CRICKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2522, 16 July 1902, Page 62

CRICKET.

NOTES BT LOSG SLIP.

A suggestion has emanated frm Sydney fo the effect that Lord Hawke's English t«am for New Zealand should return Home via Australia, playing matches 'in Sydney »nd_ Melbourne. "•'Prior "to t£e first test match at BinningWm "Ranji" was wandering round the town looking for an hotel. He had some - 'difficulty in finding accommodation. To add to his troubles, he was worried cer •liis kit, which did not arrive until 20 minutes befre the match started. "Ranji" /was bustled, and drove to the ground with •Maclaren in a motor-car. He was boy led after making 13. Asked by a pertinaciousinterviewer to explain his failure : "Bad batting," was the reply. ; " During at least the last couple of years we have received word by cable of partiett- ' good cricketing performances, notably the firar, second, and third batsmen to reach the 1000 runs for the season, or the 2000, or the 100 wickets. To date we have had no _ information tha.t any English batsman has obtained his 1000. We know that Trumper got his in the match against the English •Eleven at Bradford; therefore it is con'eluded that of all the English and the Aus- ( . 4nlian batsmen he is the first. j -.As a- gathering, the first test match in i (writes a correspondent with ihe | -Australian team) waa not the brilliancy to j which we are accustomed in Australia. The .^Birmingham papers were exultant over the battle, and some of their screed was studded srith fierce quotations from Homer. Before the toss Duff and Carter gave Trumper and 'Armstrong a knock at the nets. Ranji joined them, and Duff sent him down a few. Hopkins was included in the team because Saunders was suffering from tonsilifcis. Trumble had been bowling a little the ..previous day to test his dislocated thumb, and the verdict was in the negative. The ireather looked treacherous, but it remained fine, with a fluctuating light. ' It was a heavy blow to England when Tones got Fry, taken for a blob by Kelly. The most rational idea about Fry was that he had dulled his sight with too much literary work. He writes each night for the London papers, which boom his cricket articles, and pay him well. The Australians found years ago that iiress correspondence was fatal to cricket, and there is a heavy penalty among them for a breach of the anti-press work rule. Scholarly and athletic "C.8." was the subject of many witticisms, such as suggestions for articles in the style of '"How I Made My Blob." If Australian critics are still firing shrapnel it should be directed at the catching, and not at the batting and bowling. When .the men practice catching they indulge in rhort fancy shots to amaze the crowd. It ■as about time the captain insisted on systematic training in hard catching in front «i smiters like Darling, Hill, Howell, and Jones. Juggling is very pretty, but it is ! Hot solid cricket. I ' There are to be seven benefit matches m England this season — viz.. W Gunn, G. Hay, W. Storer, J. Whiteside, Hayward, Albert Ward, and Victor Barton. William Gunn takes the Notts and Surrey match at Trent Bridge, when every cricketer will wish him the best of luck, for his name will go down as one of the greatest and most stylish batsmen in England. Matches at Nottingham do not usually produce big gates (says "Tatler"), but the subscription is wire to be a large one. Storer deserves pvell of Derbyshire, for he has served them skilfully during a long period of depression ; but better days may perhaps be in store for the county, and C. A. Olhvierre, the West Indian, will be a- distinct gain : he is a really | fine batsman Tom Hayward and Albert •Ward are morally certain to receive a substantial sinn of money, though it will be a long time before any professional cricketer is lucky enough to receive £3108, the sum which J. T. Brown, the Yorkshireman, obtained from the Yorkshire and Lancashire i match last summer. .This is the record j benefit. I "Whether a bowler has ever been developed on tour who was not of much previous importance, Home Gordon, in the London Sportsman, says he cannot call to mind, but it is quite possible that Trumper, before the end of this season, will he regarded as a useful colonial trundle r. He gets more pace on hie deliveries than anyone on the side, 'bar Jones, and they have- a h&bit of shooting, which causes the batsman to stuck iastead of drive,; hence he plays or. , A. C. Maclaren has been elected captain of the Lancashire County team in- placo of 'A. Eccles,' who resigned in favour of Maclaren. > - —The" English Eleven which opposed the /Australians on 3une 26 \\a> not a veiy strong one. but the- match has unearthed a new bowler in Knutton In Bradford ■Knutton in well known, but his fame h^s not gone beyond the local circle of eritket ■until now. Knutton is a. member of the Bradford Club, which competes in the Yorkshire Council Competition On several occasion-3 he has bowled in fine form, and against Sheffield United captured sis. wicket, for 24 runs. Five of tho imn di-smif^ed by Knutton were clean b.nvktl. Knutton's performance against the Australian* its a particularly fine one. especially as theie was really no other bowler to render him any assistance in preventing tho batsmen from playing their "eye in."' Playing as "a colt in IF6*- and in 1865 for Player 3 against the Gentlemen is a quick rise, and in his reminiscences Alfred • Shaw says: — "To receive this coveted hall- j mark of cricketing success so soon was a distinction of which, I am not afraid of saying, I was immensely proud." This was at Kennington O*al, on July 3, 4. and 5, 1£65, and in the same match appeared for the first time W. G Grace, I. D. Walker, C. F. Buller. H. Jupp, and T. Humphrey. Shaw made fi\o tours to Australia, anil several chapter', devoted to tlra portion of tho great bowler's career are eminently readable, e-peJa'ly the di\eiting pxpc-ru-nci of Tom Knvnctl. Ulyett, and ' Johnnie Brigcc?. The Ne.v Zealand trip through tho Otira Gor?e in flood time is, perhaps, the mo<t -rn-at Km.il cricket trip nn i\cmd A> t<> An '.i.'l'mi cii'-Lct wt and prert'iit. Shaw l -3\- — '" I' h pv d<libei ate opinion t!«il thrr L , \r- ."> o< m-pan-iii I I'tnciii tii" team ra i >ir 1 l.\- .Mr Joe Daring in 1C991 C 99 and th- ti-j n.- led l,v Mr W. L V-irdneh im V'?i ,iv,\ IP'4 More tlian that, nono of t'ii> tfarn* that - have coitic to Kncland mike 1884 hayo ftpproached m briliiai cy and powir thr> sides that Murdoch was so proud to have the prhilege of leading. The IS€2 6- 1 elevens were pre-eminently spectator-,' team*. Tkeir pl*j was invariably \auuit

and pleasing, and withal highly scientific. It cannot truthfully be said that this was characteristic of the Australian team that visited England in 1693. Possibly seme readers, especially if they are engaged in first-class cricket to-day, may think I have a bigoted opinion of the merits of the older school of Australian cricketers. I wish to earnestly assure them that is not the ca=e. I have looked the facts fairly and squarely in the face, with a perfectly open mind, and I have come deliberately to the conclusion that the Australian teams we ha\e recently seen in England can in no sense -compare- with the brilliant tide* that Mr W L Murdoch had the honour of leading in 'lßß2 and 1884." I Apropos of the arrival of the Au-tralian cricketers in London a eorrrsponde-.jt soiids ••Tattler"' a good story of the last team tl.at visited England three year* ag". When the M.C.C. were playing the Australia .1 team at Lord's in May, 1£99. lus Maj««-tr ! the King (or as he then was. the Prince of ' Wales), the Prince of WaU= (then t..e ' Duke of York), and the late Prince Chn«tiau Victor paid a \i=it to the ground and were recehed by tho presideut of the club and the committee in the committee room. , The Australians were in the field a< the time, but on the fall of a wicket the game . was stopped aud the colcniak had tiie honour of being introduced to their Royal ■ Highnesses. A distin-ruished member of the i side— not even one of the present Kle\eu— I on shaking hands with Prince Christian Victor, remarked, "Let me see, which one are you? I have shaken hands with po i many princes this afternoon." And then later on he remarked to one of hie co;,!lades, gazing the while -at Irs right hand, "1 shan't wa'h this for a fortnight