THE RUGBY MATCH. OCTOBER 7TH, 1885. If we were to attempt to chronicle in full the Rugby Match of 1885 with particular notice of all the fours and threes scored in the 906 runs made in the 2 innings, we should occupy all the columns of a double number of the Marlburian. Briefer repetition of stale news will, too (we feel certain), be to the taste of our readers. Rugby won the toss, and sent Bradby and Gaddum in to the bowling of Hayhurst from the pavilion and Miller from the nursery. Runs came fast, and the bowlers changed ends, but Hayhurst unfortunately was not in the best condition, and 40 went up for no wicket. Then Bett relieved him, and Meyrick-Jones superseded Miller. Off the latter's second ball Bradby was out, and BoughtonLegh was soon yorked by Bett. The same fate met North, and a cheerfuller telegraph showed 52-3-3. Bateson gave a quarter chance to Miller, who stopped one neatly directly afterwards. The fielding, we may mention, had hardly been up to the mark; balls had not been absolutely missed, but few had been fielded cleanly. Meyrick-Jones' luck having been exhausted in his first over, Hay PRICE 6d. hurst resumed. Two boundary cuts were made off Bett, and then Bateson was missed by Martyn, but it was a hard chance. Again Meyrick-Jones was tried, and so were Ashfield and Miller, and Bett again and Hayhurst again; but Gaddum cut Hayhurst very prettily for 4 and Miller for 3, and at ten minutes to one the hundred went up. Then Martyn, with ambi-sinister felicity, came to the rescue. Seeing the ball go through him, the batsmen were tempted to try another run; but it was sent back too soon for Gaddum, who retired for an excellent straight-played 49. At 123 Bateson was capitally caught by Bett, who fell down in the process, but the same fieldsman should soon after. wards have procured a run-out. Jackson was bowled by Miller, his first ball. A. C. Bradby was missed by Browning at the wicket, and he, with Wreford-Brown, put on a lot of runs till he was yorked by Bett, who also disposed of Bowden-Smith. But a long stand was made before the last wicket fell owing to Wilson being badly missed by Miller. The ninth wicket fell for 187, the tenth for 269. It will be seen from the above that the Rugby total would have been very much less had every chance been taken. But Bateson, Wreford-Brown, and Wilson had played excellently, and the younger Bradby had shown fine defence for his 64, though his runs were made somewhat stiffly. Bett, for us, had achieved the very good analysis of 5 wickets for 59. North began from the nursery and Wilson from the pavilion, Meyrick and Kitcat going to the wickets. The former cut North for two and Wilson for ditto and then lost Kitcat, and in a few minutes Lazenby, who had showed good form while in. Two of our freest run-getters were thus got rid of with the total at 17. But, as in the Rugby innings, there was destined to be a curious alternation between quick dismissals and long stands, and when the third wicket fell 156 was up. This metamorphosis was due partly to Meyrick's magnificent defence, but chiefly to Meyrick-Jones' meteoric hitting. He had only scored a few runs when he was missed at short-slip. He then made a couple of good off-drives and a fine on ditto to the boundary, a beautiful cut to the scorers, and a four ditto to the other side. After his partner had got two threes to leg, he was again at work with three fours from three consecutive balls, and was then missed at long-slip in a reckless attempt to make a fourth at the fourth point of the compass. Meanwhile Meyrick had been let off by North at point. A leg four from Meyrick-Jones sent up 100, and he compiled twelve more in four hits before the innings closed for the day, the score being 120, of which Meyrick had made 27 and Meyrick-Jones 71! The latter had been missed at short-slip, long-off, the wicket, third man, and again at the wicket; but apart from these faults his hitting was hard and clean, and of untold value to Marlborough. the second day Meyrick-Jones drove the first ball for three, and soon after made a splendid on hit across the boundary. For a considerable time he and Meyrick defied the bowling, but at last he was beaten by a break-back of Blunt's, 156-3-90. No exception could be taken to the manner in which his second day's score of 19 was made, the steadiness of which was as opportune as his hitting was the night before. The next batsmen did not, however, profit by the edge having been taken off the bowling, and Martyn and Ashfield were bowled without scoring. Bett was missed at point and at the wicket, and after trying to pull several, repeated the attempt once too often. Bull gave a chance at On the wicket, hit a four, gave another half-chance at point, and was then bowled by North. But this inglorious episode in the batting was followed, just as happened in the Rugby innings, by a stand as spirited as it was unexpected. Blunt, we may say, when he was bowling well was taken off, with what seemed to us bad judgment. Browning smacked a full-pitch for four and scored off three balls running, then hooking a straight ball round he sent up 200. Trying later on to pull one to leg he was out for a most plucky and useful 18. Meyrick's doings all this time had been consistently, if monotonously, good. He put up one ball at point, but it did not seem to us that it could be called a fair chance; and now at the end of four hours' batting he got his first four. Lobs were tried, and Meyrick got an off three, and Hayhurst an off four from the next ball. North resumed, and Meyrick steered his first ball through the slips and Hayhurst made a fine square boundary hit; with another fine hit over the bowler's head he sent up 260, and Meyrick cut another four. Hay. hurst's innings was a really capital display, and 57 were put on during his stay. Miller was missed at short-slip, but showed some timely defence for his 11, and Meyrick, after a fine off drive for four and cut for ditto, carried out his bat, and was himself carried to the pavilion. No Marlborough batsman has, we believe, ever equalled his perform. ances against Rugby. We doubt if they have been excelled often in any of the Public School matches. His average at Lords for three years is 102, and in five innings he was once caught, once run out, and "not out" thrice. We will not by comment on such deeds attempt to paint the lily. Let us add that in frequently changing the bowling—a duty harped upon in these pages so often-he had shown judgment, and we hope his splendid record as a School batsman will be excelled by him in the Cambridge XI of 1886. The Rugby 2nd innings began at ten minutes past three. The ground was still in good order, and unless the wickets went down with a run a draw was certain. Before, however, the first of them fell the deficiency of 30 had been made up and 29 runs were added, and when Hayhurst bowled North the total was 92; and then E. H. F. Bradby, by as fine free batting as we have ever seen in a School match, hit our bowling all over the field, though forced by a bad hit on the face to retire for a time " when he had made 133. He was well supported by Bateson and Boughton-Legh, who played a very good innings of 70. Of the details of their scores and the changes of the bowling it would be wearisome to write at length-what difference in the bowling there was the analysis will show-suffice it to say that we should have had a very long score to get to win if the match had been played out. Should we have won? Well, the analogy of other matches this season on the same ground about the same time makes it highly probable that we should have beaten our first venture as easily as Rugby did theirs, and knowing our batsmen's capabilities we can say with confidence that the match was not drawn in favour of Rugby. It was a good match, well fought out. The bowling was rather weak on both sides, but not so weak as the papers made out. Ours would perhaps have been stronger if a left-hand bowler, of whose merits many good critics had during the term spoken highly, had not at the last moment been discarded. -espe The easiness of the ground made long scorescially in a second innings-the rule this season, from other than school bowlers. As for the fielding, Rugby's was extremely bad, and what our total would have been if it had been good it might be a more wholesome than pleasant task to conjecture. Ours was on the whole fair, better in the second innings than the first, and not falling off when a win was hopeless. Bull, in this department, showed to advantage. Potter, whose coaching, after Jupp's departure, was all the Eleven had, deserves congratulation for the result of the great pains he took all the season, and especially during the final week's practice in the evenings. In 1881 we wrote "Looking back on the season we are inclined to hope that the corner has been turned in our cricket." Looking back on four seasons since then we can regard the forecast with some satisfaction. So long as our fellows play carefully at the nets, mind their fielding, and have a captain not afraid to change the bowling, so long will they turn out Elevens quite as good as Rugby's. But even that will not necassarily mean winning. And as a parting word we will venture to repeat once more what in these pages and out of them we have for years said in and perhaps out of season, as we last expressed it in 1884, when commenting on that year's victory: "But above all perhaps we owe our victory to the dissipation of the old myth as to Rugby prowess which used to paralyze our energies. Our latter-day representatives have come to recognise that Rugbeians are neither better nor worse than other elevens. As long as we play the game for the sake of the game itself, never thinking that the eyes of Europe are on us if we fail to score, we shall sometimes win, sometimes lose, but we shall never again let Rugby run up a series of victories as in years gone by." Appended are the score and analysis: CHARACTERS OF THE XI. L. O. MEYRICK (Captain) (1883-1885).-Set his men an excellent example of steady, defensive cricket: seemed to have lost his leg-hitting, but was for all that rather a faster scorer than last year, though his style is not taking. A poor field and uncertain catch. Hardly bowled himself enough. Has left. : F. MEYRICK-JONES (1884-1885).-A slashing hitter, especially on the off side, but is not sound at starting drives exceedingly well: smart field and good catch: would be a good bowler if he were less "tricky;" can keep wicket moderately at a pinch. Has left. C. E. ASHFIELD (1884-1885).-A fair, but disappointing bat did not get half the runs he was worth, owing, apparently, to nervousness at starting. A good field, with a very safe pair of hands. Bowls fairly, but is not puzzling: had not much luck. Has left. F. LAZENBY (1884-1885).-Has quite the best style of any one in the team: cuts beautifully, and has a very nice drive on the off side: ought to turn out a first-rate bat. A brilliant field at cover-point, though his return is rather slow. A fair fast bowler. Has left. free-hitting S. A. P. KITCAT (1885). A bat, especially on the off side: drives and cuts well, but is in too much of a hurry at starting. Good field and catch away from the wicket. Captain, 1886 H. F. HAYHURST (1885). - A free-hitting stylish bat, but too fond of a drive: his batting was rather under-valued. Bowls fast; is straight with a fair break-back; is really difficult, if he gets any help from the wicket, and is always dangerous. A brilliant field at point or short-slip. Has left. A. MARTYN (1885).-A good bat and hard hitter, when set, but terribly cramped and nervous at starting: not a good man at a crisis. A moderate catch, but a very poor field and slow runner. left. Has They wandered slowly on, idling away The fleeting hour, to where the gentle breeze Whispered its secrets to the listening trees And sang the songs of summer to the grey And gnarled old oak trunks; here the scorching ray Of noon could scarcely reach them, and at ease They sat them down drowsed by the hum of bees, And looked at the long meadows tall with hay. Then from the valley suddenly they caught The sound as of a brazen-throated bell Stealing up slow as on the sward they sateIt roused the idlers, who as quick as thought Sprang to their feet, one crying 'What a sell! There's chapel bell and we shall both be late!' Sept. 27th, 1885. FROM A LETTER OF AN O.M. TORONTO, August 3rd, 1885. While yet it is fresh in my memory I must write you a few lines about the great fire of last night. I had just gone to bed and was reading, when at half-past twelve I heard the fire bells all over the city sounding the general alarm, but as only the night before I had turned out for a general alarm and seen nothing, in a few minutes I put out my gas and prepared for sleep, when I noticed a strange glow coming through the windows and reflected on the ceiling. I got out and one glance out of the window was enough to show me the fire was an immense one. The Baron and I alone were at home, the others all being away on their holidays or for Sunday, I pulled him out of bed and in five minutes we were dressed F. H. BROWNING (1885). Kept wicket very fairly throughout the season, and ought to be and in the street. The fire was a mile away down by the bay to the south of us, but even our street was brightly lit up by the flames. We tore down one of the long perfectly straight streets, at the end of which we could see a huge mass of flames and red smoke. It was a huge seven-storied refinery which was on fire, but by one o'clock when we reached the bottom of the street two vessels lying beside it at a wharf were blazing, so was the wharf itself, and we could see little fires springing up in all directions for hundreds of yards on the lee side of the refinery, in the huge coal yards which line the water's edge. We hurried first to the colossal refinery and were just in time to see one of its towering walls give one great crack and then come down with a crash which shook the ground. A great part fell into the lake, and the din caused by the fizzing of the burning bricks and coals as they met the water was indescribable. The wind was blowing a hurricane and the thousands of people stood almost motionless with awe-struck faces asking each other in whispers: "Where is it going to stop? The wind is blowing from the west, and as long as it keeps in that quarter the fire will only extend along the edge of the bay, but if it changes and comes from the south the whole town will go." In a very short time the flames had got a firm hold of some immense boiler works, owned, by the way, by our landlord, while some coal-yards three or four hundred yards in length and two hundred in width were a sheet of bright red fire, and a large coal and oil store had caught and gone up with an awful explosion. Luckily the crowd knew the danger and was well out of the way. A whole fleet of ferry steamers and yachts was burning; I saw six fine steamers wrapped in flames side by side. Next came several large boat-houses which with their contents were consumed in five minutes. The Baron and I hastened on to one boat-house a little beyond where we sometimes hire boats and which is owned by a man we know, and with our own hands carried away and saved some twenty valuable boats. We worked like horses for threequarters-of-an-hour and were just in time to save the last boat. My clothes were burnt in several places with flaming splinters of which the air was full; I was black as soot from head to foot, and felt as if I was scorched up. When we had finished that job we went two blocks higher up to our bank. The wind seemed to be veering round a little, and sparks and splinters were flying right over the building. were sleeping there on guard, gaping out of the windows and doing nothing. I suggested that they had better do as everybody else in all the buildings round was doing, water the roof. So we got out the hose, took it up on the roof and soused the top of the building with water. Our office, by the way, is a very fine building; it stands higher than almost all the buildings in the city and is very massively built of stone. The view of the fire from the roof was glorious beyond description. Before I came down from it the fire extended for a whole half-mile along the shore, and every now and then through the smoke and flames we could catch a glimpse of the lake, covered with boats, steamers and ships of all kinds, all of them pitching and tossing, for the sea was very heavy, and some of them burning down to the water's edge. At five a.m., when dawn was beginning to break, the wind suddenly dropped and there was a dead calm, and then the fire engines, which hitherto had been standing idle, able for the most part to do nothing, attacked the fire with a will. There were over thirty of the splendid Toronto fire brigade and engines which had been telegraphed for from all the country round. However they seemed to do little good. Without the help of the wind the fire advanced but little, but it blazed as strongly as ever; then came the rain. Rain was not expected as we have not had a drop for a month, so it was strange its coming just when it was most wanted. It fell in torrents and has continued to fall all day; now at five in the evening it is still coming down hard. I found the porter and messenger, who Soon after five we saw the fire was done for and dragged ourselves home drenched and filthy as we had never been before. Fortunately I had put on my oldest and most disreputable suit. We did not get home til nearly six, had a prolonged bath and about an hour's sleep. However the loss of my night's rest has not tried me as much as it might have done. I have just been down to the scene of the disaster; it is a strange sight: a space more than half-a-mile in length and about 300 yards in width is completely cleared, nothing but a few pieces of wall and masses of blackened brick and timber are left of warehouses, stores, boathouses, ships, &c. A heavy swell is still coming in from the lake, and the black charred wood with which the water is covered looks most melancholy, as it is lifted up and down |