CRICKET NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11197, 20 August 1898, Page 7

CRICKET NOTES.

(iTaok Ot/b Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July 8. .'There has been an interesting week^s cricket. Yorkshire still first and the rest nowhere is the position, as to the county^championship'; in fact, the Yorkshire strength seems impregnable, not one defeat having yet .befallen the .county. Sussex—of all- counties !-4was actually making a. good fight and defying the quarteb'of crack bowlers—Rhodes, Haigh, Wainwright, and Jackf on, representing all the varieties of roundr nriri deliveries,V.Murdoch,scoripg;9o and Brann 85. But then came Yorkshire's usual lucfe Brown, the famous batsmau,. is never regarded as a bowler at all, bnt can put iv some queer j^^twis'ting-^"lobs".afc'tiinegiV' in this iftstancb he'was tried and proved'irreiistible; taking Isix Sussex*wickets for only 52 runs.' So ;no\V Yorkshire has to its credit'll wins and-co losses'! ■',-■■'■- ■ -:'. '■'-;■ i>.-'1- *!--^'>->-.- .;■..;.:

Lancathire comes next; with" five wing and one defeat; After beating Nottingham by ? 25* I runs on Saturday (Ward 119) it would have added jnother,,victory oyer^ Nottingham .in the .' return match 6n Wednesday;-but had mude^tDo ' many runs before " declaring," and so Nottiogi ham "played out titoe." and-got a draw. The veteran Shrewsbury made 92, not out, in, the fl'rrt inriings, but was clean1 bowled by Mold first ball in the second. Perhaps the most remarkable match, however, was .that between Derbyshire Mid .Essex, Tjie former having gone out for 166, Essex went in" and made 417 for three wickets—Owen 92; Carpenter 95, ' Perrin 104, M'Gahey 115 being the first four entries intbe score sheets, to which some byes were^ added. . Two more wickets carried the score to 497, aDdJ;hen the captain "declared." Derby, could only respond with 159, and co Essex won y^itli one inning* and five wickets to spare. Storer, the Derbyshire crack wicket-^ beeper (Who scorer! 80 in the tint innings), is proving so good & bowler that he often has to resign the pads and glovr-s to his "understudy." Essex now stands third in the championship list, with'fire wins and two losses. Surrey, with three wins and two deFeats, has worked up to fourth plscn by defeating Deibj--ahire in one innings with 43 runs over. Abel made 88, and so bas gone up to the top of the average with 58, Shrewsbury coming uext with;ss. No other batsman has reached an average of 50. : The champion, Dr.Grnca f'.'W.G."), is down to twenty-second with 35. The four •'Yorkshire terrors,"'Rtiodes (slowleft), Wainwright (fast),' Jackson (fast), and I Haigh (medium pace), still head the bowling i averages, with respectively 9, 10, 11, arid Vi \ runs per wicket taken, of which Rhodes has 92; !''J. T.-Hearne comes fifth with 13 runs per i wicket, but bss taken 119 wickets. StraDgely j enough in this "bowler's season-" Richardson i has proved "a comparative failurei , >.'-.-.. :,.,;- Ii The University.match at Lords ihag/brought ! another, of thoße surprises.in.whicKtrie hiatc-ry .of these, matches abound^, .Judging.by preyieua , matches, again.Rt other. .Qpjp'onents played Vby each team C»inbridge seemed, an Tassiired winner. Apparently Oxford would,be nowhere. Yet, after a three days' battle, Oxford. won with nine wickefa to spare, having outplayed Cambridge at every point of the game. Tha result wag largely duo to,' the Sdc bowling of Lee. who only got his "blue" aUhe last moment. CuoliSe, the Oxford captain, also bowled wrfl. But even so Cambridge opsued with 273 (Wilson 115), and when Oxford began badly the match seemed a gift to th« C*ntabs. But then Eccles (109) and Foster (57) came to tb« re»cue, and in the end Oxford m»de 362, or 89 ahead. Then came a wet night, and Cambridge could only amafs 140 in the cacorid innings. 80 Oxford bad an easy teak, and the needful 52 cost but one wicket. As usual the bowling and } fielding settled the matter. Oxford had four very floe bowlers in Cuuliffe, Lee, Stocks, and Bosanquet, while for Cambridge only Jessop, the Gloucester "lightning man," proved of. any value. And in fielding the Oxonians completely " wiped the eye " of their opponents. It is an " Oxford year" in sports of all eorrs. On the river, at the athletic sports, and iv tho cricket field Oxford has won " hands dowD," and only in golf bas Cambridge been able to hold its own. However, no doubt the students of the C«m will have their turn again in due course. The "swing of the pendulum" seeing : a fixed principle iv sport *s in politics. •' By the death of Mr I. D WalkeronWodnpsI clay cricket loses one of its most famous ex--5 pimouts of yore. One nf the famous Middlesex ; family of (Southgate) Walkere, " I. D.,'' was j'ouce-as well kuowo by his ioitiiils as " W.G." ■ Grace, of whom in 1868—just 30.years ago—he was the sole rivnl. In that year he m:ide his great score of. 165 in the Gentlemen vi Pi^yera match, one of the best thiugs ever done in tho loup; series of those annual events. In 1885 be j made 145 for Middlesex, and with Mr A. G. I Lyttelton put on 226 run's in one hoar and threequarters. The following season was bis la*t, and I remember seeing him bat ab the Oval that year in fine foim. He was often very succensful as a bowler of " lob»," but never equalled bis j brother "V. E." ia this respect. He was & very ! hard hitter, his pet stroke being a high off drive over coverpoint's head, which he made off balls I that most batsmen would have cut. He had been suffering from headaches, And lutt Friday became insensible. He never regained full consciousness, but after lingering for five days passed away. The cause oE death was apoplexy. Dr W. G. Grace, the redoubtable champion, has at last, and quite suddenly, come out again in bis old form. Playing yesterday for his county, Gloucester, against the very stroDg Essex County Eleven, he first *s a bowler took no fewer than seven of the Essex wickets for 44 runs— five for 14,—and then when battiDg run up 109, including nineteen 4's.