The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-31 00:00:00

THE AUSTELLIAN CRICKETERS.

In London, on Friday in last week, a great victory
was achieved at Lord's ground over the Australian
Eleven. On the previous day the Marylebone team
went in on a hard, first-rate wicket, and scored 465
runs with only nine men out, On Friday the last
wicket increased the score to 481, Barnes carrying out
his bat for 105. This innings of the Nottingham pro-
fessional was remarkable in itself, but was far more
noteworthy as being the third three-figure score hit
for the Marylebone•Club in this long innings. Never
before, so far as is known, have three separate hun-
dreds been made in one innings in England in a
match of any importance, and the fact is tlae more re-
markable that this achievement was accomplished
against the bowling of the Australians—bowling which
by common consent is acknowledged to be superior
to anything that the old country an at present show.
The Australians laboured under two disadvantages
when they went in against this tremendous total. First,
they had to bat without Midwinter—one of the most
steady and trustworthy of their eleven; and secondly,
the ground, hard and good as it was, of course bore
practical evidence of the severe wear and tear of
'Thursday's run-getting. But whatever disadvantage
the Australians may have been at in the matter of -
the condition of the ground, they certainly were very
lucky in the number of catches that were missed in their
first innings. The team have one and all
earned great reputations; but the fielding of the
eleven up to lunch time was distinctly and emphati-
cally bad. As an excuse for the catches missed by
Mr. Grace in the long field, it may fairly be urged
that he hurt one of the fingers of his right hand in
attempting the first of these; but it is not only the
six chances that came to hand and were dropped that
comprised the English mistakes. There were many
balls fielded in a slovenly manner, and there was
a want of that smartness and thbroughness which
is customary when a first-rate eleven are in the
field. It is, perhaps, ungracious to saf as much as
this about an eleven that achieved a great triumph; but
it is nevertheless true that the success would have been
more decisive had the fielding been of even average
quality. The Australian batting was,in the main, rash and
impatient. Going in against such an enormous score as
481, it was clearly the right thing to tire out the
English bowling. Instead of this there was a series
of risky hits, several of which, in the course of the
two innings, proved fatal to the batsmen.
M‘Donnell, who made the top score for the
Colonists, was missed twice in his sixty-four, and yet
his hitting was so fine as to earn hearty applause.
Murdoch, after a very indifferent first innings,
played in really excellent form in his second attempt,
when he carried out his bat for fifty-eight. Banner-
man was careful and steady both times, hitting hard
whenever he could, and yet never giving a chance.
He was unfortunate in playing on in the first innings,
and in being bowled off his pads in the second. The
Colonial batting, viewed as a whole, was by no means
equal to that shown by the Old Country. The
opinion grew that, at any rate on a hard wicket, a
representative English eleven were fully as strong as
the best eleven of Australia. The attendance of the
public on Friday could not have been much less than
20,000; and the enthusiasm at the finish was hearty
and prolonged. So great a victory has not been ob-
tained over any previous Australian team; and
altogether the match was a really remarkable contest
—a contest, moreover, which does honour to the
Zeemier Club of the old country.

A YANKEE PATENT.—Among American patents is
the following: "To John Allen, of Cincinnati Ohio,
for a method of restoring the fulne'ss or roundness to
the cheeks." The patentee claims, as his invention,
and desires to secure by letters patent, restoring
hollow cheeks to their natural contour and rotundity
by means of metallic bulbs, formed, fitted to, and
secured in the mouth by any suitable attachment
between the jaw-bones and the cheek