CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 7

CRICKET.

A MATCH will bo played in the Domain this afternoon between teams representing ' Messrs. John and George Court's drapery establishments. - The following are ■ the teams:—John Court's: A. Court, F. Court, H. Court, Sneddon, Kisby, Gow, Sobley, ; Stubbs, Cavanagh, Ewart, Turley. Geo. Court's: G. Court, T. Frost, C. Court, Boles, L. Frost, Smythe, Ellis, Brooks, Grtbble, Hicks, Garner. Commenting on the fourth test match, the Sydney Daily Telegraph says that 'Australian ' cricket is at a comparatively low mark just. . now. . _ _ :: i The district scheme in Auckland cricket ' „ promises to be & distinct success. Four of ! the six senior teams are now on level terms j for the championship. j Our old friend Geo. Mills continues to I show good form with the bat in Dunedin. By chopping a ball on to his wickets recently he just failed to reach the century. A fieldsman in South Africa had a unique experience a little while ago. In attempting to make a catch from a hard, low drive, he snapped up a puff adder. Fortunately tho adder was endeavouring to swallow a lizard, or the consequences might have been more ..• serious. In winning three of the five test matches, • "Warner's team take the " ashes," which have been resting in Australia since Stoddart's second team was defeated in 1897-98, in four •of the five matches played. In all 71 testa have now been played between the Australians and. All England, 31 of which number have been won by England and 28 by Australia. The remaining 12 were drawn. Australian writers regard it as tolerably certain that the Marylebone Cricket Club will lose money on the tour of the present English V team, even though the estimate of £14,000 by Mr. A. Q. Steel appears to be quite too great. The terms on which the matches are played are not as liberal as they really ought to be. But apart from that, while some of the matches have drawn immense crowds, on the whole, ;as far as the tour has gone, pnblio patronsce has not equalled that accorded other English teams of late years. The fact is that the reputation for careful . play gained by the English batsmen in their first throe matches against the States has been the means of keeping down the sate re- , ceipts in matches at Sydney and Melbourne ■ ■ : other than the tests. But the M.C.C. will, ' no doubt, be statisfied to bear some financial" loss in face of the victories, achieved as they have been, after unmeritedly scathing criticism , of the quality arid possibilities of the team by English writers. I HOW ENGLAND WON THE RUBBER. j Commenting on the fourth test match, in ' which Hie M.C.C. team recovered the ashes , for England, the Sydney Morning Herald of March 4 says:—The match will go down in the records as tho most remarkable ever flayed in Sydney, and probably in Australia, t covered six days, aud yet no more than 761 runs were scored. There was not a full day's cricket throughout, though the last run was within 15 minutes of she o'clock. " With fcha exception of yesterday rain fell every day, while on Monday the stumps were not itched. Surely tho Australian climate must be ucdorgoinc a great change. Although so • much rain fell the wicket was never really sticky. On some occasions it was not favourable to forceful batting, but it was then what is known as alow and easy. ; The Englishmen, won the toss and batted . oa a. wicket which had just recovered from. a soaking. It wa3 too slow to assist the moderately paced- Australian bowlers, and • Cotter, wiio was chosen for his pace, was ' useless on it, though all the same he did not ' •bowl at bis top speed. Nevertheless, the at- , ' tack never became loose. Noble and Trumble, Hopkins and McLeod, shewed their best form, and did. well to dismiss the Englishmen for 249. Then came bad luck to. the home team. Thoy were kept off the wicket by the umpires for the greater part of Saturday I • afternoon when the light was good, it was i supposed to be raining, and then when it i was bad their appeals, while being, in the < opinion of Umpire Crockett-, justified, were < -not upheld, and some valuable wickets were < • lost. ■ ' It is probably some support to the Auslira- i lians' appeal against the light to say that as < soon as stumps were drawn at six o'clock i rain fell, and lasted till Monday. ' The second ! ' half of the team shaped badly on the Tues- I day afternoon to tho bowling of Rhodes and - Arnold.-.• Toey could no>t have done worse « had the wicket been the stickiest imaginable. . The Englishmen in the last hour of the day. £ shaped far differently, Hayward and Foster t playing the bowling confidently. Wednes- 1 day was broken into also by the weather, and i .on another wicket which was slow and easy ] the Englishmen at six o'olock had lost nine j for 155. Yesterday that last wicket added i 55, which left the home team 328 to get to j 1 • avert defeat. ■■ . . ' ' It was. a good • task for the .last innings, < The runs were on the board,. Still it was t ' thought that it was up to some of the home i oleven to get runs. It was hoped they would 1 get them; it was feared they would not. They failed by 157. It is of course impossible to say what . would have happened bad there been lets delay on Saturday; the whole current of subsequent events would have been altered. 1 The Australians might have scored more and 1 might have lost by less than they did. Still ] after the poor display they made yesterday i possibly everyone on the ground was satisfied 1 1 that the better aide won. The man who t played the most important part in the last t act was Bosanquet, who on several occasions ( Las proved a thorn in the side of the Axis- i tralians. But outside of Bosanquet the Eng- ( lish bowling is a long way superior to that ] of the Commonwealth, also the fielding and j the batting. They try more than Austra- t • lians. Every run is fought with more deter- j ' mrnation; they are up to every move, as wit- n ness the rolling incidents on Wednesday even- j ■ ing a«d Thursday morning, and they show j. more dafb—at any rate, in their bowling and { fielding. They always appeared to be fully • , extended; they were certainly mare resource- , ■ ful: . and, considering everything. it_ is to bo r admitted that the better side wop this match. £ Emphasis is laid upon this match because t • -it >vould not be right to sav that trwi visitors c have, un to the present, deserved their win ' c - in the rubber, for it will be remembered that • j the second contest "was decided on the toss. ■ The Englishmp-n had a plumb wicket for the ( j first day. and heavy rain that night put the j r home team completely out of the running. , j Arnold and Bosancjuet were not chosen be- j j cause of accidents, and Foster was absent j after the first day. The elements were, how- i t ever, on the side of the English captain, and j gave him an easy victory. Still, this counts i in the rubber. The only consolation the i ; Australians have now is that on the wicket ; ( unaffected by rain they won by the hand- j some margin of 216. But that is the . on % t engagement in which the Australians showed : anything like their true form. THE ENGLISHMEN'S FINE RECORD. The following is the record of the Englishmen up to the close of the fifth test match, the last but one (South Australia) of the tour:-— t Against South Australia: Drawn. Eng- , j land. 483 for eight wickets (innings closed); . I South Australia, 172 and 343 for seven ; a (rickets. . . it Against Victoria: Won by an innings and t ?1 runs. Victoria. 162 and 210; England. 443 ?or eisrht wickets (innings closed). I Against New South Wales: Won by an l inninsra and 10 runs. New South Wales, 108 j find 201; England, 319. . j Against Queensland: Won by six wickets. 6 Queensland, 42 and 91;. England, 215 and f four wickets for 119. _____ . , 1 ' , Against Maitland District XVII. : Drrtwn. p MJutland. 284 and six for 241: England, 453. j Against Newcastle XV.: Drawn. Eng- . land, 3 6 and eight for 381; Newcastle. 20.-). ! -] Against Australia (Sydney): Won by five i j wickets. Australia. 2?6 and 485; England, ; i 577 and five wickets for 194. 1 f Agrainsf Victoria Juniors' XVIIL ; Won by j innings and 99 runs. England, 416; Juniors, j 124 and 193. . „ _ c Aeainst B«ndigo XV ill.: Drawn. Bendi<ro. 94 and seven for 64; England, five for t 273 innings declare*. • . tit u ' 1 ' Against Australia (Melbourne): Won by ; B ISS runs. England, 315 and 103; Australia, . 2 122 and 111. „ „ t. i Against Ballarat XVIII.: .Drawn. Eng- j , land, 326 and 226: Ballarat. 197. • s Against Australia Adelaide): Lost by S. runs. Australia: 288 and 351; England, 245 j and 27R. , i ■ ' Against Tasmania XI. (Hobart): Drawn. { f:, England. 185 and four for 354 (innings de- y dared); Tft«roapia, 191 and one for 63. 2 ' Acrainst Tasmania XI. (liauuceston): ( Drawn. Tasmania, 141 and two for 259; j England. 353. . , ~ , t Against Victoria Won by eight wickets. t Victoria. 299 and 15 England, 248 and two ; Wickets for 68. ' „ , „ I -. Against.'New South Wales: Won• by• ' ~ run*. T'Wland 190 and 461; New South } .Wales, 232 and 141. . . _ _ tt i Agninst Western Distriot XV. (Bathurst). j • ' Drawn. Western District. 248 and three for j ■< _ 155 (inning'* declared, closed): England, l' ' ami fire for 115 7 ] . Against Australia (Sydney): Won by 157 ( . run*. Fn^land..249 and 210; Australia, 131 j : and '171 \ . , Asainst ' Australia (Melbourne): TiOst ;by . 21?. Australia, .247 and 131; England, 61 .- ~ . «nd 101. v,'. , J i Won,. 3; lost, 2; drawn, 8. i'i&i: ■ iv.----;/;?; JyS-p 'A ' '.'.J:' ■

ORIGIN OF " THE ASHES." .At this time,, when everyone is talking of the winning of " the ashes" by the Englishmen, it may be of interest to recall hoW the term arose. Until 1882 there were no ashes. In 1877 an Australian representative eleven boat! Lilly white's; professional team, but although that match has always been regarded -by,; Australian!!—as the first of the ; long series of more than 60 test matches, no one thought that Lilly white's eleven was representative of English cricket. But in 1882 Murdoch's famous team went to England, and in a wonderful game at the Oval beat England by seven runs. England, whose side consisted of W. G. Grace, Barlow, Ulyett. A. P. Lucas, tho Hon. A. Lyttelton, 0. T. Studd, Maurice Read, Barnes, A. G. Steel, A. N. Hornby, and Peate, went in to, ; make 85 runs to win, and only made 77, The j strength of the side in batting may be gauged I from the fact that Steel went in ninth and I Hornby tenth. - The Australian side whbh : beat them was: A. C. Bannorman, H. H. ! Massie, W. L. Murdoch, G. J. Bonnor, T. g Horan, George Giffen, J. M. Blackham, I. W. Garrett. H. F. Boyle, S. P. Jones, and F. R. Spofforth, and their extraordinary game was won by Massie's hitting—he made 55, the highest score of the match— the bowlinj, of Spofforth., who took seven English , wickets for 46. in the first innings'and seven for 44 in tho second. Disappointment in England was very keen, and the English batsmen, all except W. G. Grace, who, besides going in first, made nearly half the runs in : the second innings, were olamoa fcr want ! of nerve. _ It was at this tin-.o that the . Sporting Times created the ashes by publishi ing the following " In Memoriam" notice:— In Affectionate Eemembrance ■i ' -Of ■ English Cricket, . Which died at the Oval, .' . On . ■ .- - Li August 29, 1832, ! Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing: fricndili and acquaintances. „ ' - I E.I.P. J«.B.—The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. | The Australians were none the less heartily ; congratulated. Punch wrote; — Well done, Cornstalks ! Whipt n» Fair and square. - Was it. luck that tript cs? "W&a it scare? ; Kangaroo Land's ■" Demon." or our own Want of devil, coolness, nerve, backbone? Since then the ashes have travelled to and from England many times. Thev were last taken te England by Stoddart's team in 1895, this team winning a hard-fought match at Sydney, and the rubber of the five test matches by six wickets. A splendid stand by Albert Ward , (93) and J. T. Brown (140) pulled the match off for England. Stoddart's second team lost the ashes again, winning only one match out of the five. Then Darling's team visited England, and won the one finished match in 1899. Maclaren's team was unsuccessful in the attempt to recover the now doubly-lost ashes, and won only the first test match at Sydney,, while Darling's team beat England in 1902 by two matches to one.