THE GREAT CRICKET MATCH.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 103, 22 February 1868, Page 3

THE GREAT CRICKET MATCH.

Blenheim v: Picton. (By our “Express ” Reporter.) It will be in the recollection of our readers that a cricket match was played on the Blenheim ground about this time last year between thePicton and Blenheim Clubs, in which the former club gained the victory. To try. and regain the laurels lost on that occasion the Blenheim cricketers determined to play another match, and the contest was arranged to take place in Picton; accordingly thither our cricketers wended their way, and the match came off- oil' Monday last. Some short time previous to the late flood eleven “good men and true” Were selected to do battle for the honor of the cricket* ing interest in this part of the province, and as past experience had shown that the Picton .Club were not easily beaten, it was determined by those conducting the match that' no slight obstacle should prevent it being scored in favor of the Blenheim team, and practice Was resorted to on every favorable occasion. The team Were beginning to play well together when the flood : took place, and for the time all chance of practice was at an end. Men circumstanced as the majority of those chosen to play in the match were, the want of practice together was felt to 0 ' be a great loss, and assisted to make the result. 1 : more uncertain ; but as the Blenheim team htfpd : been augmented by the addition of two player* ul of acknowledged merit, it Was thought that * chance existed to bear &\fay the victor’s palm; To place the matter beyond a doubt, every one •• determined to do his best to obtain the desired result, and then if fortune still proved Unkind, they might say,— •* It was not in mortals td command success, hut we did more, deserve it.” Part of the cricketers left Blenheim the day ■ : before the match, and the remainder rod# 1 ' : - . J " r--' ;

through on Monday morning. As in several previous matches, the game had been imperilled by the lateness of the hour chosen for the commencement, stumps were ordered to be pitched at nine o’clock, preliminaries were arranged, the men were on the ground, and within a few minutes of the time agreed upon, THE PLAY commenced—Phillips and William Robinson defending the wickets for Blenheim against the bowling of Freeland and Pickering. The first ball from Freeland was hit for 1, and the remainder of the over was bowled without a further score being obtained. Pickering then commenced to bowl, and runs began to be made freely. Before the batsmen were separated—by Phillips being caught—l 6 runs had been obtained. Conolly went on bowling, and Wandon filled the place of Phillips. A few more runs, and a clipping ball from Freeland found its way into the timber-yard of W. Robinson, and he gave place to Kissling. The two players now at the wickets were expected to continue the good luck that apparently had visited the batters, nor were the expectations disappointed, though one of Freeland’s “ undeniables ” found a weak place in Wandon’s defence, and he retired - to make room for J. T. Robinson, who, with Kissling, increased the score in a few minutes from 24 to 36, when Conolly, who was bowling with remarkable precision, dislodged the bails of J. T. Robinson, and Compton accepted the situation. His (Compton’s) life was a short one, as he was run out without having scored. Kitchen—next man—made 2, when he was bowled, and Wratt tOOk the place. All this time Kissling had been at the stumps scoring runs, and when Wratt joined him they both began scoring faster than ever. To stop the little game a change was made in the bowling, and Hawk and Woods went on instead of Freeland and Conolly. The change in bowling soon told, as Kissling succumbed to a “shooter” from Hawk, and retired with the food score of 23, after holding his bat for two ours and ten minutes. Morley joined Wratt, and runs continued to be made. When an adi'ournment took place for luncheon, 94 runs had teen obtained. After a moderate time had been Spent in discussing creature comforts, play was resumed; but the viands had been too heavy or the liquors too heavy, as only 1 was added to the score before Wratt was bowled by Woods. ' Organ—last man—only contributed 1 to the runs when he was bowled by Hawk, leaving Morley to bring his bat out. The great features in ! the first innings were the batting of Kissling and the bowling of the Pictonians. Although a large number of runs were obtained, the bowling •was too good to take liberties with, and Conolly bowled l 9 overs for 27 runs. Wratt’s long score was only a fluke, but the batting of Kissling was "Ss good as need be, and he got his runs in true ’ cricketing style. The wickets fell as follows : 1 for 16 ; 2, 21 ;3,24;4, 36 ; 5, 36; 6. 46; 7, 60 j 8,83 ;9, 95; 10, 96. A short breathing time was allowed, when the Picton team was represented at the wickets by HtdTand Pickering, junr. Both these players were singularly unfortunate as they were run out without scoring, and* had it not been for a bye wickets would have fallen and no run obtained. Rayner returned the ball remarkably well which resulted in Hull’s overthrow. Woods and H. Seymour were in together, but bad fortune still pursued the Picton eleven, as H. SeyShour was bowled by Wandon (who, with Morley, was handling the ball) for 2 runs. Gray took -the vacant place, and an alteration was quickly made in the score, and in 35 minutes 24 runs had been obtained, when Woods skyed a ball"and W. Robinson secured it, making the best catch of the day, in fact one of the best we have ever seen made. Cawte then joined Gray, and a considerable increase was made to the total be fore the partnership was dissolved by Gray being bowled by Wandon, after making the great score of the day, every one obtained without giving a - chance. Williams then took Gray’s place, and I both played very cautiously for a long time until Morley found out Cawte’s little weakness and disturbed his stumps. Freeland (by substitute— Wood, who, by the way, is a very recent addition to the Picton team, and proved himself one of the best players on the ground, scoring 15’for Freeland) handled the willow in conjunction with Williams, and the score began to mount apace, but Wandon put a stop to it by bowling Williams. -Pickering and Conolly followed, but both failed to obtain runs. When Hawk—last man—joined Freeland the two batters added a few more runs, when Freeland was caught by J. T. Robinson, and Hawke brought his bat out. The wickets fell for the following :—I for 0 ; 2, 1; 3,4; 4, 28; 5, 46; 6, 64; 7, 79; 8,82; 9, 85; 10, 95. At r ,this stage it was remembered that at the conclusion of the Blenheim innings a discrepancy wais; discovered between the scorers, Picton saying 94 and Blenheim 96. No objection was made to the latter at the time, the difference being accounted for by the fact of the Picton scorer being changed three times. Picton having at the close wared 95.

Tno Blenheim players soon resumed their position at the stuthps for the second innings, but as thO score obtained could have no bearing on the mitch‘.unless it was played out, we will not detail; the play, and the scores given below will iuffice to enable our readers to see the number of rahs.made. The 'match was claimed by Blenheim, and it was afterwards stated at the dinner by Captain Robinson that if Picton came through to Blenheim and played another match this season they could consider it a drawn game, but not otherwise. No response was made to this, when Mr. Williams, for Captain Freeland, responded. BU&ihem therefore claims the victory. later in the evening the two elevens sat down > to a. dinner provided in Captain Freeland’s usual good style, to which all did justice, the exertions of the day’s labors adding appetite. H. Seymour, Bsq., presided, and after the dinner, toasts,* speeches, and songs, to tell all of which would require more time and space than would willihglybe spared. There were—The Queen, Sir G. Bowen, by the, Chairman ; The Army and Navy,- by Sergeant Philpotts and Lieut. Morley; The Blenheim CC., by Captain Robinson, was followed by the Picton C.C., replied to by Mr. Williams. Mr. Marks proposed The Agricultnral and Pastoral Interests, coupled with the ' Chairman, who responded gracefully. The. Trade sac [ ’Commerce of the Province was given by Mr.

Hull, and replied to by Mr. Marks. Mr. Hull afterwards, in a very lively speech sparkling with bon mots, proposed The Ladies, which was very well acknowledged by Mr. W. Pickering, juur. Mr. Marks in flattering terms proposed The Press of the Province, coupled with the name of Mr. Johnson, of the Express, who replied, ahd shortly after the meeting broke up, and wa returned to our horpes gratified with the reception we had rjceived. BLENHEIM. First Innings.

W. Robinson, b Freeland . . .9 Phillips, c Pickering, senr., b Freeland . 8 Wandon, b Freeland . . . .7 Kissling, b Hawk . . . . .23 J. T. Robinson, b Conolly . . .11 Compton, run out . . . . .0 Kitchen, b Freeland .... 2 Wratt, b Wood . . , . -16 Morley, not out ..... 9 Rayner, b Wood . . . . .1 Organ, b Wood . . . . .1 Byes, 4 : lb, 1 ; wides, 4 .9 Total, Ist innings . . .96 Second Innings. Organ, b Wood . ... ,0 Rayner, b Wood . . . . .3 Phillips, b Wood ..... 5 J. T. Robinson, b Freeland . . . -1 Kissling, b Wood . . . . .1 Morley, run out . . . ■ .1 W. Robinson, c Wood, b Freeland . 2 Compton, b Wood ... . . 5 Kitchen, c Wood, b Freeland . . 9 Wratt, b Freeland .... 2 Wandon, not out . . . . .2 Byes, 1 ; n b, 1 . . . .2 Total, 2nd Innings . . .33 PICTON. First Innings. Pickering, jun , run out . . . .0 Hull, run out 0 Wood, cW. Robinson, b Wandon . . . 11 H. Seymour, b Wandon, . . .2 Gray, b Wandon . . . . .28 Cawte, b Morley 7 Williams, b Wandon . . . .18 Freeland, c and bJ. T. Robinson . . 15 Pickering, sen., bJ. T. Robinson . . 0 Conolly, b Wandon . . . ; 0 Hawk, not out . . . . .4 Byes, 8 ; wides, 2 . . . .10 Total, . . . . .95