AUSTRALIANS v. M.C.C.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 67, 7 August 1878, Page 3

AUSTRALIANS v. M.C.C.

[By the special oorrespon lent of the 4 Sydney M.iil.’J

The 27th of May of the present yeir will be a rather memorable one in tlie history of Lord’s Cricket Ground, as on that day one of the most extraordinary matches commenced and terminated that has ever been decided in London. The Australian cricketers, as your readers are aware, phvyed their first match in England on the Trent Ground, at Nottingham, against a very good county team, and were defeated in one innings by the Notts with 14 runs to spare. The result of the contest tended to give that part of the English public who take an interest in cricket, but a very poor opinion of the •antipodean team, though it was generally .admitted that the Australians had shown some good pla3 r . Their appearance in London, where they were to meet a picked eleven of the greatest club in the world—the Marylebone —was not looked forward to with any unusual excitement, and indeed was very little spoken of up to the morning of ihe 27th May. The arrival of the team at the Horse Shoe, in Tottenham Court-road, was announced in a couple of the morning journals, and a few small posters in St. John’s Woodroad announced that a “grand match” was to come off on tiie 27th, without, however, naming the teams that were to iu it. People began to straggle on to Lord’s Ground about 11 o’clock on .27tli, up to which time showers of rain had fallen at intervals, and at a quarter to 12 there might h*ve been 800 or 1000 persons present; there was no evidence of excitement —people strolled round the ground, or rested themselves on the benches bounding the match reserve, quite apathetically. The pavilion was comparatively empty, the grand-stand completely so, and to a visitor there was nothing whatever to indicate that anything beyond an ordinari* match between ■second-rate players was about to commence. The rain ceased for the day between 11 and 12 o’clock ; the grass was wet and the ground spongy, the wickets no better than the field. Marylebone having won the toss, sent the Australians into the field, and punctually at 12 o'clock the bell rang to clear the ground, and Gregory led his men forth, who wwe received with a general (but hj’- no means enthusiastic) cheer from the spectators. I had not seen the Australians since the matches an the Albert Ground in November last, and I was much struck with j their improved appearance as ateam their j buoyancy of spirits, and activity of body. | Their 4 ‘ points” were criticised during the j Interval of their taking the fi *ld and the ' Marylebone batsmen going to the wicket, ■ and the gener d impression was favorable, I so far as the pavi-ion occupants and those in front of it were cou'-eniee, among i whom were several Australians, including ! •two cricketers of the olden time — Got. i Ward an 1 Mr W. Sims. Mr W G. Grace (who is much more robust than when in Australia) and Mr Hornby (a renowned batsman) were tin first to go to the wi - kets, and wi -n they emerged from tiie pavilion a very warm reception was given to them Mr Grace took the .

•p:ivili<)ii end, and Mr ? b>r..by the* nursery wicket, with Allan and Boyl * as howlers, He funner d Tivering th * fir-ri nrr tr> Grace. Even at this tmn there was a •drowsiness over the sp -ccntm - -;, w 10 rseenied as if th-y had made up t eir minds that Grice and Hornby would 'knock the ba'l about for an hour or two ; and the only amusement, if any, would be that of u leather hunting'’ by the Australians, who were dispos *d round the wickets as follows :—Murdoch, wicketkeeper, Midwinter short-leg and squareleg forward, Bailey deep behind the Ibowler and mid-on, 0. Bannerman point, A. Bannerman .mid-off, Gregory shortslip, Garrett cover-point, and Horan longon and mid-off. Grace looked found the Held, took his block, and Allan sent him the first ball of the match, which the great batsman put to leg for four ; this hit caused a laugh only from the assemblage, as much as to say, “ This kind of thing will continue for some time.” Midwinter, however, had shifted from short towards square leg : and Allan pitched another b ill on the same spot, which Grace treated in a like manner to the first, but it went into the hands of Midwinter. The ring, which :at that time numbered about 1500 to 1800 persons, woke up, and a shout of incredulous surprise followed the fall of Grace’s wicket. The next over another wicket fell, and some good fielding was shown off Hornby’s batting; some excitement began to manifest itself in the pavilion, and gradually spread around the circle. The fielding of the Australians was considered pretty good, then very good. Hornby kept the field well employed till the score had reached 25, when Spnfforth relieved Allan. At this time Booth had been bowled by Boyle, and Hidley was Hornby’s companion ; the latter made two off the first ball he received from Spofforth, but the next sent his leg stump clean out of the ground. On Mr Hornby coming into the pavilion, I asked him what kind of a ball took his wicket, and •a, good humoured smile overspread his handsome face as he said “a regular Yorkshireraan —shot right under the bat.” IHews had got outside that the Australians were making play, and the crowd rapidly increased, and so did the excitement—of of enthusiasm there was very little. Bidley was well caught by A. Bannerman, and Wild had received his conge from Boyle, when Hearne came to the wicket, whom Spofforth despatched by the first ball delivered to the new batsman. The colonials on the ground were elated and the Britishers still incredulous when Shaw took the wicket, went out to a short-pitched ball by Spofforth, missed it, and was splendidly stumped by Murdoch. A shout of derision greeted Shaw’s disaster as lie left the ground, and his place was immediately taken by Mr Yernon, and in less than two minutes after that gentleman had left the pavilion he was on his way hack again, having been also stumped by Murdoch off Spofforth’s bowling. Again the derisive “ Oh,” long drawn out, rose into the air. Flowers tried to keep his ground, but was soon caught by the Sydney trundler off his own bowling, and the innings closed for 33 runs. The various papers described the innings as “ sensational,” and it certainly was. It is next to impossible to to give an. idea of the pecular look old cricketers arid admirers of the game (who

I hud seen many a battle on Lord’s) gave each other. “They could’nt make it out i”—“ vVliy, a !ot of boys would have done hett r ” —“ Nev- r was there such an exhibit! m ! : ’ —and re narks of a like complimentary kind. When the innings was over, the crowd rushed to see the Australians, of whom Snofforth was of course the ‘‘lion.” Lads peered up into his : face, men looked up and down at him, cheering lustily all the while, and pushing him into the pavilion, when they cheered and cheered again ; after which a general rush was made to all places where beer and other drinks were sold- Spoftorth and Boyle were warmly congratulated by the members of the Marylebone Club, who had somewhat recovered their surprise, and put down the small score more to the ‘‘ chapter of accidents,” than good play on one side or bad on the other. “Big scores were impossible on such ground,’; said they—and so said W. G. Grace—and gradually the Englishmen were comforted. It is scarcely necessary to go in detail through the innings of the Australian team, as I have extracted the very excellent account given by the London 4 Standard ’ (the same account appearing almost word for word in toe ‘ Daily News,’ 1 Telegraph,’ ‘ Advertiser,’and 4 Morning Post the 4 Times ’ devoting about forty or fifty lines to it.) The colonials went to the wickets about half-past one, to the bowling of A. Shaw and Morley. It was soon evident that the Marylebone team intended to keep down the score by close fielding. The bowling was really superb, and it seemed as if the Australians would fail even to tie their opponents : the two Banner-mans (caugl it) and Gregory (bowled) retired for 0, aud it was not until Murdoch and Allan got together that the Marylebone score was topped, the two making 15 between them, Midwinter having scored 'lO by careful play. The iunings closed for 41. With only eight runs to the good, and ivith one of the best teams in England to oppose them, the chance of the Australians was regarded—indeed, by friends as well as foes—as very slender ; there was, however, the satisfaction of knowing that, if defeated, it would not be in one innings. “ If,” said Spoftorth and Gregory privately to me, 4 ‘ we could only get them out in the second innings for the same score wouldn’t it be glorious 1 ” I thought so too, but neither of the three of us had the faintest idea that such-a result was possible. It is of course known in Sydney that the Marylebone second innings produced only 19 runs ; 500 to 1 would have been laid against such an occurrence Grace and Hornby went to the wickets jubilant—the crowd had recovered from its astonishment. A hundred runs won d certainly he got ; and, as far as could be judged, the Australians were not equal to eignty on the soft wicker. Ic Would be a good game after all. The Australians bond ve:l, aud their fielding was really equal to that of the University (considered the best in England). Play beg.ns, Spoftorth commences to Grace, and the first ball is stopped by him. of which little notice is tak.n by the crowd. The second scatters his stumps. An instant of perfect silence, aud then a tremendous shout is giv -n all round —a shoot witli no distinct meaning, it neither applauding tiie howler nor deriding the t atsma i. Sjioftbrlh hid d>. liverjd a very fast hall to the renowned cricketer, ami co ning up as if to driver another at 'he sain • pace, sent in a rather slow one, which broke in from toe leg, aud clean ho vied the h-viathan, who retired to the pavilion, and frankly suited that lie was completely deceived 'by it. There was a look of bewi dermsnt on the faces of all we met, and, to use a colonial term, people seemed “ knocked over,” as Boyle sent Hornby, Booth, and Hi 1 ley h ick to the pavilion in succession—4 wickets for 1 run. Spoftorth afterwar Is dismissed IV ebb, Hearne, and Vernon i’or 0 each, and Boyle did as much for Morley, the onty scores being Hornby 1, Wild 5, Flowers 11, and Show 2 The close of the innings was the signal for a general rush over tlie ground to see the two redoubtable howlers of the Australian team. If they had been objects of curiosity in the first innings, they seemed to be now regarded as bowlers from another world. 4> What! put out Marylebone first eleven for 19, ami bowled nine of them c ean. Let’s have a look at these men ! ” and all the spectators tried to do so. The front of the pavilion was besieged in the same manner as an excited crowd have often besieged the Albert Ground on the conclusion of a match, cheering and chaffing alternately. A very warm expression of admiration was unanimously given to the Australians by the crowd in the pavilion, and Spoftorth and Boyle were congratulated on all sides. The team shortly after left the ground, hut it was past seven o’clock before the various bars were cleared of people, all vigorously discussing the pros and cons of the game just ended, and which was to be the talk of London next day.