana was met for a third time, and it was to have been con*

tinned on t;he two following days, but rain fell and put a stop to farther play. . On the first day the home team scored 120 and Lord Hawke's team made 74 for no wickets (Warner 49 not out). WickhamandßromleyDavenport bowled-best for the visitors. The batting averages of the tour were headed by P. F. Warner, who, I understand, is a cousin of the old Cliftonian, R. Warner, who used to represent Ashley county. The former had hard luck in not reaching his thousand runs, as he only wanted 16 more runs, and had rain not stopped the final match he would probably have gained the distinction. His figures were 23 innings, 3 not outs, 984 rnns, average 51-76 per innings. He topped tbe century ffcur times. LevesonGower is second with 449 runs and an average 29*35, and Bards well third with 5-0 runs and an average of 2888, Lord. Hawke with 358 runs and an average of 2337 being the only other to average over 20. In bowling Bromley-Davenport is first with 42 wickets at a cost oE 11-07 each, Heseltine being next with 43 wickets at a cost of 1310 each, Leveson, Gower being close behind with 46 wickets at a cost of 13*52 each.

A South Canterbury correspondent kindly forwards mc a clipping containing a century made last season which I had missed. Exchanges often go astray and I presume the paper containing the match under notice must have done so. The Temuka Club pJayed their final match on " All Fool's Day," sides being chosen by Messrs E. C. Dann and E. Brown, and Fanthorpe, playing for the latter, contributed 101 and then retired. This brings the list of centuries for the season up to 79. The Surrey colts who went up to Kennington Oval for practice this season included A. Batt and A. Ball. Oddly enough (says Cricket) A. Ball comes from Battersea. Cricket of April 29th contained the batting averages of English batsmen who have played against Australians in England. The leading figures are :— I.—For fifty or more matches Not Highest Mtchs. Inns. out. Runs. Avg. score. W. G. Grace.. 73 123 7 3984 34.3 170 W. W. Read.. 51 85 1 1991 24.5 117 G. Ulyett ..51 82 2 1235 16.0 79 11-—For forty or more matches. W. Gunn ..46 75 9 2077 31.4 2?Ji A. Shrewsbury 43 69 7 1703 27.4 164 W. Barnes ..45 66 2 1346 21.0 105* J. Briggs ..43 70 8 844 13.6 55 lll.—Foi- thirty or more matches. A. G. Steel ... 34 54 4 1392 27.8 148 R. Abel ..31 55 3 1381 25.5 141 J. M. Read .. 38 67 4 1465 23.3 186 R. G.Barlow.. 33 57 6 1091 21.3 113 i W. Flowers ..39 59 5 1073 19.8 130* G. A.Lotamann 35 49 5 684 15.5 62 R. Peel ..37 58 8 766 15.3 73 IV.—For twenty or more matches. A. E. Steddart 22 38 3 1118 31.9 127 V.—For ten or more matches. K.Kanjitsinhji 10 16 2 635 45.3 154 F. S. Jackson 14 23 1 847 38.5 103 An English writer, on the subject of runouts, says :—" Some time back, while at work on statistics of matches between English and Australian elevens, I made out a table of the way in which the leading Australian batsmen were out. I have just turned this up, and see that Blackham heads the list of run outs with 16 in 380 complete innings, or about one in 24. This is not the biggest proportion, however. Harry Boyle was run out 12 times in 180 innings—just one in 15. Trott has had 15 run-outs in 275 innings—about one in 18. I don't think it fair to assume, however, that anyone of these three was necessarily a bad judge of a run. For one thing I can answer, all three of them were great-hearted, unselfish players who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their side, and I can recall Boyle's letting himself be run out to save Murdoch's wicket, and genial Trott giving up his own innings to in order that George Giffen's might not be ended. Graham and Gregory are well-knownr examplars of the art of bustling the field. Yet Graham has never been run out in a match against English players, though he has had 88 innings ; and Gregory has only three times been out in this manner in the course of close upon 200 innings, which is, I think some proof of my contention that running a la Hornby is not so dangerous as it looks; but that the chief danger lies in vacillation. Both Graham and Gregory are very quick between wickets; they understand each other welL And four years ago ago they more than once quite demoralised the field by their sharp running."