CRICKET.

The New York Telegram, in a recent number, gave an account of the various college cricket associations, and the prospect for inter-collegiate matches : It said :

From time to time during the past half dozen years the introduction of the game of cricket into our colleges has been under discussion. At first the subject was looked upon as a problem, but there stood ready in several of our largest universities those who proposed to crack the nut. In Philadelphia the leading clubs took the matter in hand and did much to encourage the proposition. At last, about three years ago, the Intercollegiate Cricket Association was organized, and the initial meeting, which was held in New York, was attended by representatives from Harvard, Trinity of Hartford, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia. A series of intercollegiate matches were arranged, and the next two seasons saw the teams at work. Last season, however, from several causes, there were but three Richmonds in the field, and unless prompt measures are taken during the winter by the friends of the game to keep alive the interest, which has always been a matter of hard work for the graduates of past years to keep up, it would seem that they have had but labor in vain. This is more the pity, for intercollegiate cricket matches will do much to promote friendly intercourse among college men, as in these matches there is more time for forming acquaintances between the teams than in any other intercollegiate sports.

Believing that a published expression of the opinions of the captains of the principal college teams would be of interest to a large number of persons who have the welfare of cricket at heart, a Telegram reporter solicited their views, with the following result.

HARVARD.Mr. J. S. Clark, of Harvard University said : "I am very willing to do anything I can to bring college cricket before the public, but my knowledge is confined to Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. At Harvard some years ago some energetic cricketers collected subscriptions enough to lay out a little piece of turf, some twenty or thirty yards, in a part of Holmes field, and this is our ground at the present moment. During the past two years several college matches and matches with the neighboring clubs have been played, but the interest in the college seems to have been gradually failing. Last autumn we thought we would see if something could not be done to give the cricket interest a boom. Notices of various kinds were inserted in the college papers, the men were brought out to practice as regularly as the matter would permit, and challenges were sent to all the neighboring clubs. The fall season is necessarily short, as we do not get back until the first of October and cannot possibly play later than November 1st, and also, it invariably takes a week or more to get started. Still, last fall we succeeded in playing three matches - one with the club at Lawrence, Mass., which we won; and with the Longwood Club of Boston, and St. Paul's Club, both of which we lost, owing mostly to our failure to get sufficient practice, bad weather prevailing. Still we have succeeded in raising some interest in the university, and hope to do well next spring. We are already planning for a trip to New York and Philadelphia some time next May. We will have some twenty-five men trying for places on the team, and with faithful practice I think we will be able to turn out a fairly good eleven.

There are plenty of men in college who want to see cricket do well, and it will only take a little energy to make the game a success in Harvard, and that energy I think will be forthcoming next spring. Our ground is poor, but that cannot be helped. At present there is no chance of securing a better one. We have to play almost all our matches out of Cambridge. A good ground more than anything else is what is needed to make cricket a permanent game at Harvard. Indeed, a well cared for cricket field is an ornament to the grounds of any college."

Concerning cricket at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Clark said : "At the University of Pennsylvania there is no doubt that cricket will thrive. Philadelphia continually turns out young cricketers, and most of them go to the University of Pennsylvania. But one thing is needed to consolidate the Pennsylvania eleven into a very strong team, which would be capable of doing well against any of the local clubs, and that is the same that Harvard needs - a new ground; but, fortunately for Pennsylvania, they are in a fair way to get what they want. Their provost is interested in the game, and I believe is making preparations for laying out a ground somewhere near the college. This will give Pennsylvania's eleven a chance to practice together, which they have never had before, and an inducement, it is to be hoped, sufficient to make them hold together as a separate team and not split up among the different local clubs. This is what I think of American college cricket."