THE AUSTRALIANS AT HOME.

Western Star, Issue 261, 7 September 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE AUSTRALIANS AT HOME.

The files by the English mail contain the details of the scoring and bowling, so that we (‘Herald’) are now enabled to give the averages compiled from the returns for thirteen matches. These are matches against the following:—Eleven of the County of Nottingham, Eleven of the Marylebone Club, Eleven of the County of Yorkshire, a single innings match against the County of Yorkshire, Eleven of the County of Surrey, Eighteen of Elland, Eighteen of Batley, Eighteen of Longsight, Eleven of the Gentlemen of England, Eleven of the County of Middlesex, Eighteen of Birmingham, Eighteen of Huuslet, and the return match against the Eleven of the County of Yorkshire. Of the matches against elevens, five have been won, and three lost. Of the matches against eighteens, two were won, one was lost, and two were drawn, both, however, being in favor of the Australians. The batting and bowling averages of the Australians for these thirteen matches are as follows :

N. I—Spoflorth has bowled one no ball, and Allan one wide. After the above was in type a friend sent us his compilation of the averages of the Eleven in matches against elevens. The batting averages are for the matches played with Notts, Marylebone, Yorkshire, Yorkshire (single innings), Surrey, Gentlemen of England, Middlesex, Yorkshire (return match), Orleans Club, Leicester, and Cambridge University ; and the bowling averages are for the same matches, excluding Surrey, the Orleans Club, and the Cambridge University : BATTING AVERAGES.

ir ; By the Californian mail we have the fol* ■ lowing particulars of the play of the Austin' || lians up to June 11), written by one of the 1 . team to a gentleman in Melbourne : Since I last wrote you wo have played eighteen l of EJland. ¥e had only fourteen professionals 0 against us, so that was pretty hot property'. We '■ beat them with 80 runs to spare. Boyle got cl seven wickets in eight successive balls. I think c this has been noticed in every paper in England, i- as it was such a strong team we were playing, t Our next match was with eighteen of Batley, which resulted in a draw, owing to the rain. g The next match was eighteen of Longsight, near e Manchester, which included G. F. Grace and - Gilbert. They beat us by two wickets, owing to o the splendid batting of G. F. Grace, our 0 bad fielding, and their umpire. G. F. Grace 1 was out fair on two occasions leg before wicket i to Midwinter, but the umpire would not see . it. Our next event was the match of the trip, , the Gentlemen of England. The Gentlemen had ) the strongest batting and bowling team ever put ) in a field together in England. They beat us in I one innings and 1 run to spare. Gregory won ! the toss, and we went to the wickets to the 1 bowling of W. G. Grace and A. G. Steele, the \ best gentleman bowler in England. He bowls , something like M'Crimmon of the M.C.C I I think on a dry wicket he would get slaW. They i got us out for 75, with only one change, E. M. Grace getting Bannerman with slows. W, G. Grace and Gilbert started the batting, to the bowling of Spofforth and Allan; but it was a j great mistake, as Allan is bowling fearfully bad : since he has been in England, and has lost all pace, and when he tries to put the steam on :is off_ the wicket. The scoie gradually rose ; till 35 was reached, when Boyle was put on, and ■ at 42 clean bowled the champion with a fast one, i well up, about 6in. from the stumps. If you I had seen the look of astonishment on his face i you would never forget it. 'When the stumps • were drawn we had six out for 80, all got by I Boyle, who bowled grandly. Next morning the j wicket was a good deal dryer, and Boyle and j Spofforth were in good form, the former starting ; with five maidens, and the two Lytteltons , were soon disposed of. Our usual luck : then came on—the rain, a regular drizzle. I Gregory would not knock off, and the consoj quenoc was we could not hold the ball, and j Bush and Strachan pulled the score up to 138. I Our second innings only reached 63 ; we were i very unlucky. Midwinter said the Gentlemen j expected to make 300, and the public were j astonished we put them out for so small a score. ' We had a fine attendance the first day, all the j nobility of England being present. ! Boyle’s great bowling feat is thus spoken j of by one of the Yorkshire county papers : i Doing the “ hat trick ”is no mean thing, but | to out-Herod that feat by such a marvellous ■ performance ,as taking seven wickets in two i overs is something which the oldest cricketer i never remembers to have been done before. To | sec the batsmen go in, take block, then make a ' weak and ineffectual effort to stop the ball, or j I pat in feebly into point’s hands, was a sight 1 those who witnessed it never will forget to the ' longest day of their lives. The spectators, con- | sidering the lowering aspect of the sky, came out in great force, and were so astonished that i they could not even laugh, hut were simply I dumfoundered. The bowling average of this ! innings is admitted to be without a precedent, j Boyle, 18 overs, 11 maidens, 12 runs, 11 j wick* ts ; Spofforth, 18.1 overs, 10 maidens, 16 | runs, 6 wickets. j Concerning the Hon. E. Lyttelton’s grand j scorce of 113 in the Middlesex match, and the play of the Australians, a professional writer j in the ‘ Globe’ says : Those who witnessed the hour and a half at j Lord’s on Saturday saw as fine a bit of the best ! of cricket as could be witnessed. Nothing could exceed the brilliancy of the Hon. B. Lyttelton’s [ batting against such bowling and fielding. Pos- I sibly no man who ever lived made runs quicker or better, 110 being put on by him and his partner in 02min. The Australians are quite up to the best English elevens in bowling, fielding, and wicket-keeping, and better, probably, than any single county in England in all those points, for they are not handicapped by age, Out of 835

balls bowled by the Australians, the extras were —1 wide, 3 leg-byes, 5 byes, 4of them oif one ball.

Of their prospects against All England, we are told by the same writer that if the Australians were schooled for a fortnight against our best English bowlers, under the tuition of our English batsmen, no doubt they could play All England ; but they have not the advantage that our great amateurs have, which is the opportunity of being bowled to by the very best bowlers in England from the time he takes his place in his school eleven, and afterwards at college and Lords. London, August 24.—The following were the scores in the match against Eighteen of Scarborough : Australians—First innings 293 Scarborough—First innings... ... ... 124 ~ Second innings 125 The Australians therefore won in one innings, with 40 runs to spare. London, August 25.—As the players ask L2O each to play, the match Australia v. the Professionals of England, which was fixed for September 2, is off. The Australians play three matches in America, and leave San Francisco for home on October 27.

mm 1 V' - 1 mimm™ Names. 3 |_ 3 t H _s H H li U to InO to U CO to O Matches. I d £}tlSJS|2§J2S5!8gS Innings. o Innings. > sg££g5igSisi SBiiSPi Overs. w Runs. SS sssssisgsssss Most in a match. cossie Maidens. £ Most ill an innings. sasslilg Runs. — Times not 50 no 35 18 20 5 2 1 Wickets. l lv w 4- lw M w lv oat. i 6.81 1 7.53 10.30 10.12 4.18 1 ft* 18.1 115.0 Runs per wicket 18.4 13.7 12.21 11.G 10.10 10 0 9.15 9.14 9.13 9.G 8.10 5.3 Average.

Name. 'S 2 & li P t _■ ;i Jr a to r. o ► < C. Bannorman 11 17 305 1 133 118 18.5 W. Midwinter 0 11 1 ',2 2 32 17 lfi.8 J. Blackham 10 11 121 0 27 11 15.4 T. Horan .. 11 IS) 238 2 01 07 14 G. 11. i’.aiicy 7 12 115 i 39 71 13.2 A. lianncrman .. 10 10 171) 0 71 77 12.1 W. Murdoch 11 19 187 2 17 17 11 '1'. Garrett.. 11 lit 192 i 39 53 10.1 F. Spofiorth 11 17 175 0 50 02 10.5 1). Gregory 11 IS 1 V2 1 12 31 8.0 F. Allan .. 11 17 103 2 33 39 0.1 II. F. Boyle 10 11 10 5 9 9 1.4 BOWLING AVERAGES. • j til 'A Name. if u o o to £ * o I « > < H. F. Boyle .. 7 i 12 191 92 : 201 31 0 Midwinter .. 4 0 81 7 , 5<1 1) 0.3 F. Spofltorth.. 8 13 200 134 ■112 00 10.2 T. Garrett .. f) 7 1)0 11 132 11 12 F. Allan 8 , n 191 97 ■295 18 10.7