AUSTRALIAN OARSMEN AND CRICKETERS IN ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7773, 20 October 1886, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN OARSMEN AND CRICKETERS IN ENGLAND.

The international sculling SWEEPSTAKES. [from our own correspondent.] London, September 9. Australia has worthily redeemed her reputation for aquatics, which was beginning to suffer by the poor performances on the river of Mattereon and Kemp; for in the Great International Sculling Sweepstakes, which were rowed last week, Australia gained all the honours, and William Beach certainly astonished the natives as they had never been astonished before. The races com* menced on Monday, August 30, and were rowed on the Thames on courses varied according to the tide, between Wandsworth and Kew. The total amount of the prizes was £1975, together with receipts from the steamboats, the winner of the first heat reoeiving the handsome sum of £1200, with a share of the steamboat money. The competitors were William Beach, of Sydney; Neil Matterson, also of Sydney; George Lee and John Teemer, both of the United States, the latter being a victor over Hanlan; Wallace Rose, of Canada ; George Perkins, of Rotherhithe : and George Bα bear, of Hammersmith. The contest was spread over three days, and was witnessed by greater crowds than we. are even accuetomed to see on the occasion of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. Perhaps! the weather may have had something to do with this, for the race was rowed in three daya of the most splendid sunshine we have ever had. Three heats were rowed on the first day, and George Bubear, who drew a bye, had a row over alone, for which he received the nice little sum of £112 and a fourth part of the steamboat money. The first heat was between Neil Matterson and Wallace Ross. Betting was very heavy upon the latter, for his style of sculling had been much appreciated by the Putney critics, and he was looked upon as a probable victor over Beach. But Ross's conduct requires a good deal of explanation. After a very close race, when he appeared to have completely run Matterson down, he stopped euddenly, and allowed the Sydney " boy " to get in front of him, a lead which the Australian kept up to the winning post. Ross attributes his sudden breakdown to sunstroke. The second heat, between Jno. Toemer and George Perkins, resulted in a victory for the American, though Perkins pushed him very gamely, and compelled him to row his hardest the whole distance. The third heat was Bubear'e row over ; and the fourth was between Beach and Lee. The American, before the race vpae half-over, found himself boatsn, and evidently determined if he could not win himself to prevent his opponent doing so, for he made a most deliberate foul of Beach's boat. Indeed, the fouling all through the contest was very marked, and it has to be confessed that our American cousins distinguished themselves in this respect. On the second day there were two heats, one between Btaoh and Bubear and the other between Matterson and Teemer. In the former, one greatly regrets to have to say, the Englishman fouled the champion, and then tried to lay the blame of the occurrence on Beach, bat his pretension was promptly overruled by the umpire. The race ended in an easy victory for the Sydney man. Mattereon, however, in his heat with Teemer, was completely beaten by the American. The third day's racing consisted only of a final heat between Beach and Teemer, and herein the champion of the world excelled himself. From first to last he led the way and rowed over the Thames championship course in the quickest time on record, affording the spectators the finest display of sculling ever before witnessed on the Thames. Teemer, although a splendid oarsman, nowhere seemed able to come near him, and Beach had the race in his hands from the time they started until he passed the winning post, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of the spectators who crowded both banks of the river. Looking at the matter from a pecuniary point of view Beach must have made what city men call a " good thing" out ot this International Sweepstakes. Besides the £1200 which was the first prize, he will receive one-fourth of the steamboat money for the first day, half of the second, and the whole of the third, The betting amongst the Anglo-Australian community was very heavy, and, thanks to Wallace Rose's strange conduct, they have no reason to repent of the support they have accoded to their men. Those who steadily backed Beach all the way through were of course well rewarded for their pains, and Matterson won one race unexpectedly for his supporters. Some very good stories are current in Anglo-Australian circles as to "pots" that have been made : " Barney" Thompson is credited with having landed four or five " thou' " and "Robin Hood," who may be knowu to Australasian readers in the literary spirit, if not in the physical flesh, is reported to have cleared some £900 by the three days' racing. After the contest was over a telegram was received from Hanlan offering to row Beach for £2000 either here or in America. To this Beach telegraphed in reply that he had waited all summer for Hanlan, but without result, and that he was only going to row two more matches in England. But he was quite prepared to meet either Hanlan or anyone else on the Parramatta River, in New South Walee, for £500 aside or more. When Hanlan's challenge first became known a strong hope was expressed that it would be taken up, because a match on the Thames, between the champion and exchampion of the world, would have been a sight which the English public would gladly have witnessed. But Beach's position is a perfectly natural one. Fie says that when he first came to England in the early part of the year Hanlan published a challenge to row him on the Thames. This he at once accepted, but, though he has waited all through the summer, and heard nothing further from Hanlan until the eleventh hour, when he had made every arrangement to return to Australia. Beach's own words are :—"I have two matches to attend to, and it would be impossible for me to get to America in a fit condition to row within the time specified. 1 have now been a long time from home, and I intend returning as soon as possible. If Hanlan has so much improved that he thinks he has a chance of beating me, let him come over again to the Paramatta River, when I will row him or any other man for a suitable sum." Most people approve of Beach's action, and consider that the blame for not' meeting him rests with Hanlan, who has had every opportunity of getting up a match if he really desired It. Those who know the ex-ohampion well, however, feel pretty confident that he has no intention of rowing against; Beach again. CRICKET. The Australian eleven have not done tnuoh during the past fortnight towards retrieving their reputation in the cricket field. When the last mail went out they were in the middle of a match with Sussex at Brighton. This was distinguished by some very good play, though more on the side of the home team than the colonials. Mr. G. Brann, on behalf of Sussex, made the splendid score of 104, this being the eighth time that a single player has scored three figures in one innings against the colonials. The match ended in a draw. On Saturday, August 2S, the visitors scored 200 for their first and 300 for their second innings, while Sussex, who only went in once, ran up a score of 352. On the following Monday the Australians commenced a match against the South of England at Gravesend. The Australians won the toss, and went in first, running up 299. It is worthy of note that during the last Australian tour in 1884, the visitors played the South of England on the same ground, won the toes, went in first, and kept in all day, scoring 354 for nine wickets. The home team was not a very strong one, and in its first innings only 170 runs were made. The second innings showed much better things. Messrs. Pateruon, F. Hearne, M. Read, and W. W. Read scoring 337 between them, but time was called before the visitors could take a second turn at the wickets, so that the game ended in a draw in favour of the Australians. The highest score on the colonial aide was that of Palmer, who ran up 93, but has to be set the magnificent batting of P. Hearne and M. Read in the second innings of the South of England, who made respectively 111 and 109. The present colonial team will go back to the Antipodes with the reputation of being the beet beaten eleven that Australia has ever sent to the mother country. They have been badly licked at the hands of Surrey and of England, but the defeats they suffered from these elevens were mild compared with the crushing disaster which befell them from an eleven got up to meet them at Scarborough by Lord LondeaborQugu. It ought to

be mentioned, however, that with the exception of four instances Lord Londesborough's eleven was precisely the same as that which defeated the Australians at Lords and the Oval. The playing oommenced on Thursday of last week, and ended on Saturday. Lord Londesborough's eleven won the tose, and went in, with the result that they ran up the highest score ever achieved in this country against the Au»tralian bowling. The total amounted to 558, beating the previous beet on record, that of Surrey at the end of July—by 57 runs. This is not only the biggest score ever made by Englishmen against Australian bowling, but it beats by seven runs the big score of 551 made by the colonials in the third England v. Australia match in 1884. It is also worthy of note that no individual score ran into three figures, but everything, including the byes, was double. The highest score was that of Mr. W. G. Grace, 92, and the lowest that of Barlow, 16. After Mr. W. G. Grace the largeet scores were Flowers, 82; Scotton, 71; Mr. Collins, 56 ; and Baton, 53. Mr: Collins had not previously taken part in a match against the Australians. In connection with last week's cricket it may be mentioned that the Colonials had an unusually long spell of fielding, having fielded during cricketing hours from half-past twelve on Tuesday till five minutes to four on Friday afternoon. The Australians went in under every disadvantage, for of course victory was out of the question, and all they could hope to do was to make a good draw. But the very hopelessness of their undertaking seems to have inspired them with courage, for they certainly played an admirable uphill game. In their first innings they scored only 231, but the second iiiniuga commenced with the prospect of very grand things. Palmer and Jones, who went in first, making respectively 75 and 108. This was Jones' second hundred this season, and the fifth innings of three figures which the colonials have achieved during their present tour. There was not time, however, materially to improve upon the score run up by Palmer and Jones, and consequently the second innings terminated with 192 runs* On Monday the visitors commenced a match at Bradford with an eleven selected from the Flayers of England. Both eidea were pretty evenly matched, but there was nothing noteworthy in the scoring or play generally. In their first innings the Australians ran up 247, the highest individual score being that of Mr. Scott, who made 72. The Players then went in and ran the colonials very close, making 238 runs; in their second innings the visitors made 226. and the game them ended in a draw. The last match of the tour will be at Harrogate on September 27 and 28. On their way back to Australia they will pass through New Zealand and will in all probability play a series of matches at Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, and Auckland, They will then set out for Australia and hope to be able to play the Sh&w-Shewsbury eleven at Sydney on Boxing Day.