CANTERBURY

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 159, 29 January 1864, Page 3

CANTERBURY

GRAND CRICKET MATCH BETWEEN THE ALL-ENGLAND ELEVEN AND TWENTY-TWO OF CANTEEBUEY. [Prom the Press, Jan. I], The long-expected match between the All England Eleven and Canterbury took place on. the sth inst. That Canterbury should be defeated was thought a matter of course, but I am happy to say that her champions have, instead of being defeated, covered themselves with unexpected honor, and may now look forward with confidence to a still more glorious issue if ever they have a second time to pass through such au ordeal. The day fortunately proved brilliantly fine, and the heavy rains of the preceding week had only served to improve the ground, which, thanks to the strenuous exertions of the hon. secretaries of the Canterbury Club, had been got into good order, though it was a little more rough than was desirable. As the All England men could only afford a single day for their visit to Canterbury, and it was wished to play at least a complete innings on both sides, the match was to commence punctually at nine a.ra., but such W'as the zeal of our cricketers that by 8 o’clock the whole 22 were on the ground, which, even then, was crowded ■with spectators. The Grand Stand, erected by Mr. Meshaeh Smith, was filled by ladies, whose elaborate toilets contrasted well with the severe simplicity of the cricketers’ costume, while all round the space marked for the play, the ring of spectators stood a score deep, reminding one of the scene along the ropes on a Derby day. Altogether there could scarcely lime been leoj 20,000 people on the ground. Precisely at a quarter to nine the English Eleven drove up to the pavilion in acarriage-and-four, amid reiterated bursts of cheering from the assembled crowd. It had been intended thatthey should have a kind of triumphal procession, in a car drawn by four white horses, hut as recent experience had shown that this, in all probability, would delay their appearance till late in the afternoon, it was thought better to sacrifice this little attempt at pageantry to the real business of the day. All preliminaries were quickly completed, and Canterbury having won the toss took the first innings, and sent in Messrs. Fitton and Phillips to the bowling of Jackson and Tarrant. Lockyer, of course, was at the wicket, Hayward, longstop, Carpenter, point, Caffyn, cover, Clark, long leg, &c. Mr. Fytton at first seemed hardly prepared for the swift bowling of Jackson ; at the second ball he stepped in and tried to drive it to long field, but failed in his attempt, and was immediately stumped by Lockyer. Mr. Blackstone succeeded him, and played in very good style at the next ball, which, however, he was not quick enough to stop, and the fourth and last in the over shot under his bat and knocked the middle stump out of the ground. Thus the first over was completed, yet Canterbury had only lost two wickets, and their hopes of victory began to rise high. The next over however was rather a damper. At the first hall Mr. Fillips played forward, but the ground being rather rough, the ball flowup and struck him with great force on the head. Luckily he had taken the precaution of firmly closing his eyes and averting his head, or he Would have received severe injury in the face ; as it was he was quite stunned by the blow and obliged to be carried to the pavilion. A consultation was then held and it was determined to send in the the professional players of Canterbury, Messrs. Snip, Richson, and Heavens. But little was gained by this, for the three wickets went down to three successive balls from Tarrant, and Canterbury began to look rather blue. In the next over Fortune still frowned upon them. Mr. Stiffens, one of the cracks of the Twenty-two, was at the wicket, and great things were expected. He appeared perfectly self-confident, and his position and the manner in which he handled his bat showed the practised .player, but Jackson’s bowling was too much for him and his wicket fell before the first ball. Mr. Turner followed, and in trying to make a drive spooned the ball into the bowler’s hands ; however as this was as yet the only ball that had been played in any fashion, whatever, he was greeted with applause on retiring. Mr. H. Watch was still more successful He blocked his first ball dead, a performance which was greeted with loud cheers from all parts of the ground ; the next, however, disturbed his middle stump, and his place was filled by Mr. Landlord. Mr. Lincoln was his partner, and these two magnificent batsmen showed some splendid cricket. Mr. Lincoln stopped two balls from Tarrant in excellent style : the third he drove forwards with such force that had it not been fielded it would have obtained a run, and it was not until the fourth that he was got fid of. Mr. Land-

lord’s play was equally fine. He also stopped two balls from Jackson, and hit another so far to leg that it required some exertion on the part of Clarke to prevent a run being scored, but the fourth ball ; unfortunately, was too good to be kept out of the wicket. Both players were uproariously cheered ; on reaching the pavilion, and prize bats with appropriate inscriptions presented to them by the President of the Canterbury Club. It was now Mr. Barkinson’s turn to display his power as a batsman, and .he, no doubt would have maintained the reputation of his Club had not his in- . nings been cut short by an accident. The first ball from Tarrant struck him on the leg and flew off to a great distance. Mr. Dart, who had succeeded Mr. Landlord, started for the run, but Mr. Barkinson was too much hurt even to stand. He was carried to Dillowry’s where several medical , men were quickly in attendance, and it'was ascertained that his leg had been fractured by the blow, ;of course rendering it quite impossible that he should return to the field. The Canterbury umpire, Mr Beefe, jun., was appealed to, and decided that the bowler had no right to stop a man from getting runs by breaking his leg, and that the' legbye which would have been obtained had Mr. Barkinson, been able to run it out, might have been obtained; thus amid a perfect storm of cheering, a run appeared on the s Canterbury scorebook. It was noticed that one or two of the English Eleven winked at each other on hearing the umpire’s remarks, but they were doubtless getting rather anxious when they found that the Canterbury players meant business and were determined not to throw a single chance away. The accident however, occasioned a delay of half an hour, as after so startling a proof of the severity of the bowling no one seemed inclined to run the risk of a similar misfortune. At last the next player was .•* persuaded to go to the wicket, but his innings was a very short one. In his anxiety to avoid being struck by the ball he placed himself at the extremity of the popping-crease, so that in taking guard he Was forced to bend his body at right angles with his well-padded legs, supporting himself in that position by resting on his bat. The ball, delivered with Tarrant’s usual power, struck the bat right out of nis hands, and losing his [balance, ' he unluckily fell right across the wicket, which of course was given “ out”. Again half an hour’s delay ensued, when a large wheelbarrow was seen approaching the ground, propelled with evident difficulty by a stalwart navvy, and apparently con- ' taining a vast mass of flannel. On coming up to the ! wicket, the navvy, with some assistance, lifted his cargo from the wheelbarrow, and placing it on end, disclosed to the wondering cricketers the next of the twenty-two whose turn it was to take the bat, and who had fortified himself ’ against all possible chance of damage with every guard and pad the Club possessed. The players seemed amazingly tickled at the sight; Tarrant could hardly bowl for laughing, and sent the next two balls almost wide, but the batsman had prepared himself too entirely for the defensive to take advantage of tnem. In the next over Mr. Dart made a good hit from Jackson and started for a run. His partner managed to waddle a step or two beyond the crease, and fell down, where, as he could not get up again without assistance, he was left lying on his back till the ball was thrown in and his bails dislodged, wb<>« ■"■hcolbarrow was put in requisition again to carry him back to the tent. Who this gentleman was I have not been able to ascertain, as no one on the ground could recognize him. This concluded the innings of Canterbury, for though there were still seven names on the list, four of these, it turned out, had left the field, and gone back to Christchurch, while the remaining three positively refused to run the risk of a broken leg by going to the wickets. The Captain of the Canterbury team did all in his power to alter their determination, but finding that his persuasions were utterly unavailing, and unavailing to get any other players to fill the vacant places, he was obliged to inform the English Eleven how matters stood and request ■them to begin their innings. The score of Can- ' terbury stood as follows: —Leg-bye, I; besides this, three men nearly made a run each. An analysis of the bowling shows that Jackson bowled 13 balls for 6 wickets, and Tarrant 12 ■ balls for 4 wickets. The All England Eleven began by sending in Hayward and Caffyn. The hitting of both was worth seeing, but the effect was greatly spoiled by the smallness of the ground. Every other ball was hiit clean out of the enclosure, and the cry of “ lost ball” was heard at frequent intervals. About one o’clock an adjournment to dinner was proposed, in order to give an opportunity to an extra supply of scouts engaged for the occasion to discover a few of the lost balls, as the available stock was nearly exhausted. By that time three hundred runs had been obtained, 114 of which were from “lost balls.” The players accordingly proceeded to a spacious marquee where a really magnificent dinner had been prepared by Mr. Returns, to which ample justice was done. After dinner, the usual loyal toasts having been duly honored, the President proposed the health of the All England Eleven, He spoke briefly on behalf of the Club, of the pleasure they had experienced in seeing this renowned team in Canterbury, and the delight ' with which they had witnessed their magnificent play. Yet he might say that Canterbury had shown that she possessed players not unworthy to contend oven against the picked cricketers of England, and, they had that morning shown such cricket as might have been expected from their indefatigable practice ever since the visit of the , o-^xdrcu uau uccu aiioaigcu. curgo 1 Parr replied in a short speech, in which he, rather shabbily, made no allusion to the play beyond ex:l pressing his regret for the accidents that had oc•VS cfirred, add concluded by thanking the Club for ! their hospitable reception of his Eleven. - The’weather, unfortunately changed in the afternoon, and shortly after dinner was over it became so.manifest that: a regular sou-wester was getting in that all, ideas of resuming play were , abandoned. As neither side had had a complete _ innings the game must be considered drawn. Canterbury, therefore, may justly claim to bo the first , cricket plub in. this hemisphere,'being the only club . that can boast 6f .having .played a drawn game against the,England Eleven.