CRICKET.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume III, Issue 105, 28 July 1892, Page 3

CRICKET.

Some of the members of the N.Z.. athletic team now in England have been indulging in cricket in their leisure intervals. In a match of St. Nicholas v. Greyhounds, played at Brighton, Cuff scored 81 on behalf of St. Nicholas, which a local paper describes as “a dashing innings.” D. Wood played for the same club a few days previously, and, though only putting up a score of 8 with the bat, took 6 wickets for 16 runs. The first appearance of the New South Welshman, J. J. Ferris, on behalf of Gloucestershire, in the match between that county and Surrey at the Oval on June 27th, 28th and 29th, was not a particularly successful one, as the five Surrey wickets he was credited with cost no less than 107 runs. The fine weather which was then being experienced in England, however, was against bowlers having good averages. Ferris did better when playing for the Gentlemen of England against Oxford University, at Oxford, on May 19th and the following days, as in the second innings of the ’Varsity he captured six wickets for 72 runs, though his one wicket in the first innings cost no less than 46 runs. The best performance on the side of the Gentlemen, who won by ten wickets, was the all round cricket shown by another colonial, 8. M. J. Woods, who made top score (73), and in the two innings of the Oxonians took ten wickets for 125 runs. A curious incident occurred recently in a match between Thames Ditton and Cobham, at Cobham, England. While W. H. Martin, son of the captain of the Cobham Eleven, was battiilg, he played a ball just beyond mid-on. A dog made for the ball, and before the fieldsman could get to it he was away with his prize in hot haste to all parts of the ground. Meanwhile, the batsmen were making the best of such a rare opportunity, and 12 or 13 runs had been got before the dog was compelled to disgorge his prey. But the question oi the amount to be scored had to be settled, and the umpire solved the knotty point with the ruling that the ball was dead, and the result in the end was an allowance of four runs. A match that created a large amount of interest was commenced at Lord’s on May 23, between married and single representatives of the two classes of cricket —gentlemen and professionals. It was played for the benefit of Clayton, whose connection with important cricket dates back some twenty years—his first appearance at St. John’s Wood, being for the Colts of England in 1871. The match was won by the bachelors, who made 296 and 119 for five wickets (Stoddard 42 and 53, M. Read 61 and 0, Lohmann 58 and not out 4, Henderson not out 50) to 230 and 184 (Abel 54 and 11, A. N. Hornby 48 and 3, Chatterton 45 and 2). Referring to the match “ Wanderer” writes to the Sportsman : —“ Married v. Single is a decided novelty in firstclass cricket and has not been played at the Oval since 1858, while the previous matches at Lord’s were in 1849 and 1871, the latter being for the benefit of Edgar Willsher. The Single won by an innings and 73 runs, but this was mainly owing to the weather, which prevented a ball being bowled on the second day (J uly 11), and was very showery on the Wednesday. Of course, ‘W.G.’s’ 189 (notout) out of 310 was of great value for the Singles — the champion was a bachelor at that time. On the winning side were also Richard Humphrey, W.Oscroft, Rylott, and the present beneficiare, who scored 11, and took a couple of wickets for 12 and 23 runs respectively. On the Married side, too, most of the players have passed away, but of those still in the land of the living I would mention Daft, Carpenter, Alfred Shaw, Pooley, and Mr. G. M. Kelson.” The following, which is from the English journal Cricket, has reference to the late Mr. E. W. Humphreys, M.H.R. for Christchurch North :—“ A crieketei* who will be well remembered by all Harrovians in the latter part of the fifties passed away on the 27th of last month. In the days when Daniel, Elphinstone, and Bob Lang were names to conjure within Harrow cricket, there were few better batsmen than E. W. Humphreys. Getting his colours in 1858, he won the Ebrington Cup for batting in 1859, in which yeai' he played a fine innings of 63 against Eton, at Lord’s. A free and stylish batsman, making full use of his height (six feet), he punished loose bowling severely. Indeed, he had few, if any, superiors in his day as a boy bat. It was his good fortune to take part in two matches against Eton, in both of which Harrow won by more than one innings. Settling down in New Zealand in 1864 to sheep farming, he spent the rest of his life in the colony.”