CRICKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 9 July 1891, Page 29

CRICKET.

50TES BY SLIP.

The firßt matoh of the season between the two oraok counties Surrey and Notts has been won by Surrey, with five wickets to spare, the scores being Surrey 250 and 115 for five wiokets, Notts 147 and 217. In batting, little Able was the hero of the Surrey side with 103 and 63 not out. • In the first innings he went in first and was ninth oat, batting for four hours and three-quarters, K. J. Key's 59 and Lohmann's 34 were the only other scores worth mention for Surrey. For Notts J. A. Dixon got 73 and 62, and Gnnn 24 and 59, but Shrewsbury had only an aggregate of 10 for the matoh. Lobmann's bowling was muoh^ihe best on either side, as he got nix for 65 In the first innings, and four for 62 in the second. Leicestershire scored heavily against Derbyshire, beating them by an innings Sud 75 rune. Leicestershire got 409, Pougbrer making 135 without a ohanoe j O. E. de Trafford 88, Holland 66, and Warren 44. Spofforth bowled for Derbyshire, bat his two wickets cost him 106 runs. In batting he did better, eooring 10 (not out) and 32. The best batting for Derbyshire was that of Ohatterton, who got 51 and 50. Middlesex, without A. E. Stoddart or Phillips, were five runs behind Somersetshire in an unfinished game, greatly interfered with by rain. The scores were 137 and 132. Middlesex had one wicket to fall. There was heavy scoring in a matoh between Durham and Lincolnshire. Durham commenoed with 328, and their opponents replied with 333. When the match was drawn, Durham in their second innings had got 295 for two wiokets. Thus in the two days 956 runs were soored for 22 wioketa, (riving an average of 43 runs per wioket. The highest individual soore was O. F. Welrß-Oole, 220. The matoh between Gloucestershire and Kent was also stopped by bad weather, Gloucestershire having scored 135, a^d Kent 143 for five wickets. W. G. Grace was highest for bis county with 46, -while George Hearne made 44 and A. Daffen 37 (net out) for Kent. A well known figure on the cricket fieldthat of William Scotton, who baß of late years acquired a reputation as a " stonewaller " — has retired from the Notts County Eleven through the infusion of fresh blood. Curiously enough, when he first joined the eleven a decade and ahalf ago he was noted for his free hitting, but gradually he developed a preference for the defensive game, whioh made bis innings a weariness of flesh to the average spectator. Among his notable achievements in this direction it may be mentioned that in 1885, playing against Gloucestershire, he took four hours and 50 minutes to score 56, and was at the wickets a full hour without making a run ; that in 1886, playing against the Australians, he was three hours and 35 minutes in compiling 35 ; and that in the same year, playing for England against Australia, and going in first with Dr Grace, he stayed at the wickets three hours and three-quarters and only put on 34, and was at one period an hour and seven minutes without sooring. The oable recently informed us of the death, at t the age of 65, of George Parr, the famous orioketer, who visited Dunedin with an English team in 1863. He was for some years one of the greatest batsmen in England, and played his first matoh in 1846, being then 20 years old. For the next 15 years he was the mainstay of the Notts County team, and the leading professional oricketer in England. In 1863-64 be brought out the second AU-Engtand Eleven that visited Australia, bis team including snob players as Carpenter, Hayward, Tarrant, Jackson, Oaffyn, and Dr E. M. Grace. His, last appearance in the Gentlemen and Players' matoh was at Lord's in 1865, which, curiously enough, waa the first great matoh in which W. G. Grace played. In this match the amateurs scored their first victory against the prof essionala since 1853. In all the Gentlemen and Players' matches in which Parr played, from 1846 to 1865, hiß average score was 28. Parr succeeded Pilch as the leading batsman of the day. A writer who knew Parr well and often played with him says:— "Taken all round, Parr was both for defence and hitting the best batsman in England for about 15 years. His hitting all round was simply splendid. To leg he bit with terrific force. He was a well-set, musoular man of medium height, and put all hie back into the 40's, 50's, and 60's whioh he so frequently made. In his time Lord's itself was not a bed of roses for a orioketer. EvenW. G. would have fallen a victim to many a bumpy ball whioh did not ask questions whether you would let it alone or not, but went off the top of your bat at an aoute angle into the hands of point or. cover point. To have seen Pilch, Parr, and Grace in their prime all bat in the same match would have been a sight indeed." Members of the first Australian Eleven, in 1878, bad the pleasure of meeting Parr on Trent Bridge ground, Nottingham, and he referred witblmqgh satisfaction to Bis trip to Australia in 1868*4. One of his comrades in that team, the famous Robert Carpenter, was present when the Australian* greeted Parr at Trent Bridge in 1878. Carpenter, indead, umpired in the match, and remarked that he did not think (the Australians bad a bowler equal to Sim Ooastiok in bin palmy daya, It bM men said of Parr tbftt he