THE MELBOURNE CLUB'S TRIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2403, 22 March 1900, Page 46

THE MELBOURNE CLUB'S TRIP.

MATCH AGAINST THE NEW ZEALAND

TEAM.

The match between the Melbourne G.G. taam and a New Zealand Eleven -was coinraenced la^t Thursday at Lancaster Park. The weather was fine, and the attendance good. The wicket provided was good, and played truly on the whole. Cobcroft was elected captain of the New Ztaland team, bufc lobt the lose, and Ross, the Melbourne skipper, had no hesitation in deciding to bat. The batting of the Melbourne team, vvas consistently sound, and the rate of scoring "was fa-si, 32S runs being put up for the loss of eir,'ht wickets in just under four hours.

Tiumbie and Mailer were the first tv, o ija'siißen ior Zv3 elbourne. and they began very steadily, the jirst-named doing most of the scoring. It was. not until Hip total reached 43 that the first wicket fell. 1 rumble being beaten by a big break from Kr,bertson after making 52. Graham, who w:u next man in, at onca be<js>n hitting freely, and the total \sP.b quickly doubled. AY her. 80 was shown, on t'le Iward Mailer, aylio Kiel been in an :oi:r aiid me minutes for 20. put his leg in froat of oiih from ltob<: . -m, ond was j,-ivo:i out Jbv.\ Ivoberfcson ai ;his siage was bowling very well, and had puzzled both. Graham fuel Mailer. Whej Graham was joined by Russell the rate of ■■coring became rather dower. Only eight runs had been added waey. Graham was catuht off Upham lar the &arae total as Trumble. Matters now V/oked fnirlj- promising for the New Zealundors with t'lrce of Melbourne's best bats di-'mi-sed for le-,s than 100 runs, but tha stand made by Jacobs will; Russell proved the be.~t of the innings. J. jobs was rather streaky at the opening of the innings, but when sot played sound and vigorous cricket. Russell played a pretty inn igs for his runs, his cutting being crisp and clean. Frequent; changes in the bowling i\fi-8 tried, but for a long time v ere unsucc. in bringing" about a fceparation. It was :iot until 119 runs had been added that .TacoD-, making a miss bit. wa'i raug'st off Upham. Tl.e board 'then showed 217 — 1— 54-. Aicken. who was next in, did not stay long, put.ijg on nine in tl.ree hits, when he was c night behind the wiokeis. Ross then joined Xius=ell, and this partnership also proved very profitable, the score being carried from 226 co 303 before R'.'S^oll vas dismissed. Cobcroft had tried many changes of bowling, and a separation was finally effected by Tucker, who clean bowled "Russell in his first over when only two short of the century. 302 — 6—93.6 — 93. 'The itexl two wickets fell ra:':er more quickly, li'ii.j, only putting on two more when he was g:vcn ovit lbw" to Slemson. aftei having made c 6. EooS did not f.hov/ such preLty cricket a-i his partner K'.i&^ell, making most of his runs hv hard driven to the on. Fry onlymade 5 when he was caught off Tucker, and .Jr'-.iiir.as and M'Jlwraith played out time. Of the bowlers tried, Robertson was kept on lo.irsMt, and very frequently troubled the bat-mor., though he was rather expensive, his two wickets coating about 100 runs. Tucker camo out with the best average so far — two wickots for 12 runs, — but he was only tried Lite in the afternoon. Frankish was not so steady as usual, and his loose ones weie severely treated. Upham secured three wickets for be' wcon 60 and 70 runs. He was at times rather short, but he had hardly recovered hia land legs, having only arrived from "\YelImglon that morning. Stempon took one wicker for 27. Cobcroft bowled a few overs, but he was expensive. The fielding was, on the whole, good, but occasionally thera were misses, vhieh gave the visitors extra. ivas. Among those who .lid really good work liny be mentioned Cobc-jft and Richardson.

When the match was continued on .Friday the weather was very clis gioeable, and strong winds, with clouds of dust made the light at times very bod. The all ndance was very fair. M'llwraith, one of ill. not-out bats»iien, did not incrsaEe his score, being bowled by Robertson ; but Jennings carried -his total from 1 to 22 by nice batting, and was then unbeaten. Cave ninde rather an unexpected stand with Je niiigs, and Jiis score i? the highest he hat ret made in New Zealand. Three bowlers a re tried — Pvobcrfson, I T pham, and Franktsh. and the first ai-.d last-named sent down some really good bills. Upham bowled only a few o%crs at the close of the Melbourne ii niugs. The New Zcalanders' fielding was not whoFy satisfactory.

New Zealand's first innings was a very miserable display, and, with but few exceptions, the butting was feeble. The team was at the wickets for about fcwo hours and 20 minutes for the "smnU total of 89. The wiclocb played fairly well, and tlse bowling, though, good, was not sufficiently formidable to account lor suoli a poor d ,^lay. Baker and D. Bce^e beg-n the inninc= hut disaster came oily. Baker had put on"s vheii his partner, who" had not scored, made a poor stroke, a3-d was caught at cover-point. Lusk. who w;a* next in. -was also dismissed without Ecoriag, the board showing 6—2 — 0. Oobcvofl joined "Baker, ar.cl these two seemed f 'rly confident, though ba tains? very cautiously. Baker, however, soon left, being bowled by Trurnble.

He played pluckily, but was rather cramped in style. Cobcroft and Richardson then got together, and matters for a little while appeared more promising. Cobcroft was gaining confidence when, through an unfortunate misunderstanding witb Richardson, he was run out. 35 — 4—15.4 — 15. Richardson did not stop long after this, being bowled by Fry only two runs later. Frankish, who had gone in when Coberof t was dismissed, was the only other batsman who made a stand. He was certainly rather streaky at times, but some of his strokes were good, and he came out wth the top score of the innings. Stemson also succeeded in making double figures, and hit freely while he was in, but he found Fry's break too much for him. With Frankish he assisted to cany the score from 37 for ihe fifth wicket to 58 for the sixth; but after that the wickets fell rapidly. Frankish, who had gone in at the fall of the fourth wicket, saw Richardson, Stemson, Tucker, and Fowko dismissed, the two last-mentioned only putting on 4 and 6 respectively. When Frankish left the score was 88 for nine wickets, Upham and Robertson being in ; but the total was only increased by 1, when Robertson was run out without scoring. Melbourne's fielding was good throughout. Trumble took three wickets for 47, and Fry had the excellent average of four for 18 runs.

Being in a minority of 278 runs, New Zealand had to follow on. Baker and Frankish jvere the first two batsmen, and after cautious play for a few overs the Otago man became vigorous, and put up 17 in five hits, including three fours in succession off Trumble. His downfall was brought about by .a bad stroke, as in attempting to cut a long hop he was bowled by Fry. Frankish also began well, but in trying to drive Fry put a soft catch into slip's hands; and Richardson, batting very nicely, was still unbeaten with 21 to his credit when stumps were drawn. Included in his score was one 6, as after hitting Fry for 4 he got 2 for an overthrow. Stemsor> and Fowke, the two other batsmen who were dismissed, made 7 each. Stemson sent a very easy catch back to Trumble, while Fowke was caught off the last hall of the day.

The match was concluded on Saturday. ' Though the result, as was anticipated, was a decisive win for the visitors, the New Zealanders' batting was certainly better than in the first innings. The showers of rain which had fallen during the night made the wicket easy. The batting honours were carried off by Richardson, who played a splendid innings of 114, not out, and scored freely throughout the afternoon. His leg strokes were particularly good. Next to him came Tucker, who- batted very vigorously. Reede atoned somewhat for his poor display in the first innings by making 26 in good style. The weather was fine, and the attendance fairly large. When play ceased on Friday the New Zealanders had lost four wickets for 60 runs, Fowke having been dismissed in the last over of the day. Play was resumed at 2.15, Richardson, who was not out with 21 to his credit, being joined by Cobcroft. The latter took strike to Trumble, and played owt the remainder of the over which had been begun the previous evening. Fry bowled from the north end, and his first over to Richardson was a maiden. Trumble' s next over brought a single to each batsman, as also did Fry's second over. The next wicket fell without further alteration in the score, Cobcroft beingcaught by Gave off Trumble. 65—5—2. D. Reese was next man in. Four to Richardson off Fry, and then Reese began his score , with a single off Trumble, afterwards bringing 70 up with a single from Fry. ReeFe cut Trumble nicely for 4-, and then got the same bowler away for 2. Singles brought 60 on i the board, and 90 soon followed, chiefly as the result of 7 byes off Trumble. The batsmen continued to score, chiefly by singles, Richardson varying the rate with a 3 off Fry. Four more byes from Trumble brought the century up, and then Fry was replaced by Cave, who began with a maiden to Reese. The rate of scoring was by no lneons fast, most of the runs being credited to Richardson, who had now added 20 to his yesterday's total. With a nice stroke for 3 off Cave, Reese had 110 signalled. A rather lucky snick to the same batsman off Trumble followed, and then a number of singles brought the next 10 on the board. At this stage Gfraham, who had been keeping vickets, was replaced by Ro=s, and Fry bowled from the south end instead of Trumble. In Cave's next over Reese put one in the slips and was caught by Trumble. 123 — 6—26.6 — 26. Lus,k , was the next man, and immediately after his arrival Richardson put on three singles, and JLusk, after playinc? an over, opened with a single off Fry. Richardson followed with another single, and then hit Cave to the boundary, and brought up 130. Lusk, who had not shaped well, was bowled with the total at 150, and Richardson was joined by Tucker. These two bat&men made the best stand of the match, putting on 87 runs before the next wicket fell. Tucker certainly was rather luck}-, but he batted very freely, while Richardson throughout showed stubborn, defence, and at the same time scoring ability. Most of his runs were obtained on the leg side by -\igorous stroke?. When Tucker left the end soon came, both Upham and Robertson being dismissed without scoring. The innings closed for 246, Melbourne thus winning by an innings and 32 runs. Richardson received a great ovation for his display, being carried shoulder high to the pavilion, and cheered by the crowd. The following are the complete scores : — Melbourne. — First Innings. D. Mailer, lbw, b Robertson .. 26 H. Trumble, b, Robertson . . . . 32 H. Graham, c Frankish, b Upham 32 A. C. Russell, b Tucker 98 E. R. Jacobs, c Eoberston, b Upham 61 A. Aitken, c Fowke, b Upham .. 9 C. H. Ross, lbw, b Stemson .. .. 36 H. Fry, c Stemson, b Tucker .. 5 D. M'llwraith, b Robertson .. .. 12 P. G-. Jennings, not out 22 J. ~YV. Cave, c Richardson, b Frankish 17 Extras .. .. 14 Total 367 BOWLING ANALYSIS.

Upham bowled one wide. New Zealand.—First Innings. J. Baker, b Trumble 13 D. Reese, c Graham, b Cave .. 0 H. B. Lusk, b Trumble 0 Jj. T. Cobcroft, run out 15 C. A. Richardson, b Fry .. .. 5 F. S. Frankish, b Fry 28 W. Stemson, b Fry 10 K. Tucker, c Cave, b Tiumblo .. 4 J. N." Fowke, b Fry .. 6 E, Ugham, not out am »t H %

W. Robertson, run out 0 Extras «■ 6 Total 89 BOWLING ANALYSIS.

Second Innings. Baker, b Fry \ 17 F. S. Frankish, c Trumble, b Fry 7 W. Stemson, c and b Trumble .. 7 J. N. Fowke, c Fry, b Trumble .. 7 L. T. Cobcroft, c Cave, b Trumble 2 C. A. Richardson, not out .. .. 114 D. Reese, c Tiumble, b Cave „ 26 H. B. Lusk, b Graham 2 K. Tucker, c Trumble, b Cave .. 46 E. Upham, b Cave 0 W. Robertson, b Trumble .. .. 0 Extras 18 Total 2iG BOWLING ANALYSIS.

Robertson Frankish Upham Stemson Reese , Cobcroft Tucker L Balls. Mdns. Runs. Wkta. 210 4 123 3 172 5 87 1 ]32 5 67 3 42 2 26 1 J2 — 8 24 — 30 — 24 — 12 2

'rumble I ry . . !ave J Balls. J 144 7S 66 Mans. J 6 3 5 itUUE 47 18 18 s. l Wk 3 4 1

Frumble Fry Dave Balls. Mdns. J 230 12 160 7 150 10 30 0 Buns. 74 76 55 23 4 2 3 1