CRICKET CHAT.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9217, 21 September 1895, Page 4

CRICKET CHAT.

[By Dark Blue.]

" Weekly Press and Referee.

W. Robertson has accepted the offer he received from the Southland Cricket Association, and he leaves Christchurch at: the end of the month.

Last week (writes the Dunedin correspondent of this journal) saw ons of the old landmarks in cricket pass over the border land. W. Hendley, or, as he was familiarly known, " Old Bill," succumbed to an attack of inflammation, brought on through exposure to the recent severe weather. Foi some years, till the time of hia death, he waa engaged by the City Corporation as caretaker of the Southern Oval.- From England he came to the colonie3 in the fifties, landing first in Victoria, where he found time to engage in various up-country cricket matches, and was one of the team who defeated the All England Eleven at Castlemaine. Some years later he came to Otago, where he remained to the time of his death. He represented the province against Canterbury on several occasions, and waa one of the most energetic of its players. For nearly thirty years no match of importance has been played in Dutiedin that has not had Hendley as an onlooker, whau it was possible for him to be present., and no one enjoyed more heartily than he a crack about old times and byegone matche3. He leaves four daughters, all grown up, and a little money for division. On Saturday his remains were followed to the grave by a large number of cricketers and members of the various leading firms of the city.

The Dunediu Club will endeavour to send a team to play at Oamaru, Timaru and Christchurch during the season. Mr W. Maclean has been elected secretary of the club.

Mr H. H. S. White has been appointed Hon. Sec. and Treasurer of the Albiou C.C.,

Dunedin.

The members of the Opoho Club, Dunedin, have chosen Mr L. Gooch as their secretary for the coming season.

Cricketers will doubtless be interested to learn that D. Dtinlop, the old Canterbury cricketer, was married recently in Melbourne. The young lady's name was Miss Scott.

The match between the Gentlemen and Players at the Oval resulted in a draw, although had it been played out the latter would probably have won. Scores :— Gentlemen 320 and 225 (Bainbridge 82, N. F. Drnce 33 and Murdoch 31); Players, 292 and 225 for five wickets (Marlow 100 and Hayward 62). Richardson and Lohmann howled beat for the Playera and Fry for the Gentlemen.

The Eton and Harrow match at Lord's on July 12th and 13th also ended in a draw, the former having a lot the best of the play. Scores:—Eton 260 (H. B. Chlnnery 75) and 253 for nine wickets—innings declared closed (A.. B. Lubbock 66, and Chinnery 64); Harrow 326 (Stogdon 121, and A. S. Ciawley 78), and 75 for nine wicket;*. Piikingtoii and Mitchell bowled best for Ebon, and Dowson for Harrow. During the conteet the latter gave their opponents no less than 65 extras.

The weither in England daring May and June and for the first half of July was so fine that batsmen had the pleasure of playing on fast, true wickets week after week, but from then until the second Saturday in August, the date the last mail to arrive left Home, a good deal of rain was experienced and the bowlers had a chance of improving their figures.

» On July 29th and 30t,h Surrey beat Derby shire at the Oval by an innings and 53 runs, the former scoring 17S (Hayward 50) to 63 and 57 by the losers. Richardson and Lohmann bowled unchanged throughout the two Derbyshire inning*.

On even dates Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets; Lancashire, for whom Tyldesley, a colt, made 152 not out, defeated Warwickshire by an innings and 54 run*; Kent beat Somerset by 117 runs: and Hants defeated Leicestershire by 342 runs, Captain Quiuton contributing 21 and 173 to the winners' totals of 229 and 334 for seven wickets, when the innings was declared closed.

Hampshire followed up their d#feat of Leicestershire by beating Yorkshire at Sheffield on August Ist and 2nd by two wickets. Scores -.—Yorkshire 110 and 111; Hants 127 (A. J. L. Hill 46) and 96 for eight wickets (Hill 49). Soar and Baldwin trundled well for the winner*, as did Peel for the losers.

Lancashire and Derbyshire played a draw on August Ist and two following days, the former making 242 (Baker 73) and 166 (Baker 49) to 291 (TV. Sugg 84 and Davidson 77) and 0 for one wickec. During the contest Davidson completed his thousand runs and took his hundredth wicket, which is a feat which has never before been accomplished -ia the same first-class match, though W. G. Grace and C. T. Studd have each scored upward of a thousand runs and taken more than a hundred wickets Iα a season.

Gloucestershire with totals of 231 (Je&sop 40) and 301 for eight wickets (W. G. Grace 70, Ferris 53, Jessop 50, and Rice 48) beat Warwickshire (165 and 112) by 254 run*. Town send and Jeasop divided the bowling honours for the winners.

The annual Bank Holiday match between Surrey and Notts ab the Oral, on August sth, 6th, and 7th drew a large attendance, bat the game was interfered with by the rain, and it resulted Iα a draw greatly in favour of Surrey. Scores :— Notts, S3 and 60 for six wickets; Surrey. 15S. Richardson and Lohmann bowled wall for Surrey.

The contests en the same daye between Lancashire and Yorkshire, and Middlesex and Somerset, also resulted in drawn games; while Gloucestershire beat Sussex by ten wickets; Derbyshire defeated Hampshire by an innings and 50 rune; and Kent beat Warwick*hire by an iuninge and 15 runs.

Of the twenty batemen who were top of the averages on August l»t only W. G. Drue* and Lilley h»d improved upon their average of June 30th, while Grace's average had fallen from 81.57 per innings to 61.71, Abel's from 69 to 51.51, and N. F. Druce's from 67.36 to 42.52, while most of those lower in the list have also fallen back several points.