THE ENGLISH CRICKET TEAM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10595, 9 November 1897, Page 6

THE ENGLISH CRICKET TEAM.

THE VICTORIAN MATCH.

THE COLONIALS SCORE 306. j

ENGLISHMEN LOSE 7 WICKETS FOR 213 RUNS. Frew AlMCiatlra -Electric Te!«erapb.— ; ' Melbourne, November 8. The weather was perfect and the ground in excellent order when the cricket match between the English and Victorian teams was resumed, to-day. The attendance, however, was only moderate. Tramble played

a' lively innings, but {none of the others made a atand, and the innirjga closed for 306. ■ - •' ' : ' ' After a brief interval the Victorians took the field. ' . McLaren, who was one of the first to bab, narrowly escaped repeating his Adelaide performance, when ■he was dismissed without scoring,<Trott at point badly missing him off the very, first ball. He played r very, cautiously , for the • remaindor of his stay.'; Ranjitsinjhi was disappointingly slow, being 15 minutes at the wickets before he broke his 'duck. The scoring at this stage was,miserably slow, and eventually the prince was dismissed by a nice catch by Trumble. ;Stoddart broke the . monotony, having a merry innings while it lasted. , The two not-outs fell back on cautious tactics. The bowling and fielding of the Victorians was excellent. - v < 4 -.'- The following are the scores:—

■ i Victoria.— Innings, - Worrall ... . ... „ -,25 MoLeod ... „ 64 Trotb . , M >25 Graham ** m 33 Bruce - 88 Giller IH „ 22 Harry ' ... .„ 19 McMicbael... ... ... M 1 Johns '... l Trumble ... ... " lM 23 Boaobe, not out „ ,» 6 Sundries; ... _ „ 2 Total... ... ... 309 [Note,— total given in the cable is 306, but) the individual scores and sundries as cabled make a total of 309.] Bowling Analysis. Richardson, 4 wickets for 127 runs ' Hay ward, 1 wicket for 31 runs Hirst, 0 wicket for 38 runs Hearne, 5 wickets for 61 runs ■ Waiuwrighb, 0 wicket for 47 runs England.—First Innings McLaren ... « .« ... » 26 Mason ... ._ 36 Rangifcsinhji ... ... 13 Hayward ... „. ... ... ... 7 Stoddart) ... ,„ _ 26 Druce ... ... .„ 13 Wainwright , M ... ... „13 Storer, nob out „ 47 Hirst, nob out .„ 30 Sundries ... ... 2 . Total for 7 wickets _ 213 THE ADELAIDE MATCH. SOME INTERESTING NOTES. Somo interesting items regarding the Adelaide 'match appear in the latest Australian papers. . In connection with George Giffeu's retirement, a prominent supporter of the game offered (bat player £50 to play. When Giffen refused the offer, the money was handed to the Cricket Association, with a request that it be divided anions the players. Mr. Whitridge (the chairman of the association) decided to give £20 to the most successful batsmen, a similar amount to the most successful bowlers, and £10 to the player who did the best work in the field.

The curious in such matters noted that there was a prince in the pavilion, as well as a princoin the playing field. Th# former is a grandson of King Thakombau. The Fijian prince himself ie a fair player, and was one of the twin which toured Mew Zealand in 1893 under the captaincy of Attorney-General Udal. He watched the match with interest throughout. He says that pricket whs practically introduced to Fiji by Captain Walling ton, the private secretary to the I Governor of Victoria, who also was preI sent.

• Hill,' with his innings of 2UO against the Englishmen, was closely approaching two records. The highest individual score made in matches between South Australia and visiting teams from England is the 219 of . Albert Ward, in March, 1895. The highest individual score made for South Australia in these fixtures is the 203 o George Giffen, against Lord Hawke's team ten years ago. It will, therefore, be seen that Hill only just failed to beat the existing records. As it is, to approach' them must) be regarded as a great performance on the parti of a player of Hill's age. It will be remembered that in the closing match of the previous tour he carried out his bat for 150 against Mr. Sboddart's eleven..

In addition to Hill, four other Australian batsmen have scored double centuries ,in eleven aside matches between English and Australian teams. These are Murdoch (211 and 286' not out), Graham (219), Giffen (203), and Gregory (201). The Englishmen Who have scored double centuries in the same series of matches are Shrewsbury (232), Gunn (228), MacLaren (228), and Ward (219). Hill is, therefore, in good company. - v >. •Hill has now played four innings-one-not out — for South Australia against English visitors, and has an aggregate of 426 runs. This is an average of 142. ■ The 409 of the South Australians' first innings is not the highest scoro made by South - Australia against visiting teams from over-sea. Against Lord Hawke's combination in 1887 the side compiled 493. This total has twjee.been passed by the Englishmen. ', In . 1892 they made 499, and in 1895 609. : " . ' s The match was the sixth between South Australia and English teams on even terms. Of the five already played, the Englishmen have won three and lost one. The other was left drawn. t . ; JU,- '.' Ranjitsinhji passed the century in the first big match in which he took part. That was in 1895, for Sussex against MaryleboneClub at Lords. He has now made a hundred in his first match on Australian soil. Also the first time he played for Eng . land be put up a century.' ■, ;