CRICKET. NOTES BY SLIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 27

CRICKET. NOTES BY SLIP.

Cricketers throughout the Colony will be glad to hear that Mr William Justice Ford, recently elected to the position of principal of Nelson College, is a cricketer of more than ordinary ability. Cricket, of June 17, contains an excellent portrait of Mr Ford, and along with it is published a biographical sketch, from which I take the following extracts : — We .have no doubt that cricket in New Zealand will benefit by the presence of the subject of our memoir, who is now on his way to take up the appointment of Principal of Nelson College, in that colony. We may regret his loss to the game in England, but if the New Zealander who is some day to sketch the ruins of St. Pauls from the broken arches of London Bridge is able to appreciate the virtues of a "straight bat," and knows how to "open his shoulders," we may feel sure that Mr Ford's teaching will have had something to do with it. Vixemnt fortes ante Agamemnona. We read in the records of the past of powerful hitters like Mr E. H. Budd, Mr W. Ward, Mr Alfred Mynn, and many others, and we have seen in later days tho prowess of C. I. Thornton and the Australian giant, Bonner. But we doubt whether among them all there has ever been a cleaner and harder hitter than Mr W. J. Ford. Coming of a cricketing stock — his father was a good all-round player — Mr Ford was born in London on Nov. 7, 1853, and from an early age received parental inrstruction in the game. His school education commenced at Eagle House,' Wimbledon, where another well-known cricketer, Mr W. Yardley, also learned the rudiments of cricket. In 1867 Mr Ford was removed to Repton School, where he was in the eleven in 1870, 1871, and 1872, being captain the last year. In the match against Uppingham School in 1870 he was unsuccessful, scoring only 1 and 0. The contest was -memorable for a rare performance of the Repton captain, C. Tillard, who afterwards figured in the Cambridge eleven. He distinguished himself in a remarkable way with- the ball, taking seventeen wickets, all ten in the second innings of which fifteen were clean bowled. Soon after leaving the University, he obtained a Mastership at Marlborough College, where he remained until his recent acceptance of the post in New Zealand. Unfortunately, his scholastic duties absorbed so much of his time during the greater part of the summer, that he was only able to appear rarely in important matches. His inability to take part in first-class cricket was a distinct loss to the game, for as a rule, he was in brilliant form, and generally scored heavily in the matches in -which he did engage. In August, 1878, he made in one week 120 for M.O.C. and G. v. Southdown Club, and 174 for M.C.C and G. v. Eastbourne, this last innings comprising no less than 27 " fourers." The present writer, who took part hi the latter fixture, well remembers the consternation caused among the ladies on the Skating Rink at Devonshire Park, by the frequency with which the ball kept dropping amongst them from Mr Ford^s tremendous hits. In 1879 Mr Ford first appeared for Middlesex at Clifton against Gloucestershire, and his hitting (he scored 74) was described as being of a most terrific character, the fieldsmen being almost unwilling to attempt to stop many of his " smites." In 1881, for M.O.C. and G. v. Uxbridge, he put together 250, we believe the largest score he ever made. Readers of Cricket will well remember his sensational appearance for Middlesex v. Kent last season at Mote Park. His performance on this occasion, we fancy, may be regarded as a "record." His hitting was really extraordinary, for in the first innings he scored 44 in seventeen minutes, and in the second, 75 in forty-five minutes. Mr Ford formerly played a good deal with the Nondescripts, but for the last few years his his services have been chiefly given to the Incogniti, which well-known wandering club he assisted in their tours, both in the West of England and also in the North. In addition to his batting powers, Mr Ford is also a very useful medium pace bowler, and a wicket-keeper of no small ability. Always cheery and genial under any circumstances, it would be hard to find anyone more generally or deservedly popular. Cricket at Marlborough College, which has produced so many good men recently, owes much to his influence and support. Mr Ford is the eldest of a family of seven brothers, all of whom are excellent cricketers. One of them, Mr A. F. J. Ford, -will be well remembered as having played with much success for both Cambridge University and Middlesex, and the youngest brother, now captain of the Repton Eleven ,is said to be

the most promising of the brotherhood. We may fitly conclude this notice by stating that Mr Ford's height is 6ft 3£in, and his weight 17st 41b. In appearance, especially in the cricketfield, he is not unlike the " Champion," Dr W. G» Grace. The third and final match between the Australian cricketers and an All-England team has concluded, and has shown pretty conclusively that the present team is far from the equal of the two which Murdoch captained. The AllEngland team scored 434 in their first innings, • and then disposed of the Australian Eleven for 68. Following on, the Australians more than doubled their score of the first innings, but that was of little avail against the large score of their opponents, who won the match by an innings and 221 runs to spare. In the first match played by the Australians against an All-England eleven, the latter won with four wickets to spare. The Australians were beaten by an innings and 104 oa. the occasion of the second match, and now they have been beaten by an innings and 221 runs. I Refering to the wonderful 'performances of the Gentlemen of England against the Australians, the London Standard of June 17 says :— Some splendid batting was witnessed at Kennington Oval yesterday, when the Gentlemen remained in for the whole of the day and scored 350 for the loss of onlyjivo wickets. The cricket throughout was of a very high quality, but' the weather was dull, cold, and cheerless, and the attendance was a little short of 6,000. Had the weather been more favourable, doubtless there would have been a very much larger number present. The great feature of the day's batting was the wonderful innings of 148 played by Mr W. G. Grace, who has seldom been seen to greater advantage. He scarcely made a mistake, and his cutting was pronounced by everyone to hare been up to his very best form. His chief hits were 18 fours, 6 threes, and 11 twos. Of the others, perhaps the best form was shown by Mr W. H. Patterson, who, in conjunction with Mr Grace, put on 104 for the first wicket. Messrs Read and Grace added 101 for the third wicket, and later in the day some vigorous hitting was shown by the Hon. M. B. Hawke. At the drawing of stumps, Mr Roller was not out 33, and Mr G. Kemp not out 15. It should be mentioned that [the Australians were playing without two of their best bowlers— Spofforth. and Palmer — whose services were greatly needed. The weather was again dull, cold, and cheerless when play was resumed next morning, at 20 minutes to 12. G. Kemp played a brilliant innings for 175, and was greatly applauded, the Australians joining heartily in the cheering. The long innings closed at 25 minutes past 1 for the splendid total of 471. Mr Kemp will probably come to Australia with Shaw's team. London Punch has the following lines on "the Demon" after his accident in the first match against the Gentlemen of England : — To the Demon Bowler. Disabled by accident, Spofforth ? That's hard 1 To the world let it go forth • Punch wishes you cure As prompt as it's sure ; Good luck, lots of wickets, and so forth ! It appears that Mr J. P. Tennent, the agent for Messrs Shaw, Shrewsbury, and Lillywhite, fearing that the opposition of the Melbourne Cricket Club might prove prejudicial to the enterprise, cabled a few days ago advising the abandonment of the trip. Matters are too far ahead to retreat. The team has been formed, and their passages have been secured by the Lusitania. I Scott's recent feat of scoring 22 off an over, viz., three sixes and a four, was beaten by Ben Griffiths, " the lion hitter," who hit four sixes in one over. Bonnor, at Scarborough in 1882, hit two sixes and two fours off an over from A. P. Lucas. , ; Giffen took nine wickets in the second innings of Derbyshire, the other man being run out. We are sure (says Land and Water) that no better all round cricketer could be named than Giffen. He may not be, and is not, the best batsman, nor the best bowler or fielder, but his general excellence is for the tijie unsurpassed. The Earl of Shefileld has ordered from Hawkins and Co., the celebrated photographers of Brighton (England), 1000 large-sized groups of the Australian cricketing team now at home. The complications in reference to the English cricket elevens being arranged by Shaw and Lillywhite and the Melbourne Club are likely to I lead to an open rupture. The Melbourne Club I is determined to persist in its original plan, and has secured all the best dates for matches. The writer of Pavilion Gossip in Cricket says that Major Wardill has even now secured a sufficient number of good men — amateurs and professionals — to enable him to carry out fully the wishes of the Melbourne Club, which was one of the main objects of his visit to England. Whether two English teams will leave this country for Australia or not remains to be seen. Such policy would be obviously suicidal, and I am inclined to' think there is no chance of such a complication. I happen to know that the Committee of the Melbourne Club had before the departure of the team now here, engaged most of if not all the principal grounds in the Colonies, and a programme had even then been carefully sketched, out for the tour. When the mail left, Spofforth, who Lord Bessborough thinks ought to be called the " angel " rather than the " demon " bowler, was getting on better than at one time seemed likely. His finger had been healed some little time, and though he was unable to move the joints well, he hoped to be very soon out in the field again. Tfie American Cricketer of June 3 is responsible for the following announcement: — "We hear that Butler, the professional of the Staten Island Cricket Club, has been chosen for Shaw and Shrewsbury's English team which goes to Australia this autumn to play a series of international matches, and that he has just cabled that he will meet the team at Melbourne." A somewhat curious incident took place in a match played at Addiscombe on Saturday, 12th June. A bowler sent down a very fast shooter, which hit the stump right at the bottom and recoiled with sufficient force to reach the wicket at the other end and remove the bail. | Of Grace's performance in the match Ausi traliaas v. Gentlemen, Cricket says: — " Those" who witnessed his masterly display of batting at the Oval for the Gentlemen on Thursday last, would hardly believe that it is 21 years since he first made his appearance in an important match. Trtdy it may be said of Mm that none but himself can be his parallel. Alter the first few overs he played with all the judgment and accuracy of his younger days, and the only disappointment was that he did not beat the best record against the Australians, his own 152 for England at the Oval in 1882. Since I wrote last, his scores have been as follows : — Gentlemen v. Australians, 148 and 24 ; M.C.C. and G. v. Oxford University, 104, or an aggregate of 276 for three innings. In addition, at Oxford he took all the 10 wickets in the second innings of the University at the cost of only 49 runs. This latter is a feat of the rarest iv important matches.

There has been some tremendous big scoring at Home this season. Sfcreatham scored 537 for 7 wickets in 5£ hours, and Mr W. S. Trollope made his hundred in am hour and twenty minutes. On June 14 Buckhurst Hill scored 631 against United Chelsea. Next week the Free Foresters made 603 against Shoeburyness Garrison, and Clifton totted up 618 against Lansdown. The last is particularly noteworthy for two reasons. In the first place it is a record, being the highest score ever made on Durdham Downs. The Lansdown eleven, too, were dismissed for 95 and 62, so that Clifton won by an innnings and 461 runs. A victory of so decisive a character is of very rare occurrence, though the Foresters on the same days won by an innings and 419 runs There are some more scores of over 500 runs registered in one week : — June 15, 16. Oxford, I Zingari v. Bullingdon 658 June 10. Maidatoue, Mote Park v. Boyal Marines ... ... ... ... 514 June 17. Portsmouth, South Lancashire Eegfc. v. Worcester Eegt. ... ... (5 w) 508 June 14, 15. Rochester. Incogniti v. Rochester 506 When to these is added the two scores in $ha match between the Gentlemen of England and the Australians at the Oval, it will be admitted that batsmen have at last had some small compensation for the poor show they made, as a rule, on the soft wickets prevalent during the early part of the season. A few particulars relative to the above matches may possibly not be without interest. That at the Mote was specially remarkable for the performance of Messrs C. Lake (137) and K. M'Alpine (226), who put on no fewer than 346 runs for the first wicket. To give an idea of the rate of the scoring of these two batsmen, I may add that the 346 runs were got in two hours and forty-five minutes, or at the rate of 128 in the hour. The best record by the first two batsmen on a side is that of Messrs W. G. Wyld and L. Wilson for Beckenham against Bexley at Beckenham on August, 1, 1885. These two amateurs scored 470 in four hours without the loss of a wicket. Has there been any instance of four English batsmen scoring a 100 in the same innings prior to last week asks Cricket ? If not the match been I Zingari and Bullingdon at Bullingdon on June 15 and 16 furnished a record. Some time since I gave a list of matches in which three hundreds had been got in one innings, but I cannot recall a case in which four centuries have been made. As the feat is, I fancy, unique, it would be best perhaps to reproduce the innings in its entirety. Mr C. T. Hoare, who played a few times for Surrey some years ago, it will be seen was very near adding the fifth century. Bullingdon made 216 and 35 for one wicket. I ZINGABI. W. C. Bridgeman, b S. Foster, cStaintonb Dickson ,\. ... 1 King-Harman ... 3 L. K. Jarvis,b)Jevas...ls2 Hon. A. Sidney, b Lord G-.Seotfc.b Baring 100 Kiug-Harman ... 15 H. W.Forster.stKing- lord Apsley, not out 30 Havman, b ßaring... 107 CM. Montgomerie, c Lord Dalkeith, run outl2o Smith, bDevas ... 7 C. T, Hoare, b Devas 82 Extras 37 B.G.Bromley-Martin — c Stainton, b King- Total ...658 Harman 4 John Lillywhite's Companion of 1877 contains the score of an innings of 1238 in a match at Sydney between the Ulster and the Macquarie Clubs. There is some doubt, however, about the authenticity of this record. A friend of mine wishes to know what the defeated side were doing while this grand performance was going on? Probably "liquoring up" at the nearest public house. In the Committee Room at Lord's, during the course of the Australian match with Middlesex, a handsome gold watch and chain were duly presented to Mr Jones, the watch bearing an inscription that it was a souvenir from Australian friends who had witnessed his splendid performance at the Oval. The Hon. William Wilson, a member of the Upper House of Victoria, who has taken an active interest in the doings of the Australian teams, made the presentation. Giffen's bowling record just lately for the Australian team is of such an exceptional character that a summary of his figures will be of interest. In the last .three matches in which he has taken part he has got as many as forty wickets in five innings, as will be seen from the following table — Ist Inns. 2nd Inns. Total. Derbyshire ... ... 7 ... 9 ... 16 Cambridge University ... S ... — ... 8 Lancashire ... ... 8 ... 8 ... 16 In the first match his wickets cost 101, in the second 56, iv the third 65, so that his forty wickets were obtained at an average of a trifle over five and a half runs. The following additional scores in the Australian team's matches are to hand by the mail : —