CRICKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 1763, 5 September 1885, Page 22

CRICKET.

1 NOTES BY SLIP. In anticipation of the Melbourne Cricket Club confirming the proposal to .send an Australian tram to England under the auspices of that body (says the Melbourne Argus), Mr Wardell, the secretary, is writing by the outgoing mail to the Marylebone Club, laying the scheme before the cricketing authorities of the Mother Country. Mr Wardell in his letter says that, although the team will be vouched for by the Melbourne Club, and will be as free as possible from the professional money-making element, it cannot be expected that there is a leisure class among our»crieketers able to undertake an extended tour without being recouped for their expenses and loss of time. Should all the arrangements be completpd, Mr B. J. Wardell will accompany the Eleven as manager ; and I do not know one who by his courtesy and business tact is better capable of successfully piloting the fifth Australian Eleven.

The new indoor game of cricket, invented by Mr C. W. Alcock, is spoken well of. It is said to be an excellent amusement for winter evenings or wet days. A match can be played with every detail the same as on the field.

The crowd at Lord's on the occasion of the Oxford and Cambridge match is thus described in the London Sportsman : — "Broadly speaking, the crowd consists of one-third clergymen, one third ladies, and one-third laymen. . . Party feeling, too, runs very high. Even the ladies take sides, and support wibh their voices and hands the team of the Universities associated with their papas, their brothers, their cousins, or their friends' brothers. The members of the cloth, too, appear to take a lively interest in the doings of their old college chums. We saw one venerable clergyman fairly jump with joy and clap his hands with perfect pious fervour when the scoring board at 3.15 announced that the Oxford were " out " for 136 runs. Though old in years he was clearly young in heart, and it is doubtful whether anything else save a dynamite explosion could have moved him to a like display of energy. There were 15,000 spectators present on the opening day." Cricket of June 25 said : "It never rains but it pours." A hit for 8, and all run out, is a rarii.y, though some time ag o, in a small match at the Oval, I saw two successive balls sent to leg, each of which realised the amount named. Three instances in which 8 were made from a hit have been sent to me, all of them on Saturday last.