SOME REMARKABLE CRICKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13997, 2 September 1907, Page 6

SOME REMARKABLE CRICKET

TWO HISTORIC MATCHES.

Oca Own Cos&ssrouDwra,) LONDON, July 18. it *ra 6 my rather special privilege las-t Saturday to he "in at the death" in (ho case of two great cricket matches which wero most remarkable in their character and will always remain historic. One was the. groat fight at the Keimmglon Oval between tho South Africans and Surrey! which resulted in. the visitors experiencing tho first defeat of their tour after winning 14 matohes without losing one. Tho othov was tho annual publio sohool match, Eton veraus Harrow, at Lords Ground. l'he former concluded at luncheon, tho latter late in tho evening. For a wonder, tho wcathor was line, although ono or two slight showers fell.

inking the earlier match first,- it should bo borno ui <tutkl that in (heir rcccnt matches with Kent (the champion English county) an(J Sussex respectively, after being apparently beaten almost from the oul6ot, tho South Africans at t.ho last moment made so extraordinary a recovery that in each ease' they defeated their opponentsKent by only 2 runs, Sussex by 39, after starting with a miserable first 'innings of 49; while in tho first tost, match, after "following on" against an English first innings of 428, the South Africans in their second innings had averaged 60 per head against England's 38 when rain stopped' t.ho battle at its most, interesting point. Of course the simpletons who think it "patriotic " always to bawl on tho side of the Mother Country, raised a howl as to tiio certainty of. the visitors' defeat had tho match been completed, but more eapahlo judges of. cricket, suoli as Pelliam, Warner, Philip Trevor, and others, entertain the gravest doubts on this head, and aro inclined to believe, as I certainly do, that the South Africans would have won that Test Match had. it been played out to a finish. But last Saturday things did look very black for the visitors, who had been left with 214nuis to get and only four wickets with which to do it. This idea, reflected itself in the attendance, which was very poor, not exceeding a few hundreds, a fact which did not say much for the sporting instinct of the Surreyites. Howover, those who did not come lost a rare cricketing treat, Tho Surrey cricketers did not at nil share the lethargy of the outside public. On the. contrary, they played as if their lives and fortunes hung on the 1 result. Knox bowled most furiously, starting his run, as it seemed, almost, at tho boundary, and doing a lightning "sprint" as he approached the bowling crease. He bowled, too,, in splendid form. Strudwick, the marvellous little Surrey wickelkeeper, stood judiciotislv back, as n. sort of behindwicket slip; while he had three other slips in a tow clcne behind liirn,-so near one another that they might have joined hands had they felt so inclined—which they didn't! At the other end Crawford's slow howling was most admirable, and proved difficult all the time, while Strudwick Ihcn slooil up close to the stumps as he possibly could without getting over them, and the'field was appropriately spread out.

Sinclair and' Sncoko were the South African bate, and they showed a defence which for scientific skill and efficiency I liqver saw Giirpifspd. In a whole hour but one "boundary" was hit, hut'soveral fours wero run. The neatest, treat, however, was to watch the beautiful play which in tho process of dofcnce yielded safo singles and twos—the delightfully neat and crisp lato cute and pulls. The. South African defence was a. veritable sermon! Suddenly and unaccountably came a disaster. Snooke put his leg direct-ly in front, of his middle stump. There , could bo no mistake about it—out lie ha<l to go. _ An<l so there remained only three wickets to get the remaining 208 runs needed— and all dav lo get them—or to get out in. Shaldcrs. the South African captain, then joined Sinclair, who continued to'bat. [reclv but'prudently, and the score crept steadily up from 86 to 146 in half an hour, anil I have little doubt, judging from former experiences, . that these two men would have knocked up the ■ requisite runs. But. at this crisis—tl>o turning point as it proved of the game—Sinclair suddenly lost, his head and called Shnldcrs for an utterly impassible run, and the latter, tho steadiest bat of the team, lost his wicket. This was a fatal misfortune, for both men wore thoroughly well ".set." Kusliby and Smith had relieved Knox and Crawford,, but without troubling the batsmen in tho least, doflrce. They scorcd as resolutely as ever until this lethal blow came, from one of {hemflvoG. Poor Shalders looked tho pictuvc of misery and disappointment as ho came to the pavilion, : and the unhappy Sinclair seemed still more wretched. Still, he batted bravely, and had piled up 64 when at last ho wn.s caught off Knox, who had resumed bowline. Sbalders, Schwartz, and Yogler had helped him well with scores of 26, 30, and 11 (no.fc out] respectively, but the game was lost by that, casual run out. Yet it was a glorious fight—delightful to waich. as it must have been to participate in. It will not readily bo forgotten. London is a big place, and it took me a. good hour to cross it, from south to north in order to reach Lords historic ground at, St. John's Wood. But the motor 'bus shortens the journov by fully a third as compared with the old horsed 'bus and stuffy "underground.'' I found the luncheon interval in full swing.- which means that, some 15.000 to 20,000 people, of whom ouito two-thirds were most exquisitely .attired girls and women, wero leisurely strolling over tho vast area, of green sward, showing off their delightful .dresses and dainty show vditll quito dazzling effect . (in their masculine ; beholders.' The Eton-Harrow match at Lords is well recognised as tho supremo ." Bress-and-Beauty show" of the season, transcending even Ascot and Goodwood and Henley in I,his respect, and it. is universally admitted that last, Saturday afternoon broko all past records in its purely feninino phrase as well as in certain phases of oricket, itself. One particular and very charming feature of this great, garden party is that it. affords the special triumph o; the young girl—the " rosebud " girl, as the moro polito men describe her, the . flapper" as rude .men who frequent clubs prefer to put the designation. Certainly tho sisters of the Etoo and Harrow l-oys, young girls in their early teens, were very delightful to sec as they marched over the awns, attended by their silk-hatted boy or hobbledehoy brothers, each wearing tho tight blue or dark bluo badge of his school, These young maidens wore almost always charmingly.drosscd-usually in pure whit© frocks with mora touches of colour—whilo their shortish skirts afforded an attractive view of slender black silk clad or openworked hosed ankles, and brilliant' little silvoi'-bucldod shoes. But their elders— only slightly older-made a no lees beauteous picture. X have seen each of these matohes for many years past, and I say ■unhesitatingly that the scene presented last Saturday afternoon was tho loveliest of all. Tills season's colours of costumes and millinery are so exquisite, and at tho same time delicate and artistic, that with the frequent alternations of pure white the hugo green ampitheatre thus diversified presented _ the aspect of. a gigantic flowergarden with tho flowers in constant movemerit under the 'bright sunshine. It was a sight to bo ever remembered, and those New Zealand visitors who, contrary to my ungont noglcotcd to witness it have something to lament all their lives to eomc. But, you will say, this "isn't cricket." Quito true, but it is an essential concomitant of THIS particular match. As a rule public-school cricket itself is not very cj; c'tj n S. except to the hundreds of nice, well-behaved boys who are the combatants or their enthusiastic schoolfellows. But this time there was an abundance of cricket interest, as well as artistio enjoyment, In the first innings Harrow had made 222. Bird, the captain, scoring a capital 100 not out. Eton beat this bv 69, making 29] Then Harrow went in again, and had lost three wickets whilo still 43 runs short of Etons first-innings total, when the plav closed for the day. Cowley had nla.vcd two flue innings of 50 and 75 respectively, and but. for his performances being eclipsed by his captain's remarkable record, he would have been the hero of tho match. But on Saturday, when Bird, the Harrow captain, and Anson were together tho play was most brilliant, especially that- of Bird who, directly his side had got- into a von strong position, hit out at everything with delightful vigour, his off-driving being particularly fine. Anson, when he had' made 12, gave a rather hard chance in the slip* It- was missed, with disastrous consequcnceto Eton's 'chance, and, I fear also, to the unhappy " misser's" memory after the great match.

For now the fierce hitting went on with ncvor-ahating vigour, and the score mounto-' apaeo. The bowline did not strike me a 1 very difficult, but tho fielding was admirable, heips of rune, and many boundaries fcciiijr saved as by conjuring tricks, Then a crisis was felt to bo approaching. Bird hud" made 97 and Anson 49. The total was H9B. Another boundary would make the Harrow total 300, and would givo either Bird his 100—his second century, too?—or

Anson his 50. It is not easy to say what' feature was the moro thrilling in this situation—tho mtenso eagerness of the play or tho tremendous excitement of the 20,000 spectators, most of ivlioni wero personally interested. Over after over camo and went, and still the scoring board showed unchanged figures. Then Anson's half-century went up anud a storm of cheers. But when a. boundary by Bud sent up 101 against his name—why, then the scene and uproar becamo simply indescribable. Everybody seemed really to go mad. I saw ono ex-Harrovian quite out of his mind, for the lime, shouting absolute gibberish at the top of his raucous voice, simultaneously waving his hat and «nL a Ti U f e " rcd thc >' wou,d become f . r ? m trunk and fly away, cither ? t' S P rc "y laughing sisters on 5 Ihi 7 earnestly to pull him by h s coat-tails down on his scat and chccic his too-conspicuous demonstrations. Ultimately ho sat down, utterly exhausted, to tho obvious comfort of his scandalisedalbeit also enthusiastic-sisters. But tlicro were hundreds, perhaps thousands of s m° cas «. awi the scene of excitement foTVi"*r cnat li,st m ™ tor 131, a climax was attained. Never before had two centuries been made by anv one player m this historic annual event. Thus from both sides and their friends arose a positively terrific storm of cheer■ng in honour of the new "record," while Harrow also Teabsed the victory -substantially won bjr tbo captain of the'side, and Won rejoiced that so terrible a foe had at last been removed. Anyhow, it. is conceded by tho oldest attendants at theso matches—and many of them will never never , 01 ' f ovcn 8° years again—that there never before has I>eeii such a scene of furioiynthusiasm. cither so tremendous or so Pfotracccd, at any previous one of these matches One had simply to gasp with lelicf when at length the hurricane of chceis mibsidet. and the game, which had ,d

At 382 Harrow "declared" with eiriit waoket® down, leaving Eton 3{ luJv'jV, in wftioll to get tho 314 runs needed to avert T ° ffort T wido' : Bton.' scorni, OA. Harrow won by 79 inns on the lery vcrgo of time. Could tli* Etonians havo restrained their excess ofjMlthw might easily have won tile math; but they could not. They hit- at ovffyfhiV, ' and in spite of Bury's 65, and several other good scores, a series of catches sittlod tho business. ./

Aswd Uf-W of utter'vilj delirium followed, thousands of people,' incuding tho sbudcrt old fogies and the deliwest young gills, eheeruig and waving hanlkcrchiefs, ?. ®( lck , e > W hands until tity becamo I f "hS i? ho T 5 " 0 of ,!te 'fement *1 L i r' y t a !r M hour - :l?ho *is won before half-past 7, but (lib "aristoJ!?"? " f^hionablo" crcrd forqofc fl'il about, thoir dinners and ovemig cnffaWmcnts, ajid did pot finally (jnit iic memorable scone until after 8 o'clock; when tho ground officials had despairec of evor nd of them or seeing [heir own' homes that night. , ,