THE LAST ALL-ENGLAND MATCH.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1179, 3 October 1884, Page 3

THE LAST ALL-ENGLAND MATCH.

M'Douiiellre innings (cays th e Daily \'ews was only slightly disfigured by two very hard chances to the bowler, and he deserved unstinted praise for the magnificient form ho displayed. His hitting was as hard and free as ever, and there was not that riskiness about it or the loftiness in the drives which commonly characterise his batting. He scored two thirds of the runs while ho was in ; and making allowance fur the importance of the match, the achievement of the p ipular young Victorian will rank as the best thing he has done so far ns his English cricket caree is concerned. . . . From this point, however, no other wicket fell, and when time was called at half past six, or three hours and twenty minutes later, the bowlers had been successfuily defied, and the score increased by 21)5 rims. Murdoch, who, when he was in with McDonnell, playel a useful and fairly good innings but certainly notin so free and taking a style as his partner—now improved in a very marked degree; while Sc-itt, from the first, hit withgreat freedom and confidence. The people were nothing like so enthusiastic as they would doubtless have been had it been England instead of Australia that were making so many runs for so few wickets ; but nevertheless, as the aft rnooa wore on and the magnitude of the performance b came apparaut to the crow-1, the cheering .became" more general and hearty. When each of th’ oe men ‘coh'ipleted -his hundred the applause .was unmistakeat-ly genuine. Owing to the intense heat of the day the fielding was not up to the h'ahest standard, hut save the mistakes mentioned there was no serious fault to ft id.

Murdoch’s innings is desorb-ed as “ long and magnificent.” He went iu at 12.15 p.m. on the Monday, and retired at 3 3l) p in. next d y. The three choices he gave—at 46 to Lyttelton at the wickets, at 171 to Barlow at third man, and at 20-5 to Steel at mi l-on—were all off Ulyett’s bowling. It was very hard luck for the Y rkshirernau to thrice lose the honor of uismissiug the great Australian batsman. Murdoch, after his first 50 runs, played magnificently, his patience an-1 ca-e being even more noticeable than his clean and well timed bitting, no was in while 479 runs wore scored, in itself a tremendous effort of endurance. When Lyttelton went on to bowl his lobs some carious cricket was shown, and the crowd were immensely amused thereat. “ Every minute that passed lessened the Australian’s c ranee of winning, and they hatted without much cere, so that Lyttelton had the honor of taking the last four wickets in eigb. overs for eight runs. Among them was Spofforth's, dean bowled, the only time the stumps were hit in the innings. B fore the Inst man went, however, Shrewsbury was tried, and as the ten men bad each bad a spell at bowling, loud laughter greeted the last of the English Eleven os he tiled his hand. The innings lasted nine and a-haif hours.” Remarkable as the Australian innings had been, that of the Horae team, in one respect, was still more so. Tneir duty was to hat well enough to draw the match, and most of them really aid make double figures. Still, thanks chiefly to Palmer and the fine fielding, eight wiokets fell for 181 runs, and as it was then

only throe o'clock in the afternoon, then mi still linj.e for tho colonials to win. Scotton was still in, and had been batting- from tbo tb< first in the moat approved Houbwhli style. Barlow waa nowbeie beside tbn Nutts professional. W. W. Read waa tenth man, and he proved to be in bis mat "briU bant form. He scored at a most terrific rate from the jump. None of the bow ersc. old do anything with his determined bitting, an Unless thin two boars be ha I passed the 100. ■ At 84 he and Seottun were equal, though the professional ha l been batting four times as long as the amatenr. Mr Read’s marvellous display enabled his side to m ike a much more creditable draw than they could otherwise possibly have done. The fact of a three figure score appearing tenth on the list almost' speaks for itself. Scott m stsyediii till just upon the end, and Head, alter hitting Boyle for a 2 and two 4’s, tried to ‘rag >he last oall to leg and was bowled. On going >n again, Shrewsbury hit eight 4’s ont of a total of 37. The wicket on this last day played nearly as well as ever, one of the few balls that kicked at all being tho one'off which Scotton was caught. Seven howlers were at one time or another tried hy tno Australians We have already mentioned that the whole of the English Eleven went on ' to bowl. There were in aU_ thirty-five changes after the original pair—Peate and Ulyett Twenty four of these changes took place the first day and eleven the next. Peate went on six times, Ulyett, Barlow, and Barnes five tipias eaca. St-el and Grace foartimea each, Bt ad three 1 times, Lyttelton twice,.and Scotton, Harris,' land Shrewsbury once each. The figures would appear to show that Grace might, with advantage, have bowled more than he did. It was stated that at some part of the innings or another Grace fielded at every place. The total number of people who paid for admission was 37.303, bat tbo total on the ground was much larger by several thousands.