A. W. Pullin - Talks With Old English Cricketers

I NTRODUCTI ON .
T H E RE is no a t t e mp t i n t h is vol u m e
a lif e t o give
hist o ry o f t h e fa m o us crick e te rs w h ose po rt ra i ts ad o rn
its pages S ta t ist ics too a re a s far as possi ble av o i d e d
.
, ,
t h e y are t o b e fo un d in t h e e s t a b lishe d chro nicle s o f
o u r gr e a t na t i onal pas t im e T he id ea ke pt in v ie w is
.
t o d e l v e d eep in t o t he m in e o f pe rs onal re m in is ce n ce .
I f t h e yiel d shoul d e n ab l e t h e pub lic t o a ppra is e t h e

cricke t m e ta l h e re s h o wn at it s wo rt h if t he re ad e r ,
s ho u ld f e e l t ha t h e ca n t ake up t h is bo ok and ha v e
ha lf ho u r s pl e asa n t ch at in t u rn wit h so m e of t he
’
an
b es t k n o wn he roes o f En gl is h cricke t , t h e t ask

-
of t he
write r wi ll h a ve b ee n a cco m pl is hed T he preparat io n.
o f t h e m aj o ri t f t h e se T a l ks it sh o u l d be a d d e d w a s
y o , ,
o rigi n ally un d ertaken o n b e hal f o f t he Yo rks hi re ‘
E ve n i n g Po s t
’
.
OL D EBOR .
Law s, A p r il 1 9 00 .
C ON T ENT S .
M E H ER BE R T J EN NER F UST -
Port ra i t f rom p hoto by Wheeler Br ig hton

, .
ME V . E. WA L K ER
Portra i t f rom pho to by D icki nson , Lond on .
G EO R G E A N DER S ON
Portra i t f rom p ho to by Yeoma n , Bed a le .
A
M E D VI D BU C H ANAN
Por tra i t f rom photo by Edmu nd a , Rugby .
J OH N J AC KS O N
Por t ra i t f rom p hoto by Scho ll , Li verp ool .
C A N O N M CO R M I OK
‘
T H E R EV .
Port ra i t f rom p hoto by Turner (2 Dri n kwa ter '

.
LU KE G R EEN WOO D
Portra i t f rom p ho to by Wom a ld ,
RI C H A R D D A FT
Por tra i t f rom p hoto by Phil lips , Not t ingha m .
M E ED WA R D D O WS O N
Portra i t f rom photo by Dicki nson , Lo nd on .
T O M EM M ET T
A LF R ED SHA W
Port ra i t f rom pho to by Ha wki n s , Bri gh ton .
ED WA R D PO O LEY
Por t ra i t f ro m p h o to by R ussel l , Ch iches ter .

Prrrt m il /m pi d o by 1 411
, A m
[B IL L E I I TC HI LL
TH E LA TE G EO RG E ra m s:
G EO RG E W OO'IT O S
Pm a m fim ww c m Lond on .
1 1 12 B “ . 2 . 8. C AR TER
A LDO WA T S O N
Port ra it I ron p hoto by Ha wki ns, Br i m
llB W I LLI AM A
Y R D LEY
Portm it /m p hoto by E l iot! t Fry , Lond on .
M BA “! LOC KW OO D
1 8 C . L T H O R NTO N
Portra it f rom photo by Falk, S yd ney .
B G . . AR LOW
H
Por trai t [
m p hoto by Ku d erd i u , M m! .
TH E LA TE GEO R GE U LYE I I
' ' '
E . PEA TE
Portra it f rom p hoto by Ha lop Wood s Leeds , .
W . A . WOO F
I ND EX
OLD ENGLI SH CRI CKETERS .
MR HERBERT J EN N ER FUST, -
T H E OLD E S T LI V I N G C R I C KET E R .
THE county of Glouc este r has

attain e d renow n in t h e wo rld of
c rick et by i ts p roduc tion of th e
greatest cricketer of th e c e ntury .
Bu t i t can lay claim to ano th er

gre at di st inc t ion The olde st
.
crick et e r n o w living re s id e s
W i thin i t s bo rd e rs T hi s in ter
.
e s t ing p er s on ali ty i s Mr Herbert
Jenn e r Fu st who resid e s at H ill

-
,
Court n ear Falfie ld Glouce ster

, ,
shi re I t was t o t h e a u tho r a

.
mos t hopeful augury that in

a tte mpt ing t h e task of p roducing a serie s of Ta lk s wi th O ld
Engli sh Crick ete rs h e should b e able t o commence w i th th e
,
re minis c e nc es personally g iv e n fo r th e first t im e of th e olde st

, ,
hero of t h e cricke t fie ld s till living T he kind reception t e

—
.
ce iv e d f ro m t h e re m a rkable nonag e na r ian of H ill Cour t and ,
t he encou ra gement t hat t h e in tervi e w afforded had no t a li tt l e

,
A
O LD ENGLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
to do with the author s prosecution of th e Ta lk s u n til they

’
reached the dim e n sions recorded in thi s volume .
M r J enner Fust was born on February 2 3 1 80 6

-
H e w as , .
Pres id e n t of the M C C in 1 83 3 wh e n twenty s even years of

. . .
,
-
age and reti red from first class c rick et t welve ye ars before
,
-
W G Grace the great c rick et luminary of t he nineteenth

. .
,
cen t ury was born To e mphas i s e hi s long span of life stil l

, .
more clearly i t should b e mention ed that M r J enn er Fu st

,
-
was born a y ear after Trafa lgar wh e n George I I I w as ,

.
king was n in e years old at the bat tle of Wa t erloo and

, ,
was Pre sid e n t of the M C C fo ur years before the Queen . . .
ca m e to the throne H e has see n fou r monarch s on th e

.
throne ; and has main ta in e d hi s alleg iance to King Willow

throughout the year s .
Yet one more remarkable fa ct H e i s the only s u rvivo r of .
the first Oxford Cambridge match played in 1 82 7 in , ,
which h e acted a s the Cambridge captain The ot her t we n ty .
one have all j oin e d the gr eat majori ty What he recollects .
of the first c rick et Battle of the Blues will be told later o u .
In hi s c rick et ing days Mr Jenn e r Fust was known as H er -
bert Je nn er The nam e of Fus t was add ed later H e i s

. .
no relat io n of th e great D r Edward J enn er whose monumen ,
tal wo rk in di scov ering the prophylactic po wer of vaccination

it has been l eft to a Unionis t Go vernment to emascul at e .
O n e of my first q u er i e s had reference to the q ue s tion of

relation ship and Mr Je nn er F u st s reply came with character
,
-
’
”
ist ic candour No ; I wi sh I were
,
It i s how eve r s ingu .
, ,
lar that n am e and n eighbourhood should be id e n t ical for the ,

'
famou s D r J enner was born at Berkeley which i s but four ,
mile s di sta nt from Hill Court But M r J enner Fust i s o f .

-
di st ingui sh ed paren tage H is fa t her was the Right Hon S ir

. .
Herbert J enner Fu st who in t he ea rly d e cad es of the cen t ury

-
was D ea n of A rche s .
M r J enner F u st s ucc eed e d h is fa ther in t he H ill e state s in

-
the year 1 85 2 and has resid e d at H ill Court sinc e 1 86 4 The

,
.
Court i s a sub stantial country m a n sion beau t ifully s i t u a t ed in ,
a posi tion overlooking t he Fores t of D ean The nea res t rail .

ME H ERBERT J E NNE R FUST -
. 3
w ay tations a re Tho rnbury a place nam e for ever famous in

s — -
c ri c ket annal s som e fou r miles away

—
and B erk e ley about , ,
t h e sam e di stan c e in th e oppo site directio n A fine av e nu e of .
ancient elms lead s from the count ry road to the Court and a ,
fe w yard s from th e hou se stand s a quai nt old chu r ch portion s ,
of w hich had th e i r architect and build e r in th e thi rt eenth cen

t ury Fo rm e rly th e hous e and church were joi ned together
.
,
but the old house has giv e n place to a mod ern country res i
denc e and th e chu rch has been re stored in part also
, .
Seventy eight yea rs have p ass ed sinc e H erbert Jenner

-
won hi s cricket spu rs at Eton It was on Augu st 1 1 82 2 .

, ,
t hat he played in th e Eton tea m again st Ha rrow at Lord s ’

.
The score of that match which Mr J en ne r Fust preserves ,

-
among hi s reco rds s how s that Eton w e re b ea ten by 87 runs

, .
H is own reco rd may no w be reproduced nam e ly ,
l s r nm m os
'
. 21 m m ums .
Jen n er , b W ord swo rth 2 b Wo rd s wort h
The Word swor th h e r e nam ed was in his matu rity famous as

the B ishop of St A nd re ws With Herb e rt J enn e r or ra ther.
,
aga in st him h e playe d in the first Oxford Cambridge m at ch

, ,
and J enn er the n took rev enge for the Eton v Harrow ex pe ri .
e nce by bowli ng Wo rd sw orth and thus captu ring the first ,
wicket in the match D eath has bowl ed every man in th a t

.
his toric con t est but Herbert J enne r The last to ha ve hi s .
wicket lowered by the relentle ss bowle r was B i shop Word s

wort h .
M r J en ner Fust not only played in th e first University

—
mat ch but captain e d the Cambridge s id e and made their

,
highe st score Th e record of a m at ch of this hi storic interest

.
m ay appropriat e ly b e giv e n here in full
T HE FI RS T MA T C H .
PLA YED AT Lo nn s, J O N E
’
4
, 1 82 7 .
O X FO RD .
C ha rle s \Vord s wort h , b J e nn e r

H E Kna tchb ull , c Ro m illy
. .
4 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
Ell is , b J e nn e r
J . Pa pillo n run ou t ,
E . Pole b J enn er
,
R . Price b H o rs m an
,
Bayl ey b K ing d o n ,
Bir d b Je nn er
,
D enn e , b J e nn e r
—
P il king to n not ou t ,
E Le wis b H o rs m a n
.
,
Byes, 1 0
C A M BRI DGE .
H W eb b , b W ord s worth
.
K in gd o n ,
b W o rd s worth
H e rb e rt Je nn er, 0 Bird
E H . . P icke ring , b W o rd swo rth
J D olphin , b Bayley
.
R om illy , b W o r d sworth
Fre er, b W ord s worth
T e m p l e to n , ru n o u t
W . G C ookesl ey, b
. W ord s wo rt h
E H an dl ey, b
. W ord s worth
E . H orsm an ,
n o t ou t
Eyes , 6
Un fin is he d .
Wh at a re Mr J enner Fus t
s recollection s of the ci rcum -
’
st ance s w hi ch gav e ri se to thi s fi rs t B a ttle of t he Blu es

s eventy three yea r s ago ?
-
I am not quite clea r he say s , ,
w hether w e ch a llenged Oxford firs t or they c ha lle n ged u s I .
do kno w however that the id ea of a m a t ch was quickly ta ken

, ,
up . I ei ther proposed or seconded the resolu t ion tha t the

m a t ch should be arranged and I kno w the id ea was a ccep t ed ,
wi th a l a cri ty and there was very litt le di scu ssion about it

, .
The d a t e of the m at ch as here giv e n has been quest ioned but ,
I believe it to be correc t The second m atch was not played .
un t il 1 82 9 and tha t th ok pla ce on the M agd ale n ground at

,
Oxford In one of th e score s of this second g a m e extant I am

.
MR H ER BER T J ENNER F S -
U T . 5
represe nted as havi ng p layed in t hat al so but that i s a n e rror ; ,

”
it was my brother Charle s J enner
,
.
Fifty yea rs from the playing of this m atch th e pre sent sol e
s urvivor at t ended a public dinner at th e Cannon Street Hotel ,
London at which about 2 0 0 of those who had play ed in the

,
yearly con te st s during the fifty years were present A t that .
time six of the gen t lemen who played in th e first match wer e
living A copy of a song compo sed for and sung at that dinner
.
is still preserved by Mr J enner Fu st who has kindly lent i t

-
to me for the purpo ses of thi s Talk “ ”

I quote t he first .
verse
F i fty yea rs have sped sin ce first ,
Kee n t o w in th eir l au rel ,
Ox ford rou n d a W ord sw o rth cl uste re d ,
Ca m b rid ge u nder J enn e r m ustered ,

”
M e t in frien d ly q uarrel .
The fiv e colleague s all of them in th e service of the Church

, ,
who were pre sent w i t h M r J enner Fu st at that J ub ile e dinner

-
ha ve since gone to their re st Bi shop Word sw orth was as I

.
,
h ave already men t ioned the l ast to g o z he died on D ecember

,
1 89 2 To the la t urvivor the line s of t he s ixth ver se o f

5, . s s
the song mus t h a ve a pat hetic application

S o m e wh o se prese n ce oft recal l s
H appy re co lle cti o n ,
S ince h av e fo u nd th e ir last l on g rest,
Leav in g u s the m e m o ry bl e st
”
Of their ol d affec ti o n .
Taki g h is memory which i s st ill singula rly reten t ive

n —
back to his school days M r J enner F ust revives an old fie lding

,
-
te rm that died out t wo or three generat ion s ago .
O f course you never he a r of fie ld ing nip s no w ? In t h e

match betw een E ton and Harrow which was also my first ,
appea rance at Lord s I fie ld ed nips

’
,
I t w as the po s i t ion
‘
.
’
since n amed point There w ere also cover n ips a nd long

‘ ’
-
.
nips In the score of a m atch play ed at Eton in 1 7 9 3 when

.
,
anot her b earer of the family n a m e Robert Jenner was playing

, , ,
6 ow EN GLI S H cm cx nr nss .
there o cu the expre ion out ba ma b ing ni

‘
c rs
pt a t s n e ssso —
dism i ss ed I ha ve never been able to discover what nip t

.
‘
’
out m ea nt It did not mean caught or st umped or hi t
.
, ,
”
wicket .
A s to the co st ume o f his day Mr J enner Fu s t say s : I of te n -
played in a whi t e bea ver hat but pe ople used to ca ll those of ,
u s who did so po s t boy s and th a t ca us ed u s to d rop t he rac

p ,
t ice A t E t on and C ambridge w e wore pretty much what w e

.
liked but ia ncy jacket s we re not favoured K nee breeche s

,
-
.
-
,
and t hi n gauze s ilk st ockings doubl ed up at th e ankles form e d ,

”
a popula r costu m e .
I t was on J une 2 5 1 82 7 that Mr Jenner Fu st made his , ,

-
first appeara nce (o f course as H Jenner) in the Gen t lemen .
H e was one of the se venteen

’
Players m at che s a t Lord s
’
.
Gen t lemen w ho defea t ed the Players by 2 9 ru n s F ro m then .
u ntil 1 83 6 when he was compelled by th e claim s o f his pro

,
f e ssio n at the Bar of D octors Common s to re t ire f rom firs t

’
cl a ss cricket no Gen t le m en of Engla nd team was complete

,
wi thou t him In a n in tere st in g work by Mr Philip Norman

.
,
’
e nt i t led Ann al s of t he We st K ent Cricket Club i t is
,
‘
,
recorded tha t the follo wing lines written in 1 833 p lace

'
, ,
bo wling as the firs t of Mr Jenn er F ust s c ricke t accompl ish -

’
men ts
F re e fro m yo ung Jenner s tan d s forth
a ll a fl ecta t io n s,
'
A n d al l w h o a re j ud ges ac kn o wle d ge h is wo r th
W ick e t ke e pe r or b owler o r ba tte r in all
-
, , ,
”
H e is goo d b u t p e rhaps he shin es m ost w i t h the ball
,
.
Young J enner in his pat riarchal years howe ver will tell , ,
you th a t it was as a wi cket keeper h e shon e most He -

.
w a s w o n t t o s tand a li tt le behind the w icket and take ba lls ,
o n e i ther s ide wi t h ung loved h a nd s S t umping o ff a leg .
s ho o t er is ra rely s een in modern cricket In Mr J e nn er F ust s .

-
’
d ay s th e fea t he say s was by no mea n s unusual

, ,
.
”
I kep t wicket he say s wi t hout pad s or glov es ; in fac t
, , ,
pad s were no t heard of in m y young days and the player ,
w ould be la ugh e d a t who a tt e m p t ed to pro t ec t h is shin s .

MR nmas s nr J ENNER FUS T
'
-
. 7
When th e ball was we t I occasionally u sed a kid glov e but that ,
was a ll It should be remembered too that we ofte n had t o

.
, ,
p l a y on very rough grou n d s w hich made th e tas k of t h e ,
w ick e t k e ep e r all th e mo r e d ifficult and dangerou s

-
Y et I .
n ev e r met with a se riou s accident The wo rst was a frac ture .
o f t he middle fi ng e r of t he right hand and th e di slo catio n of ,
t h e fo re fing e r .
Mr J cn ne r Fust
’
-
hapely hand s to d ay bear witness to his
s s -
immu ni ty from accident Th ere is a slight di sfigureme nt

.
o f t he fo re fi ng e r but it is o nly notic ea ble on a close ex

,
a mi nation .
I u sed to keep wick et to Alfred Mynn He could get a .
v ery n as ty s pin o n th e ball I stood up to him without gloves

.
o r pad s a s I have stat ed but I don t mi nd conf essi ng that I

’
, ,
’
w as sometime s glad wh e n th e umpi re call ed over A very ‘
.
fin e and manly fellow w as Alfred Myna and all that has ,
b e e n said an d w rit te n of his great quali t ies d o e s his m emory

n o m o re than j u stic e H e was as large in heart as he was
.
g r e a t in c r ick e t I t is. indeed hard to sa y what he w as
a n d what h e was no t I n his day h e was tre m endou sly

.
”
o ular
p p .
That th e ki nd and m anly Alfred My a n was a trem e ndou s

b owle r is e vident from a re coll ectio n which Mr J e nner Fnst -
has namely that My n a onc e told him that in o ne match h e

—
,
s t ruck the volu nt e e r

“ se co nd stop
”
on t he ch e s t in co nso ,
q uenc o of which h e had t o b e tak e n hom e an d s pat blood fo r ,
a fo rt ni g h t !
T he w ri te r may h ero div erge fo r a mom e nt from his Talk

w it h M r J e n ner Fu st to introduc e a letter beari ng on the above
-
in c id e nt which h e receiv ed from Mr R B roughton who was .

,
in t h e Cambridge El e v en so far back as 1 83 6 1 83 8 (there ,
wa s no matc h in and 1 83 9 T he l e tt er is as .
f o ll o ws
C a ra van HA LL Cm rrs arwt n , ,
Kma s L A NGLEY D ecember 2 3 1898

’
.
, ,
Sm ,
—
I h av e j ust seen y o ur arti cle in yo ur im pressi o n Yo r k
s h ire Eve ni n
g P o st
] o f N o v e in b
’
e r b on t he s u bj e ct o f tha t fa mo us
8 OLD ENG L I S H C R IC K ETERS .
old cri cke ter “Herbe rt J e nn e r , ” whi ch

I h ave read wi th gre a t
p le asure .
A l fred Myn n s sto ry o f h av in g hit a m an s chest w i th the bal l

’ ’
w hich m ad e hi m spi t bl o od for a fo rt nigh t was to ld by H e rb e r t

J e nner at t he J ub ilee dinn er at the Cann on S treet H ote l refe rred ,
to in yo ur a rti cl e, at whi ch dinner I was pr ese n t H e rb ert Jen n er .
h ad t o respo n d t o the t oast o f cri cket H e to l d u s th at in a co n

.
versa tio n wi th Myn n about fast bo wling the l atter said he did n o t ,
se e th at the b o wlin w so m u ch faste r in m oder n d ays th a n i t

g as
w as in his t im e and th e n h e gav e us a s an illustrati on of h is vie ws

,
the story of the m an spi tting bl o od .
H erbert Je nn e r al so gave u s a n o ther an ecdote of Myn n s The ’

.
l atte r tol d him that he was on ce practi si ng bowlin g at Lord s ’
d urin g the dinner h o u r o f so m e g rand m atch an d a m an w as ,
s top p ing the bal l behind wi cke t fo r h im with a coat in h is ha n d
co m m o n p ract i ce in th ose days The bal l wen t through the

.
coat a n d k ille d a d o o n the o ther side !

g
Al fred Myn a was inde ed a fin e speci m en of a real old En gli sh
cricke te r H is b owlin g was s pl e n d id v e ry fas t an d very straigh t
.
—
,
whi ch yo u cann o t say o f m od e rn b o wling .
The fam e of H erb ert Jen ner as a crickete r m ost assu redly rested
ch ie fl y o n h is w i cket kee pin g H e did n ot stan d cl ose up to the
-
.
w i cket as th ey d o n o w H e w as v irtually wicke t ke eper sh o rt

.
-
,
s li,p an d sh o r t l e g
-
In fa.ct he w as here t here
, an d e very w h e re , , .
I am y o ur obed ien t ser van t

, R B R O UGHTO N
, . .
Ou eei ng Mr Broughton s letter Mr J enn er Fu st wrote t o

s
’
-
”
the w riter of these Ta lks s tating that the second anecdote
,
should not b e attributed to Alfred Myn n but to Bro wn of ,
Brighton who was said to have killed th e dog I men tioned

,
.
the anecdot e in cor robora t ion of Mynn s id ea of the pac e of ’
”
the bowling in those days .
A brilliant wicket keeper him self Mr J en ne r Fus t is u n

-
,
-
s tinted in th e re cognition of the merit s of his co ntempora ries .
”
One of the best wicket keepers K e nt ever produced he -
,
say s ,
was E G Wenman . H e was bette r than old T o m
. .
Box I lik ed We nman the bet ter b ecau se you could always
.
depend upon him and you could not do the same w ith Box
, .
Old L illywhi te used to say the sam e B ox used to keep t oo .

MR H ERBER T J ENNER FU S T -
. 9
st i fi at the wicket, and could not get out to reach th e ball

'
as Wenma n did Poor Box ! H e had a tragically sudden

.
death at t h e po st of duty at the finish ”

.
“Th e best bo w ler of his day says Mr J enn e r Fu st was -

, ,
old W Lillywhite th e first of th e c ricke t ing family of that

.
,
nam e I bowl the best ball and H are nc th e next was a

.
‘
,
’
favourite remark of Lillywhite s No doubt Haren c was a ’

.
first rate bo wle r and with a sid e hill as at Harrow was

-
,
-
, ,
irresis tible H is deliveri es imparted far more t wist than

.
Lillywhite s but the latt er bowled more with his h ead and
’
, ,
on that account his sayi ng I bowl the best ball and Harenc ,
th e n ext was quite j ustified

,
’
.
Among th e numerous pape rs and record s which Mr J en ne r

.
Fust has p reser ved th ere is a bill now I hav e it before m e

, ,
—
as I w rit e ye llow w ith age an nouncing a match in th e

—
,
follow ing t er ms
CR I C K E T .
A GR A N D MA TCH
WILL BE PLAYED A T
K I N G S C O T E ,
on n un o “ , 1 7m J ULY, 1 82 6 ,
BE TWEE N
T H E EPS O M A N D K I NGSC OT E C L U BS .
F OR ON E TH O USA N D G UI N EA S A SID E .
I t will be imagined from this that the cricke t ers of th e

”
’
Twenties w ere not afraid of putting their money do wn .
But if the t ruth be told thes e sta kes were apocryphal They , .
we r e lik e som e mod ern billiard m atche s the money staked - —
had merely paper value .
The p ractic e of announcing m atches for big stakes had it s

inconvenient con sequences M r J enner Fust m akes a note of .
-
a match at Lo rd s on July 4and 5 1 83 1 between Norfolk

’
, ,
a nd the in which he played on the N o rfo lk sid e .
O ne of the No rfolk players w as the Rev J D ol phin He . .
played in the name of Copford a nd Mr J enner Fust explai ns ,

-
10 ENG LI S H cmcx a rs as
'
.
that the reas o n for thi s was that he was to do so “oblig ed

by the t he n Bi shop of London th e match having been hea ded ,
”
for 1 0 0 0 guineas a side A s be tti ng sta rted at 6 to 4on th e
-
.
i t will be conced ed that t he Bi shop s objectio n had a ’
goo d moral foundatio n .
Coun ty c ricket of to d ay with it s n ec essarily strict qualifi

-
,
cation s for players its w ell o rde red match programme it s

,
-
,
c hampion ship tables and d e cimal fractions contrasts oddly wi th ,
the happy go lucky u nco nventionality of the cou nty contests

- -
of Mr J e nner Fu st s day On e incid e nt will illu strate thi s

—
’
.
con t rast .
I onc e arra nged (1 83 4) to tak e a team representing West

Ke nt to play Norfolk at Elmham a ret nm matc h for th e , ,
game they had play ed na at Chi se lhu rst I got promise s for .
a ful l tea m bu t when th e d ay cam e those who had promi sed

,
had all crie d 0 8, e xcept a man who was subject t o fit s and ~
not good enough for a run Howev er I was d et ermi n ed to .

,
fill the e ngagem e n t so in company with th e fit s subject I set

,
o ff to play the county match det e rmined to make up a t eam ,
on the way as best I could A t on e plac e whe re th e coa ch .
st opp ed I cam e acro ss thre e young m e n who see med n ice
fellows and as they said they could play cricket I pressed

,
them into my se rvic e for the match The n we we nt on to .
’
Cambridge and I ransack ed K ing s College and found fou r
, ,
more m e n to join me T wo others we r e met on the grou nd

.
in Norfolk and with thi s st range combination as it may

,
—
seem t o you we wo n the match

—
There was not th e k ee n .
ne ss a nd parti sa n spirit in cricket in my day s that you see
no w If a m an wanted to play o ut of his county he could do

.
ao. All that was wa nt ed was an agreeable company and a

”
pleasant m atch .
Men t ion of Norfolk recalled the fact that Mr J e nner Fu st -
was a contemporary of the bat sm an who se innings of 2 7 8 has

rem a ined a record for Lord s ground for eighty years The ’
.
batsman was the famous Mr W Ward The ma t ch played on . .

,
J uly 2 4 & c 1 82 0 wa s M C C v Norfolk and Mr Wa rd for

,
.
, , . . . .
, ,
t he Cl ub scored in the fi rst inni ngs 2 7 8 of a total of 4

, 73 I t .
ME H ERBERT J EN NER l
was in tha t match that another famous cricketer the grea t ,
Fulle r Pilch mad e his first ap pea rance at Lord s be ing then
,
’
only se v enteen yea rs of age Mr J enner Fust has ma ny recol .

-
l e ction s of thes e and other great conte mporari es whom he has

outlived Fuller Pilch used to go ov er to Cambridge wh e n
.
h e was in re idenc e there s .
It wa s Mr Ward who arranged a matc h between G entlemen

and Players which has come dow n to posterity as the Barn
,
” ”
D oor Mat ch or Ward s Folly
,
The mat ch was play ed on
’
.
J uly 3 and 4 1 83 7 M r Jenn er Fust remembers it very wel l

, .
-
.
The Ge n t lemen defended wickets of the u sual size but t he ,
Players had to take th eir stand in front of four wickets

8 inche by inche Full e r Pilch hat fell on the “ ba rn
’
3 s 1 2 s s .
”
door and he w as out for 9 T he Playe rs won easily enough
, .
—
b y a n innings and 1 0 run s as a matter of fact R eca lling ,
.
t he match now Mr J enn e r Fu st says it would have ma t tered

,
-
n o t hing what t he rela tive sizes of t he wicke t s w e re Th e .
“
Players could defe nd their own big barn door while they ”
-
,
co uld have bowled the Gentlem e n out if they had had only
t wo wickets to a im at Lillywhite and Redgate were the

.
bowlers who did t he e x ecution .
I t s hould be add ed t hat Mr J e nner Fust think s if i t had -
not b ee n fo r the e nth usiasm and e x e rt ion s of M r W Wa rd .

,
’
the Gentlemen Players m atche s or even the M C C i t self ,
. . .
,
might no t ha ve kept an u nbroken existence It was Mr Wa rd .
who found a sum of £5 0 0 0 a nd bo ldly secured the use of the

ground to the M C C w hen the enclosure wa s threa t ened w ith
. . .
abso rption by the Go th s and Vanda l s of t he brick s and morta r - -
t rad e The se rvices rendered too by Mr A is labie as secre ta ry

.
, ,
should never be forgott e n

“ H e ca m e in ju st at t he righ t.
time and but for him c ricket would not have been what i t is
,
”
t o d ay
-
.
It would be interesting though possibly laboriou s to t race , ,
som e old cricket s t ories t o their source The w ri t er has hea rd .
t he following story recorded in the We st Ken t ann a l s in

,
1 82 7 fa thered on to o ne or two umpire s in modern t ime s

,
We used jokingly to accuse our an tagonis ts from the

12 ENGLI S H onl cxs r s as .
Royal Artill ery of playing a t welfth m an in the shape of

their umpire Berwick nick named Berwi ck upon T wee d
, , ,
a sto ut and sto lid personage not much o v e r 5 feet high , ,
who generally wore a blue coat wit h b rass button s reach in g

down to his heels It is o n record that onc e when umpiring
.
h e stood in a po sition w hich incommoded th e bo wler w ho ,
sugges ted to him that h e might sta nd sideway s ; upon which
he replied Lord sir I be bigger t hat

,
‘
, ,
I n a marginal
n o t e on thi s incident Mr Jenn e r Fu st l ays i t do wn th a t t he -
“
Artillery umpire was a v ery good twelft h man ”
.
Mr Jen ner Fust it may be again mention ed was elected

-
, ,
p re sident of t he M C C in t he year 1 83 3 when only twe nty

. . .
,
se ven year s of ag e He reca ll s that he had an uneven t ful

.
year of o ffice .
H is l ast appearanc e in cricket was in 1 880 H e was t hcn .
seventy four years of age

-
The ma tc h was a game between .
his o w n pari sh of Hill and that of Rockhampton It is .
recorded of the match that Mr J enner Fu st bowl ed at one -
end kept w icket to t h e other bo wler and managed

,
Th e , .
only thing he did not do was to ru n for him self and f rom ,
thi s ca use he was run out afte r scoring 1 1 by a z ealous but , ,
too eager you th w ho had volu nteered his services I n v a rious .
way s he g ot 1 0 wicket s beside s ru nning out two H is sid e , .
”
won by 2 1 run s .
In that in t ere sting function Mr J enner Fust u sed a bat -
which wa s pr esen t ed to him fifty years before H e has tha t .
bat no w and pro duc ing it fo r th e w riter s in spection h e

, ,
’
,
wield ed it as if on guard in the old day s seventy odd years

ago re m arking as he did so It was a grand b at to driv e
, ,
”
wi th m any a good drive has it enabled me to m ak e T he .
fi
'
b at t es t i e s to it s age by a fe w w orm ho le s on t he s urface

5 -
.
The handle is sprung and it has never been sp lic ed Th e , .
b a t is rounder on the face a li tt le n a rrower an d short er than , ,
modern bats A n in scrip t ion writte n in ink upo n i t says

.
,
“1 82 from B A B A w M B A i l b i
9
,
. as . r , s a e . . .
,
fam ou s as cricket st uden t s know in the hi story of cricket

, ,
and as secretary of the M C O . . .

16 OLD EN G LI S H C R I C KET ERS .
Be it rem e mbered t hat thi s is the firm hand of a m an in his

ninety fourth yea r
-
.
Tha t with facult ies no further i m pa ired tha n they a re no w ,
Mr Herbert J enn e r Fu st may li ve to in scribe upon his life roll

- -
”
the score 1 0 0 not out w ill be the since re wish of e very
, , ,
read e r of this Tal k .

V . E
. \V A L K E R .
T I M E has laid it s ravag ing

h a nd heavily upo n the famous
Wa lke r family There were .
s even bro t hers s ix of them of,
cricket repute No w only two .
remain Mr R D and Mr V E
, . . . .
It is Mr Vyell Edward Walke r

who no w sits in the oppo s ite
chair in his cha rming house at
Southgate fo r the purposes of
thi s Ta lk .
The n e w ge n eration of crick

e t e rs kno w Sou t hga t e and the
brothers Wa lker by repute ra t her than by actua l acquain t

ance Wellnigh twe nty years ha ve passed si nce any m ember
.
of the talented fa mily was seen in first class cricket while it

-
was so long ago as J uly 2 and 3 1 85 7 that t he unique cir

, ,
cu m st a nce wa s seen of fou r brothers playing in one t ea m for
the Gen t lem en of England a gain st the Players in the first

m atch of t he kind ever pl ayed at K ennington Oval Sout h .
gate is no longer a centre of first class cricket a rendez vo us

-
more popul a r than any other of its t ime withi n touch of t he

crowded m etropoli s . Cricket is still played t here but t he ,
gian t s of old t i m e have laid do w n their arm our a nd the sward ,
is no lon g er t he til t ing place of champion s forga t hered fro m

-
all crick e t centres of th e kingdom .
B
O LD GLI S H C RI C K ET ERS
EN .
Southgate has be e n the home of the Wa lker family for 1 2 6

years Arnos G rove the m a n sion in which Mr V E Wa lker
.
, . .
res ides is si t uat ed in a bea u tifully t i m bered park on w hich

, ,
the smoke of North London is pe rhaps beginning to ta ke

e ff ect S t ill Mr Walker is p roud of his timber his magn ifice nt
.
,
c ed a rs and sta l wa rt oa ks One of thes e oa ks po ssesses it is

.
,
sa id t he grea t es t sprea d fro m bran ch t o b ra nch of any mo narch

,
of t he fores t in Engla nd The w rite r refers to i t in order to

.
na r ra te a n inciden t in w hich Mr Walker was concern ed last

s um m er Mr Walker w ent to Nott in gha m to see the first of
.
the test m atches be t ween Engla nd a nd Austra lia thus te stify ,
ing t o h is continu ed interes t in the game wi th which he w as

so m uch id e n t ifi e d w hen younger Returning to Sou thgate on
.
the Sunday evening a ft er the m a tch he was walking through ,
t he ground s a t A mos Grove when he saw thi s huge oak tr ee -
s uddenly in perfect s t illness of at m osphere deprived of t wo

, ,
l a rge li m bs by a stroke of lightning Mr Walker was sufii .
cie n t ly clo se to the t ree to se e and la ment the di sas ter and —
t o congratulat e him s elf upon his o wn escape .
The cricke t ground at Sou thgate is divid ed from the resi

-
denti al e sta te by the high way It is a fine expan se of turf

.
,
bu t the mod ern cricket er will look in v a in for the access ories
of presen t d ay first class enclosures
-
There was no elabo
.
rate pav ilion with ba ths and dress ing ro o m s in the Wa lkers
,
-
,
’
d ays nor is a nyt hing of the kind needed there n o w

,
The .
play is t he thing a nd a lway s has been a t Sou thgate Hi ts

, , .
u sed a l ways to be run out Mr Wa lker reca lls the fact that
.
the highest hit recorded on the ground was an 8 H e has .
s cored t w o 7 hit s o ff succe ss i v e ba ll s on the enclo s ure This .
s ingula r perfor m a nce occurred in a match with the Fre e
Fore st ers and the hi t s were of course 0 3 the last ba ll of one

,
o v er and the first ball of the nex t over There has ge n e rally .
been a good w icket a t Sou thgate The turf was prepared at

.
a great expenditure of labour The grea t es t improve m ent in

.
i t was e ffected by George Hea rne n o w of Catford Bridge but

, ,
M r Wa lker has to a d m it th a t the duty of looking a ft er t h e

w icket co st hi m self ma ny a w e t shir t in his younger days .
MR V . E . W A LK ER . 19
What gave us the i nclination for c r ic ket ? rema rk s Mr

Walker .
“ Well I suppose it was pa rtly inh e rited a nd a l so
, ,
par t ly due to the natu ral surroundings bei ng so favou ra ble to

th e p ursuit of th e gam e My fath e r and u ncl e (H Wa lker)
. .
w e re bo th fond of th e gam e t hough my fath er was no great ,
ha nd at it whil e my u n cl e though a l e ft arm bowler of fair

, ,
-
p ac e ,
w as not of t he b e s t clas s though fr e qu e ntly he bo w led ,
’
at Lord s In a pr ivate school a t Stanmore Middles ex w e
.
, ,
had useful tuition in cricket f rom th e second master while ,
t he t raining at Harrow of cours e s till fu r th e r developed our

tas te for the game the fou r younger broth ers be i ng at Harrow
,
and in the Eleven .
Re ca lling my Harro w days brings to mind the mem ory of

old J ohn Wi sden Wi sden was at Harrow in my time for t wo
.
o r th re e y ears He was th e most excell ent civil obliging

.
, , ,
and pain sta king fe llow you could poss ibly m eet I suppose .
I may say he was as accu rate a bow l e r with as pretty a ,
deliv ery as any man ev er saw A t that tim e he would be

, .
t e r m ed a fas t round ar m bow ler though h e was no t as fast a s

-
,
Jack so n who was th e bo wler of England fo r a fe w years

, .
Yes Wi sden was a good dea l fast e r tha n A t t e well but not so
, ,
fas t as Lo ckwood I n appearance h e was a funny lit tle mi t e

.
of a fellow H e was on e of th e las t of the school of batsm en

.
who favo ur ed the old fas hion e d d raw stroke: Tom Hea rne
-
’
was another and about th e last who practised th e d ra w
, The .
s troke n o w is rare ly o r n e v e r se en .
’
Wi sd e n s partiality for the d ra w stroke o nc e led n a to se t a
t rap for him which n early came o ff I t was in the Gen tlem en v . .
Player s match at th e Oval in 1 85 8 J ohn Lilly white and he

’
.
we re in and we had not got the m out ov e rnight My brother

,
.
J ohn w as keeping wick e t so we plann e d that I should gi v e,
Wisd en a ball for the dra w stroke a nd that my brot her J ohn ,
s hould ste p on on e sid e sharply to endeavour to catch him out .
Th e plant came off all right wi th the important e xception that ,
my b ro ther did not quite get the ball sufficie nt ly in his h and
t o make t he cat ch Wisd e n in sta ntly tumbled to the plan t
.
,
and would not bite at a d ra w stroke for th e rest o f his i nnin gs .

20 OLD EN GLIS H cmcx m s ns
‘
.
Then old J ohn L illywhite ! It seem s ages sin ce that ro w

th at led to the cha nge in the law as to over arm delive ry -
.
Th e matter has often bee n referred to and has now long since ,
passed into hi story We ll I was the England ca ptain and

.
, ,
the match was England v Surrey at the Ova l on Augu st 2 5 .

,
26 27
,
1 86 2
,
The only amateurs in the England tea m w ere
.
L ord Cobham then the Hon 0 G Lyttelton and myself

,
. . .
, .
We led o ff w ith a score of 5 0 3 toward s which Tom Hayward ,
m a de 1 1 7 Surrey w ent in t oward s the close of the second

.
d ay and Edga r W il lshe r was n o balled six time s by L illy whi t e

,
-
for having his a rm too high Willsher was savage a nd thre w .

,
the ball do w n in di sgu st a fter w hich he and his brother pro

,
f e ss io nals mar ched o ff the field in high dudgeon Lyttelton .
a n d I lay dow n on t he grass w hile the Surrey crow d look ed ,
on and ad m ired us in their own peculiar way Finally as i t .

,
was lat e in t he day w e w ent into the pavilion too and it w a s

, ,
a rra nged t h a t t he ga me should be con t inued next day with a
fre sh u m pire Thi s was done th e n ew umpire be ing G

.
, .
Street .
I w as t old after ward s that L illyw hi t e had hinted to

Willshe r tha t he should no ball him if he did not a lte r h is -
mode of delivery I did no t know anything of t he coming

.
trouble at the t i m e or I should not ha v e pu t Willshe r on t o

,
bow l a t the end at which L illy whi t e w as umpiri n g Tha t I .

,
think is self e v ident Willsher and L illywhite were rea l] y ve ry

,
-
.
great chum s and they soon m ade up the li t tle difference w hich
,
thi s scene ca used Personally I a lway s admired J ohn L illy

.
w hite for h a ving the cour age of his opinion s though I m uch ,
di sliked my po si t ion a t the tim e an d his action certa inly did ,

”
good in bringing about a need ful reform in t he law .
To t hi s the w riter w ould add t hat George Anderson Roger ,
I dd iso n and o t her profe ssion a l s on the England side had a

, ,
su spicion th a t L illy w h it e had been prompted to no ball Will -
sher beforeh a nd a n d t hey resented it strongly

,
Thirt y five .
-
yea rs after t he incident occurred Anderson told t he wri t er that

it led to h is refu sa l w i t h others t o play again st Surrey in
, ,
county cricket wi t h t h e re sult that h is relation s w i t h th e

,
22 OLD ENG LI S H C RIC K ETERS .
first innin gs s ta rt th e Gentlemen w ere making a good show at

the second attempt I was going in n early last wh en B ishop
.
shout s ou t N ow Mr brown shirt

, , I was wearing a shirt of —
that colour if you can get 1 0 I will give you one of my b est
’
n e w gun s Well I got 1 6 so as I was going out I remarked
.
, , ,
What about t hat gun Mr B i shop Oh you shall hav e one

,
‘
,
of the best my young fello w was his reply A las ! fo r the

, ,
’
.
promise of a crick et e nthusiast I never saw that gun . .
In my first two matches with th e gentlem e n at L o rd s we ’
had close fin ish es Th e defeat by 2 wick ets was followed

next s eason by o ne of 1 3 run s O u both occasion s it hap .
pened to be th e mi sfortune of Mr Walter Fellowes to make a

mi stake that contri buted to our defea t H e ran him self out .
in t he 1 85 6 match and th e next y ear mi ssed a catch ju st a t

,
the fin ish ”
.
The record s show Mr V E Walke r to hav e tak e n 1 0 wicke ts. .
in an innings in first class crick e t on three occasions No -

.
other player has performed the feat more than onc e The .
first was t he greate st for the reason s that t he p e rforme r

,
was very young and that it was part of a double feat in on e

,
match O n J uly 2 1 and following days 1 85 9 England

.
, ,
played Surrey at th e Oval and Mr Walker after taki ng 1 0 , ,
wick ets for 7 4 run s in Surrey s first inni ngs proc eed ed to ’
,
scor e 1 0 8 run s of his own bat in Engla nd s n ext (that is t heir

’
,
se cond ) inning s Reminded of thi s remarkable doubl e pe r

.
fo rm an ce Mr Wa lk e r say s
,
“The curiou s part of the bowli ng f eat was that wh e n th e

last man came in J ul ius Caesar who was ninth on the li st was
, , ,
missed 0 6 my bowling I thought at th e time that I was just

.
’
going t o mi ss th e 1 0 wicke ts feat bu t I got the other fe llow , ,
Gran ny Mart ing ell caugh t by Wi sden and thus accomplish ed

, ,
th e performance I wanted to do My success st ruck m e as .
singul a r at th e tim e becau se the bowler at the oth er e nd

,
was a far gre ater than I namely J ohn J ack son B ickl ey —
, .
al so had a fe w overs In the next innings J a ck son had satis

.
fa ction for he t ook 6 wickets for 2 1 run s, while I o btai ned 4

,
for 6 7 r un s .
MR V . E . W A L KER . 23
I us ed to bowl lobe and it was with lobs that thi s feat

,
w as record ed L ob bowling was to m e an acquired art

.
-
,
a dopte d t h rough th e e xigenci e s of school crick e t I u sed t o .
bowl round a rm with a mediu m pac e Th e Hon Robe r t

-
, . .
Grim s ton and Lo rd Bes sbo ro ug h w ho u sed to coach us a t ,
Ha rro w go t m e to tak e up lob bowling for t he good of the

,
-
s chool t ea m I u sed to bowl rather fast lobs too with a high

.
, ,
delive ry I had a habit of running we ll up th e pitch aft er

.
t he bal l and that got me a number of wickets O i cours e

, .
ba tsm en think it b e n eath their digni t y to b e bo wled by a lob

which reminds m e of an amu si n g incid e nt in which D ucky ‘
D i ver was concern ed It was in a North South match and

.
,
so mehow I managed to knock o ff his bail s H e was so wild .
that he tu rn ed round and knock ed his three stumps out of the

g round before retiring to the pavilion H e was so rry for thi s .
a fte r w ard s and ca m e to m e and apo logi sed for losing h is

,
t empe r The re is no doubt in my mind that lob bowling is

.
-
no t sufficient ly p racti sed in present day crick et The succe ss -

.
of Mr D L A J e ph son at Lord s agai nst th e Players and

. . .
’
w i t h the Surrey t eam la st summ e r a fford s a proof of what a

lob bowler may accompli sh even in these day s
-
, .
My o t h er 1 0 wickets in an inni ngs w e re fo r the Gentle

men of Middlese x v the Gentl e men of Ken t on J un e 1 6
.
,
1 86 4 an d for Middl esex a gai n st L ancashire at Ma nche ster in

,
J uly 1 86 5 A gai nst the K ent G e n tleme n th e 1 0 wickets cost

.
4
’
37 run s ; th e 1 0 L a nca s t rian s co s t 1 0 ru ns I mu st a dmi t .

,
however that ba tsmen got their own back som e time s I had
,
.
to put up with as much snu ff as any bo wle r in my time A s .
a bat sman I suppose t he be st thing 1 did was that cent u ry for
Engla nd in the match wi t h Surrey in which I man aged t o ,
get 1 0 wickets though there was a match at the Oval in

,
1 86 9 whe n F ree ma n was bowling o n a d iffi cul t wic ket in ,
which my score of 40 was probably worth more than a cen tu ry

on a good wi cket wou ld b e But I really do n ot ca re to con .
t in u e ta lking about my own performa nce s The re is nothing .
in t hem t hat I think is wort h en largi ng upon .
We w ere talking abou t George Freeman a moment ago .

24 OLD ENGLI S H carcxs rsns
'
.
I con sider that Freeman Spo fio rt h and J ohn J ackson w ere

'
, ,
t he best fast bowlers I have seen Jack so n had a pe rfectly .
fa ir round arm delive ry and co uld bowl for hou rs I um

-
, .
bound to add however that on th e perf ect wickets of the

, ,
pre sent day he would ha ve been puni sh ed as other fast

bo wlers are George Fre eman was neve r quite him se lf a f te r
.
an acciden t that he met w ith in a match Yorkshire Middle

sex a t t h e ca tt le market at I s lington -
Thi s was in Aug ust .
1 86 8
. I was the bat sm an to whom the ball was deliver ed .
I can fa ncy I see t he ball being deliv e red now It cam e a t a .
terrible pace a li ttle on th e o ff side and was really th e fas t es t

,
-
,
ba ll I ever sa w O u ma king th e deliv e ry Freema n fell to t he

.
ground I a ss isted to pick him up and carry him to the

.
dre ssing room H e had bad ly sp rained his leg and though
-
.
,
’
he apparen tly got over the injury I don t think h e was qui te ,
as dead ly a bowler afterward s a s he had b ee n Freeman was .
a n ex t remely fi n e fellow and quite the doyen of fast bowlers

,
of his d ay if not of all time

, Every one lik e d hi m a nd .
,
e v ery one r espected him as a cricketer and as a man H is .
collea gue All a n Hill w as another fine st raight fas t bowler

, , ,
’
wi t h a bea utiful deli v ery but without Freeman s sting W e , .
u sed to call Hill old poa cher Whether he had ea rn ed that .

’
ti t le in other game t han cricket I cannot say .
Another great fast bowler of the sa m e p eriod was Georg e

How itt w ho played both for his native coun ty of N otts and
,
for Middlesex We really brought him out at the cattl e

.
m arke t in the mat ch ju st mentioned whe n h e had t he ,
a n aly s i s in one innings of 2 8 overs 1 7 maid e n s 1 7 ru n s , , ,
6 w i ckets I should be sorry ho wever to say that a ll h is

.
, ,
deliveries w ere fair Candour com pel s one to say that he

.
had a twi st of the w ri st w hich m ade one think that he thre w

dow n a b all now and again .
“M r D avid Buchan an old D avid we used to ca ll him

—
‘ ’
,
’
and he w o n t re sent the fam ilia ri ty n o w was a not her of my —
con t em pora ries Ma ny a re the stru g gle s w e h ave had w i t h

.
h im in m at che s w i t h the Free Fore sters D avid did no t lik e .
bei n g hit any more than o ther bo wlers and he would not ,
MR v . E . W A LKE R . 25
allow a chance of ge tt ing a man leg before wicket e sca pe fo r - -
w a nt of t he as king H e u sed to keep a record of his bowlin g

.
,
a n d I remember once he h ad to pu t up w i t h a good deal of
ch e f? in a m a t ch at Southga t e when w e m ade h is analy sis out ,
to be something like 1 2 0 balls for 1 2 0 run s Mr C I . . .
Thorn t on did some t errific hi tt ing in the sa me m at ch a nd o ff ,
one of M r Buchanan s deliveries he was m i ss ed quite 1 0 0 y a rd s

’
away from the w icket by Mr E Rutt er Aft er mi ssing t he . .
c atch Rutter gazed ruefully at his finge rs w hile D av id looked ,
a t Rutter w i t h a s ilence tha t w a s more eloquent t han a l l the

’
a dj ective s in t h e bo w lers voc a bulary .
Talking o f Mr Thornton s hitting I should class Thornton ’
, ,
Bo n nor a n d Lyon s as the hardest hi tt ers the w orld of cricket

,
has ever seen Mr Thornton s hi t ting in t he m atch at

’
.
B righton in August 1 87 1 for t he b en e fit of J ohn L illy white

, ,
wa s perha ps the mo st t e rrifi c of t he lot Poor M a rtin .
M I nt yre had an experience in tha t m atch h e proba bly ne v er

‘
forgot to his dying day M r Thornton had only 1 4 ba ll s

.
from him but in tho se 1 4he scored 8 hits and the ag gregat e
, ,
w as 3 4run s when M I n t yre had him 0 and b One of t he

‘
. .
,
hit s by m id o fi wa s abou t the fines t I ever sa w H is fam ou s

'
-
.
Sca rborough hi ts i t was not m y good fort une to see .
“Then as to Bo n no r he u se d to chaff
Spofio rt h an d say
'
t ha t t h e first time he had the chance of meeting his bowling

in a m a tch he would give it the severe st trounci ng t h e
deliverie s of the de m on bow ler ha d ever met w i th H e ha d .
’
h is opportunity in t he Smokers v Non Smokers m a tch a t f
.
-
L ord s in Septe m ber 1 884 w he n he m ade one of the be st hits

’
,
e v er seen at headqua rters the ball com ing in t o the pa vilion

,
at a height of about 1 0 fee t Lyon s used to do h is hi tt ing .
more w ith the forea rm t han either T horn t on or Bon no r ”

.
Mr Wa lker has opinion s of h is o wn on the m eri t s of

m odern cricket as com pared w i t h the game of h is o w n
ac tive day s H e is rat her chary of expre ss ing the m for the
.
,
rea s o n t hat the condi t ion s are so w idely different A t the .
same ti m e as he see s m odern cricke t pret t y fre q ue n t ly b e

, ,
ca n be a ccepted as an a u thori t y on bo t h p a st and pre sent

26 OLD EN GLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
times and his jud gm ent upo n both will inte rest pract ical
,
cricketers everywhere .
The whole conditio ns of th e game have alte red and ,
therefore says he it is very d ifficult to draw compari so ns

”
, ,
be t ween individual players In th e first place th e wickets .

,
’
at Lord s oh dear ! In old D ark s day s th e g round was all
'
ridge and furrow and you had to con sider yourself lucky if ,
you did not get two shoote rs in each over and o ne on the
h ead Perhaps I might compare the Su rrey tea m of about
.
t he year 1 86 0 with Mr Shut e r s t ea m of th e Eighties In ’ ’

.
t he former w ere such m e n as B urbidge Mill er J ulius C aesar , , ,
C afl yn D o wson Griffit h Tom Humphr ey Locky e r Mo rtlock

'
, , , , , ,
and H H Stephen so n Candidly speaking I do not think

. . .
,
the men that M r Shute r had under him gr ea t though th ey ,
undoubt edly w ere would hav e been abl e to hold th e ir o wn ,
with the Surrey team of t he early Sixties with the m e n I ’
have named in th e list .
In other re spect s I am sorry to have to say t hat I do not

think the game has improved There is more self now than .
there used to b e Men do not play as much for their side as

.
they might do and as they did in my younger days ,

Aver .
‘
a g e hunting a nd record beating have done some thing to bring

’
t hi s unw elcome change about I also think that too se rious .
attention is paid to t he game and this is good n either for the ,
pa stime no r for tho se who p lay in it In short th ere is far .

,
too much of the bu siness element in i t all round .
“I have alway s thought it a t hou sand piti e s t hat run s
could not be run out as they used to b e though I confess ,
I do not see ho w the d ifficult ies in t he way of abolishing

boundaries are now to be overcom e By the p rese nt sy stem .
of bound a ries a great deal of the beau ty of the game in the

fie ld pa rt icula rly in the art of t hrowing in has di sappea red
, , .
The endurance of the bat sman is also no t wha t it had to be

fo rmerly W G Grace could no t have m ade anything li ke
. . .
so m a ny hundred s as he ha s done in the more recen t pa rt of
his career had t he run s been a c t ua lly run ou t as in his ,
y ounger day s H is w e i g h t would not h a ve allowed h im t o

.
MR V . E . W A LK ER . 27
ge t over th e ground in t ime Here at Southgate I may say

.
, ,
we were a ll great sticklers for th e gam e and it was play ed as ,

’
strictly as a t Lo rd s .
Al l the seve n broth ers of our family hav e tak e n pa rt in a

match here o n th ree or four occas ions D onny was th e .
be s t b a t of th e se v en and th e most prominent of all of us in

,
first class crick et Fred had a fine cut but his career was
-
.
,
s hort en ed by rh e umatic gout to which h e was a mart yr , It .
first a t tacked him wh e n he w as only tw en ty se ven or t wenty -
eight y ea rs of age My second broth er Alfred was the only

.
, ,
one of us who did not appear in much first class cricket ye t -

,
he could bowl we ll H is deliv e ry was v ery fas t under hand

.
-
and he had a good d ea l of curl from leg On e of my e arlies t .
recollection s of crick et consi sts of s ee ing a countryman long

s t oppi ng to Alfr ed s bowling wi t h a red handk e rchief ro und
’
,
h is k n e e kn ee ling down to s t op the fast balls

, .
I may mentio n that th e Ch ronicles of th e Walker family

a re now being writt e n by Mr W A Bett es wort h and in t h e m . .
,
t he doings of my brot hers will be found I expect more fully , ,
r eco rd ed For my self I can only add that I am no w sixty

.
,
three I wa s born on April 2 0 1 83 7 and that though I can

—
,
—
n o longe r follow th e gam e in an activ e se n se my intere s t in ,
it s welfare and in th e success of the new gen e ra tion of those

,
w ho play it in no way dimini shes as the years roll o n

, It .
”
see m s an ag e s i nc e I lay e d cric ket but I lov e it ye t
p ,
.
G E ORGE A N D ERSON .
I T is
nug room in a comfo rt
a s
able hou s e in Ai sk e w B edal e ,

.
T wo st riking port rait s as s ist in

embe llishing the wa ll s and mark ,
the old cricketer s dwe ll ing ; th e

’
original of ea ch sits in his cosy

arm chair and chat s pleasantly of
—
the cricketing days of h is well

rem embered pas t The two por .
t raits sho w George Ander son in

two stages of h is cricketing
care er : now he has passed into
his seventies no longer pe rhap s
,
a s ere ct as w h e n h e wore the white flannel and red spot s of
t he All En gl and Eleven but still w ith comma nding presence

-
, ,
a nd wi t h bu t fe w of the in fi rm it ies of a ripe old age Th e .
ea rlier port rait was sketched in 1 85 3 by N Fe lix a great .

,
cricketer a nd n o m ea n a rti st whose sketch o f Alfred Mynn

,
w a s decla red by Richard D aft to be the most “ n a tu ral and

”
lifelike he had e v er seen George Ander son appears as a
.
young m a n of seven and twenty under Felix s b rush and

- -
’
”
pigments , s trai ht a s a gun barrel
g
-
as a fellow ,
crickete r -
ha s de s cribed him to the writer wi t h the perfection of an

,
’
a t hlete s phy sique . The other portra it w as draw n in Mel
bou rne ten yea rs l ater a n d show s t he m atured cricketer when
,
at the height of h is career and in t he fu ll fl ush of a robus t

30 OLD ENG L I S H carcxs rs ns
'
.
tomer I remember one gay young S park t elling him he

.
wished to l ea rn crick eting a nd ask ed what was the first ,
thing to do Get you r fing ern ails cut was th e laconic re ply
. .
O u another occasio n and thi s sto ry is mention ed in an —
oth e r form by D aft in his book K ings of C ricket a la dy —
’
asked Clarke s advice about her so n Sh e thought h e would .
mak e an exc e llent c ricketer as h e stood six fee t in his ,
s tockings D ear m e what a large n umber of to es h e mus t

.
’
,
have was t he dry if not polite comme nt by which Clark e

,
’
, ,
crush ed the mate rnal fee li ngs .
Clarke u sed to s ing a cricke ting song which n ev er faile d

to bring down the hou se It is v e ry many y ears sinc e I last .
h eard it but I think my memory which play s me odd t ricks

, ,
in th ese days is to be tr usted for th e words,

H e re they .
a re
‘
When cricke t first in o l d e n ti m e
Was pl ayed by Bri to n s hardy race ’
,
Inthat great scien ce th ey were far behin d

The m en who no w t he wicke ts gra ce .
R
( f n
e ra i )
Then success to cricket t is a n oble gam e ,
’
,
I t s patronised by royal ty an d m e n o f weal th and fam e

’
, .
The M aryl ebone ra nks first o f a l l ,

I t s th ey who d o ou r l aw s enrol l
’
A n d t hen I Z in gari th o se tru m ps wi t h b a t and bal l

, ,
And t he Eleve n o f A l l England co m posed of grea t -
an d s mal l .
The n success to cri cket , 85 0 .
May h on o ur be it s g ui d in g star ,
A n d bats me n care full y th eir wi ck e ts gua rd

T hen shal l i t fl ou rish sha ll fl o urish thro ugh the l an d
, ,
A nd m eri t m e e t its j ust reward .
Then suc cess to cri cke t &c , .

’
Thi s song was w ritten by old Cla rke him self I t s rhyme is a .
bi t halting The tu ne was supposed to b e Rul e Britan nia

.
,
’
G EO RG E AND E RS ON . 3l
wi t h v a riat ion s n e v er imagin ed by the compose r All t he .
same i t w as always a v e ry popular song and th e old man

, ,
u sed to render it with great gu sto .
Cricke ters who now g o abou t th e country in saloon s and

expre ss t ra in s hav e a much eas ier life than w e of th e All
Engla nd Eleven had to grow accustom ed to D ublin to .
Lo n d on London to Glasgow and Ed inburgh and so o n

, ,
tho se were the jou rn eys we had to do often in on e night , ,

’
t o b e ready for th e n ext day s m a tch I re membe r on e .
d ifficult y we got into going from Wisb each to Sleafo rd

, .
We had to do it in on e night by coach Our driver got .
los t and w e all wand er ed about th e Lincoln shire road s in

,
t he d a rkne ss until w e struck a guid e post Old Mart ing e ll -

.
clam be red up this po st struck a light and found out the

, ,
way we had t o go We landed at our d estination at 6 A H

. . .
,
and had t o play at noon O n t wo or th ree occas ion s I have

.
ha d to pla y in London on t he Wed ne sday n ight and in ,
Glasgow the next morning Was t here any wond er tha t I .
should h a ve had to b e rouse d up out of s l ee p to g o in t o
bat ? That ac t ually happened .
A nd t he money w e got for this sort of thing you ask ? ,
Well we could not m ake very much out of it We go t 5 a

, .
game and sometime s wh e n we had a long journ ey we would

,
g e t a li tt le mor e but n e v
, e r more th an 6 a ma t ch in all .
Af t er paying expe n se s th e re w as not much left to get fat o n

, .
S t ill it was a happy and on t h e whol e a hea l thful life

, , , .
Mos t of our fellows wer e very steady I only knew one who .
’
could get drunk and play the next d ay but I won t men t io n ,
h is name H e could sl ee p it o ff a n d com e up smiling for his

.
,
in ni n gs next m o rn ing H e is n o w dea d and gone poor c hap !

.
,
You m ay ta ke it that a m a n ca nnot indulge and pl ay

cricket One glass of grog before bedtime was m y u s ua l
.
allow ance and that was the habit of a good m any of my

,
com rad es I am v ery glad to be able a t my ag e no w to sa y

.
t hat no on e ever saw me unfit to play crick e t fro m t he e ffec ts

o f d rink in m y lif e .
Be t t ing a nd mon ey matche s you ask ? I never kne w a ,

32 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
farthing play ed for by any o f th e t eam s that I played with .
Mo re ov e r I n ever sa w a six pence betted o n a single m atch

,
t hat I was connect ed with Whe n lad s some of u s u sed to .

,
play for 6d or 1 8 apiec e when w e could rai s e it which was

. .
,
—
not very ofte n .
Oh the wickets that we us ed to play o n ! Why the

, ,
first tim e w e went to Glasgow before w e could begin t o ,
play old Fuller Pilch had to borro w a scyth e and mow the
,
wicket It was l ik e playing in a meadow Then once at

. .
Truro on e of our men in fie ld ing a ba ll actually ran into , ,
a covey of part ridges !

“There is no doubt that the tours of th e All E ngla nd -
Eleven and it s offshoot th e Unit ed Eleven did a g reat deal

, , ,
of good in ed uca ting th e public a nd teaching the players .
Not a little of the credit for the present popu lari ty and high
s ta ndard of c ricket mus t be g iven t o t he tea m s generall ed by
Clarke George Parr and oth e rs ; inde ed it is not too much

, ,
t o say t h a t cricketers of the p re sent d ay are rea ping th e fru i t

of the seed which we sowed before t hey were born .
Cricket in loca l place s t ha t we visi t ed was extrem e ly raw .
We should have been a ble to play 66 of some t eam s We .
u sed to pl ay a grea t dea l in L incoln shi re I remember o n e .
old clergy m a n played again st us ten ti m es and I never saw ,
him ge t a run H e was never likely t o get one either

.
,
.
“So m e of the loca l bat smen we met

u p a nd do w n t h e
coun t ry u sed to g o t o the w ickets as white as a sheet I .
re m e m ber one gen t lem an who was in the Balaclava charge ,
and w ho said he did no t feel half s o frigh tened in that his to ric
on s laught as when Tinley was going to bowl to h im H e .
s t ut t ered a li tt le a n d c au sed m uch a m u se m ent by sa ying

, ,
I stood t he B b b bal aclava charge bu t did n t f f f feel h a lf

- —
,
’
- - -
a s f f f fri g h t ened a s I do n o w
- - -
I kno w t he li tt l e b b b begga r .
- - -
w ill g g g ge t me ou t
’
-
The li t tle begga r did
- -
. .
In one of t he York shire m a t che s w it h Surrey before t he ,
present co un ty clu b w as form ed I rem e m ber w e ha d a very ,
ex ci t i n g fin ish The t wo l as t m e n we re in my self a nd I ke

.
,
Hodgson We w a n t ed 3 run s to win I was rea lly caught at

. .
GE O R G E A ND ER S ON . 33
the wicke t It was a very s light touch of m y india rubber

.
-
glove T o m L ockyer hea rd s omething but he didn t appeal

.
,
’
.
I was a fra id h e would do so and I made som e motion as if ,
t h e b a ll had touched my shirt Th e n ext ball I hit for 4 .

,
and we won t he match by 1 wick et much to my re li ef , ,
be cau s e th e old chap at th e othe r e nd H odgson was not , ,
wor t h a ru n It was a close sha ve and w e should have lost

.
,
by 3 run s had th e u m pi r e been appealed to and had he heard ,
it though I thought he could not for I could scar c e ly f ee l it

, ,
”
my se lf .
George Anderson was a member of the se cond t eam of

Engl is h cricketers to vi sit Au stra lia in 1 86 3 6 4 under the -
captaincy of George Pa rr a nd he r e ca lls wi t h p a rdonable

,
p r id e t hat no tea m could say what we were able to that —
”
w e never lo s t a m a tch there They w e r e sixty one days on
.
-
the j ourney out They went on board the Grea t Britain in

.
the Mers ey on October 1 4 1 86 3 Captai n Gra y wh o was in

, .
,
ch a rge of t h e ship and a favourite with all sa id he intend ed

, ,
t o b e in M elbou rne to eat his Christ m as goose and he was , .
Thi s ca ptai n says Mr An d erson m ad e a good m any voyage s

, ,
t o Aus tra lia a n d fi na lly o n one of them he jumped overboard

,
and d rowned him self .
A d iary of the tour has been preserv e d by M r Anderson .
I t s content s show him to have been a bad s ailor October .
Very sick and all day in bed 1 7 ih Could not leav e ,
my b erth 1 8th L e ft berth but could not get farther

, ,
than the lou n ge very sick a nd we a k

—
Such are t he e n t rie s .
which te st ify to the ea rly mi series of m a l d e m er The ex - -

.
p e rie nce appea rs to h a v e been kep t u p practica lly t hroughout
the voyage The diary in deta iling the p assengers am u se

.
,
’
m ents m a ke s a refere nc e to a con cert at which a M r Be in d

, ,
sa ng an origin a l s ong containing a reference to t he cri cketers .
O ne may be pardo ned fo r quoting the v e rses

There s the cri cketers b o l d t h e Eleven o f A ll Engl an d
’
,
-
,
A fin e se t o f fe l l o ws as e er crossed t h e sea ’
I h o pe soo n t o se e th em w i t h b at an d ball in h and ,
A s to nis hi n g th e nat i ve s o f p ro ud A u st ra l ee .
C
34 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
May succe ss tend them in al l their en deavours

at ,
A nd a very go od h ar vest I h ope th ey m ay reap

O ne l i tt le sugges tion m ay I to the m whi sper .
Not to hold the offsprin g of England to o chea p .
That the advic e was acted upon th e unbe ate n record of t he

tea m is a p roof The team had a big public rece ption on
.
rea ching M e lbourne and se v e ra l Yorkshir e people ca lled

,
upon them Th ey ope ned their m atch campaig n on N ew

.
Year s D ay 1 86 4before
’
, perso n s of whom Mr A nderson
, ,
say s ful ly 40 0 0 w e re ladi e s Into th e d e tails of the tour it is

.
u nn ecessa ry t o en ter ; they are chronicl ed in th e us ua l cricket
records S ufficient to say t hat s ixte e n gam es were play e d

.
,
a ll again st Tw e nty two s : ten being w o n n one lo s t and s ix

-
, ,
d ra wn Th e dia ry shows t hat in on e m atch at D unedin

.
three of the Maces from Bedale play ed viz John Chris —

, ,
”
tophe t and Henry ,
.
The tour in Australia w as not without it s exci t ement .
There is an incid e nt recorded in th e dia ry relatin g to t he

voyage from Sydney to Melbourn e :
A p ri l 7 , 1 86 4 Wen t o n bo ard t h e Wo n ga Wo n ga fo r Me l
.
—
b o u rn e ab ou t six Gre a t cro wd o n the w h a rf to see u s o ff

. .
S te am ed quie t l y d o wn the b ay W hen abo ut six m il es o ut side.
”
t he came in co ll isio n w i th a small sail in g vesse l ca l l ed
H ead s -
t he Vi ceroy a nd sank her i m m e d iate l y

,
S aved he r crew A . .
g r eat d ea l o f a larm on b o a rd o u r vessel w h ich was a go od d ea l

,
inj u re d f or ard an d p u t back to Sy d n ey where o u r arri val

’
, ,
cau sed m uch co n ste rn a ti o n .
Mr And e rson dd ed that the collision cost the team abou t

a
3 0 0 T h e
. y had s igned an agreement to p la y a match in
a cer ta in p lace in Au s tralia bu t they could not get there in ,
’
tim e a nd had to pay forfeit

,
.
O u another occasion they had be e n playing at a pla ce ca lled

Ara rat They were shown a bla ck snak e 7 or 8 feet long
.
, ,
which had been killed the d ay before by a boy of fift een

years The following nigh t they went out possu m shoot ing
.
’
-
and Mr Anderson t rod on a b la ck looking thing 4 fe e t lon g -

, ,
G E O RGE AN D ER S ON . 35
w hich hot up at t he impact of the foot a nd struck him on the

s
leg H e hurried to his host s house in morta l t error fully

.
’
,
be lieving that he had b ee n bitten by a snak e but found the re ,

’
w as n o m a rk of a se rpen t s a tten t ion s Subs eq uent se arch.
s how e d th a t h e had trodden on a n uno fi e nd ing bl a ck S t i k

'
, k
,
a t w hich I wa s g reatly reliev ed
As k ed as to th e finan cial re sults of the Austra lian trip M r ,
Anderson says : We were gua ranteed a certain a m ount .
W ha tever we could make beyond that was divid ed betw een

ou rs elve s and George Marshall who was the age n t over t here ,
.
I t hink we each made abou t £ 2 3 0 clear afte r paying al l ,
e xpen ses I migh t ju st m en t ion t ha t t hey did n o t expec t us

.
”
t o a b a ndon cricke t m at che s to go to race m e et in gs (A n .
incident in t he tour of a recen t English t eam in Aust ralia is

e v iden t ly here referred to ) .
Turning t o his o wn person a l chara cteri stics as a cricke t er ,
An derso n rema rks : W G Gra ce has spoken of me as a

. .
puni shing hit t e r and I think t hat de scription is correct The

, .
bes t thing I ever did in tha t way was at the Ov al t hough I ,
don t think i t has ever been speci ally referred to In one

’
.
innings of be t ween 5 0 and 6 0 I made one 8 one 6 one 5 and , , ,
four 4s The hits were all run out there w ere no over
’
.
t hrow s Thi s innings was in t he m a tch North of Engla nd

.
v Su rrey on Au us t 4
.
g 5 1 86 2 M, r ,
Alcock has referred
. to
m y b it for 8 as the only one made in t ha t nu m ber of run s .
D oubts h a ve b een expre ssed as to t he genuinene ss of t hi s

hi t t ha t is to say that the ball struck som e thing as it was
—
,
b e ing t hro wn ia I do no t reme mber t h at but I do know

.
,
t ha t Ca rpen t er a n d I were no t so a c t ive a s w e w ere ten yea rs

before otherwi se more t han 8 w ould have been run I was
,
.
in m y thirty sev enth year at the time

-
.
I m ay as well men t ion t ha t the highe st score I ever m ade

w as 1 6 5 aga in st D a l t on (H u d d ers fi e ld ) a t Bed a le I wa s a .
b i tt er in fron t of poin t ra t her than behind George U lye t t s .

’
s t yle la t er and mine w ere very m u ch the sa me We w ere not .
in t he ha bi t of let ting ba lls go by on the o ff side I can tell -
y ou .We us e d to like t he m in fa ct If w e had

,
s t ood a t t he
.
36 O LD EN G LI S H C RIC K ET ERS .
w ickets llowed ba lls to go by as some mod ern batsm e n

an d a
do w e should h a v e been hooted and prope rly so —

.
The be st bo wlers of m y d ay ? When I b egan cricket t h ey

were Hillyer Myn n Clark Mart ingell and C afiyn and T
'
—
.
, , , , ,
Box a s wicke t keepe r George Pa rr was our A 1 bat -

. .
The bowling of course was a ll round hand exc ept Clark e

, ,
-
, ,
who wa s s low under hand H H Ste phen son was one of -

. . .
the m ost d ifficu lt bo wle rs for two or three season s H e .
was very fas t but did not last H e used to t ak e the

, .
wicket for us when Box left off Poor old Box ! h e di ed .
q uite s uddenly on duty at th e t e l e graph board a t Pri nce s
Ground L ondon , .
Who was the be st bowler I remem ber ? That is v ery

d ifficult to say George Atkin son was th e b est fast m ed ium
.
bowler of his d ay In my opinion George Fre eman was t h e .
best fas t bow ler .
I played again st W G Gra c e when h e was sixt een y ea rs . .
of age a t Sh e ffie ld I played with his father and with E M .

,
. .
Gra ce a l so th e eld est brother Harry but I nev e r play ed

, ,
a ga in st G F I think th e mothe r was a better player tha n

. .
the father She was the only lady I e ver saw who could
.
throw a ball She could thro w one 6 0 or 7 0 yard s and do it

.
,
w ell t oo ,
I hav e see n her field th e ball spl endidly whe n w e
.
h a ve bee n at practice .
“Wha t stra nge luck a cricketer may hav e Why old

! ,
Fuller P ilch the be s t ba t of his day once got fiv e s uccess iv e

, ,
‘
duck s I re m em ber seei ng him lying do wn quite out of
.
’
hear t a nd saying in his de spair I fee l I shall n ev e r g e t

, ,
’
anot her ru n as long as I live It is n ot a n ic e thing to b e .
out to the first ball in bo th innings but I had that experienc e ,
once I believe i t was a t S toke Sometimes you think the

. .
ball is a s big a s a hay s tack and that t hey ca nnot get you -
out bu t you a re di sm i ssed wi thout scoring the n you think

,
’
you haven t a run in you and you m ake 5 0 Ah it s a , .
,
’
queer ga m e !
Now it is the prac t ice to clo se t he in nings when though t
fit We did no t do tha t A n old colleague o f min e To m
. .
,
t hefol lowing incident w hich shows t he respect in , w hich

George Anderson is he ld by practical cricketers
Three fo u r
year s ago I was pl aying in a m at ch a t R ich
or
m o n d a n d Geo rge A n der so n w as u m piri n g

,
I was b o wli ng at .
t he ti m e an d a ppea led fo r a catch a t t h e w ick et

, Ge o rge A nde r .
so n gav e the b atsm an ou t H e re tired bu t w i th a very bad

.
,
r e bein d issat is fie d wi th the deci si o n an d u sin m wh t

g ac , g g s o e a,
str o n g l a n gu age .
A t the e n d o f t h e innin gs I wen t up t o the d isco m fit e d b ats

m an an d sa id “ D o yo u kn o w w h o the u m p ire is 2 ” ”
, N o he ,
re pli e d and I d o n t c are b u t h e is a j o lly bad o n e

,
’
,
”
It s .
’
” “W hat ! Geo rge A n d e rso n w ho

Ge o rge A n d e rso n I repl i e d, .
,
”
p l ayed f o r Yo rk shire a n d A l l Eng l an d ? T h e very m an ”
,
I sa i d .T hen I was o u t a n d b e p ro mptl y wen t u p to An d e r

,
so n an d ap o l ogi sed for wh a t he h ad sa id in the fi el d .
In concludi ng thi s Talk with George A nd e rson th e writer ,
must bea r testimony to the marked e ste em in which th e

vetera n crick eter is held by his fr i end s and neighbours in
B edale In private and socia l inte rcourse the evide nces of
.
respect a nd affection for the famous Yorkshirema n impressed

th e wri ter very much .
M R D A V I D BU C H A N A N .
I T is la id down in Badminton ‘
that Mr D a vid Buchana n has

taken more wickets than a ny
livi ng man It m ay be d ifficult
.
to sub stantiate this claim yet it ,
is probably true Mr Buchanan

.
ha s seen forty years s ervic e with

’
th e ball he has take n nearly

,
3 0 0 wick e t s in on e s ea s on and , ,
having r egard to his length of

se r vice and con st ant s ucce ss th e ,
contention of Badminton may

‘ ’
be accepted without ca vil This .

,
at anyrat e mu st be co nced ed among amateur bowlers Mr

,
—
Buchanan stand s alon e No one can point to an equal period

.
of uninterrupted succ ess in first class and other than mere

-
local cricket The pre se nt ge neration of cricketers know him

.
by repute if not all by experience as the great teacher of

, ,
t he la nguage of the ball Many of the m will admi t tha t he

.
w as the fi rs t of th e ir e xp er ience to m a ke the ball talk .
Mr Bucha nan s car e er is unique in another sen se

’
H is .
great reputation was m ad e as a slo w left arm bo w ler But-

.
for eigh teen years before adopting s lows he was a fas t

bo wler and in th e very m atch t h at he bega n the change
,
which was to have such remarkabl e results he made a ba il

fly 2 9 y a rd s ! I t was a matc h b e twee n Rugby a nd Man
.
0 OLD ENG LI S H C RICK ET ERS .
che ster on the Old T rafio rd Ground on July 1 1 and 1 2

'
, ,
1 86 4 . The Rugby bowling was collare d in the second

inni ngs and by way of a change Mr Buchanan alter ed
,
h is styl e to s lo w round arm with so much succ ess that h e

-
continued perfec t ed and expounded it for twenty t wo y ears

, ,
-
aft er ward s !
Not very long ago the column s of th e Engli sh press reviv ed
the sad memories of an Al pin e t ragedy The occas ion was .
the recovery in a wonderful state of pre se rvation of th e bo dy

, ,
of Mr Ark wright t we n ty eight years afte r life had b ee n

,
-
cru shed out of it in th e unrelenting Alps Th e victim of th e .
tragedy there w ere other victim s but no good pu rpose ca n

—
,
b e served by referring to them here was indirectly th e cause —
of Mr Buchan a n s succe ssful conversion from a fast to a slow

’
bow ler Mr B uchana n shall tell why

.
In an England match at Manche ste r wi t h Carpenter and ,
Hay ward b atting I never bo w led bette r as a fas t bowl e r in

, , ,
my life But I found that the better I bowl ed the e asi er th ey

.
’
pl ayed m e an d in a three days match t hat s ort of th ing tak es
-
i t o u t of you Then I remem bered that Mr Arkwright us ed

.
to get w icket s w i th a great d eal less e xertion than I did and ,
t ha t he got a lot of s pin on the ball I thought I had a prett y .
good command of the b a ll and that if I only could get th e ,
co n fi d e n ce t o bo w l sl o w I fel t certain I could do it I did so .

,
w i th re sults th a t a re known O i cou rse I had to l earn how to

.
plac e my fie ld I t is a long t ime to bowl e ight e en years as a

.
fast bo w ler a lone especially for an a mateur and in good

, ,
m a tche s ; bu t I a ft erward s bo wl ed for t wenty t w o y ears as a -
s low bo wler no t un succ essfully e ither I think I may fairly

—
,
”
sa y.
There is a legend extant concerning M r Buchanan s chang e ’
of style th at is t oo good to pass unrecorded Th e story goe s .
t h at w hen a fast right hand bo w ler he had the mi sfortun e

-
t o kill a b ats m an H e wa s so o v er whelm ed with rem orse that

.
b e de t er m ined never to bo w l fas t aga in and immediately ,
“
chang e d his style t o th a t of a slow left han d bowler ! A s -
an e ffort of i m ag i nation t his crick e t legend is un surpassed .

MR D A VI D BU CH A N A N . 41
Mr D a vid Buchan an was bo rn in Scotland on Janu a ry 1 6,

1 83 0 . Lightly and sprightly does h e carry his years H e .
resides and has res id ed these t hirty odd yea rs past at North
, ,
fie ld Hous e Rugby under the shado w as i t w e re of th e

, , , ,
school in which the foundation of his scholastic a t ta in m ent s
was laid .
I was ke e n about crick e t as a boy and I re colle ct th a t in ,
Sco tla nd we had a club th e e n t rance to which was 6 d and o ur .

,
’
p r ac tic es to ok plac e at s e ven o clock in t he morning before we

w e nt to school Cricket at that ti m e had not taken hold in
.
Scotla nd t he o nly club of impo rta nce b e ing Pert h who had
, ,
as their profess ional 0 Lawrenc e H e was a K ent m a n and

. .
,
a member of t h e fi rst team of E ngli s h crick e ters t ha t went t o
Aust ralia in 1 86 2 I n 1 847 I was at Rugby School and

.
,
p lay ed in th e Hou se mat ch es I was look ed upon as a good .
bo w ler then but was not appre ci a t ed at the school as I mea nt

,
to b e . Subsequently I we nt up to Cla re College Cambridge , ,
a nd p lay ed in th e Var s ity match of 1 85 0

’
t aking 7 wicke t s , .
’
Th e match was not played at Lord s but on Cowley Marsh , .
Unfortunat e ly it was w e t and I h aving rheumatism in my ,
shoulde r did no t bowl so w e ll as I u sua l ly did C ricket wa s .
n o t thought quite so much of in tho se day s a t the Un i ver s i t ies
as it is now The match was not play ed un t il a fortnigh t after

.
te rm It was the sam e in 1 85 1 and rather tha n kick my

.
,
heels about waiting a fortnigh t for the match I we nt home to ,

”
Scotland and m issed the encounter .
Since 1 85 4 Mr Buchan a n has been connected wi th t he

Rugby Club For over thirt y years he was secreta ry trea s urer
.
, ,
a n d captain a n d t o day he s till di sch a rge s the d u t ie s of

,
treas urer to the club O i the fa m ous touring organi sa t ion

.
,
the Free Foresters he was for m any yea rs an active me m ber

,
.
When he first played fo r the Gen tleme n of England he was

t hirty eight years of age H is i n i t ia l match was played at the
-
.
Ov a l on July 2 3 1 86 8 and re m a in s mem o rabl e to t hi s day

, , ,
for a grea t innings of 1 6 5 played by t he lat e M r I D Wa lker . . .
Mr Buchan a n s d é bu t wa s a succe ss for he t ook 9 wickets for

’
,
7 8 run s in the s econd inning s H is record in Gentle m en v . .

42 OLD ENGLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
P layers a t Lord s and the Oval from 86 8 to 87 4incl usive is

’
1 1
as follow s
I a ns No o f Wid e No . Ru ns per
M atch es
. .
. b o wle d l n . Ba ll sBuns
. . wk t s . b al ls .
‘l
ba s . w kt .
10 19 3 20 8 1 2 9 2 88 0 0
From the year 1 86 4to 1 881 he played in thirty five matches -
for Gen t lemen of E ngla nd and Free Fo resters v th e Uni .
v e rs it ie s at Oxford and C a mbridge his re cord b e ing ,
I nns No . of Wid e No Runs per

M atch es
. .
. b owl ed l n . Bal l s . R un s . wk ts . b alls . b all s . wk t .
35 60 3 664 243 4 0
It will b e known to most cricket reade rs that Ephraim

Lock wood was th e first man on a Players side to b at through ’
’
an innings in the Gentlemen 0 Playe rs match es This he . .
did in the match at the O val in J uly 1 87 4 scoring 6 7 not out ,
of a total of only 1 1 5 Mr Buchanan play ed in tha t match

.
,
and he has the follo wi ng int e re sting reminisc e nce of Lock .
wood s p erformance
’
“I hav e always quoted Lock w ood s first innings in ’

1 87 4 ,
at both the Oval and L ord s (in th e latter of which h e mad e ’
a s t wo of th e grea te st piece s of good fo rtun e that e v er
befell a batsman in those the t wo b est match es of th e yea r , .
In t he first innings at th e Oval whe n only 2 3 r uns had bee n ,
s cored Lockwood hit one of the ve ry e asies t pos si b le chanc e s

,
to M r F Townsend the fat her of the prese nt clever Glon

.
—
ce st e rshire cricket er st a nding for m e at cov e r point

—
Th e -
.
catch wa s u nfortu nately trea t ed w ith too much nonch a lance ,
and fell to the ground the re sult b e ing that L ockwoo d ,
ca rried his bat out for 6 7 run s obtain ed afterward s in th e ,
be st m anner .
“A t L ord s for the firs t and only ti m e M r J A B u sh kept

’
.
, ,
wicke t fo r me and the s econd ba ll of the match touch ed by

, ,
L ockwood a nd passing a few inche s from the top of th e off

s t u m p was not held
,
O n tha t occa sion Lockwood mad e 7 0
.
r un s So you se e in thos e two innings he mad e 1 3 7 run s

.
when wi t h ordinary luck his w icket would hav e fallen to m e

, ,
MR DA V I D BU CH ANAN . 43
for some 8 or 1 0 run s in one in nings and a round 0 in th e

o ther
Th e d ea th in September 1 89 8 of th e la te Mr Wal t er
, ,
H ad ow who a quarter of a centu ry ago was on e of th e

,
foremost bat smen in Engla nd re called t o Mr Buchanan s

' ’
,
mind th e following remarkable circum s ta nces :

In 1 87 0 in th e match Ge ntlem en of Engla nd Oxfo rd
,
Univ e rsi ty Oxford winning the toss the firs t 4wickets fell
— —
to exactly s imilar ball s pl ayed at in exac t ly the same way

, .
The batsmen ra n out appa rently with the inten tion of sending
t h e ball into t he n ext county fail ed to reach it an d were , ,
eas ily stu m ped by Mon ty Turner th e ba ll on each occasio n ,
passing so m e four or fiv e inche s outside th e top of th e o ff

s tump . The s core read s thus
A T Fo r t e scue , s t T u rn er, b Bu chanan

. .
W H H ad o w, st Tu rne r, b Bu chanan
. .
C J O tt o way, n o t o u t
. .
B Pa u n ce fo te , s t T u rn e r, b Buchan an
.
E F S T yle co te , st T urn e r, b Buchana n

. . .
C uriou sly enough th e first ba ll of th e innings was a wide one

, ,
o f t hree bo w led by m e in t hirty fou r of t he s e match e s 0

-
.
O xford and C a m bridge play ed fo r sev e ntee n ye a rs in s uc

,
c e ss ion under t he captaincy of th e lat e Mr I D Walker . . .
The batsmen too were all first class c ricket ers and in full
, ,
-
,
”
ra ctice
p .
A n experience which must b e as unique in the hi sto ry of

c ri c ket as Mr Bu c h a nan s bowling service s occurred to him
’
H e could n o t
’
i n th e Gen t lemen v Play e rs m a t ches in 1 87 2
. .
r u n a yard and did not get a run in e ither m atch yet he

, ,
o btai ned a fa ir shar e of wicke t s a n d not one of the t hou sand s

,
o f onlookers knew that there was anything ami s s wi t h him .
T he experien ce w ill be be st given in his o w n word s .
I had badly strained the t endon Achille s in a match 0 .
I Zinga ri in 1 86 7 in b ei ng suddenly called for a short run

, ,
a n d making a gre a t e ffort H ad I th e n worn boot s in st ead of

.
s ho es th e a ccident would no t h a v e ha pened

p A man over .
44 O LD EN G LI S H CRI C K ET ERS .
thirty should always wear b oots This mi shap was a great .
trouble to m e through the rest of my cric ke ti ng career It pre .
vented me from taking any par t in the Gen t lem e n and Players ’
m at ch es of 1 87 0 and in 1 87 2 af t er having acce pted the ,
invitation s to play I completely brok e d ow n a fortnight

,
before the first m a t ch at L ord s Howev e r I determined to ’

.
,
face it out though I could no t hav e run acro ss the wick e t

,
for my life .
“A t Lord s the Playe rs wo n the to ss and though I could

’
not and did not in t he match run a ya rd I stood short sli p

, , ,
-
,
a n d could ju st m a nage to bowl The Players m ad e 1 3 6 in .
the first innings and my share of wickets was 7 for 7 8 run s

, .
O n go ing in to hat I r ealis ed my position and wond e red ,
wh at the re sult would b e I had one or maybe two ball s to .

, ,
play and t o my gre at sati sfaction my partner was bowled

,
clean at th e beginning of the n ext over S o I carried out my .
b a t w ithout having had a chance of making a run or of ,
sho wing t he crowd tha t I could not poss ibly mak e on e Th e .
Players second in n ings reached the t otal of 2 7 4 five of thei r

’
wickets being obtai ned by m e for 87 run s in 5 9 ov e rs of four

ball s The Gen t lem en wo n with 7 wickets to spa re .
O u the Wedne sday th e day before the Oval match , ,
de t ermining no t to run the ri sk of fail ure in the next contest ,
an d thinking how I could get out of it I saw Mr Willi am ,
Bu rrup the the n secret ary of th e Surrey Club in th e pavilion

, , ,
and I w en t to h im and said M r Burrup it is i m possibl e for ,

‘
,
m e to pl ay a t the Ova l to m orro w I am so lam e I can hardly -
wa lk a long t he st reet m u ch more play cricket I must ask

, .
you to le t m e
H is an swe r was I f you can only crawl to th e wicket you
,
‘
’
m u s t p l ay I an s wered If that is the way you pu t it I wil l
.
, ,
’
do m y b est bu t I looked for wa rd to the match with appro
,
h e n s io n .
T he
morro w cam e brig h t and fa ir and this ti me my side
, ,
wo n t he to ss and d uring the long innings I had plen ty of

,
t i m e to refl ect and think my self lucky so far and t hat nobody ,
kn ew what an impostor I was My fee li ngs may b e imagin ed .

46 EN GLI S H C RI C K ETER S .
in those d ays and he was on e of the very fe w bats m en who

,
wat ched t he ball t o the last moment ; con sequently I was very
keen t o get him The first occas ion on which I play ed again s t
.
him was in 1 87 0 Gen t lemen of the No rth ,

Gen t lemen
of the Sou th a t L illey Bridge It was a hard good wicket
,
.
,
a nd W G played a very goo d innings of 1 1 8

. . I did not know .
how he played behind the wicket to slo w bowling and my ,
t hird m an was too deep or he would have had him Time .
aft er time Gra ce let him self become limp and the ball fell
perfec t ly dea d on the ground o ff his bat but he never gave a ,
cha nce t ha t went t o hand .
The nex t occa sion on w hich we were antagoni sts was in

a match got up by M r W Ya rdley Universi tie s Pa st and .
,
Present Gen t lemen of the South the former not being ,
really a repre senta t ive tea m Mr C Tillard and I bega n . .
the bow ling and aft er I had bow led three or four over s
,
W G snicked a ba ll through the slips to Tilla rd who

. .
,
dropped it G race t hen mad e 1 2 when he played a ba ll

.
,
into his w icke t That was my second experience of bo wling

.
at him .
The third was a m atch with odd s Birmingham and ,
D i st rict United South played on a wet wicket G rac e , .
ca m e in as u sua l a nd aft er an over or two I t ossed a ball

,
a little higher H e thought he was going t o hit it but he

.
,
m i ss ed it a ltoge ther H e had covered his stump s wi th h is

.
leg and th e ball w ent six inches up h is leg

,
How s th a t l .
’
I promp t ly asked but J im L illywhi t e sa id No t out

, I was , .
’
disgu sted Th e nex t over I asked the reaso n of his deci sion
.
,
and Lillywhi t e sa id h e ga ve Grace not ou t beca use the ba ll

would no t have hi t the wicket ! I did not say much bu t I ,
thought a great dea l W G made 2 7 an d was caught in . . .

,
”
skying a ba ll t o m id w icke t -
.
T o m E m m e tt w as an adept at se tt ing trap s for unw a ry

batsm en bu t he wa s occasion a lly vic t imi se d him self as the
, ,
fo llow ing reminiscence show s

’
In the Gen t le m en Players m atch at L ord s in 1 87 4 ’
when we had bee n having a long s pell a ft er luncheon we ,

ME D A VI D BU CH ANAN . 7
ad j ourn ed to t he pavilion for a drink at t he fa ll of a wicke t .
I n the pavilion I sa w Mr H a m a r Bass who said Old Tom , ,
E m m e t t is coming in ; you give him a yorker firs t ba ll I .

’
though t it was a good id ea so I carri ed it ou t I gave Tom a ,

.
yorker right up and b e touched it and was beautifully ca ught

, ,
by Bu sh close to the ground and very nea r h is o ff st ump I ,

-
.
told M r B ass a fterward s it was a very good piece of advi ce .
Bu t it is not oft en the se things come o ff at the first a ttemp t .
M r C I Thornton ha s been properly styled the hi tt er

. .
’
of the century For continuou s gigantic hi t ting in good
.
,
m a t che s no one has equalled him H e gloried in a long hop .

-
a n d could hit i t ha rder th a n any man of his d ay Though h e .
to o k grea t libert ie s I never had the luck to get him stu m ped
, .
When he wen t ou t t o hi t and miss ed the ba ll the migh ty ,
s w ing with which he m ade the s troke brought his bat round
and landed i t j ust in side t he creas e before th e ball could ,

’
rea ch the w i cket keeper s h a nd s -
.
I see M r Thornton men t ion s tha t Mr Fellow e s once

h i t a ba ll 1 7 5 ya rd s bu t t hat the measurem en t was not ,
a u t hen t ic a t ed I kne w M r Fellowe s

. Sla ck Fellowes as he ,
’
w a s fam ilia rly ca lled very w ell and my recollection of his

—
,
s t a t e m ent a s t o thi s hit is th a t it was m ade while pra cti sing
on one of the College ground s a t Oxford that h e was having

b a lls pi t ch ed purpos ely to b e hit by him as hard and as fa r as
p o ss ibl e the
—
wind favouring in order to try a bat ; and —
t h a t the di stance was not qui t e so far as sta ted .
One incident reca ll s anot her Thi s concern s the hi tter .

‘
’
o f t h e century .
In t he Players m at ch a t Lord s in 1 87 4 R icha rd D aft

’ ’
, ,
t h o ugh he played a very good innings a llo w ed s om e twen t y 0 6

'
b a ll s in s ucce ss ion from me to g o past him wi thou t a t t em pting

t o play the m O n t he day after the mat ch I played for the
.
Free Foresters v Sou t hgate Mr C I Thorn t on w as pl ayi ng

. . . .
a ga in s t me and ca m e in first on a perfec t wicke t under

, ,
bea u t iful s um m er surroundin gs Before going in he said to .
M r J ohn Walker a lluding to the ma t ch of t he previou s t hree

,
’
d a ys I e m going to im itat e fo ur of the P layers n aming
,
‘ —
48 O LD G LI S H CRI C K ET ERS
EN .
them ch ball of the first over The first shall be D af t

ea .
,
a n d so o n I bow led the first ball and M r Thornton l if ted

.
’
,
his hat a la D af t a n d allow ed it to g o pas t But i t bow led .
his o ff stump ! H e look ed at me a nd pre t ended it w as a t rial

'
ball A m I re a lly t o go out I he ask ed A sk the u m pir e

‘ ‘ ’
.
.
,
I ca l m ly replied So Mr Thornton w ent back disco m fit ed

.
,
t o the hear t y laughter of all pre sent I never heard of a .
”
further attem pt on his pa rt t o as sume the Nile of D ick D aft .
Turning h is though t s back to ea rlier times M r Bucha n a n ,
proceed s
I recollect the first m a t ch in which George Tarrant cam e
t o Lord s as a colt There u sed to be a litt le garden behi n d
’
.
’
where the dining p a vilion n o w is at L ord s and I sa w George ,
Pa rr hit Ta rra nt t w ice into D ark s li t tle greenhou se Old ’

.
D ark one might alm ost say u sed to fa rm the M C C H e

, , . . .
u sed to take a ll the m oney and fin d a ll the cricket a t anyrat e ,

’
he w as quite a m oving po we r at L ord s in those days .
“I a l way s looked upon Robert Carpenter as one of the
fin est bat s t ha t ever li v ed I never sa w Fuller Pilch Hayward . .
wa s a m os t brilliant b at but he was not the l as ting cri cketer ,
that Carpenter was Modern bo wlers say th at George Pa rr .
would not make his fa mou s leg hits n o w Th a t is all gammon -

. .
H a d they kno wn Pa rr in his be st day s t hey w ould h a ve a dif

fere a t opinion Bu t of course l ike all m en h e was vulner
.
, , ,
a ble. I re m ember t h a t in 1 86 5 I played for the Foresters

ag ain st No tts wi th Pa rr Chri s Tinley Ja ck son O scro ft
, , .
, , ,
Grundy a nd o thers in the l atter tea m and I fin ishe d up t he

, ,
m a tch by sen d ing down 3 7 ba ll s for 5 wickets an d 1 run .
Su ch th ings w ill h appen !

A funny thing o ccu rred w hen I was a t the Univers ity I .
w a s staying nea r Solihull w ith a friend a n d pla yed in a m a tc h ,
in whi ch a local ga rdener took pa r t H e fie ld ed very clos e in .
a t shor t s lip to m y bo w ling w hich o f cour se was then fas t

-
, .
Aft er t he first over I re m arked tha t he was in a very danger

o u s pos i t i o n a n d had be tt er get fa rt her back
, Oh I know .
,
’
w h a t I am a bou t w a s the re ply Very w ell I sa id and ‘ ’
, .
, ,
went on bo wling A fe w balls a fter one o ff the b a t struck

.
ME DA VI D BU CH ANAN . 49
t he ga rdener on the nose and glanced on to long slip where -
it was ca ught The gardener promptly display ed a more

.
retiring di spos ition .
It is not often you hear of a m a tch being both lost a n d

won by one side in one day I was playing for Forest of .
Arden the Arden me ntioned in K enilworth again st

Lea mington who headed us by a few run s on the first
,
innings Their innings closed about a qua rter past fiv e

.
-
o cl ock a nd they had really won the m at ch a n d as I wi shed

’
, ,
to ca tch a tra in a little aft er six I said it w as no u se goi ng on ,
a ga in The other side prote sted that was not cricket and
.
,
m ade them selve s a little obnoxious S o I agreed to pl ay o n .

,
and b e content to get home at m i d night A s we went into .
t he fie l d a second time I told our fello ws to field u p T wo

’
.
of t he ba tting side went to get their hair cut saying they ,
w ould be ba ck in t w enty minute s When they returned they .
foun d t h a t their nine colleagues 8 wicke t s had been got out — —
for 6 ru n s and we had won the m atch ! I took several of t he

,
wicke t s without a run being scored 0 6 me Not only did we .
w in the match but I a ctually caught my train

,
That side .
would not accu se us of not playing cricket after that l

A few Opinion s of modern bowling from a man of Mr
Buchanan s long experience will be v aluable
’
.
“I don t think ” he says

’
the bowling is so good at t he
, ,
p re s ent time as i t u sed to b e There is for in sta nce no bo w ler

.
, ,
like Old Cla rk e They tell you wicket s are be t ter but tha t is
.
,
a ll ga mmon Coun t ry ground s were certa inly not as good as

.
t hey a re now but we a l ways had good w i ckets at Fenner s

, ,
t he Ova l a nd other place s where first class cricket was regu

,
-
l a rly pl a yed The fault I find wi th m any bow lers of the

.
present d ay is t hat the ba ll comes from their h and s t oo oft en

l ike a bit of lead I t ought to com e as if i t had a fie nd in side
.
it w hich w ork s the mi sc hief im m edi a t ely it t ouche s t he ground

,
.
M y wri st someti m es used to crack when i m pa rting spin t o t he

b a ll . I m ay add here that I was never no ba lled in m y life -
a n d only bo w led four wides in forty fi v e m a t che s v Oxford -

.
a n d C a mbridge and t he Players in s eventeen yea r s .
D
50 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
Among fast bowlers George Freeman was the best Allan .
Hill wa s very fast a nd straight but had not the devil in h is ,
deliverie s that Freeman had Poor Mr D onny Wa lker u sed to .
tell me Freema n is t he best bowler there is ; and he w a s

,
‘ ’
quite right .
“Mention of Al la n Hill remind s me that once I

had from
him t he most wonderful ba ll I e ver saw in my life I t was in .
’
a Gentlemen Players match and I went in last H e bowl e d , .
a ba ll at the leg st u m p which came like a fl ash a full pi t c h

-
,
-
only the height of the stump I had no time for thought b ut .

,
in stinct seemed to tell me that if the ball hit me I should b e

done I put my bat out and as luck would h a ve it t he ball
.
,
struck i t and w ent for one ru n on the leg side All an cam e up -
.
i m mediately and said I a m sorry I bowled you th a t ball I

,
‘
had no intention of bo w ling a ball like that I replied ’

.
,
‘
Well Allan if it had hit me it would hav e killed me
, ,
I .
’
never saw another such ball in m y life .
The n e w enterpri se of the the increasing of the

number of ball s in an over to six m ust surely have M r ,
Buch anan s approval after th e follow ing u nq ualified oommen

’
,
dat ion of the previou s al t eration from four to five

“I think bo w lers have a great pull nowaday s in the fif t h
ball of the ov e r A n over of four ball s does not g ive a bowler
.
s cope enough in his plan of a t tack for after worki ng a ,
batsm a n up to a certain pi t ch he often feels that wi t h another ,
ba ll or two in ha nd he might be able to gi ve him his coup d c

g r ac e,
wherea s wi t h h is next over he h a s as it were to begi n , ,
the plan of attack d e n ovo So the ex tra ball increases t he .
effectivene ss of varie ty in the over I have often sa id t o .
my self Oh if I could only have a nother ball 1 In the four

, ,
ba lls an over d ays I once got L ord Al fred Paget s wicket with
- -
’
’
a fif t h b a ll the u m pire having forgot t en to call Over Was n t ‘ ’
.
,
his lord ship angry

It will in tere st m any of bot h t he old and modern schoo l of
cricketers t o know that M r Buchana n does not find fault with
the way in whi ch b ats men a llow o ff ball s to g o b y -
.
“I u sed to wi sh tha t bat smen would h it them that was

M E D A V I D BU CHA N A N . 51
my feeling says b e good leng th ball is very ni ce but

.
“A -
, ,
i t is not e ffective and you m us t try o ff balls in reas on

,
-
.
S pea king as a bo wler I should say the b a t sm an is doing ,
r igh t in allo wing seduc t ive looking o ff ball s to p t h im

g o as - -
.
It is t he bow ler s du ty to try his patienc e Contra ry to man y

’
.
o pi n ion s t here wa s I t hink a bet t er cutter t h a n Eph L o ck

, , , .
w oo d in the Hon 0 J Lyt t el t on n o w Lord Lyttelto n whos e

. .
, ,
fa t her u sed to bring a classic au thor to read at L ord s ground ’
d uring cricket m a tches and to place on one side w hile his so n

—
,
w as b a tting ! When h is so n was out o ff he went , .
M r Buchanan was one of the founders of th e Warwick shire

County Club a capta in of the county team for some y ears
, ,
a n d treas urer for seven years and one of h is l as t county ,
m at ches was in 1 885 for Wa rwick shire v L eice st ershire when .

,
he obtain ed 7 w i cke ts for 2 3 run s .
” “
I w as very glad he says t o get out of th e treas urer, ,
s hip. The way I got out of it wa s t his : they though t t hat

t hirty mile s was too far aw ay from Birmingham to have their
t rea s urer though person a lly I though t t h a t did no t m a t t er
, ,
for everything w as kept right and st raight Our fund s were .
very lo w and I had a lway s to be at them about spending

,
m oney For tunat ely the club is in a very di fferent posi t ion
.
no w . You can i m agine ho w trying it was to a t reasurer in

m y t ime when he had to giv e £6 0 0 to t he Au stra lia n s t o
ta ke a way wi t h them That was w ha t I once had to do . .
“I may be perm it t ed t o ad d that there w as only one

’
e nga gement in my fo rty years cricke t ing career t h a t I did not
’
keep . I was as ked t o go to Au st ra lia wi th Lord Ha rri s s
t ea m I promi sed but had regre t fully t o wi thdra w When
.
, , ,
.
you ha ve to be away six month s a n d have a fa m ily and

re s po n sibilitie s such a journey canno t be ligh t ly un d ertaken
,
.
H ad I gone no profess ional would h a ve been in cluded in

,
t he team George Ulye t t w a s chosen in m y place and the

.
,
only profes sion a l s were Emme t t a n d b e .
A t the jubilee of the Rugby Cri cket Club in 1 89 4 Mr

’
Buch a n a n i ssued a book de script ive of t he club s ri se a nd
p rogress It also con t a in s a chap t er en t itled Hin t s on Slow
52 G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS
EN .
B owling which is the most p ractica l exposition of the th re e

,
’
P s Pitch Pace and Pr ecision o n e could ha v e the pl eas ur e
—
, ,
—
of reading .
Finally it should be said that Mr Buchanan always play ed

,
th e game for the lov e he had for it Al l that I got besid es

.
,
pleasure for playing cricket I could put in m y ey e It is

, .
true I got a fe w new hats but I als o ea rned som e I ne ver

re ce ived I
J OH N J A CK SON .
I C O M MENC E
th e Talk with J ohn
J ackso n by g iving two side s of
a picture The first is a copy
.
of a sketc h from Punch dated ,

’
Augu st 2 9 1 86 3 whic h I repro

, ,
duce w i t h the kind pe rmis sion of

the prop rietors of th e famous
Chariv ari I t illustra tes the re p
.
u t at io n of the great Not t s bowler

’
of the Sixties .
En p a s sa n t I may rem a rk that ,
it is w i t h no sm all am ount of
sati s faction that I t ra ce t he de
ligh tfu l a necdote g iven in the sketch to it s source I t has .
bee n fa thered on m a ny hu m ori sts wi thin t he pas t genera

tion . Mr Punch n o w ge ts his own .
No w l e t m e g ive the revers e s ide of the picture A bent .
a n d g ri s ly m a n of sixty s even wi t h the re m n a nt s of a fi

-
, ne
pre se nce sub sisting on a pittance of 5 s 6 d a week w illing

,
. .
-
,
t o work but elbowed out by younger and more vigoro us co m

e t it o rs in the battle of life having no pe rmanent addre s s
p , ,
a n d a l wa y s hovering on the thre shold of th e workhou s e .
This is t he J ohn J ack son of t o day J olly gam e cri cke t

-
.
,
Mr Punch s hero was the demon bowler of No tts and

’
A ll Englan d of w hom it was written

-
,
Ja ckso n s pace
’
is v e ry f earfu l ,
more tha n a generation ago Th e bo wler still has acquaint .
a nc e wi t h a demon : he has to fi g h t to keep the demon of

destitu t ion outside th e door .
When th e writer saw J ohn J ackson at Liverpool the old ,
No tts bowler was on the rocks Some assi stance was forth .
co m ing from a fe w friend s a s t he re sult of a tte ntion be ing

,
drawn to his position in life but it was necessarily of a ,

’
tem pora ry character For some years Jackso n s main if not
.
,
his sole support has been a n allowance of 6 s per w eek fro m

,
.
’
t he Cricke t ers Friendly Society and from that sum a sub ,
scrip t ion of one g uinea a year has to be deducted -

Thi s .
s ocie t y doe s a very u seful work in it s way But it s opera .
tio ns are restricted ; it can only half solve the proble m of ,
ho w to keep cricketing hero es out of the workhou se in their

declining yea rs .
The posi t ion of men like Jackson is a strong te stimony to

t he n eed of a reform in cricket b e nefi ts Reform was sug .
gested by Alfred Sha w in a letter to the M C C a year and a . . .
ha lf ago t he conten t ion s and conclusions in which were con

,
s id ere d s ta r t ling in hig h quarters Since then Lord Hawke .

,
one of the true st friend s the professional cricket er possesse s ,
has brough t the whole ques t io n of cricke t b e n e fit s before t he

authori t ies of the ga m e and t he re sul t will probably b e that
,
in fut ure there will be some guarantee that a cricketers

’
b en e fit fund is se curely inve sted .
J a ckso n s b e n efit w ould not have yielded a princely sum if

’
i nve st ed I t only reali sed £ 2 6 5 The match was M C C

. . . . .
v Nott s a t Trent Bridge on J uly 3 0

.
,
1 87 4 ,
.
J ack son has been in no s light measur e assi sted by the

La ncashire an d D erbyshire cricketers Frank and Walter Sugg , ,
w hos e headqua rters are “Frank Sugg s cricket and a thle t ic ’
o utfi
’
tt er s esta bli shmen t in Lord S t reet Liverpool But
, , .
for the good n ess of heart of the t wo brothers and other

loca l friend s J ack son would probab ly h ave gone under long
,
a go . I t m ay be tha t like m any of the old school pro fes

,
-
s io n a ls J o h n J a ck son did not cul t iv at e provident habi t s in his

,
.
“
younger days But t hi s ain t the ti m e for serm on s ’
and
J OHN JA CK S ON . 57
if a ny one wi shes to k now where J ohn J ack son is and ho w he

is fa ring th e Me ssrs Sugg wil l no doubt b e glad to furn is h
,
t h e info rma tion .
J a ckso n is an e xc e ption that proves th e rul e of birth qual i

fica t io n fo r Notts crick e t H e was born at B un gay in Suff olk.
, ,
o n M ay 2 1 1 83 3 b ut
,
inasmuc h as h e was tak en to No t ts
, ,
w h en a n infant in arm s he was con sid e red a Notts man to all

,
inte nts and pu r po ses There was a Jackso n who p layed for
.
Not ts so far back as 1 848 but that was not h e of whom I ,
am n o w writing no r w e r e the two in any way re la ted

, .
J ohn J ack son p re fac ed his career as a first clas s cricketer -
b y e nga gement s at Southwell (Notts) Newar k Th e Gra nge , ,
( Edi n burgh ) Ip swich ,and again at Southw e ll ,I t w as whil e .
f ul filling his fift h e ngagem en t as a prof ess ional cricke te r a t

Sou t hwell that h e first play ed for Notts That was in the .
y ear 1 85 5 A t th e same time h e join ed the All England

.
-
Eleven an d play ed with those great mi ssionaries of c ricket

,
fo r eleven y ears and o ff and on up to 1 87 0

,
Wh e nhe closed .
h is first class caree r th e initiatory cau se was an accident

-
, .
’
J ackso n s r ecord as a bo w ler j udged by numb e r of wickets ,
ta ke n is wond e rful In 1 85 6 he took 1 6 9 wickets but in

,
.
,
1 85 7 two y ea rs after his appearance in Notts and A l l Engl a nd

,
-
c rick e t he ca ptured 3 3 1 wickets ; in 1 8 8 wicket and

, 5 35 9 s , ,
in 1 85 9 3 46 wicke ts In e ach of the thre e y ears las t nam ed

, .
he hea d ed th e l is t of English bo wlers though there were such ,
m e n as Willshe r Wisden C a flyn Griffiths H H S t ephen s on

'
, , , , . .
,
a n d Grundy among his contemporarie s I n 1 86 0 J ackso n s

’
.
c rop was 2 2 7 wicket s 1 86 1 2 3 2 and 1 86 2 2 3 5 ,

These figu res , , ,
.
a re t remendou s t ake n by the m selve s : ev e n when allowa nce

,
is m ade for the fact th at the local Tw e nty tw os so m e t i m e s -
prov ed eas y prey to the All England bowl e rs t h e record ca n -

,
s t ill only be desc rib e d as w onde rf ul .
J ac k s o n had a n eas y round a rm style with a ru n of not -
more than thre e or four ya rds and it is recorded of h im ,
t ha t he “ bowl ed like a machine well within his st rength ”

, .
O f h is i n dividual effort s m uch could b e written bu t a few ,
s pe cia l performa nc es will anth e e to show his fearful power

08 O LD EN G L I SH C RI C K ETERS .
as a fast bowle r Thu s in 1 85 7 for th e England El e ven

.
,
against Twenty two of Uppingham with th ree profe ssional s

-
( incl u ding F Ti n ley ) J ack

. son bowl e d s ix m en in se ve n ba ll s
,
.
The re were 2 2 ducks in the forty fo ur innings ! I n his first -
matc h with th e Ele v e n at Spaldi ng against a loca l T wenty t wo -
he got 1 0 wickets in th e second in nings A t Truro in 1 85 8 .
he t ook 8 wickets in 1 6 ball s In 1 86 3 again st Kent at C ran .
broo k he got 1 3 wicket s in two innings caught out four m en , ,
m ade 1 0 0 ru n s and pract ically d efeated th e Men of K ent

,
single hand ed
-
O i the se and kindr ed pe rformances J ackso n
.
can ta lk for hours .
“I neve r got 1 0 wickets in an in nings in a first cla ss -
”
ma tch says he
,
but I once did something as good I t
,
.
was in North 5 South at Nottingham . I got n i n e wickets .
and lam ed Joh nny Wi sd en so tha t h e could not bat Tha t , .
was as good as ten eh ? When Mr V E Walker scor ed a , . .
century and got all 1 0 w ickets for England against Surrey in

1 85 9 I bo wled at the oppo site end to him
,
I n the se cond .
innings I tried to equal h is bowling feat but could only ge t to ,
6 wickets for 2 1 run s .
I s it true that every ti m e I got a wicket I u sed to blow

m y nose ? Well th at is D ick D aft s v ersion and I wo n t
’ ’
, ,
ue s t ion it Perhap I did blow my n o se e v e ry time One

q s. .
”
ge ts in t o these littl e manneri sm s you k now un co nsciously , , .
F rom thi s point J ackson may be allowed to ramble o n as ,
i t were in his o wn way recalling at haphaz ard reminiscences

, ,
of h is contemporaries and recollection s of his own doings .
“Old Fuller Pilch u sed to stand umpire

in som e of our
m a t ches and I remember once app ea ling to him for leg before
,
-
wi cket .Bowl them out was his sco rnful reto rt th e on ly

‘
,
’
,
a n swer h e w ould give O n ano t her occas ion I t hink it was

.
—
a t C an t erbu ry Ned Stephen son appeal ed agai ns t T o m H ay

—
wa rd who was th e n only jus t coming ou t as a b atsman

, .
I ilch gave him

’
’
not ou t and coolly turning roun d to
‘
,
S t ephen son remarked I want to see this youngste r b at

, , .
’
Bu t perhaps the most curiou s bit of umpiring except an —
in cident when we were in Phil adel phia where Carpenter was ,

Jo nN J A CK S ON . 59
given out caught off a wide was on th e Mote Park ba ll —
gro und Maidstone Hillye r was t he umpire

,
I n playing
. .
back at th e ball I ov erba la nced myself and actually sa t on

the wick et k nocking t he ba ils o ff of cou rse There was an
, , .
a ppeal fo r hit wick e t but old Hillyer would no t give me out ,

.
Nay I don t thi nk he did it intentional was his reply ! I

’ ’
, ,
’
was m uch obliged to him had I been th e bowl er I don t know
what I should hav e said .
I n co nt rast to thi s sort of umpiri ng th e re was a deci sion ,
whi ch afl ect ed Ge orge F re eman and gav e him an opport un ity

’
of sho wing his good sport sman ship We were playing at .
Ba tley on the occas ion of t he Batley feast George play ed a .
ba ll ve ry ha rd fro m m e on to his foot and it bou nc ed up and ,
w as caught by th e wicket keeper I appealed and Freeman -

.
,
was given o ut G eorge at once said Quite right ; a very

.
,
’
good deci s ion .
Alfred Mynn and Box were once the victim s of an awk ward
yet amusing incid e nt at Sta mford I was playing for the .
loca l Twenty two aga in st the All England Eleven B ox wa s

- -
.
s ta nding short leg and Mr My a n at m iddl e wicket-

,
The ba ll -
.
w a s hit high up betwe en the t wo on th e ou sid e Both ra n for -

.
’
it a n d Box s foreh ea d c ame into viole n t con ta ct wi t h Alfred
,
My a n s mouth The force of the collision sent B ox staggeri n g

’
.
to the g round three or four ya rd s away while a ll we could ,
hea r from Mr Mynn was Where s my tee t ; bub bub bub ’

- -
whe re s my te e t
’
Thi s i nciden t calls to mind a nother I once pl ayed a gain st .
a Twenty two of Clyde sd ale Gl a go w

-
A gen t leman n a m ed ,
s .
M I nt o sh field e d middle wick e t to T in ley s bowling a n d I ke

‘ ’
-
,
Hod gson hit a ball v e ry hard to him The ball wen t through .
h is h a nd s hit him on the forehead and glanced a way t o l o n g

, ,
fie ld wher e it was caught by Alfred Clark There is thu s

, .
,
you see a n advantage in h a ving a t hick head

, .
Yet another of th ese amu s ing incid en ts I once played at .
Sh e ffie ld o n the Hyde Park ground D aft was standing a t .
ro ver po int a nd Ti nley at poi n t

-
D a ft thre w in the ba ll a s .
hard as he could to the wicket keeper bu t Tin ley s head was -

,
’
in the way and the ball bounced o ff his cranium to the boun
,
dary for 4! Tinley developed a ba ld spot on the top of his

head in the pla ce where the hair u sed to grow and we alway s ,
u sed to say it was caused by this hit for 4 .
“D id you ever see an u m pire asleep at a m a tch ? Often

,
’
you say ? Yes but I don t m ean that way ; I m ean ac t ua lly
,
taking fort y winks while the game is in progress ? Well old ,
Buttre ss once fell asleep in a match at Rochdale and the ball ,
being stru ck hard to ward s him hit him full in t he sto mach , .
’
Wi th a sta rt he exclaimed Well I m blessed ! I must have ,
‘
,
’
be en asleep .
“Another of our umpire s went to sleep under di fferent cir
cu m st a n ce s It was Jo e Guy of Notts We had t o go from

.
,
L eicester t o Hereford and Guy was to sta nd as umpire Wh en

, .
w e rea ched Hereford there was no Guy Th e next day he .
turned up It tran spired that he had falle n asleep in t he

.
t ra in at Birmingh am and that the carriage had been shunted

,
in t o a siding w here he awoke and found him self the next

,
morning !
George Tarra nt mu st al so have been asleep fig urat iv e ly ,
spe a king
, once H e had been playing in London and was
.
,
engaged t o go from there to H arecastle Cap tain Lawt on s ,

’
place nea r Ma cclesfie ld In st ead of goi ng there he went t o

,
.
Horncast le in Lin coln shire H e arriv ed at that place on t he

, .
Sund ay evening strolled about saw n o bill s of the m a tch and

, , ,
w ondered w h a t wa s am iss Then he went t o a loca l public.
house a nd asked if there was not to be a cricket m at ch in the

to wn t he follo wing d ay No ; they had h ea rd no t hing about
.
it
. H e t hereupon went to Not t ingh a m and as cert ained a t
Sam Pa rr s th at it w as at Ha recast le where the match would
’
ta ke pl a ce The result wa s th a t he reached his proper desti n

.
’
a t ion a t four o clock on t he evening of the d ay t hat the m a tch
com m enced .
Once we were pl aying at Oldham and Shotton came out ,
to fie ld for T o m Hay ward who was ill Chri s Tinley was , . .
bo wling slo ws a n d Ike Hodgson hit the ball hard and high
, .
Shotton ra n for it when I said I have it In trying for t he

, , .
’
62 O LD ENG LI S H CR I C KETERS .
I was ta lking a fe w minutes since abo u t u m pi res A .
York m an of m y a cqua in ta n ce would be hard t o bea t for a

mi xt ure of simplici ty a n d cheek H e ofliciat ed in a m a tc h a t .
Hull a n d w hen I a ppea l ed to him for so m ething a t the w ic ke t

,
he repli ed No t out a n d I ll bet you a c ro wn we win

,
‘
I ’
.
’
didn t ta ke the bet a nd he di d n t sta nd as umpire a ny lon ge r

’
,
’
.
H e w as the fa t her of a w e l l kno wn Y ork cricketer w ho p la y ed -
for his n a t ive coun ty .
M en t ion of H ull rem ind s me that J oh Gree nwoo d had an

a l a rm ing experien ce the re They u sed t o allow lunies from .
a loca l asylu m t o ro l l the g ro und O n the occas ion I s pea k .
o f one of t he imbeciles was s eiz ed w i t h a s udden frenzy a n d ,
t a king t he iron c ro ss h a ndle ou t of the ro l ler he hi t J ob a

t e rrifi c blo w on the head with it nea rly k illin g him I ,
.
believe lun at ics ha ve no t been a llo wed t o ro ll wickets at Hul l

s ince .
“W e old cri cke t ers m ade but a ve ry poor l iving by o ur
occupat ion and sometimes we had t o stick up for our rights

, .
I re m e m ber once going from Uppingh a m t o London Som e .
of our fellow s had an agree ment t o play for £4or 5 u nder

a hundred m ile s and
1 ;5 or £ 6 over,
th a t d i s ta nce I h ad .
m ad e no agreement A t the clo se of the m atch old Mr D a rk

.
,
w h o u sed t o al m o st run Lord s ground offe red me £4

’
, .
‘
Wh a t s th a t for l I as ked
’
£4 for play ing’

he re pli ed.
,
’
.
‘
K eep it un til it s I ret ort ed and left it I had to go
’
,
.
U p t o Lord s s oon a f t er for t he Ge n t le m en Players m at ch

’ ’
,
a n d t hen sa id I w a n t ed
£ 10 in cludi ng the 5 o w ing t o m e
, .
M r D a rk ga v e me t hree packages There s a mis take he re ’ ’

.
,
I sa id o n gla n cing at their con t ents

, There is no mis ta ke .
‘
,
’
he curt ly repli ed I took t he pa ckages aw ay a nd o n

.
,
e xa m ining t hem fou n d t hey conta ined in all £43 Of .
c o u rs e I t ook the m oney ba ck Mr D a rk sa w h is e rror paid .

,
m e m y full fee a n d fo r so m e yea rs aft er wa rds a l wa ys ga ve

,
me a b at .
“O i
course yo u will kno w I w ent with th e first Engl ish
,
t e a m to C an ad a a nd the S ta t e s in 1 85 9 a n d with Ge orge ,
I a rr s t ea m t o Am e ri ca a n d Au st ra li a in 1 86 4 We did n o t
’
’
.
J O HN JA CK SO N . 63
lose a match on eith e r th e America n or th e A u stral ian

trip but we ought to have bee n beate n in Sydney Chri s
, . .
Tinley had to go in las t w hen it required 1 to tie and 2 to

w in H e hit a ba ll st raight into a field e r s hand s but the
’
.
,
m a n dropped i t and a ru n was scored fo r th e stroke D uring .
this to u r E M Grac e and I played an e l e v e n of Cas tlemain e

. .
ourse lves and defeated them too , .
M y career with Notts closed in 1 86 6 o wing to an i nju ry

I receiv ed in the match with York shire at Trent Bridge I .
wa s fie ld ing at ve ry long slip and in running afte r the ball

,
I fell and ruptured a blood ve ssel in my leg I was laid up

-
.
t w enty week s aft er it but got well I think I ought to have

,
.
be en played aga in for my county and tha t I should have ,
bee n had it not b ee n for the fact that I was not st rictly N otts
bo rn though as other cases hav e passed mu ster I don t see
,
’
w hy mine should no t My last m atch w ith the A ll E ngland

.
-
Eleven was at Sleaford in 1 87 0 Aft er I had done playi ng

.
for the Eleven of England I was engaged at Burnley for t wo

se as on s and my average was 3 0 ru n s
,
I was engaged at .
D ingle for three years and by Lord Massa reen e in Ire

,
land one s eason ; George Roper Richmond Yorkshire t wo , , ,
seas on s a n d 1 87 7 Camb ridge University an d Norfolk Coun t y
at Norw ich also three yea rs at Birkenhea d G ram m a r

S chool .
Four yea rs aft er I had retired I pl ayed wi th George ,
Parr s team at She ffie ld again st a loca l eigh t een In the

’
.
first in n ings I did n o t bow l but got 1 0 run s ; in the second

,
innings I went on at Morley s end and to ok 1 0 wicke t s ’

.
”
Tha t did not look as if I was unfit t o pl ay for No tt s .
Jackson s nose is awry not from blo w ing i t a ft er ta king

’
,
wicket s as he confe sse s he u sed to d o bu t from a blow on i t

, ,
at t he n ets at Cambridge Th e Rev A It Wa rd then and . . .

,
for years treas urer of the Va rsi ty brought me so m e bra ndy

’
,
t o rub it with I drank t he bra n d y and w ent in to the

.
”
vilio n fo r hot water
p a .
J ack son was a part icipant in a fam ou s si ngle wi cket m a tch -
played on th e Trent Bridge ground on J uly 4 1 86 2 Th e ,

.
64 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
p l ayer s w ere all c rack s ,

y e t th e cores wo rk e d out
s as
follo ws
0 411 11111 0 0 3 .
H ayward 0 and b Jackso n

,
Tarran t b Jackson ,
Car pe n te r b Jac kso n ,
NOTT I NGHA M .
J ackson , b Tarran t
R D af t ,
. o an d b Car pe n t e r
A . Clark, 0 and b T arran t
Regarding this m atch Jackso n says I really ought to ,
have wo n th e match singl e handed A s you will see I -

.
,
bowl ed t wo of th e wick et s and caught and bowl ed the other .
I went in first to bat and hit a ball for 2 r u ns but in making

, ,
the run s I did not k nock t he bail off at th e oth er end so the ,
score did not count Then I drove one from Tarrant on the
.
ofi i sid e for a singl e which mad e th e match a tie

,
Tarrant .
bowled m e at that stage and D ick D aft mad e th e winning ,
hit.
Peopl e are strict no w and r ightly so about county qual i

, ,
ficat io n I wond er what th e y would think if a county was

.
given three m en for a mat ch That happen ed on one fam ou s .
occasion I being one of th e give n men and Parr and C aflyn

'
, ,
the othe r two It was Engla nd . Kent at Lord s (J u ly 5 ’
18 and t he match was a ll ov e r in o ne day Engla nd got .
u s out for 3 3 a nd 4 1 and w o n by 1 0 wick e t s ,I thi n k I did .
my share though for in England s first in nings I took 9

, ,
’
wic kets for 2 7 run s In our second innings H H Stephen

. . .
so n did the hat trick wi t h the la st three ba l l s the vic t im s ,
bei ng m yself Mr B Norton and W B ak er

, .
, . .
I t is not give n to every one to take part twic e in a tie

m atc h. I had the experience agai nst th e Free Foreste rs at
N o t t i ngham and B ishops Stortford in Herts The re was a
, .
rem arkabl e coincidence in the two ti es I n the Fo resters .

’
J OHN J A CK S O N 65
m a t ch a no ball was called but was not hea rd and the refore
-
, ,
n o t s cored A t Bi shop s Stortford a wide ball was call ed and

.
,
t hi s t oo was neither h ea rd nor scored

, , .
“Mention of a wide r e minds m e a ai n of the singula r in

g
cid e n t that occurred at Philadelphia in Octobe r 1 85 9 D uring .
’
the m atch the u m pire called Wid e and th e n gav e Carpen t er
,
caught out 0 6 the sam e delive ry The umpire r equir ed so m e

.
convincing tha t he was w rong but in th e end Carpe nter was

,
a ll o w ed to continue his innings In thi s sam e match I too k

.
8 w ickets and in the first inni ngs se nt down 2 3 6 ball s fo r 3 7

,
1
run s .
A report e r of the New Yo rk Herald had a painful

e x perien c e a t one of our m atches on that tour I m ade a big .
hit to square leg and the ball ca ught t he unlucky gentl eman
-
,
”
in th e eye H e saw more stars than he was abl e to re po rt
. .
1 Th is was a cas e o f bl u fli ng t he u m pire T hat . fi

o f cial t
was righ in his
s ec o nd d e cisio n , if wro ng o n t h e first A UT HOR
.
—
.
TH E R EV . CA NO N M C ORM I C K
‘
.
IR ELA ND has no t p roduc ed

m any first class crick e te rs
p robably for th e reason that t he
opportunities f or th ei r d e v el op
m e nt are restr ict ed Amon g t he .
sm all band kn own t o c r ick e tin g
fam e t he Re v Canon M C orm ick

, .
‘
ranks an easy first J0 0 .
M C orm ick th e familiarity o f

‘
th e c rick et fie ld need s no apo logy

-
though r eproduc ed in p rint

was not actually born in I re lan d ,
but his Hib ern ian d escen t is

obviou s and as a matter of fact his c ricke t associations
,
with the Green Isle w e r e as close as his nam e sugg est s .
A fe w biographical deta il s may fitt ing ly p r ec ed e our Talk .
Canon M C o rm ick now vica r of St Augustin e s H ighbu ry

‘
,
’
, ,
London was born at Liv e rpool in the y ear 1 83 4 his fa ther

, ,
being Mr William M C orm ick at on e tim e M P for London

‘
,
~
. .
derry H e spent part of his youthful d ay s with a private

.
tutor at Bingley t he Throstl e N est of West Yo r kshi re

, .
Gradu a ting at C am bridge he was ord ain ed in 1 85 8 and took

, ,
h is first c uracy at S t Peter s Regent Squa re London F rom

’
.
, ,
there he was appointed to the l iving of D unm ore Eas t ,

’
Waterford ; and in 1 86 3 he becam e the vica r of St Pe te r s ,
Ne w Cro ss London where he was largely i nst r um e nta l in

, ,
T HE REV . C A NON m conm cx ‘
. 67
erecting a very hand some church at a cost of In

t he spri ng of 1 87 5 the rev gen t lema n was appointed t o t he .
v ic a rage of Holy Tri nity Hull wh er e h e rema in ed un t il , ,
1 89 4 and he th e n lef t to t ake up h is p rese n t ch a rge at

,
Highbury While at Hul l h e was appointed Rural D ean

.
,
and m ade a Cano n of York and a furth e r proof of the ,
es teem in which his se rvices fo r th e Church ar e held was

fort h coming in his appointment in 1 89 0 as Cha plain in
Ordin a ry t o the Qu een .
O n going up t o Cambridge M r M C o rmick soon beca m e so ‘
“
popula r that had a le tter been addressed to J oe Cambridge ”
, ,
i t would have reached its proper destination without d e lay .
H e neve r received any real in st ruction in c r ick e t until h e

go t there ; yet h e becam e so rapidly proficien t that he was
a wa rd ed h is Blu e in 1 85 4 and in 1 85 6 was captain of t h e ,
Ligh t Blues who then beat t hei r Oxford rival s by 3 wicke t s

, .
H e grimly r ecall s an incid e nt that occu rred in th e y ear wh e n

h e w as ca ptain of t h e C a mbridge Elev en .
I s trolled on to a cricket ground at Liv erpool whe re som e -
gen t leme n were p racti si ng I asked if I might b e allow ed to .
’
bo w l and immediately hit the wicket
,
‘
You ca n t do tha t .
aga in s ir said the batsmen But I did Th e othe r gentle

, ,
’
. .
men in t ur n w ent in and each was soon bowl ed Then one

,
.
of the m said Might I as k sir who you are 1 I replied

,
‘
, ,
’
,
M C o rm ick
‘
What the Cambridge captai n ? Ah that
.
’
, ,
ac counts fo r it .
’
“While at Cambridge say s Mr M Co rmick “I was one ‘

, ,
day playing on Parke r s Piece and Percival F rost the ’
, ,
celeb rated math e matician was in wi t h m e I hi t a very ,

.
fas t bowler ha rd to l eg and ran 9 for it It took three m e n .
t o t h ro w th e bal l u p Vi siti ng Cambridge only a few m on th s

.
before Frost s death he said at a dinn er party I re m ember

’
,
-
,
‘
one of you r hits when you n ea rly killed me wit h running

,
That was th e hi t for

I t is appropriate h ere to explain that Canon M C o rm ick ‘
ha s a s ple ndid phy sique H e s tand s 6 fe e t 3 i nche s an d in

. ,
h is athl e tic days w eigh ed 1 3 stone 4lh A s a bowler he wa s .

68 OLD ENG LI S H CRI C K ET ERS .
m edium pace and brok e chiefly fro m leg though he could do

, ,
t he br ea k fro m t he 0 6 al so .
“I learnt m bowling say s h e principally fro m old

y , ,
Buttre ss who was r eally th e fat he r of brea k bowling H e

,
-
.
had a very easy a nd deceptive delivery and j ust whe n a man ,
wa s fl a tt ering him self that he had his m e asure he would , ,
w ithout perceptibl e change of action send him down an ,
en t irely di ffe rent bal l and bowl him .
Old Buttress I am sorry t o say was rather to o fond of

, ,
his glass othe rwi se th e re is no doubt nobody would have

,
surpas s ed him in his success as a bowler On e incident of .
his career is well worth recal l ing Th e United All England

.
-
Eleven had been b eaten by the All England tea m on severa l -
o ccas ion s and being anxiou s to change th e orde r of even t s

, ,
they engaged the ser vice s of B uttress I n orde r that h e .
might be t horoughly fit th ey took charge of him and kept

,
him away from drink for severa l days and got him to ,
practise carefully The result was that t he Elev e n w ere

.
soon ou t His success so delighted him that he fo rth with

.
proceeded to m ake merry The n e xt day he could not

.
bowl a bi t ! O n another occas ion Buttress accom plished

the ex t raordinary feat of bowling th e All England Ele ve n -
"
ou t in a T wenty t wo m atch for 1 2 run s !
-
Perseverance and practice were the great secrets of M r

M C o rm ick s success as a bowler A short tim e befo re he
‘ ’
.
died Earl Bessbo ro ugh gave a spontaneou s testi mon ia l to this

fa c t in t he re m ark The fact is gentlem e n do not ta ke t he
, ,
pain s w i t h bo wling that they did in former days I r emembe r .
a friend saying to me that he sa w J oe M C orm ick bo wl fo r

‘
”
ha lf a n hour together at a single stump Th e Canon no w .
sa y s that wa s perfec t ly true The result was s ee n in his las t

.
y ea r a t Cam bridge whe n h e had the be st bo wling

a v erage in Engl a nd (about 9 run s a wicket but th e n h e
) ,
never had the advantage of playing through a whole seaso n ,
as he lived in Ireland For this reas on he only played tw ic e

.
aga in st Oxford A s he had the b est a verage for bowling and

.
batting and Cambridge only lost by 3 wick e ts the probability

, ,
70 cm EN G LI S H carcxs rsns .
The re is no touch of egoti sm in t he na rratio n of the se inci

dents C a non M Corm ick thinks a great d eal more of the
.
‘
performances of others than he does of h is own The .
fin est catch I remembe r say s he was on e made by Mr V

, , .
E Wa lke r in G e ntlem e n an d Players from a hit by C afiyn

'
.
, ,
s traight back at him which was n eve r abov e two i n ch es f rom

,
the ground and which Mr Walk er to ok with o ne hand M r

, .
I D Wa lk er was v e ry clever in g etting to the ball bu t he

. .
,
neve r was equal to V E eithe r as a field er or bowler Ma t

. . .
K empson was a perfe ct short slip whil e at point and third -
,
”
m a n E M G rac e n ev er had a superio r
. . .
D rawing on his rich stock of reminiscence s Canon M C o r ,

‘
mick recall s a coupl e of incidents which te stify to old Clarke s ’
wonderful judgm e nt a s a bowler Says he : Th e late Earl .
of Bessb orough th en t he Hon Fred Ponsonby told me that

, . .
,
he once vi sited Clark e at No tt ingham and they talked about ,
Felix running out and hitting Clark e Th e latt e r said Mr .

,
‘
’
Pon sonby com e i nto the back ya rd
,
Th ey w e nt Cla rke -
. .
had a set of wicket s pitch ed and he said Now M r Pon sonby , ,

‘
, ,
when M r F e lix run s out at m e I t hink I will hav e him Ju st .
watch thi s H e th e n hit the top of the stumps wi t h a full

’
.
pitch ball sev eral ti m es in succ ession A little late r Felix and .
Cla rke fa c ed each other a t L ord s and Felix ran out to hit ’
,
h im .Th er eupon Cla rke sent in a fast ful l pitch e r and bowled -
him .
The oth er incid ent was at Mr M Corm ick s own expen se ‘ ’

.
It occurred in hi s salad days at St Hel en s when the All ,
England team wer e there

I was p racti sing when Clarke cam e walki ng round the
g round with th e ball in h is hand Aft er watchi n g me for a .
litt le while he said May I bow l you a ball o r two ? O i

,
’
course I was delighted at the favour B ut alas ! I did no t .

,
know his object was to de m on strate my own weak ne ss What .
happen ed ? Old Cla rke had e vidently notic ed that I w as no

s logger but hit hard a nd low
,
The first ball h e pitched to .
m e well up and I drove i t for two , H e th en b rought in .
G eorge And erson to tw enty yard s behi nd him and bowled a ,

T HE R EV . C A NON m oonm cx ‘
. 71
s imilar ball and I hit it hard and low st raight into th e York
,
s hirem a n s hand That was about a s nea t a bit of gene ral

’
.
”
s hi p on Cl a rke s p a rt as any tactician could have exhib ited
’
.
”
Old Clarke add s the C anon was not a bon d f id e lob , ,
-
bo wler for he could an d did bowl fastish at time s H e was

, , ,
.
m ore like Money th a n D rake H is two gr eat characte ri stic s .
”
w ere h is judgment and his accuracy of pitch .
Referenc e to a conv e rsation with the Earl of Bessb oro ugh

h as j us t be e n made It remind s Canon M C orm ick of his .
‘
l a st m atch in I re la nd only a y ear or two befo re the d eath of ,
the noble Earl I played for h is eleven against th e o fficers

.
of Clon m ell an d did the hat trick I was fifty thre e years of
, .
-
age at the time Lord Be ssb o ro ugh afte rward s told his .
friend s at Lord s tha t J 0 0 M C o rm ick did the hat trick in my

’ ‘
m atch th e o t her d ay and after each wi cket he turned round ,
t o m e as I w as umpiring and said

,
Well I think that is , , ,
about as rot ten a ball as I ever bowled Sometim es rotten .

‘ ’
b all s get w ickets as in thi s in stance Lord Be ssb o ro ugh also, .
’
once pa id me the high com pliment at Lord s of saying I was
one of th e best j udges of cricket in th e country but it is not ,
a n opinion I should venture upon my self The same has bee n .
sa id of m any o t her s but particularly of my old friend Mr R , .
A H Mitchell
. . .
These I ri sh matche s in th e old d ays were great fun Th e .
Rev A R Ward who w as fully 2 0 stone weight when he w as

. . .
,
in the Eleven at Cambridge wa s too heavy to turn round to ,
leg ba ll s In one of them as he was playing one a man c a ll ed

-
.
,
o ut M ick did ye see him ? Sure b e co oked his leg

,
‘
, As , .
’
t hat was a very big leg it cau sed great amu s eme nt There .
ca n be little doubt that C ambridge lost a m atch aga in s t
Oxford becau se at the last mom e nt Ward refu sed to play t he ,
rea so n being th a t in making a very fin e innings again st

M C C a day or two before t he crow d had jeered and laughed
. . .
a t h im Ward was the so n of the famou s Mr W Ward

. .
,
w ho se innings of 2 7 8 still stand s as a record for Lord s and

’
,
w h o was the a uthor of the e qually famou s Barn D oor match -

.
In September 1 85 6 we had the All England Eleven at -

72 OLD EN G LISH oarox s rnns
'
.
D ubli n where th ey play ed Eighteen of Irel and and we bowled

, ,
them out for 5 5 Th e e xcite m e n t o ver the last fe w wickets

.
was int e n se and it wa s still fu rt her increas ed w hen Ma rt ing e ll

,
ran out to on e of my s lows and mi ssed it and the wi ck et ,
k e epe r al so failing to tak e th e ball Ma rt ing ell r egain ed h is

cr ea se A n offer of a suit of cloth es to get the wicket was
.
made to Lawrence our professional by Lieutenant F Marshall

, , .
,
now Gene ral Sir Frederick Marshal l and Lawrenc e d e livered ,
such a t r immer that Mart in g e l l s ba il s w e re sent fl yin the ’
g in
air and t he Iri sh Eighte en we re proclaim ed the victors by 6

,
run s amid t he enthu siastic cheers of the Hibernian populace

, ,
’
as a n e w spaper report of the match has it H is Excellency .

,
the then Lord Lieuten ant the Earl of Carlisle was a g reat , ,
friend of Irish cricket H e had been o n the ground each day

.
of th e match and was delight ed a t the result My share of

,
.
the match was 1 1 wickets at a cost of 81 r un s The England .
Eleven includ ed such lights as C afiyn J ohn Lillywhite

'
, ,
Lockyer Mortlock Grundy Wisden Mart in g ell and Dean

, , , , , .
You will see th e refore that it was a wa rm t ea m Ye t

, , .
Lawre nce got 5 of thei r wickets in the second innings for

only 2 0 run s .
A s showing what I r i sh cricketers could then do I may add

that Ireland played a strong tea m of the M C C at Lord s and . . .
’
got rid of them for 5 3 and 5 7 whil e we made 1 2 0 of which , ,
my share was 3 4 Law re nce who aft erw ard s went to

.
,
Au st ralia was an excellent fast bowler and form ed a u sefu l

, ,
contras t to my own bowling H e was the only professional .
wi thin my recollection who made a high r eputation in Iri sh

cricket .
As we are talking of I r i sh cricket I may m ention a single ,
wicket m atch which took pl ace at D ublin Th e n ewspa pe r .
r eport says : D uring th e m atch between Ireland and England ,
thre e of th e Engli sh gentlemen challenged any thre e in the

Irish eleven to play a singl e wicket match on the Ph oenix —
C ricket Club ground on the following day The chall enge .
being at onc e accepted the m atch cam e 0 6 as ar ranged

'
, .
O n t he part of Ireland the batting and bowling of M r ,

T HE REV . C A NO N ‘
M C ORMI CK . 73
M C o rm ick
‘
most e ffectiv e showing t hat h e was a com
was ,
p le t e ma s te r of th e gam e in all it s b ranche s It wa s s uppose d .
that Mr Willes of Oxfo rd who only died re cently bowled

,
— —
so fas t that f e w r un s could be made off him in front of the
w icket but M r M C o rmick found no d ifficu lt y in scori ng o ff

,
‘
’
him I re land won easily
. .
When the county of Su sse x had the crack team with ,
Nixo n Mr M C orm ick bowle d t h em out on a we t wicket for

,
‘
2 3. Mr M C orm ick only bowle d on three occasion s again st

‘
W G Grace and had the p rivilege of bowling him twic e

. .
,
.
H e was o n t he winni ng sid e for No rth v South of th e Thame s .
at Canterbu ry on Augu s t 3 4 5 1 86 8 when W G for t he , , , , . .

,
first time mad e two centuries in a match Mr M C o rm ick

, ,
‘
him se lf scor ing 1 3 7 and 2 7 O f the relative m e rits of George .
Parr and W G Grace Mr M C o rm ick say s

. .
,
‘
Grace and Par r ow ed a g reat deal to th e i r patienc e In .
my day w he n you had got a c e rtai n numbe r of run s you

,
ofte n w e nt in for hitting and it w as very seldom that m e n ,
se ttl ed do wn to m ak e a big scor e and r e fu sed t o b e t e mpt e d to ,
hi t Grac e and Parr were exceptions they had great patie nc e

.
—
.
Pa rr al ways had a hank e ring afte r leg hits and clev er h ead ,
bo w le rs of course tried to thwart him I rememb er on e .
’
i nst anc e in which Mat Ke mpson in a Ge ntlemen Players ,
m atch seeing that h e was b e nt on hitting him to leg d ropped

, ,
Parr a slo w one outsid e th e ofli stum p Pa rr had to alte r his .
p o s ition and in th e att,e mpt to g e t o ff h is ground h e lo s t h is
w icket Ther e is no pe rson that I hav e see n that could approach

.
W G Grace again st fast bowling but I do n t think he

. .
,
’
equalled William Yardley again st dodgy bowling Great bat .
t hough h e is in my judgment Grace hold s the bat too tightly

,
wi t h th e le ft hand and is too firm ly root ed when in position

,
t o play slow bowling gracefu lly H e stops it but not with .

,
appare nt eas e I hop e it is not h e re sy to say thi s about the

.
’
champion I may add that some of Grace s best innings hav e
.
’
be e n small one s whe n the wicket was a t it s worst Yardley s
, .
w ris t w ork wa s wond e rful ; and among t he mo st beautiful

-
p lay ers I hav e eve r see n I would place Al fred Lu bbock ,

74 OLD ENG LI S H cmcx srs ns .
Alfred Lyt telton and Frank Penn Yardley with a short i sh

,
.
,
pitched ball bet ween th e leg and th e wicke t wou ld often

, ,
make a ru n or two wh ere other men would stop it I t was .
all don e by a turn of th e w ri st .
With all his ext raordina ry l eg hitting Georg e Parr n e ver -

,
appea red to hit hard H e did not smite ; h e app ea r ed rather

.
to b e mowing Yet it was beautiful to watch and not at all

.
,
uno rthodox I rem embe r o ne match against th e United in

.
which the field ing sid e put out two long l egs for Parr but h e -
,
s imply hit the ball ov e r th e head s o f the pai r of th e m .
Though th e hitting is v e ry m uch harder all round the

wicket no w than the n th e re were bigge r hits in those days
, .
’
Adam s hit over th e t e nni s court at Lord s and I hav e seen -
George Parr hit se veral times into D ark s ga rden whil e ’
Fitz ge rald and others w ere able to hit completely out of t he

ground Still I hav e nev er see n any on e to bit like 0 I
.
, . .
Thor nton J e sso p is very rapid and good but Thornton was
.
,
the biggest hitt er I ever saw It should be added that in my .
d ay s hits were run out and I hav e got out m any a tim e by ,
being pumped .
’
There w as so m e prej udic e again st a clergyman taking part

in crick e t in the days afte r Mr M C orm ick was ordain ed and ‘
,
for that rea son he sometime s played under the assum ed nam e
“ ” “
of J Bingley or J Cambridge
.
”
One of his greate st .
, .
feat s as a bowler was performed after h e was ordain ed Play .
’
ing on a good wicket again st th e Me ssrs Walk e rs team a t
Southgate for Engla nd h e took 9 wicket s for 3 4run s in the
, ,
first innings and 7 for 3 3 in th e second and was not cha n ged
, ,
after once being put on Speaking now of the prej udice .
again st cricket the worthy Canon with a lon g experienc e

, ,
b ehind him con siders it un reasonable but add s th e following

, ,
w e igh ty word s
“I can n ot unders ta nd a man unle s h e
s is a profe ss ional , ,
devoting his whole life to cricke t There are so m any more .
seriou s thi ngs tha t he can do that it should not b e his only ,
object in life to play cricket Far b e it from m e to preac h .
ag ain st cricket for no one love s or has loved it better than I

, .
ms REV . C AN ON ‘
M C OR MI CK . 75
Se long as a m an does not giv e too much ti m e to it be he ,
clergyman or l ayman by all mean s let him play cricket

, .
But h e must h ave some more serious object in life bes ides .
The rema rk applies e qually to athletics There is too great .
a tendency to mak e he roes of men who plea se the popular

”
fa ncy .
Ca non M C o rm ick was not only a cricketer bu t an all round

‘
,
-
a thlete a nd is t herefore well q ua lifi

, ed to u t ter the foregoing
opinion In 1 85 6 he rowed again st Oxford in the C a mbridge

.
boa t H e was one of those wh o star ted the Cambridge At h

.
l e t ic Con t ests and for h is college he won t he greate st d is

, , ,
ta nce in 1 6 hops standing high ju m p the running high jump

,
-
,
-
a n d putting the w eight Further he w as one of the be st

.
,
a m a teur boxers in England Once at the conclu sion of an

.
as sa ul t at ar m s at Cambridge he gained a deci sive victory over

- -
N at Langha m t he only man who e v e r beat Tom Sayers

—
.
LU K E G R EE N W O O D .
GREENW OOD was th e first

LUK E
of the famous band of cricketers
s ent out on public se rvice by the
little comm un ity of handloom

w ea v e rs at Lasc e lles Hall Th e .
Gre e nwood s may b e classed as

the l ead e rs of th e Lascelle s Hal
’
lian s march i nto public cricket .
J o b Green wood brother of Luke , ,
w as th e fi rst
p rofe ss ion a l se n t
out from Lasce lles Hall ; Luk e

Green wood was th e firs t Las cell e s
Hall man to play fo r Yorkshir e
in county cricket Andrew Gree nwood who came into
.
,
county cricket eleven yea rs afterward s was Luke s nephew,

’
,
a n d when he
(L uke ) w as cementing h is cricketing car e er
Andre w (who died in 1 889 ) wasa youngster in kn ickerbockers
a n d clog s who acted as a fa
g in th e fie l d at h is eld e r s
’
p i i gs
ra ct s n .
L uke born on J uly 1 3 1 83 4 H is birthplace was

w as , .
C o wm s L epton in Lascelle s H a ll
,
L ike most of the you t h
.
of t he famou s village he was brought up to handloo m w ea ving

, ,
a n d m ad e cricket his con s ta nt recreation playing on turnpik e

,
road s with crewelled ball s and such primitiv e bats as it was

,
possible to improvi se from hedge stakes and palings Th e

-
.
modern match ball and ca ne ha ndle d willow we re not luxuries

-
78 O LD EN GLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
1 I got only 5 the first innings but made 3 1 in the next

86 5 .
,
.
The Players wo n by 1 1 8 run s W G Grac e made his first . . .
appearance in the Gentlemen Players engagements in tha t ’
match and other notable player s to make a d ébut in it were

,
Mr I D Wa lker H a rry J upp Tom Humphrey and Al fred

. .
, , ,
Sh aw You will see therefore that I came out at the

.
, ,
Ova l in the se repre sentative match es in very good company .
My best perform a nce in the se matches was reserved for

the year follow ing J une 2 8 1 866 Alf Shaw Ted Willsh er , , . .
, .
,
a n d m y self the thre e bo w lers w ere la st in

,
I got 6 6 Shaw , .
,
7 0 and ,
W ill s h e r
(not out ) 4
1 All the sam e the Gentlemen .
,
beat us by 9 8 run s .
My first match wi th Yorkshire proper was at Bram a ll

Lane in J uly 1 86 3 when I made a good score In 1 87 4 , .
,
w hen I w as ca pta in of Yorkshire I had my b en efi t but it w as , ,
not a success as b en e fit s now go for the match was soo n ove r , .
I received in all about £ 3 0 0 .
One of the most exciting game s I can remember was again st

the M C C at Lord s in 1 87 0 They had brayed us about
. . .
’
.
‘
a bi t in the s econd inning s and we fi na lly had only 3 wicket s ,
to go down and were about 7 0 or 80 run s behind It looked .
long odd s again st us Myself Tom Emmett and the late .

, ,
J o hn We st had to g o in I soon lost m y par tn e r and was .

,
j oined by Tom I began to hit very hard and rattled up

.
,
w ithin a run or two of 5 0 while Tom was maki ng 9 Then .
T o m ran me out and the game was a ti e when J ohn We st ,
c a m e in W G a nd Alf Shaw w e re bowling but Tom

.
‘
. .
’
.
,
E m mett got the run a nd we won by 1 wicket I remember , .
Tom say on coming out of the fie ld If we hed le ssen ed

, ,
t m atch ah sud n iv v e r a v sh a wn mi face in t pavilio n for

’ ’ ’
running thi ab t H e had lo st sight of the fie ld er who was

’ ’
.
,
covered by the um pire .
I first played again st W G Grace when he was a boy of . .
fift e e n The m atch was again st Tw enty two of Bath

. I -
.
often m e t him afterwa rd s a nd remembe r some roastings that ,
he u sed to give u s One was on the occ asion of his first visit.
to S he ffie ld H e scored 1 5 0 ou t of 2 9 4 The match was

. .
LU K E GR EEN W OO D . 79
Gloste r v Yorkshir e on July 2 9 3 0 3 1 1 87 2 the first t he

.
, , ,
—
countie s played again st ea ch other Play was stopped on th e .
firs t d ay at fiv e o clock The s core was 2 0 8 for no wicket

’
.
,
W G having made 1 3 2 not out and Mr A G Mat thew s 6 9

. . . .
not out I remember tha t on e ge ntleman sent me a telegra m

.
as king me to wire b a ck the state of the ga me and I replied , ,

‘
W e ha ve not got a wicket yet but are hoping to ge t one ,
every d ay I got W G s wicket next d ay m y nephe w

.
’
. .
’
An drew ca tching him off my bow li ng .
I n this match W G thwack ed me out of the fie ld for 6

. .
on t h e sq ua re leg side There u sed to be a p ractice in those

.
da ys of giving a shilling to those who return ed the lost balls .
A n old lady found t hi s one a nd tod d l ed up with it to the ,
wicket as was the cu st om She brought it to me an d I said

, .
,
N ah yon s him that hit it ; yo mun go to him for t bras s

’ ’
, .
She crossed the wi cket to W G and gave him the ball and . .
, ,
b e much amu se d pa id the shilling forfei t

, ,
.
“W G al so played for Glo ster a gain st York s in m

. .
y
b e ne fit ma tch on J uly 2 7 2 8 2 9 1 87 4 and scored 1 6 7 , , , ,
a contribution I did not in the leas t o bject to It was rathe r .
a curious circum sta nce t h a t t he c ha mpion was caugh t by one
of h is o w n men Mr F G Monkland Tha t gen t leman was

—
. . .
fie ld in g as sub stitute for A lla n Hill who was obliged to retire ,

”
v e ry early in t he game .
O i personal re m ini scence s of famou s old cricketers Luke

G reen wood has a go od st ore and they a re all tempered wi t h ,
an e xcee dingly kindly almost affectionate rega rd ,

He , .
’
re ca lls a mat ch at Parker s Piece betw een Yorkshire and
C am bridge w hen George Anderson and he e a ch made 5 0 odd
,
by hard hi t ting and pul l ed o ff the game In forcing George

,
.
f o r a ru n the Bed a le vetera n rem ark ed Oh ! Luke you v e , ,

’
”
ru n m e out bu t fortunately George got hom e in t ime
,
.
T his incident led n a turally t o a perso n a l te s t i m ony t o George

A nderson .
“A n icer m an never st epp ed on to a cricket fie ld th a n -
G eo rge Anderson Stra ightfor ward and quiet you never

.
,
h ea rd a w rong wo rd come out of his mo nth H e never .

mi sses writing to m e o n his birthday ev en now C rickete rs .
aft er a ha rd day in th e fie ld are liable to ta k e stimula nts b ut ,
I n e ver saw Geo rge Anderson hav e mo re than on e g lass after

a match H e was not fond of chaff and what he said he
.
,
meant A s a captai n no o ne could have been nic er and

.
m ore popula r Then he was always so ere ct and n eatly

.
attired in the field as clea n as if h e had come out of a

,
—
band box or as w e once told him as cl ean as a ne w scraped

-
, , ,
-
carrot .
“Th en J ohn Thewlis Now he was on e of the best all .
round m en that e v e r Las celle s Hall tu rned out : h e had

s troke s all r oun d the wick e t and he was pe r fe ct in the m all , .
H e was the second man from Las c e ll es Hall to play for t he

county ; I was the first How h e cam e first in to promine nce.
I will te ll you Old George Parr said to m e Gree n w ood

.
, ,
we are going to So uthampton to play twenty two the re D o -

.
you know a good batte r I said I did and m e ntion ed John ,
T h e w lis J ohn was forthwith se nt fo r

. .
Well George Par r on th e strength of my p raise se nt in

, , ,
John to ope n th e i nnings and poo r Joh n was b owle d first ,
ball ! Had he n ot been a fair age th en (about thirt y t wo -

,
I think as h e came out late) we should hav e said he was

,
nervou s But that was not ao Jo hn as h e l eft the wi cket

. .
, ,
turned round to the bowler and said Tha ll n oan bahl me ,

’
ab t t fi rst ball agen t ha can b e t H e was no t bo wl ed ou t

’ ’
, .
ei ther fo r in th e next inni ngs h e mad e 41 not out and on

, ,
t he gr ound w e w ere then playing on that wo uld be wo rth 1 0 0

to d ay
-
.
But though John T hewlis was good at all round pla y w e -
never had a cutter like Ephraim Lockwood Eph raim and I .
were brought up togethe r and play ed tho usand s of hours

t ogether and I know what he could do I say therefo re that
, .
, ,
Ephrai m Lockwood was the fin est cutte r I e ver saw in my

life I hav e seen him cu t a ba ll o ff th e middle wicket scores
.
of time s It was a ll by wrist work and quickn ess in timing ;

.
he did n ot mov e his feet I t was no use bowling on the 0 6

'
side for L ockwood for h e would simply p la y with such bo w l

,
LU K E G REENW OO D . 8I
in g . We kn e w that and ,
ha d to keep them st raight when he
1
was b atting .
We were speaking of Ge orge And e rson a minute or t wo

s in c e The last ti me h e and I met was fou r o r fiv e y ears
.
ago at a match at Bradford We sat together and sa w e ve ry

, .
ba ll b owled and he was of the sam e opinion as I that w e

,
—
have no t as good bowlin g now as in ou r days Th e bowling is .
n o t as s tra ight now and they do not bowl with as good a

,
len gth O u hard t rue wic kets m e n sho uld bowl straight
.
,
a n d wi th a good len g th and u se judgm ent The re is n othing

, .
that beats a batsman bette r th a n a good l e ng th st raight ball .
There is a len gth which t h e batsman cannot play and it is ,
the busin ess of th e good bowle r to find that lengt h Yet .
mod e rn bowle rs hav e an advantage as compared wi th those

of ou r days If we bow led above our shoulde r w e we re no
.
balled Now th ey ca n bowl as high as a mill chim ney and

.
-
,
t hey ought to com e down so much straighter than from a

ro u n d a rm delivery
-
.
To show how straight w e u sed to bow l I may say that I ,
o nly bo w l ed one wi de for Yorkshire in the whol e of my ca ree r ,
a n d t hat was at the Oval aft er a thunde r sto rm Onc e when

, .
Alf Shaw and I were at Nottingham two gentl emen came up

.
a n d as k ed if we would an swer a que stion It was How .

,
1 Th e ma y h ere m ent io n with regret t ha t J o h n T h ewl is, wh o

aut h o r
m ad e a great s tan d w it h his n ep h e w , Eph raim L ockwoo d , on t h e occasion o f

t h e l a t ter s first ap pe aran ce in Lo nd o n (see T al k wit h Lo ck wo od ) , d ie d l as t
'
C h rist mas week Th ere was a t ouch of t he t ragic ele ment in h is d eath .
T he w l i s went over t o Lasce ll e s H al l f ro m Fail s wort h , Man ch ester (wh ere h e

h ad resid ed f or so m e ye ars , unkno wn and in very in d ige nt circumst ance s ,
w h en t he writ er d iscove red h im ) , t o spen d t he C h rist mas h olid ay H e was in .
t h e T a nd e m I nn , t h e fa vourit e resort o f Lascel l es H all cricke t ers, wh e n h e

w as t a ke n sudd e nl y il l H e was re mo ve d t o his rel at ives h ouse , and d ie d
’
.
a d a y or t wo la te r I n at t e nd ing h is f uneral , W ill iam Bat es contract e d a

.
c o l d and die d t e n d a ys a ft erward s T h e sudd e nness o f p oo r

. Bil l y
Ba te s s d eat h e xpl ains th e ab sen ce o f a Talk with t his famous p l ayer in
’
th is b o ok H ad Bate s l ived anoth er mon th , an arrange ment which h e and

.
I m ad e fo r 3 Tal k d uring t h e sum mer of 1 899 woul d h ave b ee n f ul fil l ed .
M a y t he sod rest l ight l y o n poo r Be t os s grave ! H e h ad his f a il ings

’
w ho h as not l b nt h e h ad al s o t rial s t hat fal l to t h e l ot of fe w men

—
He .
w as a great crick e ter, an d a most kind l y soul .
F
82 OLD EN GLI S H C RI C K ET ER S .
m any wides had w e bowled in ou r tim e fo r ou r coun ti es 1 ’
’
I said One
,
Alf Shaw said I hav e never bowl ed on e ;
. .
,
’
l
and t hat was quit e true .
Lob bow ling is al so n ot as much in vogu e as it ought to

-
b e for though it get s knock ed about it oft e n pays

,
Poo r .
old Roge r I d d ison was a v e ry good slow und e rhand lob

bowler .
“Who do I co n sider th e be st bowl e r of my tim e ? W e

vary in our opinion s In my opinion Allan Hi ll was t h e
.
straighte st fa st bowle r I ever saw t ak e hold of a ball B ut .
he had not th e d e vilment in his bowling that Ge orge Fr ee

man had though h e was ra ther faster than tha t great bowler
, .
Free m a n had some v ery n a sty balls and they whipped o ff the ,
pitch like lightning Spofio rt h could however mak e a ball

'
,
.
,
d o m ore a t his pac e th a n any oth er bowler I e v e r sa w bu t ,
he was not as true a bow ler as e ith er Allan Hill or George

Freem a n .
While on old players I wi sh it were possibl e to place ,
W G Grace at his be st Tom Hayward Richard D aft and

. .
, , , ,
Robert C arpente r again st the four be st living batsm e n a ny

o n e could select I should back th e old quartette fou r of
.
—
the fin e st batsm e n that ever lived B lackham was th e finest .
wicke t keeper I have seen H e u sed to do some won d e rful

-
.
things for t he Au strali an s w hen I was u m piring .
“I u m pired for the Au strali an s on three vi sits Th e y .
a l ways beh aved like gentle m en t o m e and I n e ver sa w t ea m s ,
w ork better together I u m pired only a few time s for t he

.
1 87 8 t e a m the first but I did a good d eal on th e two

— —
s ub s e quent vi sits .
I w a s um piri n g in t he m em orabl e match at th e Ova l on

Augu st 2 8 a n d 2 9 1 882 w hen Mr Murdoch s second team
, ,
’
beat E n g l and by 7 run s Engla nd appea red to be carryi ng

.
a ll before t hem an d went in a second time needi ng but 85

, ,
ru n s t o w in Three wicke t s were down for 5 1 and th e match

.
,
see m ed a s good a s over W G Grace was out third wicket

. . .
,
a f t er m a king 3 2 out of 5 1 Then everything cam e off for .
1 Shaw co rro b o ra t es this .

LU K E G REENW OO D . 83
the Au stralian s It looked a good thi ng fo r England wh en

.
A G Steel join ed A P Lucas for only 1 9 runs w er e re

. . . .
,
qui r e d and th e r e we re such batsm e n as Mau ric e Read

, ,
Barnes and C T Studd to com e in to say n othin g of E

, . .
, .
Pea te Bu t e very possible chance ofiered was t aken an d

‘
.
,
th e Aus tralian s won by 7 run s I n ev er saw such excite .
m e nt in my life as the ma t ch p roduc ed whe n one Englis h

c rack after anoth er fe ll But th e Australian s had all th e .
luck of the match .
There was an umpiring i ncident in th e match which

I think I am th e first to mention I t was a deci sio n given .
by Bob Thom s I n th e Au stralian s se cond innings W L

.
’
. .
M urdoch and S P Jo ne s were bat ting Mr Murdoch hit . . .
th e b a ll a little on th e leg side and th e Hon A Lyttelton —

,
. .
,
who was keeping wicket for England ran fo r it and threw ,
it in to P eate who was at short slip ,

Th e run was mad e -
.
s afely enough a nd P eat e made no att e mpt to take up th e

,
ball Mr J one s th ereupon walked out of his ground to pat

.
the wicket where th e ball had ri sen at th e pre viou s delivery ,
a nd W G Grace coolly picked up th e ball walked to th e

. .
,
’
w icket di slodged the bail s and cried
,
How s that Thorn s , , ,
w ho was the umpire appealed to gav e him out and out Mr

’
, ,
Jon es had to go Mr Mu rdoch on seeing wha t had occurred .

, ,
r e marked That s v e ry sharp practice W

,
’
and to thi s ,
.
d ay I think it was Had I been a ppealed to I should not .
h av e given Jone s out fo r the ball was t o all int e nt s and ,
p u rpo s e s d ead and th ere had been no att e mpt to mak e a

se cond run .
Ta lking of the Lascelles Hall day s Gree nwood says th at in ,
t h e famous 5 0 a sid e ma t ch between th e w e aving vill age -
a n d She ffi e ld in Sept e mbe r 1 87 0

, we could have made the ,
m atch one for 3 6 5 0 0 a side if S he ffie ld would have had it -

.
T he old w ea vers u sed to put their m oney down on u s like

brick s H o w these old weavers followed cricket ! There was
.
a glee party a m ong th e m w ho alway s cam e to the m a t che s
i n York shire Th ey would put up a t th e n earest pub to

.
‘ ’
th e g round and if we we re bat t in g a nd doi ng well t he c rowd

,
alwa ys hea rd th e i r mu sic roun d th e field I f thi ngs w ent .
wrong th ey ke pt quie tly to th e bar par lou r -

.
O i his co nn e ction with Yo rk shir e Luk e re tai ns th e pl ea s

a nt e st of re coll e ctio ns and to d ay
,
h e say s th ey alway s
, ,
behav e to m e lik e ge ntlem en and send m e a car d e ve ry year

, .
Las t year (1 89 7 ) I walked to Leed s and back twice to B rad ,
ford and back twice to H ud d ersfield and back o nce ; and I

,
was goi ng to se t o ff on th e Su nday n ight to wal k to She ffie ld

to see th e match with Sussex but wh e n I found that Randi
,
”
was n ot playi ng I did not g o .
F rom th ese e xcu rsions it will b e u nd erstood that Luk e

Greenwood had not th e wh erewithal to i ndulge in railway
t ravelling A s a matter of fact in re c ent tim es h e has bee n
.
,
”
sadly down on his luck .Looking back he said pat het i ,
rally
“now in my sixty fou rth yea r it seems to me I have
-
, ,
b een p l a ying on a ba d wicket Yet it is not my fault I was

. .
in that hou se (the Carpenter s A rm s O sse tt) t wenty years,

’
,
and n e ver had a single glass of d rink ! I t is not many

crickete rs can say that We are too often blam ed and right ly
.
,
so for in sobri e ty and imp r ovid e n c e but n e ith er cha rge can b e
, ,
bro ught again st m e .
The write r is pl eased to be able to add that at t he close o f

the summ e r of 1 899 th e Yorkshi re Cou nty C ri ck e t Com
m it t e e at the in stigation of Lo rd Hawk e vote d 9 win t er
, , .
allowance to Luke Greenwood They did th e sam e to Joh n

.
T he wl is who only liv ed a fe w mo nth s to enj oy it

, May L uk e .
hav e b ette r luck !

86 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
After the tub I hav e a two miles walk in all weathers I ’

.
also ta ke plenty of exercise in other ways such as tenni s and ,
cycling and I further m ake a p ractice o f only having thr e e

,
meal s a d ay To d ay I ha ve not an ache or a pain or a

-
.
—
, ,
”
rheu m about me .
’
It is not the w riter s intention to reproduce Ri chard D af t s ’
perfor m ances To do so would be supererogat ion Equally

. .
su pe rfl u o us wo uld it be t o de scribe how w h y and where h e , ,
becam e famous A di scursive tal k on cricket in gene ral

.
,
w i t h rem ini scence s not hi t herto told and opinion s on point s ,
in w hich by his long experienc e D ick D aft is mo st quali

tied to spea k a re rat her the objects tha t will be kept in
,
V i ew .
I t will be appropria t e to m ention that D a ft s highest score ’
w a s 1 6 1 m ade for No tts a ga in st Y ork shire at Tren t Bridge

, ,
on J un e 1 2 1 3 1 87 3 “ Some people used to tell me say s

.
, , ,
D a ft th at w a s m y best perform ance But I ha v e alwa y s

, .
t hought m y be s t was the score of 1 1 8 for t he North t he

Sou th in J i m m y Grundy s b e nefit m at ch That was obta ined ’
.
on a n asty w icke t and Edgar Willshe r was a lmost unplay ,
able . I was out to a ba ll t hat hit me on t he s t om ach and

fell on t o the w icket I thought Tom Lockyer had been .
’
ju g g ling a bi t bu t he sa id I t s all right Richard you ll
, ,
‘ ’
, ,
”
h a ve to g o S o I had
’
. .
“
I t is not a li t tle singula r say s D a ft that the m a t ch , ,
about w hich old No t t s en t hu si a s t s deligh t the mo st t o ta lk
t o t hi s d ay wa s the first w hich Yorkshire played on the

Tren t Bridge ground on J uly 9 1 0 and 1 1 1 86 3 The , , , ,
.
cou ntie s had playe d t heir first m atch at Bradford on J un e

22 ,
2 3 a n d 2 4 in the sa m e ye a r
,
w hen Y ork shire won with ,
8 w icket s to fa ll In t he re t urn gam e the Tykes led o ff so

.
w el l t ha t a n o t her eq u a lly e a sy win seem ed probable My dea r .
old friend George Anderson s cored 82 a n d Y orkshire s to tal ,

’
w as 2 4 3 Roger I dd
. iso n Hodg son an d S lin n all al as ! n o w , ,
—
dead got u s out for 1 6 2 a n d we had t o follow on

—
,
.
Oi course t he m atch see m ed a s good as lo st still w e m ade

1 81 in t he s ec o nd innin g s a n d Y orks hire had to g o in re qu ir , ,
R I C HA RD DA FT . 87
ing 1 0 0 run s to set our score J immy Grundy and Wootton .
t hen bow led so splendidly that wicke t afte r wicket was

ca ptured Ned Stephen son being th e highe st scorer with 3 0
, .
Finall y the last wicket fe ll at 9 4 and Notts won by 6 run s , .
The excitement at th e finish was inten se : I n eve r saw any

thing lik e it before and have not seen it equalled sinc e
, .
Gra ve and reverend clergymen and citizen s of the most ,
aus tere ty pe quite lost the ir head s hats and all in their
,
— —
”
enthu sias m at the Notts succe ss .
It may seem strange that a crickete r of D e tt s exceptional ’
abilities should nev e r hav e form ed on e of the Engli sh team s

that have visited Au stralia The reason was not t he want of .
an invitation A s a m at te r of fact M r D aft could have bee n

.
,
includ ed in th e first tea m that left th ese shore s u nder H H . .
’
Ste phen son s captaincy in 1 86 2 .
M ess rs Spiers dz Pond sent an age nt n amed Mr Mallam , ,
ove r here to see me and he m ade se veral good offe rs to me to

,
g o out wi t h the team to Au stralia A t la s t he attended .
a dinner at th e H e n and Chicken s B irmingham at w hich , ,
Captain no w Lieut G e n eral Sir Frederick Marshall was

, .
-
pre sent and M r Mallam ask e d me to name a price and

, ,
h e would give it to me They wanted to tak e out the best

.
t eam and there was no limit as t o pric e

, Howe v e r I .
,
declined to state a price : I could not see my way to go

a t that tim e Th e speculation was a fin e on e on th e part
.
of Spi e rs 61 Pond I think it is the fact that they cleared

.
”
by it .
Rich a rd D a ft was the bat sma n w ho in th e m atch at ,

’
L ord s in J une 1 87 0 had to take the n e xt ball to that
,
w hich ended the life of poor G e orge Summe rs What says .
D aft now
In the m atch Plat t s s d e liverie s got up as high as the bats
’
’
man s hea d and at last on e shot up extra quick a nd hit poor
,
Summers on th e che ek bon e H e had to b e ca rried away and

-
.
,
the re sult of th e accident was that he lost his life I had t o .
g in after Summ e rs and I took the v e ry next ba ll from

o ,
Platte That shot up in e xactly the same way and i t would

.
,
88 OLD ENGLIS H cmcx n m ns .
have hit m e in about the sam e plac e had I n o t thrown my

hea d ba ck A s it was it pass ed m e and went right away to
.
,
the long stop Even t ual ly I m ad e 5 3

-
. .
A n incide nt of a different c ha racte r and ra ther curious , ,
occurred in the same match Various be t s had been mad e .
ab out the scores that W G G race a nd I would make I n

. . .
t he first innin gs I made 1 1 7 and W G scored ex actly the ,

. .
sa m e fi u re t hough it should be added h e wa s not out

g ,
.
In t he second inn i ngs my s core as j us t stated was 5 3 ; , ,

’
the doctor was b o w l ed by J C Shaw for a duck Backers . .
of my score were on good term s with t hem selves .
George Parr who was bo rn an d who died at Rad cli ff e

, ,
close to where Richa rd D aft resides was in the latt er s ,

’
opin ion a m ast er No man knew mo re abou t cricke t

.
t han he did H e was a splendid j udge and one of t he

.
,
s tra ighte st an d be s t men I e ver knew Still he was a m a n .
that wan ted knowing I u sed to arrange the All England

.
-
matches for him an d did n early the whole of his corre

,
spo n d e n ce and that w as a g rea t dea l

, We had then about .
twenty or thirty Al l England matches and we could have

-
had three times as many if we could have found d ates for

t hem I t was a labour of love to me to a rrange his matche s
. .
H e u sed to care a grea t deal more about walki ng about

wi th his gun than lette r writing George Anderson and he
-
.
u sed t o be fond of sport tog e th e r and th ey were both fin e ,

”
sho t s
.
Having been so intimate with the famou s old cricket

en tr ep r en eur,
Mr D a ft is specially qualified to speak of
the financia l re sults of the All Engl and enterpri ses He -
.
say s that Parr m ade money out of his cricket enterp ri se s ,
and when he retired he was in comfortable circum sta nc es .
Cricketers n o w talk about being hard worked But .
when I began t o play for All England we u sed to play six -
days a w e ek for five month s and nev e r had a day s res t ,

’
except on Sundays and when it was wet That is absolu t ely .
the fact If w e had no t All England matche s there were

.
-
’
matches at Lord s and elsewh ere We u sed always to play .
R I CHA RD D A FT . 89
up to the end of September and very often up to the first ,
week in October I have personally played in Scot la nd

.
on Thursday F rida y and Saturday and then appeared at

, , ,
Lord s on the Monday morning O n another occasion we

’
.
had t o t ravel all night from Plymouth to Rochdale and ,
t he tra in being late we only arrived at the latter place at

one o clock We found a crowd of thou sa nd s impa tiently
’
.
wa iti n g for us an d we simply had to put on pad s a nd go

,
s t ra ight to the wicket .
“I contend tha t if a man keep s him self in condition he
ought not to complain of be ing tired and ha rd worked as is ,
t oo often the cas e now Moreover there wer e much fe wer

.
bowle rs tha n there are now We had ce rtain stock bowlers .

,
w h o s imply h ad to bowl nearly through a match in both

innings In Notts we used to have Shaw and Morley When
. .
we ne ed ed a ch a nge we would try M orley and Shaw George .
Pa rr in selecting his team s u sed to say I only want two

, , ,
bo wlers But they mu st b e bowle rs ; they mu st be the bes t

.
in Engla nd The other members can bowl as a change when

.
wa nted O i course I do not overlook the fact that wickets

’
.
nowadays are so much better t han they were ; hence old

Parr s dic tum would not a pply to mod ern cricket My ob
’
.
j e c t is t o s how t hat men worked at lea s t a s h a rd in my

da ys as th ey do n o w withou t complaining of fe eling tired
”
and knocked up .
A n incident concernin g Mr J oseph Makin son of Cambridge ,
University and La ncashire (now stipendia ry m agi strate for

Salford ) will bea r telling
,
I n one of my ea rlies t matche s again st the All England -
t e am we played a T w enty two at E astwell The m a tch wa s

-
.
p romoted by a number of farmers and gentlemen of the d is

t ri e t a Mr M D o uga ll being th e lea ding spirit I was invited
,
‘
.
t o play for the Twenty two and Mr M D o uga ll al so brought

—
‘
,
M r J o seph Maki nson When we got to the ground and had

.
commenced p re liminary practice George Pa rr on walking , ,
round happen ed to see Mr Ma kin son ge tti ng his eye in H e

,
.
thereupon w e nt up to the capta in of the Twenty two and -

H e is going to play for th e

’
as ked What s he doing her e
,
Twenty two again st you w as th e reply

-
No he s not sa id
,
’
.
,
’
,
’
Parr . Why Becau se in the first place he does no t , ,
belong to thi s di strict and in the next h e is too good t o be a

,
T w enty two m an -
Th at s all non sen se he s a friend of
.
’ ‘ ’ ’
M
’
retorted the loca l capta in I t s no matter said
’
.
,
’
Pa rr I sha ll object to him
,
In face of thi s we ha rdly kne w.
what t o do but in order to make things pl ea sant Pa rr propos e d

,
that if we would give him Mr Makin son h e would give u s ,
a n y m a n w e liked from his te am We agre ed and ask ed for .

,
D iver a n d t he exch a nge w a s mad e

,
The result was amusi n g . .
M r M a kin son got no run s for Parr s tea m whereas D iver

’
,
was the top scorer w ith a be a utiful innings of about 6 0 for the
Tw enty t wo -
M r Makin son a t the time was one of the
fin e st b ats in Engl a nd and in m agn ificent fo rm , This shows .
the uncer ta inty of t he game .
The opinion of an old Notts man like Richard D aft on t h e

so c a lled
-
goo se gam e is wort h having and to Not ts players ,
i t w ill be m o re t h an intere sting it wil l be comfort ing —

.
“I t hi n k ” he sa ys t hat Notts have got an unfair n ame

, ,
for slo w pl ay I t is a case largely of giving a d og a bad n ame

.
.
We hav e cer ta in m e n in the Nott s team who play as fas t as

a n y one el se Ma ny people do not seem to think that fas t
.
a n d slo w pl a y l a rgely depend upon whom you have to d ea l
w i t h a t t he o t her end t hat is upon who has the ball Then

—
, .
,
aga in t hey do not m a ke a llowan ce for tempe rament and a

,
’
ba t sm an s know ledge of him self Some men are natu ra lly .
h a rd hi tt ers ; o t hers a re c a utiou sly di spo sed by nature If .
you t ry t o m a ke a m a n a l t er his n a t ural st yle you probably

ta ke a ll h is cri cket a way from h im The impatience of the .
publ ic in thi s m at t e r is rea lly not reason able There are fas t .
hitters a n d s low hi tt ers It is i m possible for Mr F G J . . . .
F ord fo r in sta n ce to be at t he w ickets w i t hout ge tting run s

, , .
But if o th e r pl ayer s t ried his m ethod s they w ould be out in ,
q uick t i m e In m y t i m
. e if a m an got ru n s s lo w ly n o notic e
w a s t aken of it S o lo n g as t he re sul t w as sa t i s factory the
.
publ ic did not s ee m to m ind Old George Parr u sed always .

RI CH A R D DA F I ’ ‘
. 91
to s end in two steady bat smen to kill the bowling as he ‘

,
’
”
sa id
.
There is an other point on which the vete ran Notts cricketer

has an opinion t hat should be of special intere st to the later
generation of players in his old county .
” ’ ’
I don t he says , like leg play I don t think it is
,
-
.
cricket The law of the game is that the bowler shall h a ve

.
t he ba ll only to attack with and the bat sma n only the bat t o ,
defend I therefore do not think it is fair of a m an to deliber

.
a t ely stop a ball with his legs I had freque nt ta lk s wi th t he .
la te H on Rob e rt Grim ston at L ord s on thi s very subj ect and

.
’
,
he asked m y opinion about it I told him I did not like it . .
A t t hat t ime (M r Grim ston was pre sident of the M C C in . . .
as at the pre s ent it was on t he carp et that the M C C

, . . .
m ight con sider whe t her it was nece ssary to al t er the rules so
t h a t a ball if it would hit the wicket no m att e r wh e re i t
, ,
pitched t he bat sman should b e out leg b e fore wicket I was

,
- -
.
of opinion that the law should be so al t ered and I am of ,
t hat Opinion now The question arose out of the practice of a

.
grea t playe r who se name I won t men t ion

,
M r Grim ston ’
.
’
said,
‘
The only thing is t hat thi s player won t l ast for ev e r ,
’ ’
and we don t want to alter the law to meet special cases .
Unfortunately however a player with a great reputa tion is

, ,
copi ed by others and thu s the evil spread s Person a lly I

,
.
,
think 9 0 per cent of the balls that they play with t heir legs
they could play with th e ir bat if they liked It has been .
s ugge s ted that a di stinction should be dra wn when leg pla y is -
a delibe rate act on t he part of the bat sman a n d t hat t he ,
umpire should t hen rule him out Tha t would be most nu .
pleasa nt for the umpire .
I t is all very well to say that bowlers have developed t he

brea k so m uch that a ba t sm a n is j ustified in us ing h is legs .
Th ere used to be break bo wl e rs before the modern players -
w ere born Old Buttre ss was the father of break bo wlers

.
-
.
Fort y years ago t oo the late H H Stephen son u sed to brea k

, , . .
trem e ndously and he was a fast bowler as well It wa s he

,
.
who in m y first match with Notts again st Surrey a t the Oval ,

92 OLD EN G LI S H cmcx m nns
'
.
on J une 2 4 1 85 8 bowl ed me out in the firs t innings I

, , .
remem ber t he ba ll pi t ch ed a good six inches wide of t he 0 &

s t ump . I got in t o position to cut it bu t it whipped back so ,
quickly that it bo wled me I had not seen that sort of

.
bowling before so I t hought it advisable to study it I went

, .
and sat behind Stephens on for the r est of the innings and ,
ca m e to the conclu sion that if a ball pitch ed any where up to

s ix inche s wide of the off stu m p I s hould have to treat it as a
-
stra ight b a ll bec a u se it would hit the wicket By the sa m e .
rule if i t pi t ched on the leg and middle stumps it would hit

,
-
me on t he leg or go b ehind me That wa s directly the mean s

.
of enabling me to cultivate the leg and o n st rokes both of -

,
whi ch were perfectly safe I think m a ny modern ba tsm e n

.
do not s ufficie n t ly cultiva t e the o n stroke to b a ll s pitched a -
li t tle over a good lengt h on the t wo leg stumps O i course -

.
I mea n ba ll s tha t break back C a rp en ter used to drive th a t

.
kind of ball very hard an d so did O scroft indeed O scro ft

, ,
—
could hi t tha t ba ll almost ha rder t han any man I ever saw .
Nex t to playing I like umpiring You see t he game

,
.
from the ump ire s post better than from any other poin t My
’
.
experience as umpire has cau sed me to realise that there a re

very fin e players now in every county Old pla y ers ha ve .
perhaps a habit of singing the prai ses of the gia nts of the ir
younger day s but I have been m ade to feel afte r see ing so
, ,
m a ny county players at close qua rters t hat there are som e ,
very fin e players n o w bot h in ba t ting and bowling I don t

, .
’
think t he field ing of to day is any bet t er taking it al l round , ,
a n d re m e m bering t ha t grounds ar e now certainly eas ier fo r
fie ld ing purposes th a n they were You don t find so m any ’

.
’
m e n run out a s you u sed t o do and I think men don t plac e
,
t hem selve s in a posi t ion to save a ru n as carefully as they

ough t to do A good ma ny ru n s might b e saved if thi s
.
pla cing of the field recei ved closer a ttention The ba tti n g .
’
st roke which h as gone out very mu ch is the draw I only ‘
.
sa w it in one of t he m a tche s in which I u m pired in 1 89 8 and ,
i t reminded me very much of old Tom Hearn e who was a ,
most perfec t m ast er of tha t stroke If a ball went near t h e .

94 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C KETERS .
S linn was anoth e r Yorkshire bowler that D aft confess es h e

was never quite comforta ble with It was off S linn th e write r .
,
may m e ntion that afte r m aking the 80 at Brad ford just

, ,
alluded t o D af t was stump ed in th e se cond innings for 3

, .
Bats men in their experi ence meet bowling they like and
’
di slike D aft pay s S lin n s memory the compliment of saying
.
t hat h e a l ways di sliked his bo wling Then t here was Tom .
E m m e tt a ll wire and whipcord on e of the very best bits of

, ,
s t u ff a cricketer ever w as mad e of but as ev e ry old cricketer ,
the writer has in t erviewed has wi t hout ex ce ption mainta in ed , , ,

”
the bes t bo wl e r of them all was George Fr eem an .
”
D uring my umpiring experienc e say s D aft I was very , ,
m u ch struck with the management of the York sh ire tea m by

Lord Ha wke I could see too that the whole of the team
.
, ,
had the greatest re spe ct for him and th e way he trea ted ,
t he m I was particularly stru ck with the way h e con sidered

.
one or t wo of his young players I don t believe he said .

‘ ’
,
’
,
in my young bowlers having to throw their arm s out in the

fie ld.
’
I also noticed t hat when his bowlers had been bowl
ing very well and had not been on a long time he pu t some
, ,
one else on for a change rat her tha n run the ri sk of tiring
”
the m out .
When not umpiring Richard D aft st ill plays wi t h and ,
s ti m ul a te s the No tt s Castle te am and not unfrequently ,
sho w s the ri sing genera tion th e kind of crick e t that m ade
him fa m ou s When fifty nin e y ears of age he scored 1 40

.
-
no t ou t again st an Eleven of Lincoln shire It is the first .
”
tw enty m inutes he says that t roubles m e now get t i ng
, , ,
my m u scle s free My sight is as good as ever it was

. .
The w riter gathered from another member of t he C as tle

tea m pre sent at this in verview that Mr D aft is a m art inet
in t he fie ld “ If you mi ss a catch
.
”
said the gentl e man ,
referred t o you ta ke the first train home or wish you

, ,
’
were in L lam a s la nd ra ther than face him If you hav e , .
got a fe w run s and look proud he will tell you that if ,
so m e of yo u fello w s ge t s ix you wa n t to wra p t hem up in ,
a p a rc e l a nd carry t hem home Then whe n I get w ick e ts ’

.
RI CH ARD DA FT .
w ith my insign ificant

bo wling he t ells m e What wretched
, ,
’ ’
p ifll e ! it s to o bad to hit All
. th e sam e I gather that,th e
Cast l e men vene rate th eir l eader .
Th e re are many incid e nts in Richard Baft s crick et ca reer’
to which the writer might allude ; but are they not written
with his o wn hand in the chronicles of t h e K i ngs of
Cricket i
M E E D W A RD D OW SON .
HA N GI N G on the wall s of the

pavilion at K ennington Oval is a
p hotogra ph of th e Surrey tea m
of 1 86 1 Men famous in t he
.
annal s of cricke t they w ere too ,
Griifit h J ul ius C aesar C afiyn

'
—
, , ,
Mortlock Sewell H H Stephen

, , . .
so n, Lockye r C G Lane E , . .
, .
D ow son F P Miller F Bur

, . .
,
.
b id g e. O i t h e p laye rs who ar e
there g rouped t wo alone remain ,
in the fl e sh One is Wm C afiyn

'
. .
the other th e partner in thi s

Talk Mr Edward D owson
, .
The n am e of D owson was high in the crick et world in th e

’ ’
Sixties It a ro se again in the late Nineties and in the n ew
.
,
century it m ay rise higher still . E M D ow son recently

. .
,
ca pta in of the Harrow Eleven described in Wi sden as th e

,
”
b e s t Ha rro w slo w bowler since Hen ry A rkw right is the so n ,
’
of the Surrey a mateur o i the early Sixti es and it is not im
,
,
probable that where the father was th e n th e so n will be a full

generation afterwa rd s. Mr D owson has taken gr eat pain s
w i th the cricket education of h is so n who so early as 1 89 8
,
received an invitation to play in five matches for Surrey a n ,
honour he wa s unable to ac cept .
Mr Ed ward D ow s on was born on F ebruary 1 7 1 83 8 Mr , .

98 O LD EN GLI S H CR I C K ET ERS .
We were once playing at Sheffield in the Sixties and ’

,
ra in co m ing on we had to seek t he shelter of the dress ing

room F Burbidge took up a pair of boxing gloves and g av e
. .
-
me a fl ick on the ear and we had a brief set to Then on ,

-
.
the York shire tea m coming in we said that M r Burbidge ,
would be gla d to have a go with the gloves with any of the

Tykes George Atkin son promptly came out to uphold the
.
pluck of his t eam and Burbidge and he had a fe w goo d

,
round s A t t he close it was gen e rally conc ed ed tha t Jac k

.
w a s a s good a s his m aster George Atkin so n by th e way

.
, ,
w a s a very good singer and we alway s lik e d to h ea r him s in g

,
w he n e ver w e h ad the chanc e .
In Ta lk s wi t h old Yorkshir e Cricketers you mak e

’
reference to George Anderson s hit for 8 in the mat ch Su rrey
Nort h of England on August 4 5 1 86 2 No w I saw tha t , , .
hi t a n d I ha ve a l way s be e n under th e i m pression tha t th e

,
b all on being throw n in struck the seats and that more ru ns ,

”
w ere thu s m ade t han would otherwi se ha v e bee n the case .
A le t ter received by the author from George An derson o n

the poin t rai sed by Mr D owson may appropriately be quoted
here
A I S KEW , Bana na , Feb . 22 , 1 89 9 .
MY DE AR I b eg t o ack n owl edge the receipt o f yo ur le tte r

SI R , —
re y o u r t a l k w i th M r D o wso n S o m an y yea rs h a ve el ap sed

.
s in ce t h e m a t ch t o w hi ch yo u re fe r w a s p l aye d th a t I fin d it
d ifficul t t o re m e m b er m any par ti cu lars co nne cted there wi th .
I am n ot ce r ta in w h e t h e r it was
“S urrey 0 the No rth ”
or .
S u rre y E n gl a n d .
”
I th i n k it w a s T o m S e we l l wh o b o w l ed fro m t h e ga sw o rk s
en d n ea rl y a l l t he t im e think M r F P
I was b attin g, b u t I . .
M i ll e r had a t ry fo r a fe w o v e rs a n d I bel i e ve Ca fl yn a n d
'
l riliit h al so b o w l e d I t w a s t o ward s t h e gaswo rk s th a t I m ad e

.
t he d riv e fo r 8 T h e r e was n o b o un d a ry b u t th e re was a ro w o f

.
,
s e a t s a n d t h e h al l w e n t fa r o v e r th e ir h ead s a n d w as fi
, el d e d by ,
C a ffy n b u t w h e t h e r h e h it o n e o f the seats i n re tu rn ing th e bal l

,
I ca n n o t say I o n l y kn o w th a t I th o ugh t i t the bigges t h it I

.
e v e r m ad e a n d if I a n d m y fe l l o w b ats m an (C a r en ter h d
, p ) a-
b e e n yo u n g a n d act iv e w e were b oth we ll o n t ow a rd s fo r ty

—
MR E D WARD D owson . 99
we m ight h ave ru n on e or t wo m ore . the sa me inni ngs I

In
sco r e d 2 4in fo ur h i ts —
v iz .
, 8, 6 , 5 , 5 —
but th ey were n o t m ade
n
co se c u ti vely .
—
Y ours faithfully ,
Gno A n nna so s
. .
A . W . P um as ,
Esq .
No on e visiting the Oval now says Mr D owson would , ,
imag in e it possible to run out a hit for 8 or anything near ,
that figure Th e field er si m ply could not get through the

.
crowd and those who advocate the running out of all b its
,
ought to know t hat s uch a thing no w is impo ssible Th e .
s ec ta tor s
p ring ’
th e n w as u sually thin and ther e was no ,
difficulty in th e m clearing a way for th e fie ld ers to pass

th rough after the ball while the fie ld ers had to th ro w it back
,
over their h ead s Imagine any one trying that now say at
.
,
a Surrey 0 York shire or any other big match The ball

. .
’
would be lost e very t im e it got to th e spec tators ring
especially if the home sid e we re batting .
“I have said continu es Mr D owson that w e of the

, ,
Surrey team of th e Sixti es did not take cricket as seriously

’
as it appears to b e tak e n n owad ays If a man mad e 1 0 0 o ff

our bowli ng we w e re as pleased as if w e had m ad e them our
’ ’
selve s . All the same do n t think that we did n t play kee nly
,
to win W e were as kee n as any on e could b e but I think

.
,
.
we got mo re fun out of cricket than the present gen erat ion .
“Take old J n li ne C ae sar H e was t he life of the Eleven . .
He only stood about 5 feet 6 inche s but was a wonderful ,
man wi t h his fis ts ready t o tak e on all comers There was

, .
quit e a family of Caesars twelve of them played a m atch at

Godalming in August 1 85 0 Litt le Tom Sewell was a most .
amu sing chap too H e was as broad as h e was short so to

, .
,
sp ea k . I remember that once he mi ssed a really easy ca tch ,
and when I asked him why h e did not hold it his e x pla na ,
t ion was that it had hit his stomach Moreover he would .

,
have it t hat a s the ball hit h is corporation and did not touch
his finge rs i t was no chance !
,
“Ano t her funny chap who u sed to in t ere st u s much was
To m D avi s of Notts Th e year before I joined the Surrey

.
100 EN G LIS H C RIC K ET ERS .
team D avi s made 7 2 for Notts again st our m en and the per ,
fo rma nce was so much t hought of at the tim e that 3 0 was
collected for him o n th e ground and 5 was afte rwards giv e n

,
to him in Lo nd on The peculiarity about D avi s was that h e

.
had an extraordi nary habit of sli nging sto nes He was in .
the h abit of carrying polish ed ston es about with him and ,
whenever he had the chanc e h e would exhibit his slinging

po we rs We u sed to say h e was a new D avid going about
.
to find a modern Goliath to kill .
J ust a word about Alfred My a n Oi course I n e ver had.
the honour of playing in his company for I was but twe nty ,
three y ears of age wh e n h e di ed But I saw him bowl wh e n .
a youth in fact he bowl ed to me at p ractic e a fe w overs an d

, ,
I used to m aintain that his bowling regularly b umm ed : that

is to sa y he u se d to impart a peculiar spi n to th e ball which
,
made it hu m lik e a top I hav e often mention ed thi s matte r

.
to some of my old cro ni es and on e or two ha v e born e me out

, ,
but others have said t hey n ev e r h eard it All th e same I .

,
m ain ta in tha t Alfred Mynn could and did mak e the ball , ,
1
actually b um in its fl ig ht through the air .
To turn from one gen e ration to anoth e r I was v ery .
m uch grieved to hea r of the death of Ge orge Ulye t t in th e

s u mm e r of 1 89 8 O i th e many good stori e s told by him a n d
.
about him I do not reme m be r ha vi ng seen th e following

, ,
w hich H a ppy J ack u sed to tell with great gle e : I n a c e rtain

u p coun t ry m a tch in Au stralia h e caught and bowl e d o ne
-
b atsman and as the other batsman had run out of his grou nd
, ,
l e o rg c put h is wicket down and cla im e d that he was run out .
U m pire and ba t sm a n se em ed dubious Ulyet t g rav e ly assur ed

.
the m that it was all right so long as th e sam e man that m ad e

t he catch put the wicket do wn Th ey acc epted his ve rsion of
.
t he la w and t wo fresh bat smen came in t ogether Thi s was

, .
so like H a ppy J ack that we m ay conclud e the s tory is tru e .
I think one of the most curiou s incident s I ever saw was

’
w i t h t he Surrey t ea m aga in st Su ssex on T Box s ground .
,
Bri gh t on in J uly 1 86 0
,
It was a match by the way in
.
, ,
1 Mr V E W a l k r m akes t h e sa m e st a t e me nt
. . e .
102 OLD EN LI S G H C RI C K ETERS .
nowadays from wha t i t was in t he Sixti es and if I w ere ’

,
playing n o w I should feel mys elf j ust ifie d in taking my full

expen ses and no more The demand upo n cricke t ers is now
—
.
so grea t t h a t it would be s imply unreas onable to expect t hem

”
to refu se to receive their out o i pocket expen s es
— -
.
A p r op os of certa in unpleasant incidents which have occurred

in profess ion al cricket a t the Oval in recent times Mr D owson ,
is of Opinion t hat the profe ssional s of his day would not have
com e forwa rd on t he eve of a n i m porta nt match and almost
dem a nded more money for t h e ir service s H e thinks t he.
pl ayers of his d ay were more devot ed t o the game and did no t ,
lea n qui t e so much to the commercia l side of cricke t as is

cus tom a ry n o w t hough he is pro m pt to add that had the p ro
,
fe ssion a ls of h is ti m e been living in current days they woul d ,
have been qui t e j u st ified in looking well afte r th e ir own

in t ere st s
.
T he w ri t er t hink s it but right to mention in conn ec t ion ,
wi t h t he foregoing pa ragraph t ha t in the year 1 85 5 a li tt l e

,
—
before Mr D o wso n s t i m e by the way J ulius C aesa r and H

’
,
—
.
H S t ephen son refused to play again st Suss ex

.
“ withou t a
furt her increase of pay . The Surrey committee showed t he
b ackbone displayed on the recent occasion a lluded to a bove
for the m alcon t en t players w ere sup erse d ed by J ame s
Sou therton a nd W Taylor did not appear with their coun ty
.
,
fo r t he res t of the seas on but ca m e ba ck again t he year

,
fo llo wing .
It is pre tty w ell understood that the Surrey Club now is in a

fl o u rishing fin a n cia l condition But i t was not al ways so
. It .
”
is the Au st rali an s t h a t h a ve m ade the Surrey Club remark s ,
M r D o wso n “
. The club had t o i ssue deben t ures and rai s e ,
m o ney w hen ne eded in other w ay s un t il the Au s tra lia n s ca m e

, .
O i c o urse t he S u rre yit e s had to t a ke a se riou s fina n cia l

re s pon sibili ty in the m a tt er of the Aust ral ia ns vi s i t but i t has ’
,
”
t u r n ed ou t a l l ri g h t .
T OM E M M ET T .
I T is
not hyperbol e to d escribe Tom
Emmett as the greate st chara c t er
in nin eteen t h cent ury cricket There -
.
have been greater cricketers than he ,
but none so genuinely droll a n d ia

d iv id ual ist ic No team could be dull
.
and de spondent with Tom E m met t

a s a member The harder the tas k .
’
the greater Tom s buoyancy ; the
m or e se riou s the situ a t ion the grea ter his sa ng f roid the ,
m ore pungent his humour H e po ssesse d an abundant wit

.
,
s ha rpen ed by the natural cuteness of his race and tempered

’
,
by a broad and g e nerous sportsmanship Ladies h a ve been .
“
kno w n to call him Mr Punch ”
The term showed t he
.
d is cernment of th e fair se x F or twen ty years Tom Em m ett

.
was th e Chariva ri of t he c ricke t fie ld -

.
“Tom ” was th e n ame given to Emmett at his b a p t i sm in

t h e affection s of th e cricketing publi c My full name is .
Thomas E m m ett said he

,
My mother would not have
.
me named Tom but I got Tommed and nothing el se I

,
‘ ’
.
“
was bo rn at Crib Lane H a lifa x on Septe m ber 3

, ,
1 841 ,
.
Crib Lan e is not an ina ppropriate bir t hpl ace for an ordina ry
”
infa nt
.
’
T o m E m mett s ea rly tas te for t he game was a c quired in
the usu a l crude fashion of t he boys of his d ay “ I lived .
close to m y un cle J o hn D il wor t h of Illingwort h nea r Ove n

, ,
10 4 O LD ENG LI S H 0 111 0 11 m ans .
den who
,
was fond of cricket One of t he great manu .
fact ure rs of the p lace was M r Henry A m bler who had a ,
nice carriage drive leading up to his residence

-
A t t he .
entrance to the drive were t wo stone posts and it was one ,
of these that we u sed for our wickets That was where .
I was initiated in t o cricket and where I first found I could ,
hit th e post wi t h a round arm delivery I hav e nev e r b ee n

-
.
so big s ince as I u se d to be then .
It was oft en a case however of dodging the police A

, , .
gentl eman in blue saw not the budding of a famous c ricke te r

in the young ras cal who was th e cock of Ambler s Walk ’
Top .
” ”
The constable added Tom “wore a s ilk hat
, , .
Oh ! h e was a t erribly important personage Talk about th e .
majesty of the la w ! H e would carry more of it under his

box hat tha n t en ordinary policemen in modern helm e ts In
-
.
fact such a terror was he to us boys that although the place

,
was a s lively as an ant hill the momen t t he name of N icho l

-
,
so n was shou t ed t he boy s di sappea r ed like so m any rat s into

hiding places
-
.
There was a lot of rivalry among the boy s who played on

’
the Walk Top It got to the le ng th of arra nging a singl e
.
wicket mat ch and we played for 2 d a man

, We never .
‘
.
’
were such swell s before I turned out in b eautiful whi te

.
s mock and clogs It was such a terrible sta ke 2 d ea ch ; w e

.
, .
were men Our sid e won of course We had such a fright

, .
during the m atch I sent th e ball through the window of an

.
ad joining co m bing shed It hit a man nam ed Harrowby

—
.
,
who was quite a ch a ra cter in the village H e came ou t

covered wi th blo od and swore he would have u s before the
,
magi strates H e look ed so gory that I really thought it

.
would be a cas e of m an slaught e r Finally we clubbed up .

,
su ffi cie nt to pay for the broken glass and he con sen t ed to get ,
s o m e pla ster and forego the magi s terial proc ee dings .
Tom Emmet t s first club was called th e Illingworth

’
,
representing th e village of that name nea r Halifax His , .
first e nga ge m en t was wi th the Halifa x Club who paid him ,

106 EN GLI S H C RI C KET ERS .
We we re playing a m atch with K eighl ey agai nst th e

United J ack O scro ft was there Some one repre senting
. .
York shire saw me and asked me what I would take to play

,
for th e county I said I would tak e th e usual fee

.
5 They , .
said i t was not the p ractice to g iv e so much to beginners As .
the match was at Nottingham again st Not ts County I replied ,
th at it was t oo expen s ive a journey for me to play for le ss so ,
I go t my t erm s The date of thi s m y first appea ran c e for

.
Y ork shire a nd the only one of that year was Augu st 2 3

, , , ,
a n d 4 1 866
,
.
The next year I was taken in again st Surrey at th e Oval ,
and I h appen ed to ge t some run s 3 8 in the first innings I , , .
had never thought much of batting ; in fact I alway s wi shed ,
to be bowling or fie ld ing I saw ho wever that run gettin g

.
, ,
-
was u sefu l so paid more atte ntion to batting aft erward s

,
I .
did not bo wl in that m a t ch for Luke Greenwood and George ,
Freema n go t the Surrey team out for 9 2 and 6 2 a nd we won ,
by a n innings and 1 1 1 run s The n I played with Y ork shire

.
in the re turn m at ch wi t h Surrey on J un e 2 4 2 5 and 2 6 at , , ,
Bram all Lane and got 1 8 not out in on e innings and 41 in

, ,
t he second Again Freeman a nd Luke Greenwood got Surrey

.
ou t in t he first innings and I had little chance of showing

,
w ha t I could do w i t h the ball though I took 2 wicke t s In, .
Surrey s second innings however H H Stephen son and Tom

’
, ,
. .
Hu m phrey m ade a stand Then they put m e on at Luke s

.
’
end an d I at once ca ught and bowl ed Tom Hum phrey and

,
bow led S t ephen son and Surrey were all out for 7 6 run s
, ,
York shire w inning by 1 84run s My analysi s was 1 2 overs .

—
,
8 m aiden s 7 r u n s 6 w ickets
, , .
Tha t w as m y first grea t performance w i t h the ball in

fi rs t cl a ss cri cke t a n d i t may be said to have se t the seal
-
u pon m y fam e as a co u n ty cricketer When it is said that .
of Surrey s t otal of 7 6 Hu m phrey and S t ephen son made 6 1

’
be t we en t hem i t w ill be seen t ha t I mu st have bowl ed ve ry

,
w ell .
I t is not nece ssa ry to g ive m y be st bo wling perform a nces

from t h at t i m e un t il m y re t ire m ent in 1 887 It w ill b e .
T OM EM METT . 10 7
fi
suf cie n tto giv e wh at were my best y ea rs and the ave rages ,
record e d namely ,
It wil l be seen from thi s li st that a year before re t iring ,
a n d wh en for t y fi v e yea rs of a e Emmet t had the w onderful

g
-
rec ord of 1 3 2 wickets at a cost of j ust over 1 2 ru ns a wicke t .
T he b owli ng perfo rm a nce of which I am perhap s most proud ,
a dd s Tom was again st Surrey a t the Oval when I wa s cap

,
t a in of Y ork shire I was then forty years of age We could

. .
n o t lo s e ; it was a que st ion whether we could ge t them ou t in
tim e or not and they had only two w icke ts down I tried
, .
Peat e Ulye t t and Bat es b ut they could do no good They

‘
, , , .
’
as ke d me Why don t you go on yourself l and eventually
,
‘ ’
I did ao The result was that in 1 1 overs of which 9 were

.
,
maid e n s I got all the other 8 wickets for 2 2 run s and at one
, ,
ti m e took 5 wickets in 3 overs wi thout a run being scored o ff

me . Th at was on Augu st 1 3 1 881 and thank s t o brillian t , , ,
hit ting by Bate s we won by 9 wickets ,

“ I had a n amu sing experience when t he m a tch was w o n .
T here were some York shirem en pre sen t an d t hey crowded ,
ro u nd m e and would h a ve shouldered me o ff t he ground .
They did in fact raise me up I sa i d Nay for good n es s

, , .
,
‘
,
’
’
sake chap s don t shoulder me I ve m y pocke t s full of bra ss
’
, , ,
and if you lift me up i t will a ll roll ou t Thu s adjured they .

’
,
let me alone and I wriggled through the crowd t o t he pavilion

,
’
in sa fety I h adn t a cent in my pocke ts though
.
, .
There u sed to be a popula r saying tha t when E mm e t t was

b o w ling the onloo ker migh t expe ct first a wide a n d then a
108 O LD EN G LIS H C RI C KETERS .
wicke t To be sure Tom did bo wl an unconscio nabl e

.
,
nu m ber of wid e s but he prote sts that he n e v e r did so d e libe r

,
a t ely though there was one occasion in Lord Hawke s ea rly ,

’
d ays a s the York shire captain wh en his Lord ship said , ,
T o m do you know how many wid es you have bowled thi s

year 7 N 0 my lord how many 1 was the r eply
,
.
For ty five replied his lord ship

, Good prompt ly .
,
re m a rked T om Give me the ball my lord and I ll so on

’
.
, ,
ea rn ta lent m oney -
H e b owled 5 5 tha t year . .
The tru t h was continued Tom I found that off ball of , ,

-
mine very u sef ul I have go t wickets with it wh en I co uld

.
no t ge t t he m no m atter how stra ight I bowle d If a man did .
not st ep w ell across with his left foot and let his ba t go as ,
w ell he was sure to make a chip hit

,
The man who used .
’
to nonplu s me more than any on e in playing that off bal l was -
M r Murdoch H e u sed to plant his left w ell ac ross and

.
,
didn t he hi t it ! O i course when you get to know a ma n

’
like tha t you don t le t him have such a bal l you ha ng out
’
—
’
t he d a nger sign a l -
But it s all a matte r of h eadwork What s
. .
’
the u se bowling a stra ight ba ll at a batsman when h e plays it

a s if w i t h t he sha rp edge of a knife ? If you can bowl a n
o lf b a ll a n d t hen suddenly s end do w n a straigh t on e you ma y
-
ca t ch a m an n apping Som etime s the o lf ball did go wid e

.
-
bu t i t wa s rea lly no t inten tiona l I re member once trappin g .
Alf Sha w w i th t he w ide and wicket tactics I bowl ed a wid e

.
- -
.
,
a n d t hough t i t had lo st the match but tha t was n ot so a n d , ,
the very nex t ball was a very good lengt h delive ry which Alf , .
did no t know w hat to do w i th and he chopped it i nto t h e ,
s li ps There is as m uch a rt in bowling a c rook ed ball as a

.
s t ra ig h t one a n d I hone s t ly tell you I n e v e r bowl ed a wide

,
on pu r po se .
My be st b a ll w a s o n e w hich pi tched be tween the legs and

t he w i ck e t a nd broke back high enough to hi t the o ff ba il
,
-
.
‘
W G has d one m e the honour of saying that such a ba ll
. .
’
ha s o fte n bea t en h im a n d t h at he has left the wicket after ,
b ein g so bow led b e lie v i ng tha t the ball would beat him s elf or
,
a n y o t h e r b a t s m a n whe n ever deliver ed I used al so at tim es .

1 10 O LD EN G LI S H cmcx s rans
'
.
’
call you 7 he asked C a ll me a fool I rem ark ed as I
.
, ,
hu rried out of sight I have thought many a time since that .
I should have liked to com e across that gentleman to a po lo

gi se to him for I am afraid he would think me ve ry rude
, ,
w hereas I did not mean to be so : I was c ross with my self not ,
wi th him .
“I mu st tell you of a remarkable match w e had at Shef
field Y ork shire v Glouce ster on J uly 2 8 2 9 and 3 0 1 87 9

, .
, , , , ,
when I lost a fancy bet of 5 0 8 to 1 8 Glouc ester made 2 5 3 . .
run s in the first innings again st our 1 2 8 and 1 9 5 and o n ,
going in a second time they only wanted 7 1 run s to win A t .
lunch ti m e they had scored 3 4for 2 wickets so that w ith 8

-
wickets to g o down they only n eeded 2 7 run s Those 8 .
w icket s moreover included W G G F and E M G rac e

, , . .
, . .
, . . .
Going to luncheon wit h W Bates I made a rem ark abou t it .

,
being Wi n d sor Castle to a guin ea on Glouceste r winning .
Wha t odd s will you lay Tom 1 as k e d Bate s Fifty to on e ,

.
on,
wa s my rash reply
’
Bates handed me a shilling and too k
.
the odd s A n hour and a half or so afterward s I had to pay

. .
York shire won the mat ch by 7 run s .
I t never struck me u ntil a ft erwards but th e finishin g ,
stroke of t ha t ex t raordinary victory might have proved awk
w ard for me had I made a mi stake with it I was fielding .
middle w icke t o ff to Pe at e s bow ling s tanding Well back t o

-
’
,
’
h im a s F red Grace u sed to hit har d in that direc t ion

,
. .
When t ha t batsm an left the last man in was Miles a slow le f t , ,
a rm bowler I kne w his play to a nicety and I thought t o

.
,
my self Peat e will pi t ch him one up and he will play forwa rd

, ,
t o it So I ste al thily wa l ked in close to the batsman Th e

. .
move cam e o ff t rumps im mediat ely ; for t he ball was spooned

ba ck a nd I ca ugh t i t w i t h my right hand Had I m issed it
,
.
,
t he m i sta ke mi g h t h a ve been serious fo r me for I had alte red ,
my posi t ion en t irely on m y o w n judgment and Peat e said , ,
Had t h e ’
Why I could h ave cau gh t and bowled him Tom
, ,
.
ca t ch been mi ssed a n d t he fa c t that I h ad laid a be t of 5 0 to

,
1 aga in s t Y ork shire been known the Committee or others ,
would cer ta inly ha ve m ade remark s But as a matt e r of . ,

TOM EMM ETT . 11
fact, I n ev e r had th e bet in my h ead , w e were all so keen at
th e prospect of winning th e matc h .
No I n e ve r had much to g rumble at with r egard to th e

,
um pires whe n I was bo wling though th ey did debit me with ,
a few wides n ow and again I re memb er on e funny incident .
’
at Lord s in M C C v York shi re when J immy Grundy was
. . . .
,
umpiring I was bowling a t the wicket to Mr C E Green

. . .
,
the popular patron of the Esse x Club and a grand b at at that ,
time I gav e him nea rly a half volley on his leg stump and
.
-
,
h e put his left leg cl ea n in front of it I appea led to Grundy .
’
How s that a nd h e said no t hing I the n appea led again .
,
and he repli ed Go on with you

’
, That s not g ood enough ; .
’
ho w is it 1 I r eto rt ed
’
H e then explod ed with the rema rk.
,
Go ou you wild Irishman

’ ’
, And that s all the an swer I .
could get from J im G rundy .
’
Em mett s last match with York shir e was in 1 887 I had .
” “
b een ofte n as ked he said why I did not re tire and mak e
, ,
way for younger blood and was perhaps no t as keen on county ,
c ricket as usual in conse quence But wh e n I did fin ish a .
rem a r k was mad e by some one in authority whom I shall not ,
name wh ich hurt m e v e ry much I ask ed if I should be

, .
’
wan ted and the re ply was
,
N 0 we don t want t o see you , ,
any more It may hav e bee n m eant as a jok e but it was not
.
’
,
well put ; indeed afte r my long se rvice to the county it

,
”
see m ed t o b e in b ad tas te and I felt it ,
.
Emmett s cricke ting ex pe riences i nclude th re e trips t o

’
Au st ralia H e was o ne of five Yorkshiremen who formed pa rt

.
of J ames Lilly white s team in 1 87 6 7 7 Geo rg e Ulyet t and h e

’
-
w ere includ ed in the tea m ca ptained by Lord Harr is th a t went

out in 1 87 8 7 9 ; and W Ba t es E Peate G Ulyet t and Tom
-
.
, .
,
.
,
were membe rs of the 1 881 82 team organi sed by Shaw -
, ,
Sh rewsbury and Lillywhite ,

The last named com bina t ion .
-
t ra vell ed via San F rancisc o after playing a serie s of fiv e ,
matches in America .
Tom confesses h e was a ve ry b ad sa ilor I n t he Frisco trip .

’
they were four teen days getting from Q ueen stown to New
Yo rk. For the first seve n days says Tom we had some , ,
1 12 EN L S G I H cmcxa ras s
'
.
sp ort in the shape of the vess el doing everything but turning

over I t would be on the second day out that every one but
.
Barlo w and my self could go down and get their hea d s in the
m anger o r in other word s go dow n to t iflin Se D ick and
, , , .
my self w ere the only passengers left on deck By way of .
con soling one another w e sat down in the smoke room which -
w e d a red no t hat e done had any one been in Whils t s itt ing .
there the ve ssel ga ve an extra roll and by so doing gave ,
B a rlo w the impress ion that she was going a li ttl e too far so ,
t o stop her from going clean ove r Barlow seiz ed hold of one of
the sm oke room table s planted his feet and pulled fo r all he
-
, ,
was w or t h rem arking at th e same time Sav e us Seei n g ‘ ’

, .
,
B arlo w such a good trier and so earnest I burst out laughi n g , ,
a t t he same time remarking that he m ust excuse me laughing ,
a s I was as m uch frigh t ened as he was b ut I was certa in tha t ,
he had saved the vess el from going over Wh en ou r bo ys .
s waggered up fro m t ifi i n I told the m that Bar lo w had saved

t he m from a wa tery g rave by pulli ng the ship straight !
While I u sed to be so ill Ted Pea te was a spl e ndid sailor , .
H e w o u ld wa lk t he deck as if s hip and ocean we re his p riva te

propert y I was qui t e enviou s of him for h e would breakfas t
.
, ,
t ifli n dinner di tt o repea t o and gen e rally have a full time a l l

, ,
-
, ,
the w hile I was providing the fishes With a libe ral supply of ‘
pro v ender I have though t s inc e that after my libe ral con
.
,
t rib u t io n s I should have my fi

”
, sh suppli ed free .
’
E m m et t s be st cricke t ing success in Aus t ralia was u nder
L ord Ha rri s s ca ptaincy H e ave raged 1 83 w ith the bat in
’
.
t he eleven a side m atches w hile his bowling reco rd was 482 3

- -
over s 2 5 5 m a iden s 5 2 1 run s 45 wickets ave rage 1 1 5 The

, , ,
—
, .
a verag e re a d s w onderfully well w hen com pared say w ith , ,
re ce n t A ng l o Au st ra lia n record s -
.
Th e re wa s a d i s pu t e in one m at ch w hi ch cau sed a grea t

’
sen sa t i o n a t t he tim e a n d E m m e tt s ve rs ion of it will be rea d
,
w i t h m u ch i n t ere s t n o w
I t w as t he re turn g a m e w i th N ew South Wales at Sydney ,
w hi ch co m m enced on F ebrua ry 7 1 87 9 We had a fre s h , .
w i ck e t a f t e r e v e ry i n n in g s a t t ha t t i m e which m ay see m ,
1 14 EN GLI S H os roxs rs ns .
’
we did and ne ver play another match Finally pla y was .
,
abandoned for the day for though the Au st ralian s had a gre e d
, ,
to ta ke the field again th e police could not ge t th e grou n d

,
clea r .
“While they were wa iting to rest a rt I was changing my
sock s and Lord Harri s as ked whe re I was

, O i course .
Happy J ack (George Ulyet t ) mu st hav e his joke for he ,
gravely assured our ca ptain that th e crowd had given m e such

a fright t h at I was last seen r unning like a madman to ward s
Sydney and tha t they had sent a cab afte r me !
,
But for the ro w I think we should have lost the match .
H ad t he hom e men gone on batt ing th ey would probably

ha ve given us a good fe w run s to make in th e second innings .
It ra ined throughout the Sunday and Sunday night but o n ,
Mond ay m orning the s un cam e out hot enough to make nai ls .
Was n t it a glorious wicket ! Talk about the ba ll being a

’
linguist it talk ed a ll sor ts of languages Some reports of

,
—
.
the m at ch give Ulyet t as taking 3 wickets but he to ok 4 ,
w ickets in four b a lls 2 with the las t t wo ball s of one ov e r

, ,
and 2 w it h the n ext t wo balls of the succeeding over ; an d

wherea s N e w South Wa les had m ade 1 7 or 1 9 for 1 w icket
on Saturd ay on the Monday they were all out for 49 and
, ,
w e w o n by a n innings a nd 4 1 run s Had we been sent in t o .
ge t 80 run s eleven Graces could not have got them on t ha t

,
w icket Thu s you see the crow d did us a good service by

.
s t opping the pl ay on Sa t urday It was another in stance .
of an unruly m ob doing h a rm to the side whose succe ss they

de sired .
“Our fie ld in in the m t h w as plendid One c tch

g a c s a .
m ade by M r Hornby I sh all never forget I gave 0 . .
B annerm a n one a li tt le too fa r up ju st outside the o ff stump -

.
H e did no t forge t to hi t it an d i t was n e ver far from the,
ground but Mr Hornby had a go for it and had the sati s

, ,
fa ction of landing i t in his left h and It was splendid work .
bot h by batsm a n and fie ld er but a li t tle rough on the bats ,
m an .
I h ave a lready s poken of a curious bet at Sheffield .

TOM EMM ETT . 1 15
Th er e anoth er which is wort h m e ntioning

was George .
U lyett and I were b eard ed into a b e t o n thi s match at

Syd ney Spo fio rt h had no t been abl e to play in the first
'
match and we we re bea te n by 5 w ick ets a m atch by the

,
—
,
way in which £ 1 40 was collec t ed for C Ban nerman because

,
.
’
h e made 6 0 not out again st us l There s extra vagant en t hu
siasm fo r you ! We ll Spofl ort h was to play in the re turn
'
match George Ulyett was somewhere on e nigh t w here the

.
match prospects were be i ng di scus sed ; I was not with him .
Happy Jack was told the Engli shm e n could not play
cricke t and would be ea sily b eaten a nd so on The m an
,
—
.
who said this clenched his opinion s by offeri ng to lay 2 to 1

’
o n the Au s t ralian s I ll take you two 1 0 note s to one
’
.
,
’
w as George s reply and the be t w a s mad e Ge orge told me
, .
th e circumstances afte rward s and asked m e if I would stand ,
halves wi t h him I said Certainly dash it all we are not .

, ,
going to be bulli ed thi s way Two to one on a cricket match .

-
’ ’
is a good price The c rowd s bad man ners you see did
.
, ,
n a a goo d turn too for we won th e b et That and the

, , .
S heffield 5 0 to 1 i ncid e nt wer e about th e only speculation s

- -
”
I had on a c ricket m atch -
.
A n Au s t ra lia n writer (Mr T Hora n if the author rem e m .

,
bers righ tly ) has na rrated the following

Tom Emmett bri sk and eager as he was fo r stea ling run s
, ,
would never dream of running when a b all was played to ward s

’
V ernon Royle N 0 a ! I tell thee I woan t go ; it s gone t
.
‘ ’ ’
’
T l h
’
p l a a c e .
p aace alw a y s me a nt t e s pot where Vernon
Boyle was stat ion ed T o m as you know used to punish .
, ,
o n the 0 6 Once whe n a field sman at point was standing

.
,
ra ther clo s e Tom said to him , If I w e re thee mi st er I d , , ,

’
s t and a li t tle fa rth er ba ck becau s e wh e n I hits there I hi t s , ,
a djectival ha rd Th e fie ld sm an without del ay ac t ed on

.
’
, ,
T om s advice
’
I think it was W H Cooper who had a
. . .
”
n a rrow shave once at point from a fl a sh light stroke of Tom s
’
.
I as on the M e lbourne ground

“
( t w Tom say s
) The b a ll , .
t i pped W H s ear and was at the boundary in no t ime

‘
. .
’ ’
, .
T wo yea rs lat e r wh e n T om ca me ou t with anothe r team t he

, ,
1 16 ENGLI S H CRIC K ETERS .
first w ord s he u t tered on seeing W H were That was a ‘

. .
’
,
‘
n arro w shave you had that time Mr Cooper , .

’
E m mett add s a no ther rac y incident of th e same chara cter .
Alec Ba nnerman was a lit tle funny chap and once whe n we ,
w ere pl aying a t Harrogate on a slow tricky wicket he cam e ,
close up t o where I was batting taking silly point in fact ,

‘
,
’
.
I sa id A lec you are rather clo se in are you married 1 H e

,
‘
,
’
’ ’
sa id ,
No Oh then you re all right I replied
‘
, It , .
doe sn t matter if I kill you bu t if you had been married I

’
should have a dvi sed you to get bac k a bit H e did hav e a
’
.
n a rrow e scape too and af te rward s went back to a safer

, ,
”
di sta nce .
’
( ) f t h e t rip to America with D aft s tea m Emmett has some
pleasant re collection s A t Niagara George Ulyett played a .
l a rk w i th his sock s and made him think a snake had got into
,
one of them Eph Lo ckwood was not st ru ck wit h the a l

. .
I t s grand
’
m ig htine ss of Niaga ra Thi s is a sight worth
.
s eeing i sn t it Eph ? Ge o Pinde r said

’ “ Nay I make
. . .
, , ,
no w t of i t I d sooner be at Lascelles Ha ll was E phrai m s

’
,
’
reply Bu t Tom apologetically add s that Old Ma ry a lways

.
w a s a po or traveller When having to play in L ondon he

.
,
w as a l way s h a ppie st when he could turn his heels to it and

h is t o e s t o La scelle s Hall .
T o m w as alway s noted for his good and agile fie ld ing ; in

fact he was generally the livelie st man in the field even when
in his fo rt ies H e has a fe w u seful word s to say by way of
.
ad v i ce t o fi e ld e rs
F ielders oug h t to learn to be ambidextrou s No w m y .

,
’
rig h t arm u sed t o be like a big girl s It might as well hav e .
b ee n slung in m y w ai st coa t I thought that was not goo d .
e n ough for a ll round cricke t so I u sed to p racti se for hours

-
w i t h a n in d ia rubb e r b a ll aga in st a wall catc hing it and ,
t hrow i n g i t w i th ei t her h a nd It was wond e rful how soon I .
a c quir ed co n t rol o ver the right han d and was thu s able to ,
br in g o ff ca tche s w i th i t n ea rly a s w ell as with the left Georg e .
L o h m ann u sed t he left hand better than any one I ever sa w

fo r a m an w ho was not na t ura lly left h and ed I often u sed -
.
1 18 OLD EN G LI S H CRI C KET FIRS .
The b est cove r point Tom ever saw was Mr Geo rge S trachan
-
,
”
who used to play for Surrey You k now said he a good .
, ,
big un is always better than a goo d littl e un

’
Now Mr ’
.
S t ra chan could strid e nearly as fa r as t en men and a boy and ,
I hav e seen him do some brilliant f eats of field ing which

would have b een imposs ible to a man of l ess statu re I foun d .
no more willing man in th e field than George Ulye tt H e .
w ould g o a nywh ere or do anything h e was as k ed and he ,
genera lly had a joke to enliven us u nd er all circum st ances .
Eph Lockwood did the quicke st thing in th e way of a run

.
ou t I ever saw I t was again st Notts at Sheffie ld Alf

. . .
Shaw wa s batting to Bph s bowling a nd re turned the ball ’

,
terribly hard along the g round Eph raim got his right hand .
to it and found it st uck a nd throwing it back over Sha w s ,

’
h ea d Alf who had s t epped too far out of h is creas e and

, .
,
could not get back was run out Eph raim upse tt ing his , ,
middle stump .
Oh yes it is quite true tha t I once m ad e our fellow s

,
laugh when W G Grace had m ade ov er 3 0 0 again st us by a

. .
rem ark about havi ng Grace before meat Grace aft er mea t , ,
a nd Grace all d ay The champion narrates that on that

.
occasion som e of our fellows showed a reluctance to bowl afte r

fo ur or fiv e futile tria ls a nd that I said Give me the ball , ,
and I ll fin ish his innings and at once sent him three atrociou s
’
,
’
w ides I daresay W G is right e xce pt in t he matter of . .

’
—
the three atrociti es which I sho ul d say is wide of the mark

, .
Anyhow W G canno t get ove r th e fact that I made m y

,
‘
. .
’
only century in first class cricket off Glo ste r bowling That -
’
.
”
w as a t Clifton .
It has often b een in sinua ted that th e cou nty players of

’
E m m ott s day were not exactly as strict on the point of
t empe rance as could be desired Tom has a strong feeling .
on the inju stice of th is in sin uation “ ”

I n e ver saw he says .
, ,
one of our fellows come on to the field unfit for play or not ,
in a condi t ion to do hi m self justice Wh e n I was appointe d .
ca pta in I appeared before the County Committee and wa s

s oken to about card playi n g & c
p I told th e Committee tha t -
, .
,
T OM EMM ET T . 119
so far as I was conc erned when I had to make a long railway

,
j our n ey I was glad to ha v e a hand at ca rds it was a pleasa nt

,
—
w ay of relievi n g th e tediu m of the journey But I said I

.
would do my best to p re vent th e men stayi ng up la te at nights

fo r th e purpose of ca rd playing and I did so I ha ve h ea rd
-
, .
it remarked that I was given to over indulge nce my s elf That

—
.
is absolu t ely u ntru e. I could not have play ed first c lass -
c rick et for ove r twenty years w ithout taking great care of

myself.
I t only rema in s to add th at E m mett had h is b enefit in 1 887 .
I t realis ed about 6 2 0 H e was engaged at Bradford wh en

.
h e finished wi t h th e county and on March 2 0 1 889 h e took

, , ,
up an appoin t m ent as coach a t Rugby School In 1 89 8 h e .
t ran sferred his se rvic e s to the L eicester Cou nty Club .

A LF R ED SHA W .
ANnonymous hi storia n of No t ts
a
cricket writi ng in the ye ar 1 86 5

, ,
described Alf r ed Shaw as a

s low eu re ,
excellent crickete r
, ,
giving promi se of future g rea t

”
ness Shaw was then twenty
.
three years of ag e To day h e .
is fift y eight ; and looking bac k

-
on a care er that is closed o n e is ,
a ble to see that th e promise o f

f uture greatness p rophes ied
thirty five y ears ago has be e n
-
a b u ndantly f ulfi lled S haw s m os t

’
.
ca pable contempo rary Ric hard D a ft sp eaks of him to t hi s

, ,
d ay as the E m peror of Bowlers I t is an impe rialist ic

.
t i t le but one t h at fe w if a n y w ill question

, , ,
.
Alf Shaw to adopt t he fa m iliar form in which the c rick e t

.
,
in g public were a ccu stomed to sp eak of the ir favourite w as ,
born on Augu st 2 9 1 842 at Burton Joyc e a vil lage abo ut

, , ,
fiv e m ile s fro m Notti ng h am H is long crick e t ca ree r has

.
lef t h im in the enjoy m ent of excellent health H e h as s till .
dir e ct connection s with cri cke t for he ofliciat es as one of the

,
c ounty umpire s and ha s ch arge of t he big athletic man u

,
’
f a ct u rers bu s ine ss know n throughout the world as that of
Sh a w Shrewsbury in Q ueen s Sq uare No t t ingha m
,
’
, .
S ha w s bowlin g wa s a n a tura l g ift perfected by pa in s ta kin g

’
,
1 22 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
s uc ce ss for H H Stephen son and Tom Lockyer each m a d e

,
. .
10 0 a nd t he Surrey t otal was 4

,
68 Shaw however mad e .
, ,
a m end s wi t h the bat for in the Notts fi rst innings h e w as

,
top scorer w i th 6 4 H e attribute s his non success wi t h t he

.
-
ball on th a t oc casion to being troubl ed with a b ad kn ee H is .
score wi t h t he bat sugge s ts that he might have become famo u s
as a ba t sm a n al so and on this point Sha w says

,
I u su ally could get a fair number of run s but I u se d to ,
save my self for bow ling I kne w very well a man cannot d o .
the t wo thing s equally well one or th e oth er m u st su ffer I .
t herefore m ade bowling my st udy and allo wed batt ing t o ,
take it s ch ance I thought bowling would be most u se ful to

.
me as a pro fe ssional cricke t er and looking back now I do , , ,
not t h ink my judgment was at fault When run s were .
re quired I end ea voured to get them ; if not I tri ed to get ,
ou t Morley a n d I oft en used to get o ut on purpose wi thout

.
,
a n ybody know ing it O i course w e did not hi t our wicke t s

.
,
d o w n t ha t is a s illy gam e But men ca n get ou t wi thout

—
.
t h e publi c kno wi n g it a n d I don t think the public ough t t o

’
,
”
k n o w it .
Wi t h t he vie w of sho w ing as far as figu res can show ho w , ,
gre at a b o w l e r Sh aw was the following part iculars of h is ,
w o rk during t he Seven t ie s may be appropr iately introduc e d

’
h e re
Wicke ts . A ve rage .
1 03
98
92
1 28 1 2 1 02
131
1 61
178
1 96
1 34
177
When d t o e xpl ai n t he m et h o d by which he obtained

a s ke
s u c h co n s i s t e n t s u cce s S h a w mode s t ly re m a rked

s
,
I d o n t k n o w ho w I ca n ex p lain it I was al ways a cti ve

’
.
,
ALFRED S HA W . 1 23
and if I could h elp it I n ever bowled t wo ball s alike Then

, , .
I always bowled for my men in the fie ld I u sed too t o t ry .

, ,
to find a batsman s weak point and then k eep him there

’
,
’
st ick him u p as the saying goe s
,
.
I was thought to be very good at a dropping ball which ,
al ways appea red to be going fa rther t han it r eally was The .
batsman would hav e a smack at it and ve ry often he would ,
mi ss it alto geth er or send it into a fie ld er s hand s I could ’

.
bo w l that ball without any apparent change in th e delivery .
I really u sed to bowl faster than peopl e thought I did a nd I ,
could make the ball break both way s but not much In my , .
ea rlier days I u sed to lie in b ed studying how to get batsmen

ou t and that was ho w I came to be able to b reak bot h ways
, ,
to cultivate th e dropping ball and so on ,

’
.
In my opinion length and variation of pace con stitute

,
the secret of succe ssful bowling The principle is to keep a .
batsm an playing back and forward H e should n e v e r b e .
a llowed to play back the w hole of an ov e r ; h e should be
m ad e to play forward before the ove r is don e To m ake a .
man play to th e pitch of the ball is t he art of good bowli n g .
’
A s t o a bowl e r s endura nce in my ca se I had an ea sy round
,
a rm ac t ion and could keep on bowling for hours I don t ’

.
,
know wh e th er it is worth mentioning in thi s connec t ion bu t ,
I m ay say I was not a smoker If I try a ciga r now it is only

.
in order not to appear un sociable and I shall consume half a ,
box of matches in k eeping it a light .
It has b ee n said th a t I u sed to practi se through t he

win t ers but that is an error For sev eral years I never
,
.
bowled a ball from the time I left o ff cricket at the close of

’
t he season until th e Colts m atch the following year Shrews .
bury Gunn A t t ewell Mr D ixon and other s u sed in more

, , , ,
recent yea rs to practi se at the beginning of March in a large

room we had at Beeston I found th e wi nter s idleness m ade
.
’
no di fferenc e to my bowling A s soon as the st iffne ss wore

.
o ff I u s ed to bo w l as w ell as ever Some people need a lot of .
practice and oth e rs very li ttle e specially if they keep them,
se lve s in c
”
ondition .
The man in the ring who see s cricket through the double
,
magnifying len s of th e lo cal enthu siast is fond of narrating ,
wonderful feats which Al f Shaw u sed t o perform with his .
accuracy of pitch There is a t radition in No t t ingham t ha t

.
he could pitch on a threepenny bit or som ething sma ller say -

,
—
a pin s poin t Th e writer onc e got into seriou s t rouble in a

’
.
hote l in N o tt ing ham for venturing to hint that it poss ibly

might not be the fact tha t Shaw once broke fiv e saucers ou t
of six when they were placed on the wicket for him to pi t ch
on. The indignation which the mild display of sceptici sm
aroused u nnerved him for t he re st of the e vening But wha t .
say s Alf Sh a w him self respec t ing th e extravagant claim s of

.
his ad m irers 7
“That s al l non sen se
’
I never pitched on a saucer in m y
.
life and never at t emp t ed to do so There are lots of thes e

, .
s torie s a bou t bu t they ar e not true

,
What is th e fa ct is that .
I rarely or n ever made a mi sta ke as to the way in which I

wa n t ed t o pi t ch a ball Then when the wicket was good I
.
, ,
u sed to t ry t o m ake a spot on the wicket in order to pitch

upon i t and m ake the ball turn When a wicket is very hard .
you have to try t hings of that sort But I never sm ashed .
a n y crockery I also never tried t o pit ch on a coin ei ther a

.
,
doll a r or a groa t Possibly I m ight hav e bee n able to h it

.
a sa ucer or a S ixpence but it m ust be sufficient to say that I

,
”
never attempted to do se .
’
There is one thing ho wever on which Alf Shaw s admirers
, , .
a re a ccura te he nev e r bo w led a wide ball

—
.
D id I ever bowl a wide ? Never ; never in all my caree r .
’
O r a no ba ll 7 I don t remember that I ever did though
-
once at C anterbury in a Nort h v South m a tch when M r .

,
Thornton ra n up the crease I pitched th e ball over h is hea d ,
trying t o hi t t he w icket and that went for a n o ball There

,
-
.
was one m a t ch too in which an umpire whom I will not

, , ,
m ake known to fa m e wa n t ed t o no ba ll me for knocking t he

,
-
wicke t down in the delivery I and my colleagu es obj ec te d .

,
”
so t he alleged no ball wa s w i t hdra w n
-
.
A l f Sh a w is one of the s ele ct circle of bowlers who hav e

.
1 26 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
by t he late Geo rge Ulyet t Shaw confirms th e incident o f .
T o m Armi tage ca r ryi ng a lady th rough th e fl ood ed st rea m o n

h is back A Ch ri stchu rch arti st who was o ne of th e membe rs
.
of the coaching party paint ed what Shaw says is an accurate

picture of th e incident and suppli ed a copy to each of the
,
cricke ters who cared to have one at a cost of 3 0 8 Shaw st ill .
re ta in s h is copy .
I t was during thi s tour that t he p recu rso r of the gre at

England v Aust ralia matches was see n O u Jannary 1 6 a n d
. .
1 87 7 N e w South Wale s met Lillywhit e s team on ev e n

’
1 7
, ,
term s a nd would hav e been badly beate n had tim e permitte d

, .
Shaw in thi s match took 8 wickets for 5 4r un s I t was on .
t his t our t oo that th e fi

,
rst Au stralian victory ove r an En
, g
la nd tea m on e ven term s was registered Australia win n ing at ,
Melbourne on March 1 7 1 87 7 by 45 runs Furt h e r in thi s

, , .
,
m atch 0 Bann e rman scored the first c entu ry mad e by a n

.
Au stralian batsman again st an E nglish team H e scored 1 6 5 .

,
and then retired hurt Shaw says that ear ly in his i nning s
.
B annerm a n should hav e been out to one of my slo w on es ,

”
but he was missed by Armit age .
In 1 881 82 Shaw cap tained a team that w ent out u nd e r

-
the m an agement of Shaw Shrewsbury and Lillywhite a n d , , ,
repeat ed th e undertaking in 1 88485 D u ri ng this 1 88485 -

.
-
trip a n incident occurred that brought into strong relief t h e

”
rea l ch a ra cter of A ust ra lian amateurism Shaw says that .
before a match could be a rranged betwee n his tea m and Mur

d och s Third Team which had been in England th e previou s
’
,
s u mm e r the Au stralia n s though playi ng at home in sisted

, , ,
“
u po n r e ce i ving the same paymen t for th e ir amateur se r ”
vi ce s as th at given to the Engli sh professionals The res ult .
w a s t h a t in order to secure a match th e South Au st ralian

,
Cri ck e t A ssociat ion pa id Murdoch s t ea m £45 0 this bei n g ’

,
t he sa m e s um tha t wa s pa id to Shaw s t eam though t h e

’
,
la tter were severa l t hou sa nd m ile s away from home Th e .
in cid e n t has not been forgo tt en by E ngli sh profess ion al

cri ck e t e rs t o thi s d ay a nd no o ne can wond e r that they fe e l
,
keenly t he treat men t w hi ch com pel s th em to come out of t he

A L FR ED SHAW . 1 27
’
profess ionals gat e whil e th e well paid Au st ralian amateurs
,
-
’
emerge in styl e from th e G entlemen s pavilion .
I n 1 886 th e thr ee players nam ed took out another team ,
Shre wsbu ry then b eing th e captain and the side was con ,
sid e red the strongest that had b ee n sent out to Au st ralia up
t o that tim e The fifth trip was in 1 887 88 and p roved d is

.
-
,
as trou s to Shaw and Sh rewsbury It clashed with the vi sit of .
Mr G F Ver no n s team which we nt out at th e i nvitation of

’
. .
,
th e Melbour ne A s might hav e been expe cted the result ,
of the clashi ng was th e finan c ial wrecki ng of both enterpri ses .
What says Alf Sha w 7 .
It cost th e M e lbourne Club about £40 0 0 Sh rew sbury .
a nd I dropp ed about 2 70 0 and w e had e v ery pe nny of it to ,
be t w ee n na I n our previous t r ip s w e had m ad e in all

p y
a .
about £ 1 5 0 0 but it will be seen we lost all that and a good

,
”
round sum to th e top of it .
Sha w s last vi sit to th e land of th e gold e n fl eece was in th e

’
ca pa ci ty of manager of Lord Shefiield s team in 1 89 0 9 1 ’

-
.
That was v ery succe ssful say s Shaw Lord Sheffie ld ,
did not ho we v er m ak e a pro fit out of it nor did h e orga ni se

, , ,
the trip fo r that pu rpose H e did it all out of pure lov e for .
cricket B efo re coming away h e left £ 1 5 0 fo r a shield to be

.
played fo r annually by the thre e coloni es .
“Sp e aki ng now from exp erience which I thi nk it will be

,
admit ted is e xten s ive I co n s ider that all the se Engli sh vi sit s
,
to Au st ralia should be arranged a nd financed by the English

a u tho r iti es who ought to place a thoroughly qua lified
,
m a nager in charge of each tour a man to whom bo t h th e —
players and th e public at home could look with co nfid ence .
It may not b e known but it is th e fact that Lilly whit e , , ,
Shrew sbu ry and my se lf several time s said we should h ave

,
been v e ry glad to have give n way to the M C C if they . . .
could hav e u nd ertak en the respon sibility of sending ou t t he

team s but th ey would not or at anyrat e did not ta ke the
, , ,
projec ts up W e would have do ne anything the M C C

. . . .
”
w ish ed and always were prepa red t o do se
,
.
Alf Shaw spent fifteen years in th e service of that grea t

.
and re spected patron o f cricket Lo rd She ffield The en gage

, .
ment terminated two years ago whe n Shaw came back to ,
No tt ingham to u m pire and tak e charge a long with Shrews

bury of the business which they e stabli shed in 1 880 .
“I was engaged by Lord Sheffield says he in 1 883 , , .
The condition s of my engageme nt were that I was to hav e ,
lea ve to play for my county as long as th ey wanted me Then .
whe n they left m e out I was eligibl e by residen ce to play for

Su ssex which as every one knows I did in 1 89 4 My con
, , , .
ne ct io n w ith Nott s really las t e d from 1 86 4to 1 887 I would .
hav e played longer but they wanted some young blood

, ,
and I had to drop out Th e re is no doubt I should ha ve

.
been useful to Notts pretty nea rly up to now had my servic es

been required .
Lord Sh e ffie ld did not want me to play with Su ssex and ,
I did not play fo r about eight years My dutie s were to .
coach young n a ti ve Su ssex players and look after his lord ,
ship s crick e t a rra ngemen t s a t S he ffie ld Park H e was a r eal

’
.
good sportsman and a grand old Engli sh gentleman H is

, .
lord ship strongly obj ected to th e importation of young

players and no importa tion into Su ssex cricket has tak en
,
pl ace w i th h is sanc t ion H ad he favoured s uch a policy I

.
co uld soon ha v e got together a first class team -

.
Among the players I di scovered and trained were the two

Q u a ife s now of
,
War wick shire who m I found ,
at N e w ha v en ,
ne a r Brighton Generally spea king I must say th e South

.
,
Coast is not a good di strict for producing young players .
Clima tic infl u ences are aga in st them They have not t h e .
da sh a nd vigour which t he residents of less relaxing parts of

Eng land possess I u sed to get languid myself but the you n g
.
,
players w hom I coached w ere tired out even before I was .
“I u sed t o t ra vel with L ord

She ffie ld and had m an y ,
pl e a sa nt t rips w i t h him In addition to t he Au st ralian

.
vi si t I h a ve a cco mpanied him to Egypt Palestin e and

, , ,
Assam a s far a s the F irst C ataract al so to Spitzbergen an d

, , ,
on t wo o r three t rips in h is yacht to France where h e has ,
t aken t eam s to play mat ches .

1 30 O LD G LI S H C RI C K ETERS
EN .
If the law w ere alter ed it would have to be that wherever

’
a ball pitched if in the umpire s opinion it would hi t t he
,
wicket the batsman would be out The resul t would be t ha t

, .
matche s would b e oft en over in a day and c ricket would b e

,
ruined both financia lly and other wise I hav e sometim es

, .
though t it would be a good thing to compel a batsman to

score at le as t one run in an over That would make the fift h
.
ball exci t ing at tim es But it would b e a sill y game More

. .
over cricket is not a ga me that should be mad e subs ervi e nt

,
’
to excitement It is eminently a gam e to test one s patience
.
,
”
e nduranc e and skill Th erefor e I say l e t th e law alon e
, .
, , .
ED W A R D P O O LE Y .
I T was the workhou se sir o r , ,
the riv e r I was at Charing

.
Cross Hospital five month s with

rh e umatic fev er The doc t ors
.
did not think I should com e out

aliv e But old Poole y is tough
. .
I got round and was di scharged

,
cured Immediately afterward s

.
I had an attack of infl uenz a ,
which left me ve ry w eak While .
in that stat e I m et with an ac

e iden t to my back which com ,
p e l le d m e to
g o i n to th e Ma r
yl e
bone I n firm ary Fo r about a year I was unabl e to work

. .
Sponge on my fri end s I could not neither could I becom e a

,
burden to m y relative s I spent a night in th e streets d e lib

.
e ra t in g w hat to do Then I went into th e Lambeth Work

.
hou se.
This was the predica ment which th e famou s old Sur r ey

cricketer Ted Pooley had t o face in t he winter of 1 89 8 H e
, , .
had to choo se bet w een a plunge into paup e ri sm or the icy

Th am e s L ike a man he chos e the b ra ve r part
. .
The d aw n of 1 899 saw Pooley with circum stanc es changed

for t he be t ter thank s to the exert ions of friend s and t he press
, .
Bu t before anothe r winter arrived an old enemy of his rheu ,
m at ism had a gain sei z e d him in it s rel e ntle ss clutch

,
Onc e .
132 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
’
more he sought refuge in the pauper s hom e This t ime some .
of the da ily pa pers di scovered that he had di ed of canc e r o f

t he liver a t Brighton Pooley had th e satisfaction of reading
.
his o wn obitu ary notice a piece of luck given to few m e n

, .
H e w as at t he t ime as comfortable as rheum s and w orkhou se

regul ation s per m it .
’
I t is no t the w ri t er s inclination to inqui re whether or n o
’
Edwa rd Pooley s mi sfortunes have been wholly unavoidable .
Popul ar cri cke t ers so m etime s go to the wall in which event ,
they a re occasion a lly wha t a thoughtle ss public makes the m .
The pa st genera t ion of great profess ional s ought not on fair

ne ss to be judged by t he pre sent Education social surrou nd .
,
ing s m ora l guid a nce an d in fl uence are higher no w than they

, ,
w e re in the d ay s w hen Pooley was young and fri sky Edward .
Po oley is no w a fam ou s old cricketer down on his luck Those .
w h o deri v ed pleasure from his pl ay in d ay s th a t wer e ear lier will

sure ly sy m p a t hi se w ith h im in the mi s fortune s of h is l a ter ye a rs .
O n e ch a ra ct eri st ic of Pooley in h is younger days has in no

w ay di m ini shed H e ha s the sam e jaunty mien and ai ry
.
c h e e rf u lne s s a s of old There is no thing natural ly despondent

.
ab o u t Ted Pooley s t empera m ent I t could only have been

’
.
un d er a t e m porary fit of ex t rem e depression tha t he cam e to

co n t e m plate t he dread a l t ern ative The workhou se or the ,
”
ri v er 7
Ed wa rd Po o ley w a s born at Richmond Surrey on Febru a ry , ,
1 3 1 83 8
,
. The st and ard chronicles of the game give t he year
a s 1 84 b u t P ooley ay s t h a t is a n error for whi ch his father
3
,
s
wa s r e s po n si b le . I don t blame the old man who is dead

’
,
a n d go n e . But the fa c t is t h a t w hen I was asked for d a t e

,
a n d y e a r o f bi rt h he sa id I s hould look more of a col t if I took

”
fiv e yea rs o ff w hi ch I did
—
.
F i fty yea rs ago Po o l ey played cricket on Richmond Green

as t he c h a m pi o n of t he loc a l schoolboy s for stak es of half a ,
-
cro w n a n d so o n st a k e s w hi ch he say s someti m e s took a

—
, ,
w e e k or t e n d ays t o col le ct In a ft er yea rs he often play ed

.
o n t he sa m e gre e n fo r 5 a m a t ch h is w age as a profes sional

-
cri cke t e r .
134 O LD ENGLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
s eemed so much at hom e that Tom Locky er was del ighte d ,
and said I was bo rn to keep wicke t and would have to be h is

s ucce sso r in the S urrey tea m What he said ca m e true . .
Pooley s hand s are th e most remarkable the writer has

’
seen . Th e oldes t living crickete r and in his day t he bes t of ,
wicket keepe rs Mr He rbert J en ne r Fust

-
,
kept withou t ,
gloves yet his hands t o day are shape ly and undamage d

,
-
,
wi th one slight exception George Pinder has som e of his .
joint s disto rted e v idence s of the hard k nocks tha t he e n

,
countered But Pooley anoth e r of th e great triumvirate o f

.
—
s tumpers Pinder Pool e y and P illing

, p o sse
,
sses two fi st s t h at,
—
are mere lumps of defo rmity .
Every fing er on th e two hands has bee n broken ; so have

the two thum bs The joints are knotte d and gnarled in a
.
’
way that suggests t he thumbscrew rather than the stumpe r s
g love s The writer suggests that some of t he deformity
.
”
might be due to rheumati sm Not a bit of it replie s . ,
Pooley bringing a m aimed fist down with a heavy thu m p on

,
t he ta ble “ There s no rheumati cs there ; it s a ll cricke t

.
’ ” ’
.
Al l the same rheu mati sm has had something to do w ith the

,
st ra nge defo rmity .
Cha tt ing ca relessly o n Pooley say s : In my younger days ,
I was once in t roduc ed to J e m Mace I was k eeping wicket .
a t a m a tch a t Lo rd s o u a pi t ch which at that tim e w as

’
—
so b ad t h a t you could put your fi ng er between t he cra cks on
the surface A ball shot up and knocked out three of m y

.
t ee th . A t lunch time I was going to wa sh my dam age d

-
m o nt h when I was told a gentle m a n want ed to b e introdu ced

’
t o me H e proved to be J em Mace
. Pooley said he I .
, ,
‘
w ould rat her s ta nd up again st any man in Engla nd for an

hour th a n take your place behind the wicket for fiv e minutes .
I hea rd that ball strike you as if it had hit a brick wall .

’
“But t he se a cciden ts are no t hing They are all in t he .
gam e an d stumpers then t hought li t t l e of them as th ey

, ,
do now The worst acciden t I ha d was at J ersey when my

.
,
nose was broken Ted W illsher w as bo wling to a ba tsman

.
who had as much idea of batting as a cross ing swe epe r -

.
ED WARD POO L EY . 135
Wil lsher brought Ch a rlwood to short leg for a catch and -
s e nt t he ba t sman one rather wide on the leg s ide The .
s triker t urned round m ad e a mighty swipe at the ball

, ,
miss ed it and ca ught me full on the nose I dropped like

,
.
a log in sen sible

,
When I came to my self a doctor was
.
gra ting t he bones in my broken n asal orga n wi th a vie w

t o repairing the dam age Ugh ! .
Another extraordinary accident more serious in it s re ,
sults ,
occurr ed in Surrey Su ss ex at Brigh t on in 1 87 1 .
J upp t hre w the ball in t o m e to r un a man out Th e ball .
ca ught me on the t op of t h e f o refi ng e r For the moment I .
t ook no notice of the blow We u sed a t that time to play .
in flan n el jacket s and on putting my hand up for a ca tch

,
sho rtly af t er ward s I found that blood wa s running down
t hrough t h e arm of my jacket Taking o ff m y glove I .

,
t hen saw that the bone of the fing er was broken an d pro ,
t rud e d through t he ski n A s urgeon w a s ca lled and the

.
,
joint put into splints and he gave me the di scomfort ing

,
as suranc e that I should not be a ble to pla y cricket for
mon th s .
“The Canterbury Fe st iv a l which I had not mi ssed for

,
s ome year s came on j u s t af t erwa rd s

,
I w ired to Mr I D . . .
Walker that I could no t possibly play but he replied t hat ,
I was to a ttend and I should be paid whe t her I played or

,
not Accordingly I wen t an d on rea ching t he ground found

.
,
t hat four or fiv e pl ayers had travelled by the D over express

and had been carried pas t C anterbury I wa s enjoying a .
comfortable pint when Mr Wal ker came u p a qua rter of

a n hou r befor e luncheon and as ked me t o g o in a t once .
I did so wi t h boots unla ced and no pad s o n ; and before

,
I was out my score had been ta ken to 93 in re cogni t ion of ,
which a collectionwas made for me on t he ground When .
m y innings was over I found that my injury had ca u sed a

l u m p to ri se in m y armpi t as big as a walnu t I was mightily .
a larmed for t he tim e being but fortun a t e ly m y cricke t was

, , ,
n o t seriou s ly interfere d w i t h .
Mention of Canterbury re m ind s me that Mr C I Thorn . .

1 36 on ) ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
t on, whom I hav e always r egard ed as the hard est hitter th e

world has seen and myse lf once went in to see ho w man y
,
r un s we could get withi n a c ertain tim e A t th e end of ha lf .
an hour th e score was 1 3 0 or 1 40 Mr Tho rn ton hit on e .
ball over a tree i nto th e hop garden s after which I remark ed -

,
to him I ll giv e yo u th e b e lt sir

,
‘ ’
I tri ed to thro w a b all , .
’
over that tree after wa rd s and could not manage it .
“I thin k I may sa that Mr Th ornto n did not lik e m e

y
behind the wicket wh en he was batti ng H e use d to sa y .
,
If you were not th ere Pooley I could ste p out a bit b ut , , ,
I n o ne matc h again st
’
if I do and miss I shall b e stumped .
Ke nt we got M r Thornton s wicket in a way that cau sed us ’
much glee H e came in with out pad s as usual and r emark ed

.
, ,
to me T ed I ll hit Street right out of th e ground first ba ll

, ,
’
.
’
Al l right ; do sir I re plied I gave Jim St reet the tip that

’
.
, ,
Mr Thornton int e nded to s te p out to th e first delive ry an d ,
told him to drop it v e ry short S tre et did so and Mr Th or n .

,
ton stepping out mi ssed it by yard s more or less H e

, ,
—
.
made no at t empt to r egain his crease but looking round at ,
me sa id ruefully All right Ted ; you v e had m e t h is

, , ,
’
’
time .
Certa in unpl easantness occu rred in one of the Yorkshi re

Surrey match es at Sheffield twe nty yea rs or so ago co n ,
cerning which there we re allegations of gambling The facts .

,
a s n o w given by Poo le y s ho w that th e su sp icions t hat exi s ted

,
were unju st .
“I was a ccu sed says h e of havi ng tr i ed to lose Su rre y

, ,
th e match What happened was this

. I we nt down t o .
S he ffie ld on the Su nday night r eady fo r th e match th e fol ,
lowing d ay and stayed at our u sual hostelry kept by Jim

, ,
D a rley J im said Well lad what so rt of a side have you

.
, , ,
brought ? Shall we win or lose this tim e 7 I replied J im ’

, ,
’
my boy w e haven t got a chance with you but I l l tel you
,
l
,
’
’
wh a t I w ill do I ll bet a bott le of champagne that I get
—
more run s than any one on your sid e you l ike t o na me .

’
J upp chi m e s in One bottle only Ted ? Make i t two th e n

, , ,
’
we can have on e each for breakfast I agree d we t wo .
138 O LD EN GLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
of the kind W illsher brought m e a drink in the usua l way

.
,
a n d I need ed no ri d ing order s Havi ng got so nea r it was .

,
only likely w e should play to win a nd not to d raw the match .
There certainly w as n o idea of wasting time Wil lshe r was .
no t t he m an to sa ve a match by that mean s .
Perha ps t he most a m us ing incident that I ca n remember

in m y cricket experience s occurred at Whi t eha ven in a ma tch ,
’
G race s Eleven v a loca l T w enty who had the assi s tan ce of
.
,
Ba rlo w a n d t he la te J ack Pla tt s he of the fatal Sum m e rs ,

—
m a t ch P la tts w as ba tting wh en the ball stuck in h is ha n ds

.
, .
W R Gil bert sa ng ou t Ge t to it Ted and as I was about

. .
,
‘
, ,
’
t o do so Pla tt s deliberately put the ba ll in t o his trous ers ,
w i thou t saying a word H e kne w however h e had don e

.
, ,
’ ’
for hen I a id J ck w h a t s up 7 h e immedi t e ly
‘
n
g ,
w s a , a ,
ra n a w ay fro m his wicket H e was follo w ed by nearly all.
t he m e m b e rs of the Eleven and a most comic race it was ,
a s e t of fi
—
e ld e rs ru n ning a f t er a bat sman all round t h e
’
e n cl o s ure In running the ba ll s lipped down Plat ts trous ers
.
,
a n d he t ri e d t o kick i t out but befor e he could do so o ne ,
o f the fi e ld e rs go t hold of him and he was held down whil e ,
t he b a ll wa s t a ken out of his trousers before it could to uch ,
t h e g ro u n d .
I t w asmost la ughable an d extraordinary incident but

a ,
t h e s e q u e l w a s even m ore se Pla t ts walked coolly back to .
t he w i cke t a n d prepa red t o con t inue his innings What s .

‘ ’
your ga m e n ow J a ck ? I asked ; yo u know you re out

,
’ ‘ ’
.
’
A sk t he u m pir e s sa id h e I did so and t he arti sts gav e

‘ ’
.
, ,
h im n o t o u t on t he ground t hat they could not se e w hat

‘ ’
ha d h a ppen e d ! Y e t a s a fa c t he was out in thre e way s

, ,
h a nd li ng t h e b a ll ob st r uc t ing t he fie ld and ca ught

,
”
,
.
T he w ri t er m a y here i n terp o l at e a rem a rk on this incident .
I la t t s a l way s decl ared t ha t he never h andled t he ball

’
He .
u se d t o pl a y in a n o rdi n a ry gr ey shir t and h is trous er s alway s ,
ca m e above h is b el t a n i n c h or t w o so t here was plenty of ,
ro o m fo r a ba ll t o lod g e H e pl ay ed the ba ll into h is shirt . .
W h e n h e st a rt e d t o run i t w as w i th the in t ention of jerking

t he b a ll o ut b u t i t w e n t the w rong way do w n h is trousers l
, ,
ED WAR D POO L EY . 139
In t he sam e match at Whitehaven continue s Pooley I , ,
ran Ba rlow out wh e n h e w as t wo ya rd s out of his ground .
In trying to get hom e th e e nd of th e bat stuck and Ba rlow ,
re ceived such a blow that he fell ov er i nse n sible W e gav e .
him a drink of b ra ndy though h e was a teetotaller and on

— —
coming round th e firs t thing he said was I em not out ,

‘
,
am I 7
’ ’
O n b e i ng told th at he was out didn t he look ,
cross ! H e took th e loss of his wick et more keenly than th e

”
t emporary lo ss of his sen ses .
Po oley was a m embe r of th e fourth E nglish team that went

to Aust ralia in 1 87 6 under th e capt aincy of J ames Lillywhite .
Th e team al so vi sited New Zealand a nd while there Pooley ,
w as under a cloud and had to endure compulso ry s epara t ion

,
from his colleagues for som e time H e is not afra id of

.
r eferring to th e matter now I t a ppears that there was a

.
bet on a c e rtai n match wh ich th e touring pa rty won The .
gentleman who made it refu sed to pay and a di sturbance ,
a nd an as sault e n sued By all acco unts th e ge n tleman who

.
r efu sed to pay was the wors t and though there was u n
,
doubtedly an assault Pooley says that t wo memb ers of t he

,
tea m bo th now d ead did th e most dam age

, ,
Be that as .
it m ay Pooley was de tained and put on trial

, H e was .
acqui t ted and h e says no w t hat th e decision gave so much

,
loca l satis faction that a purs e of 5 0 gui neas was subscribed

for him a watch and cha in were presented to him and he
, ,
was driv e n round th e town in a four ia hand lik e a conquer - -
ing h ero .
“
L ike o ther old crickete rs Pooley go t littl e fat out of
,
some of th e cricket e xcu rsion s a t hom e J ust one in s ta nce .
in proof of th e fact that the jolly life of a pro in the old .
days was not alway s att ended wi t h financial succe ss

“I rem e mb er we once played at Edinburgh wi t h the old
United . Whe n Mortlock and I got back to th e Elepha nt

and Castle we had 1 8 4d in our pocke ts betw ee n u s We
. . .
said th at if that was th e re sult of going to play cricket in

”
Scotland w e prefer red to play a t Kennington Ova l
,
.
In addition to th e chief team s t h e U ni ted and All ,

England there was a tea m run by Fred C aesar for a brie f

,
time of wh ich Pooley act ed as secretary That team once

, .
play ed Tom Sh erman s team at t he Oval for the champion ’
ship and won it The chief thing that Pooley remem bers
.
of the se enterprises is that th e money was divid ed and —
”
th ere was a rare bother ov e r the divis ion .
Humphrey Jupp and Pooley used to play singl e wick et

, ,
-
match es again st eleven s in variou s parts of the South and ,
Pooley says t he trio we re nev e r beate n thoug h h e admits ,
th ey found it very hard work Pooley is the only s urvivor .
of th e triumvirate .
I n addi t ion to the journ ey to Au stralia already mention ed ,
Pooley was one of Willshe r s team that went to Amer ica in ’
1 86 8 . Ge orge Fre e m a n and he had bunks in th e same cabin .
The pair we re very ill o n the journ ey but even Pooley had to ,
l a ugh when George in the th roes of sea sickn ess moaned out
,
-
, ,
“Ted w ha t an ass I mu st b e A s if I could not g e t plenty
, .
of cricke t in Y ork shire without coming out on a sea like

t hi s
The men w ho m ade thi s journey were W illsher S haw , ,
Pooley J upp Humphrey Charl wood J im Lillywhite Tarrant

, , , , , ,
J a ck Smith of Cambridge George Fr eeman and Jo e R o w , ,
botham O i the se only Shaw Pool ey and Lillywhite ar e

.
, ,
no w a live Rowbotha m was the last to join th e majority his

.
,
dea th occurring in D e cembe r last Pooley speaks of Row .
”
bo th am w i th good humoured familiarity as Old Tarpot -
.
A sked why such an eminently staid and r esp ected cricketer

should be s o c hri ste n ed h e sa id that no matt e r how ill oth er ,
pe o ple w ere on board J o e Rowbotham ne v e r mi ssed a meal , .
H e st uck to every thing he ate so w ell that they nicknamed

him Old Ta rpot .
T h e Rev C anon M C o rm ick m ad e 1 3 7 in North

. South‘
a t C a n t erbury on Augu s t 3 1 868 when Poole ywa s k e eping , ,
w icke t W he n nea r the end of the innings Pooley said to

.
,
h im “Well s ir thi s is the most extraordinary e xperience

, , ,
th a t I h a ve ever had at cricket All the time you hav e .
b e e n in I have scarcely taken a s ingle ball at t he wicket .

M E A RT H U R A PPLE BY .
MR ART H U R APPLEBY is on e of
those great but modest sports
men who would rath e r talk about
a n yb od y and anything than ab out
hi m self and h is crick et p e rform

an oes Thi s mode sty is a virtue
.
characteristic of mo st cricketers ,
and in the course of the se Talk s

i t has se veral times been a di th
cult ob stacle for the write r to
overcome What Mr Appleby
.
had done if wo rth knowi ng w as

, ,
well known he had littl e to say ,
a n d n o t mu ch i n clin a t io n to sa it in fac t whil e a i t

y , pp re c a
ing t he com plimen t he rea lly did not see why he should
,
talk a t a l l Bu t the se Ta lk s w ould not be con side red repre

.
s e n t a t iv e if the remini s cence s of an am a teur of Mr Appleby s

’
s cho o l passe d u n recorded ; hence the old L anca shire lef t a rm -
bo w ler in deference t o the writer s representation s overcam e

,
’
,
h is re luc t ance to s it in the O ppo sit e chair and Talk .
Though of La ncashire birth M r Appleby com es of Y ork shi re

,
s t ock
. H is fa t h e r was a cor n miller a t Farnley near L e ed s
-
, ,
a n d t h e fa m ily forebe a r s lived and m illed there so far back a s
the ea rlie st yea rs of t he eighteen t h c e n t ury In 1 841 Mr

.
Appl eb y s fa ther re m oved t o En fie ld near A ccrington There

’
,
.
the p re se nt En fie ld M ill s were erected there M r A r thur

,
M R A RTH U R A PPLEBY . 143
Appleby was born the d ate of his birth being J uly 2 2 1 843
—
—
there and elsewhere along with his brother he still ca rries
on the busine ss of corn mill e r and there t he future gene ra
-
tion of Applebys is growing u p A s if to show attachment .
for the coun ty from whence the family sprang young Arthur ,
Appleby w as educated at T ho rparch and it was thus on ,
Yorkshire soil that he learnt the rudim en t s of cricket .
In those early day s says Mr Appleby ,

I had no id ea ,
of taking any great pa rt in cricket A s a matter of fact .

,
w hen I ca m e home to En fi eld a nd join e d our club h e re on ,
being selected to play I to ld them I thought m y proper

posi t ion in the fie ld was long stop I was told however -
.
, ,
t hat I should hav e to bowl and I did bo wl under hand ,

— -
.
Then the remark was made to m e that that kind of bowli ng

w as no good I mu st bowl round arm (l e ft ) I tried in a
.
-
.
local match and bo wled thre e wid es for a sta rt I finished

, .
the over und er hand did not tak e another and came to the
-
, ,
co nclus ion at the moment that bowling was not my forte .
But what was the sequel ? I thought that perhaps after ,
all I might do something for my club in bo wling so I prae

, ,
t ise d and practi s ed and grad ually found that round a rm

,
-
bo wling was not impo ssibl e I acquired a fair pace ; it was .
never considered fast but you would call it di st inctly abov e

,
mediu m O n Augu st 2 3 1 86 2 I play ed for Wha lley at

.
, ,
Grea t Harwood and the pape rs w e re kind enough to m ake

,
reference to my excellent bow ling a nd ea sy delivery as

‘ ’ ‘
,
’
they de scribed it I went on pra cti sing until I found I really

.
c o uld do some thing If we had had say a couple of pro

.
, ,
f essionals in the club h e re and the di stric t had not been one in
,
w hich cricket practice at night was really the only a m u sem e n t ,
I should probably n e ver have been known in firs t class cricket -
as a bowler .
Wh a t may be ca lled m y first match outs ide one day even t s -
was North La ncashire v Manchest e r a t Preston on J uly 3 .

, ,
1 86 3 w hen L uke Greenwood who w as on our side North

, ( ,
Lancashire) m ade 7 3 and 2 2 My share was 4 wickets

, . .
A fterward s I was sev eral ti mes asked to play agai n st th e

,
144 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
A ll England E leven who at t he tim e we re infu sing lif e into

-
cricket throughout th e country A plac e in a team agains t .
them was th en co nsidered an honour and so I regard ed it , .
George Pa rr who man aged the All England Elev e n a t the

,
-
time asked m e to play for h im at Ke ndal but I could not

, ,
accept the invitat ion much to m y regret , .
O u Augu st 1 0 and 1 1 1 86 6 I p layed for t he Ge ntl em en 0 , , .
Players of Lancashire at Ch eetham Hill and tha t match may ,
be con s idered to be th e commenc em ent of my ca reer as a first

class cricke t er Mr Alec B Rowl ey th e Lancashire captain
. .
, ,
asked m e to play fo r Lancas hire again st Su rrey at Liv e rpool I .
que st ioned t he propriety of th is fo r th e reason that Mr T ed di e ,
Rowley who had had all the expen se and trouble of playi ng in
,
t he Ova l m a tch we pa id o ur own e xpe n ses in those da y s re

—
,
member was enti t led t o play in th e hom e e ngagem ent Mr

—
.
Alec how ever said h e would mak e it all r ight w ith 1118
, ,
brother a nd on hearing th is I said I should b e very g l ad to

,
pl ay for m y county A ccordingly I did so and on Augus t

.
,
23 24 2 5
, ,
1 866 I made my d é but as a Lanca shire c r ickete r
, ,
o n t he W a vertre e Ground L iverpool sco r ing 2 0 and 1 0 with , ,
the b a t and ta king 6 wickets in th e first innings th e wick et s

, ,
in cluding those of Humphrey J upp H H Stephenson and , , . .

,
Mortlock We might h a ve won th e match but for the fac t

.
th a t T O Pot ter mi ssed Griffith out in th e long field 0 6 Roge r

. .
-
I d diso n Griffith then m ade 41 n ot out and we lost b y 3

.
,
wi cke t s Aft er the match M r Bu rrup the Surrey sec re tary

.
, ,
w ho w as o n the ground a sk e d m e if I would play fo r t h e ,
Gentl e m e n a t the Oval the next y ea r if th e Surrey Committ ee

invited me ; a nd while I depreca t ingly said I was not goo d
e nough I con sented to pla y if asked
,
.
A s a m a tt er of fact m y first invitation to p lay in Gentl e

,
’
men Play e rs ca m e fro m Lord s That was in 1 86 7 I . .
ac ce p t e d a nd pl ayed p re tty regularly up to 1 87 8 I n th e

,
.
1 86 7 m a t ch I bo w led t hrough bo t h in n ings a f eat which —
w as n o t oft e n done then a n d is m uch rarer n o w no doubt , ,
ow in g to the i m proved w i cket s Then I did not a ppear in .
’
the Gen t lem e n s side un t il 1 887 It was a very d ry sum .
146 OLD ENGLI S H C RI C K ETERS .
he was ca lled upon to reply for the Navy It was t he on ly .
nautica l e xperience that could possibly have qualified him to

reply to such a toas t .
Among the crickete rs of the N e w World Mr Appl eby s ’
bow ling had dire re sul ts and he soon became kno wn as Th e

,
”
Tormen tor This sobriquet cau sed the author of Wickets
.
in the West to br eak into so ng from which the followi n g is ,
an ex t ra c t
T o r m e n to r th ey call m e I k n o w n ot why , ,
F ro m m y d eadl y len gth or m y wi ck ed eye ?

T ake m e o ff le t an o th e r t ry ;
,
J e al o usy passes an Appl e b y -

.
F ie l d br o t hers fie l d m y ra p i d s are near

, , , ,
”
T o the sti ck s an d the shoo ters a way w ill cl ea r .
Ou a no ther oc casion at New York th e loca l press gav e rei n

, ,
t o their im agin at ion one of them saying that Appleby an d “

,
Gra ce were the execu t io ners in the second innings of the N e w

Yorkers The Torm e nt or bowled with t errific speed
. He .
t o re H a t fie ld s wicke t dow n wi t h a shooter and a groan of

’
,
di st ress w e nt up as one of the brighte st lights of the M utual s

”
w a s dren ched in a duck s egg D renched in a duck s egg
’
.
’
s ugg e st s a Congre ssional electio n with which our America n ,
cou si ns w ere then perhaps more fa miliar than wi th cricket .
I n a n o t her m a tch at Ott awa it is recorded that th e Tor

m en t or p e rpe t ra t ed a perfect s laugh t er of the Innocents Th e .
bu t cher s bill read thus Rose 8 wick e ts for 3 5 run s ;

’
Ap pleby 1 2 w i cke ts for 3 run s The latter performanc e

,
.
,
e ve n ag a i n s t a m oderate t ea m is marvellou s Appleby w as , .
not
p e r m i tt e d fro
,
m m o t ive s o f hum a nity to bo w l throughou t ,
t h e s e cond in n i ng s Aft er ca pturing 8 w ickets he was t ake n

.
a n d his a n a l ys i s for bo t h innings re a d t hus
1 80 b a ll s ; 2 0 ru n s ; 1 7 wicke t s .
I t is d o ub t f ul if a ny bow ler (round arm ) ev e r bowl e d -
through a n in n ings again s t tw enty t wo for 3 run s only I t —

.
m o v e d a C an a di a n rhy m e s t er to the follo w ing outburst a ver se ,
o f a s ong to The Ge n t lem en Cricke ters Team : ’

MR A RT HU R A PPLEBY . 147
H ere s the le ft handed bowler th at Lan cashi re swell

’
- —
,
W h o m Otta wa bats me n re m em ber so well :

H e b o wled a w h ol e innin gs (an d b owled like grea t gun s) ,
”
I n Appl e pie o rd e r fo r on ly three run s
- —
.
The performanc e was rep eated in th e se cond innings of the

match play ed again st twe nty two of B oston wh en the ana ly si s
-
rea d as foll ows
Thi s t rip to Canada and the State s was t he only vi s it

abro ad for cricketing purpo se s which Mr Appl eby could
undertake I n 1 87 8 he was asked to r ep eat the trip but was
.
,
unable to do so ow ing to the cla im s of business and as a , ,
matter of fact th e tour n ev e r came off I n 1 87 3 W G Gra ce

, . . .
as ked him to go to Au stralia but for busin ess and domest ic,
r eason s that invita t ion al so had to b e d e clined whil e a pressing ,
i nvi ta t ion to form one of Lo rd Harri s s team fo r Au stralia in ’
1 87 8 could not be accep t ed for the sa m e r eason s .
Mr Appleby ca n not b e said to have put h is h eart into

bat t ing to th e same extent as bow li ng but he once mad e 9 9 ,
again st York shire wi t h I dd iso n West Emmett Luk e Gre e n

, , , ,
wood a nd Clayton on th e bowling sid e That match was on

,
.
J uly 1 7 1 87 1 on the Bramall Lane ground

, ,
H e was eigh t h .
on the bat t ing li st and Bar low who had gone in th e wicket
, ,
before him grea t ly as si sted him by ston ewalli ng for a 2 8 not

,
”
out . When I w as bowl ed by Clayto n says Mr Appleby , ,
I ha d no id ea I was so near th e 1 0 0 Ou my retire ment I .
found M r Hornby on the steps of th e pavilion ready with a

new hat to pre se n t to m e My highest score outside coun ty
.
cricke t was 1 3 6 not out for Manche ster at B irkenhead Park ,
Au g ust 2 7 2 8 , ,
A n incident that has bee n told mo re than onc e at t h e

’
expense of Richard D a ft occurred in th e Gentlemen v Players .
m a tch a t Lor d s in 1 87 2 D a ft who had been bowled by

’
.
—
Mr Appleby fo r 0 in the first innin gs had scor ed 1 0 2 in the —

148 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
s econd when the La ncas hire amateur bowled him w ith a b all
,
w hich pitched so wide of the wicket that the famou s Notts

batsman did not atte mpt to p lay it O f thi s incident M r .
’
Ap pleby says that Lord s ground was not then what it is now ,
and tha t t he slope of the wick et materially h elped a left a rm -
bow ler wi t h a break like his wh en attacking from t he

, ,
pavilion en d The ball in question was pitch ed pe rhaps seve n

.
“
inches wide of the wicket and whipped in from the off , ,
much to D aft s chagrin a n d astoni sh m ent

’
.
N 0 man has s urely come n earer to maki n g a tie in h is

tea m s two innings of a match than Mr Appleby did wh e n
’
playing for J am es Lillywhite s b e ne fit in G entlem e n v Play e r s ’

.
”
a t Brigh t on in Augu s t 1 881 I had h e says to go in las t
.
, ,
in bot h innings of the Ge ntlem e n I n th e first I scored 8 .

,
and m ade the score tie In t he second afte r scoring 3 I w as

.
, ,
splen d idly caugh t by Al i Shaw o ff his own bowling W e

. .
w ere t hen 1 run behind and th e Players won by 1 , It was .
sa id th a t a m i sta ke had been m ade by th e s cor e rs and tha t ,

”
w e rea lly tied on both inni n gs .
T e n yea rs earlier on Augu st 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 87 1 M r Appl e by

, , , , ,
played for the Gentleme n Players at Brighton for the b en e fit ,
of J ohn L illy white O n tha t occa sion he had an adv entu re

.
t hat w a s more exciting that was in fact n ear ly a tragedy

—
, ,
’
I was proceedi ng to Brills baths befor e brea kfast on the
s e cond morning of the match wh e n I met Mr M Turn e r .
,
the M iddlesex wicket keeper who wa s playing in t he ma tch

-
, ,
a n d a friend w ho were goi n g to b a th e in th e sea and tho u gh

, , ,
I expla ined I w as no sw i mm er they persuaded m e to aecom ,
pa ny th e m A s every one kno ws who has onc e bathed at

.
Brigh to n the beach ru ns quickly down and having proceed ed

, ,
c au t io u sly to the li m it of my height I was disport ing mys e lf , ,
no do ub t to my sa tis faction and enjoyment when a wave ,
ca m e a n d l a nded me a y a rd or t wo farther from shor e and ,
co m ple t ely ou t of m y depth Th e on e ho r rid s uspicion that

.
s eized me wa s th a t they might think I was only joking .
H o w ever M r Bull (Turner s friend ) came to my rescue but

,
’
wa s po w erle ss and Turn er had to ge t us both out thou g h

, ,
15 0 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
ass ociation wi t h a county in whose rank s all bowle rs hav e not

enjoyed a simila r unequivocal reputation makes his o pinio n
on throwing of interest and value .
Though it is quite possible Crossla nd might occas ion ally

chu ck a yorker I used to thin k it singular that w e never
’
,
hea rd a nything about it except wh en he had t a ken a w icket ,

.
Once at Burnley for Enfield the c rowd as he was knocki n g

, , ,
dow n the w icke t s of t he local t eam shouted out Gi e over , ,

‘ ’
cobbing the lat ter being a nother word for throwing in Lanca
,
’
shire . Hone s t ly it was a v ery d ifficult thing to put m y

,
fin ge r as it w ere u pon any d efinit e o ccas ion when I ha v e

, ,
s e e n Cro s sl a nd delibe ra t ely thro w D uring the four yea rs .
Crossla nd was at Enfield no one except in t he i ns tan c e re ,
ferred to ra i sed any cry of throwing again st him H e was a

,
.
s hor t sturdy ch a p an d it w as said he could th row 1 0 0

,
yard s
out of a tub When he delivere d the ball he did not ru n
.
m ore th a n fiv e ya rd s and his las t action w as a whip of t h e ,
w ri st which som e people took for a thro w as was the ease ,
w i t h N a sh a n d Wa t son Once I reme mber a t Old T rafio rd

'
.
, ,
o n e of t he Au s tralian s watched Cro ss l a nd and said Ther e , ,
d id yo u se e t ha t throw ? bu t again the rem a rk was m a d e

’
a ft er a w icket h ad fa llen .
Cross l an d who is n o w an ont porter at Blackburn was

,
—
,
not devoid of hu m our I remember once in a match at .
Bla ckburn t he ba ll from one of his deliveries was hit b etwe e n

cover poin t a n d m id o fi a n d the two fi e ld e rs betwee n th e m
'
- -
,
dropped it H e was di sgu sted and blu rted out Two of

.
, ,
‘
’
yo u s as good as one and one s as good as two for n e ither of
’
, ,
’
o u ca n s to p a b a ll
y .
M r Appleby d o e s no t like to talk about his own bowlin g ,
a n d cer t a inly di scl a i m s phe n omen a l po w ers al t hough fo r a ,
t i m e he was probably the b est a mat eur bowler in England .
”
I sho uld sa y he c o n fe sse s I was never con sciou s of a ny
, ,
di s t i nct a b ili ty to m a ke the ba ll do a nything I va ried th e ‘

.
p ace a litt le t ried a yorker n o w a n d aga in and so o n The

, , .
o n ly e xpl an a t ion of m y s u cce ss is that i t came as the re sult of ,
s t e a d y pra c t i ce I ha v e very fa ir sized hand s they so m e

.
- —
MR A RTH U R A PP L EBY . 15 1
ti m es ca ll ed them shovels when I was field ing with long —
and powerful finge rs and I suppose I mu st have put som e

,
life into th e ball in delivering it and it m variab ly came in ,
w ith m y arm I was strong fairly capable of e nduran ce and

.
, ,
st ood nea rly 6 feet 2 inches in my sho es .
Pre served in his carefully kept sc rapbook are lette rs from -
local club s the Judge Walm sley C C date J uly 1 1 860 and
—
. .
, , ,
Ra m sbotto m to be preci se to play a friendly gam e at

cricket for a ball and for honour A glance at them natur .
ally turned the conversa tion into local channels and th e

infl ue n ce of L eagues upon the game Lancashir e being one of ,
t h e stronghold s of L ea gue cricket .
”
I h ave t ried h e says to bring L eague cricket in L ance»
, ,
shire more in line w i t h t he county tha t is to say that it ,
s hould be the aim of the L eague s to produce local players fi t

to uphold the honour of the county In my opinion it is a .
mi sta ke to rely on professiona l s in our local club s to w in

m a t ches and still more is it an evil t hat profe ssionali sm
, ,
direct or indirec t should be encouraged a mong the local club

,
mem bers them selves In my o wn case if there had been t wo

.
,
professional bowlers at Enfield in all probabili t y I should ,
never have had the chance of becom ing a bowler my se lf : I

should not have been w a n t ed .
Another opinion t ha t I hold is that whatever tend s to ,
unduly exaggerate the importance of a re sul t or suggest ,
individual or collec t iv e fam e much less a reward in th e shap e

—
of trophie s or meda ls is a sourc e of d anger to the pastim e

—
.
Com peti t ion s of this kind are apt to shake the balance of fa ir
play and good judgm en t except perh aps of t he very best of
,
men and m ake them more anxious of the result of a m at ch

,
tha n ca reful of the way in w hich it is w on L eague s t oo .

, ,
whi le they increas e the num ber of spec t ators al so in t roduce ,
men w hose conception of sport is perhaps not as high as we

should all like i t to b e and w hen they become e xci t ed t he
, ,
players are li able to fin d that the feeling is con tagiou s I .
don t t hink there is a great deal of bet ting in L eague cricket

’
—
a t le as t t h a t is m y experienc e
,
.
15 2 ENGLI S H carcxs r s as .
Before l eaving local cricket I might recall an intere sting

occurrence that happened so far back as S eptember 9 1 86 5 , .
En field w ere to play Accrin gton at hom e W e w ere qui t e a .
young club th en Accrington had th e servic es of old Joh n

.
Berry th e Yorkshi reman who did a great d eal to develop

,
cricket in East Lan cashir e a m an whom w e all h e ld in much —
re spec t and who alway s did his lev e l b est fo r his sid e We
,
.
had no p r ofe ssio nal of our o wn so w e e ngaged G e orge A t kin ,
so n. Wh en th e match had to commen c e we w er e anxiou sly

looking toward s th e road to se e if he was comi ng But no .
George turned np We as k ed Accrington if th ey would drop

.
Berry seeing that Atki nson had not com e b ut th ey re pli ed

, , ,
We shall play B er ry ; you do as you like Th e match had .

’
to g o o n Accrington were got ou t for 6 2 and w e won easily

, ,
with a scor e of 1 2 2 My o wn co nt ribution was 6 wi ck ets and

.
5 7 run s N e
. e d le ss to say th e r e s ult caus e d imm
,
e ns e d el i gh t
at Enfield and dism ay at Acc ri ngto n
,
Ge org e Atkinson .
never explain ed why h e did not ke ep his engagem ent , but I

af t e rward s j oked him about it and it was a p l eas ur e t o m e t o ,
play in his b enefit match at Dewsbu ry on S e ptemb er 5 6 , ,
and 7 1 87 0 on which occasion by th e way I rem emb er h e

, , , ,
sang at th e th eatr e at night and sang re markably w e ll , .
Mr Appl eby has bee n presid e nt of th e Enfield Club si nce

1 86 1 . I n 1 87 7 th e local c r ickete rs mad e him a presen ta tio n ,
of which he conti nues justly proud It con si sts of a hand .
so m e s ilv e r lovi ng cup which b ea rs th e fo llowi ng inscripti on

-
,
Pre se n ted to A A ppleby Esq by the members and friend s of

.
, .
,
t h e En fi eld C ri cket C l ub o f wh ich he has bee n President sev e n

,
te en years as a re co g ni t i on o f h is servi ces in pro moti ng th e

,
n a ti o n al ga me an d ackn o w l ed gm en t o f t he abili ty wi t h wh i ch
,
h e has re presen te d h is cl u b an d c on n ty b oth at ho me an d abroad .
O ct 2 0 1 87 7
.
, .
Another presentation of which Mr Appl eby is e qually p roud

is an elegant silver goblet It was p resented to him by t he .
Com mittee and playe rs of the Enfie ld Club on Oc t ober 2 5 ,
1 899 It comm emorates the com pl e tion of his fo rtiet h y ea r

.
of active crick et in his native village

William O scroft s county cricket career comm enc ed in 1 863

’
.
It l as te d practically twenty y ea rs and closed with a tragedy , .
O u September 7 1 882 No t t s w ere playi ng S usse x at Brighton

, , ,
and O scro ft being in brilliant fo rm scored a fin e forcing

, ,
innings of 6 2 making that figure out of 9 0 for t he first wicket

,
o
in company with Mr C W Wright That was the las t time . . .
b e h a ndled a bat .
Sho oting pain s th rough the mus cles a givi ng way of t he ,
knee s a st range d ifficulty in prese r vi ng th e e quilibrium

, ,
brought home suddenly to William Oscro ft that t here was

s o m e t hing wrong with him The sympto m s gre w worse . .
H e sought a speciali st s ad vice

’
Would he get be tter 7 Th e .
s ecia li s t looked thoughtfully ou t of th e wi ndow for a f e w

p
m o m en t s a nd then ventured the reply “I hop e so ”
To
, , .
O s cro ft t hi s was th e umpire s verdict “ out ”

H e played
’
.
cri cke t no mor e .
Willi a m O scro ft is a victim of locomoto r ataxia brought ,
o n by cold and over exertion -

.
Bu t if phy sically infirm and on ly abl e occasionally t o get ,
d o w n t o t he scene of his former triumphs at Tre n t Bridg e ,
W illi a m O scro f t is men t ally as bright and active as ever and ,
r et a in s lively recollection s of his cricke ting career H e was .
bo rn on D ecember 1 6 1 843 Th e portrait giv en of h im

,
.
repre sents him as he was in early manhood H e prefers that .
th is o nly sh all be published .
There was no orthodox cricket field at A rnold when O scro ft -
le a rn ed t o play cricke t as a boy The present field at Bes t .
w o o d I a rk a se a t of the D uke of St Alban s which is al so

’ — —
the club n a m e now was con st ructed in 1 86 7 by William

,
O scro ft s fa ther and opened by a match with t he A l l

’
En g l and Eleven t he f und s for which were obtained by

,
1
s h a re s . The score of t he m at ch printe d on si lk is still , ,
pre s erv e d by t he O scro ft s of Arnold .
I t m ay here be mentio ned tha t th e late D uk e of S t Al ban s

w a s once induced t o pla y cri cket with the youth s of Arnold ,
a n d t he re is an en t ry in a n old s core book which sho w s t ha t -
h is Gra ce was c aught ou t for 8 by C T O scro ft The . . .

W ILLIA M oscaor r
'
. 155
latte r will no w te ll you that the ball went to his hand and
”
s tuck .The catch was quite an accident No member of .
th e team would hav e dreamed of trying to prevent the D uke

from making a big score again st the m .
’
O scro f t s introd uctio n into the serious side of crick e t
that is his first pro fessional engagement took plac e when
,
—
”
he was se ventee n yea rs of age There was h e say s an .
, ,
adverti sement in th e Spo rting L ife for a boy to play cricket

at Eas tbourne wages 1 0 8 pe r w ee k I applied and got th e
, . .
,
post It was unders tood that I was to bo wl for the boy s at

.
the school but after seei ng m e bowl in practice th e elders

,
thought they would lik e my as sista nce W Sl inn a well . .

,
known Yorkshirem an now dead should have taken up an , ,
e ngagement as t h e se n ior profes sional at a sa lary of £4 per ,
w eek but he broke it and George Baker of K ent took his

, , , ,
plac e I liv ed with Baker thank s to whom I was able to

.
,
sub si st on 1 0 8 a week and pay board and lodging

.
-
, My stay .
at Eas t bourne las ted four years .
I n 1 86 3 I appli ed for a trial with th e Notts Colts ea rly

in the s eas on but was not selected, Then I ca me hom e t o .
p lay in t he Ar nold feast matches and after scores of 7 0 and ,
9 0 , and a lot of wicke t s a Nott s Com m it t ee member as

,
ked m e
to play wi t h the Col ts in the Septem ber trial but on the day ,
of t he ma tch I w as placed not among the Col ts but amon g

th e County Eleven I t was you see a repetition of the
.
, ,
Eas t bourn e experience : I was engaged for th e juniors but ,
take n ov e r by th e seniors In 1 864Alf Shaw and I were . .
’
s e nt up to gether as Colts to play at L ord s Shaw took .
7 w icket s in the firs t innings and 6 in the second : I was

l b w b Grundy 5 1 in the firs t in nings and b Woot ton 7 6 (out
- - -
,
of a to tal of 1 1 3 from the ba t ) in the second Our repu ta .
tions were th e n mad e The M C C called me into the pav. . . .
ilion and prese nte d me with a bat a rare thing for them to —
do a t leas t in tho se days .
My connection with the A l l England t eam b egan in 1 86 5 -

.
The p re vious y ea r in t h e Yorksh ir e m atch at Bradfo rd

August 4 5 6 George Parr did a very curious thing H e
, ,
—
.
15 6 ENG LI S H c nrcxs rnss
'
.
w as playing him self but he was th ere in charge of the

no t ,
tea m I had previously gone in first wick et down ; n o w he

.
placed me ab solute ly the las t man ! You may gu ess I was

astoni s hed and could not explain the mov e except on the
,
ground t hat Parr had a poor opinion of my abilities H o w .
ever in last I had to go and George And e rson caugh t me

, ,
ou t fro m a st raight drive off Ro ger I dd ison fo r 2 .
The n Par r came up and ask ed m e if I was engag ed for

n ext se ason I re plied I was not Had not Carpente r as ked
. .
m e to play for th e United 7 N 0 Had I not promi s ed to .
t o L ord I r (P )
’
g o s 7 N 0 Then would
. play fo him a rr ?
Wo uld I pl ay for Ge orge Pa rr ! Why of cou rse I would ; it , ,
was t he very thing I had se t my hea rt upo n I had my wi sh . .
I t w as only a couple of m on t hs b efore that [ J uly 2 3 ,
in my second m at ch for Notts we look ed like bein g ,
be at e n by K ent at the Crys tal Palace Som e one to ld Parr .
t ha t his county looked in for a b ea ti ng but th e vetera n ,
replied I have a boy here who w ill b e put on after dinner

‘
,
’
a n d h e 11 get the m out I was put on to bowl after l uncheon
.
,
a n d had the good for t une to tak e 4 of th e l as t 5 wickets
q ui ckly Nott ,
s winning th e match by 73 r u n s .
“ I w as not long in meeting with both th e humil tin g

ia a nd
the exciting phases of county crick e t O n J uly 2 8 and 2 9 .

,
1 86 4 Not ts played Surrey at Trent Bridg e

, I captur ed a .
p a ir
.
’
Th a t w as the humilia t ion Th e e xcit e ment .cam e in
’
S u rrey s second innings They need ed 6 2 to win t he match
.
,
and J u
pp and Mortlock making 3 0 odd for the fir st wicket ,
b e t s of 6 to 4were m ade as to the pair rubbing th e ru ns o ff

b e fore b e i ng separa ted Then s uddenly one of them got out
.
,
and one of those m a rvellous ch ances which sometimes com e

over a game was see n Wicke t s fell so fast that when the last
.
m an came in 4r un s were n eeded J ac kson gav e Shepherd

.
the la st m a n a yorker bu t t he b a tsman stuck his hat in th e

—
bl o ck hole and t he ba ll w en t awa y for one Th en Mr D ows on

-
.
,
w ho had been batting a n hour an d a half for 8 r un s ou t o n e ,
for 3 and Surrey won by 1 w icket

, .
The 1 86 5 match wi t h Surrey I may add at the Oval w as , , ,

w e nt out in high dudgeon and I did not see him aga in til l ,
n e xt mor n i ng at br eakfast w h e n h e look ed at n a as black as ,
thund er H e and I w ere in togeth er a long tim e du ri ng the

.
morni ng and h e played wonderfully w ell but looked as glu m

, ,
as ev er and not a wo rd would h e utt er, so all ou r r u ns had t o

,
b e got by i nstinct and our sil ent k nowl ed ge of th e gam e .
We won easily and Jack left a s after the match was ov er in

, ,
high um brage at ou r cond uct .
“A curiou s i n cid e nt occur re d j u st b e fo re I w ent in t o

bat in thi s match Par r call ed m e as id e and said to m e
.
,
O scro ft if you a re in wh e n To m Haywa rd com es in mi nd h e

, ,
doe sn t run you out

’
I was still in wh en Tom cam e in an d
.
’
,
spl e ndid cricket did he play Aft er making a fine cut straigh t .
to a field er Tom shouted to m e C om e on I replied No

, , .
’
,
h i
’
g o back ; but lo n g b e fo re h e re ach e d th e cr e ase s wick e t
w as down and he had to re ti re
,
I was t0 p scorer with 5 2 .
not out Whil e I was field ing ne xt day a gentl eman whom I
.
did no t kno w called to m e and said H ere O scroft h e re s a ,

‘
, ,
’
sovereig n fo r your fi
’
ne i n nings y est erday I lea rnt after .
wa rd s that Pa rr and Hayward were stayi ng with a ge ntl e man

overnight and afte r di nner th e question of t 0 p scorer was
,
di scu ssed Hayward said h e wou ld lay 5 to 1 against any

.
individual member of th e team bei ng top sco rer barr i ng h im

s elf and on e of the compa ny took th e odd s to two so v ere ign s
, .
Thi s may have been th e ge ntle man who gav e m e th e so v ere ig n ,
t ho ugh I neve r knew .
Imm ediately afte r ward s [ August 2 4 2 5 1 86 5 ] Notts had , ,
t o meet Su ssex at Brighton George Parr J ack son T i nle y .

, , ,
and my self travelled to London toge th er We stayed at t he .
Thre e Tun s Inn near London Bridge Railway Station I was

,
.
s i tt ing during the ev e ni ng in a seclud e d pa rt o f th e ba r an d ,
b e ing qui te unknow n to any on e present I overh ea rd a rich ,
bit of conv e rsation betwee n several of th e Su sse x players and

,
th e ir friend s a s to th e probabiliti es of th e coming contes t

,
.
O no e xpre ssed t he hop e that they would beat Nott s Anoth er .
replied We are sure to do that Th e re s nobod y to play

,
.
’
.
D icky D aft i sn t playing and Pa rr is ge tti ng old and done up

’
,
W I LLIA M OS C RO ET . 15 9
we a re re to win
su B ut a third man says There is thi s
.
,
young O scro ft to contend with w hat about him 7 Well —

’
,
w ha t about him ? Surely we are not goi n g to b e b ea ten by

a lad 7 So thi s volley firing was kept up for som e time
’
-
.
Sussex opened the batting and got 1 1 8 run s I and C . .
Bra m pton went in first for Not ts about forty fiv e minute s ,

-
before the close of t he day s play and I got 2 0 overnight ’

, .
The next day I m ade my s cor e up to 1 0 7 before being caught .
The m a tch w as over th e second day and Notts wo n wi t h an ,
innings and 5 0 run s in hand O n the foll o wing Monday I .
w as due at Sca rborough for the Scarborough Week On .
Su nday I broke the journey at York and on going into my ,
hotel the first m an I saw w as Jack Smi th who in sta ntly c am e ,
up to me and seizing my han d said Bill I congra tulate you

, , , , ,
on your 1 0 7 a t Brighton S o ended plea sa ntly the litt le

’
.
episode H e had forgiv e n the impro m ptu chri stening which

.
”
he had received a f ew days before at C hicken ley .
O n an other occasion we played a match at O ssett and as ,
on e of the Gentlemen Player s matche s was on at the sa m e ’
ti m e Hay ward Carpenter Smith and Tarra nt w ere not

, , , ,
available con sequen t ly w e were wea k in bot h bow ling and

,
ba tt ing The loca l side had engaged L uke Green w ood a n d

.
Ike Hod gson be sides other professionals I t hink we got

,
.
about 1 2 0 in the first innings and the loca l tw en t y two m ad e ,

-
over 2 0 0 They got u s out aga in rather cheaply in the second

.
inning s and t hey finally had t o g o in a second time requiring

, ,
only about 6 0 run s to win O i course the local s t hought t he

.
m a t ch as good as won But they w ere in error : it was the

.
Eleve n who w o n for we go t them out for 3 7 run s

,
.
Ike Hodgson co n fid en t that the O sset t on ia n s had a good

,
t hing o n took o ff his cricket boots put on his ordinary ones

,
-
, ,
a nd left the ground for the village A shor t t im e a ft er .
ward s we met him in the road way and w i t h a broa d grin ,
a sked him where he had been Oh I ve been to a friend s ‘ ’ ’

.
,
’
hou se how many wicke t s have you got dow n 7 We ve got ’
t hem a ll down except yours and we w aited ten minu t es fo r

, ,
’ ’
y o u t o t urn up to ba t W e ve w o n the m a t ch by 2 7 run s

. .
1 60 O LD EN GLI S H cmcx m s as .
Ike wa s si m ply du m foundered O n fin d ing out that w e w ere .
not joking he w ent to the fie ld for his bag and hi ed him

,
quie tly bu t hurriedly away Ano th e r case of Gloriou s u n .

‘
’
certa in ty you se e ,
.
Ma ny cricketers w ill remember th e Rev B M Si m s who . . .

,
had a meteoric ca reer a t Cambridge and in Yorkshire in t he

’
Seven t ies and died at th e early age of thirty two years o n
,
-
October 5 1 885 Here is a good story touching his de m on

, .
bowling Says Will O scro ft

.
O u May 1 2 1 3 and 1 4 1 87 3 I play ed with an El eve n of

, , , ,
England Cambridge Universi ty Mr Sim s the York s hire .

,
undergraduate w as bow ling again st us H is spe ed was t er

,
.
rifi c a n d t hree or four of our w ickets went do w n in next t o

,
no t ime for very fe w run s We had n ever played hi m before .

,
and I expected to share the same fate When I went in it .

,
w as a t the end fro m which he was bowling and I whi s pered to ,
t he u m pire w ho was a big pal of min e If you give me out

, ,
leg before w icket I sh a ll cut your head o ff with t he bat

- -
.
’
When I got to the other end I played at his first ba ll but w as ,
too l a t e a nd it hit my leg

,
How s tha t 7 Not out .
’ ’
,
’
responded my friend When I got to his end agai n I said .

,
’
I m a l l right n o w H e re plied It was
’
I w a nt no favours . .
,
a c lo se sh a ve Bill
’
I very soon knocked the demon bowler
, .
o ff an d was top scorer wi t h 9 6

, En gland won with 1 0 wickets .
”
t o spare .
The m at ch be t ween Not ts and the played at L ord s ’
0 11 J une 1 3 14 1
5 1 8 7 0 h as come do wn to t it the
, p
, o s e r y as
, ,
” ’
Georg e Su m m ers m atch it being the match in w hich ,
S um m ers received a fata l blow fro m a ball deliv e red by P la tt s .
O scro ft w ho played in that ma t ch say s

, ,
“I was playing very w ell in the econd inning having got
s s ,
1 2 . I t hen made a very big hi t out to long leg and was -
brilli an t ly secured by Mr C I Thornton O n returning to . . .
the pa vilion poor Su m m ers was ju st prepa ring to follow me

,
at t he w icke t s a nd he remarked J ust your luck Bill to ge t

, ,
‘
o
, ,
ou t w it h a b it like that The very firs t ball he aft er wa rd s .

’
received closed his ca reer a n d Mr Thornton has many times ,

162 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
I spoke to him of England of Nottingham and o f Ar nold , , ,
his b ir thpl a ce but h e seem ed b e wild ered and quit e obliviou s

, ,
to h is a n tecedents A t last I m ade him rea li se that I was his

.
o w n s i s t er s son that I cam e from Nottingham and was going

’
, ,
to A u stralia to play c rick et I stay ed with him all n ight and .

,
talked a good d eal about home Th e ne xt day he cam e wi th .
He al so
’
me t o King George s Sound and saw our v esse l
met me again at th e sam e plac e wh en we retu rn ed and se nt ,
presen ts for England but declin ed to retu rn wi t h m e and so I

, ,
left him I hav e not seen or h eard of him sinc e

. .
We l anded in Au stralia on a Saturday and I re m e mber ,
there was a big match on the sam e day Melbou rn e Eas t ,
Melbourne C lub s Most of us went down to th e ground and

.
,
we go t a hea rty reception from th e A ntipod ean s We we n t to .
t he t h ea t re a t night and some oth er places and w ere mos t

, ,
hospi tably t reated I dare say wh en w e re turn ed to our hote l

.
for the nigh t we should most of na b e slightly exhilarat ed and ,
a s n o ne of u s h ad recovered our land l egs you ne ed no t b e s u r -
pri sed Ho w ever poor J upp probably thinking h e was still

.
, ,
in the b o a t a n d had to get i nto his b erth as us ual sli pped ,
und e r t he bed and lay t here till mo rn ing !

The only occasion on w hich I e ver had a bet on th e result
of a m a tch wa s during t his Aus tralian tou r We had lost to .
Eight e en of Ne w South Wa les by 4wick ets a nd a fo rt n igh t ,
l ater w e had to play Fift een of New Sou th Wales and V ic

tori a O ne night before t he latte r game commenc e d Lilly
.
white w as egged on by t he loca l playe rs support ers to take ’
an even be t o f 35 5 0 that we should agai n be bea te n The .
s even profe s s ion a l s decided t o includ e the bet in the common
f und . O u the third d ay of the match w e had got a sufficient

nu m b e r of run s to make u s safe from d e feat and the qu e s tion ,
w a s a s t o w he ther we sho uld h a ve tim e to ge t t h e combin ed

Fi ft e e n o ut I went ia hi t t wo 4s and a 5 and then got out
.
,
’
, ,
a nd o the rs did the same Fin a lly w e capt ured t he las t of the
.
Fi ft een s w i ckets fiv e minu t es before th e ca ll of tim e and

’
,
”
thus w o n o u r bet of J£5 0 .
“I w ent ou t to Au s t ra li a frankly ad mits O scroft “to

, ,
W I LLIA M OS CROFI ' ‘
. 1 63
ma k e as m uch money as I co uld We only go t £ 1 5 0 ea ch

.
for t he t ou r, and 2 0 allo wance fo r spending money B efo re -

.
sta r ti ng So ut h erto n w ro t e to m e suggest ing that w e should
ta k e o ut a d oz en ba ts each fo r sal e, and as kin g that I would

see And re w Green wood and M I n t yre and get th e m t o st a n d
‘
ia.
’
I re plied that wha t I t ook I should tak e o n my own
‘ ’
.
I t herefo re too k out a lot of t hin gs four tim es as much as

—
all t he res t of t he t eam put toge ther Jupp as k ed me why .
I would not stand in w ith t he par ty, and I re pli ed that th e

reas on was th e thin gs would hav e to b e sold ; a nd so m e players
wo uld be t oo p ro ud t o o fl er th em fo r sal e ; th ey wou ld pre fer

‘
to d o t he ge n tl em an, walkin g ro und t h e fi

’
eld I sold a ll
‘
.
my s tock , and could ha v e sold mo re Among the th i ngs I sold .
were a g ross o f photos of mysel f and D aft .
“I did v ery well on t h e tour fina nciall thi g t h e

y, as n s n
wen t, but I rem em ber I o nc e was in a ter ri b le fun k Wh e n .
we we re at S ta wel l t he plac e was so crowded that we had to

sl ee p anyw h e re I had 7 0 in my p o cke t, and was so care
.
in] o f i t that wh e n I we n t to sl ee p the re we re many —
r about I put th e m oney u nder my bla nket fo r

st ra nge s —
sa fe ty .Th e ne xt m o rni ng I fo rgot all abo ut it and we nt ,
away after b re akfast wi t h th e othe r m emb ers of the tea m

t o a go ld min e t hat w e had be e n i n vite d to i nspe ct Whe n .
in the mi ne it s udd e n ly fl ashed th ro ugh my mind that I had

left the 7 0 unde r t he blanke t I imm ediat e ly ran o fl post
‘
’
has te t o ev e ry on e s astoni shm e nt no t e v e n stoppi ng t o spea k
, ,
to J a ck Conway the manag er o f the fi

—
rst Au st ral i an t e am
t h at ca me he re late r w ho m I m e t on t he way
—
O u rea chin g .
t he hote l I found to my int e nse re li ef t ha t t h e b e d had no t

, ,
bee n dist urbed and that my

, 7 0 w as sa l e .
“A si ng lar t hing happ n e d wh

u e en w e w ere pla yin g in th e
m atc h at Ballarat We had lost t he wick e ts of J upp W G

.
, . .
’
and Andrew G re e nwoo d and G F Gra c e was in . .
o verni ght The ne xt morning he a nd I be cam e partn e rs and

.
,
at lunch time his sco re was 7 0 od d and mine 6 2 bo t h being ,
no t o ut S tandi ng outsid e our d re ssi ng roo m a gen t leman

.
-
,
O scro ft if yo u can h ea d W G s sco re,

’
ca me t o m e and sa id , , . .
1 64 GLI S H
EN emcxa rsas
'
.
’
there is 2 0 for you The the rmom ete r show ed 1 0 8 in the
.
°
s hade so I w ent an d had a cold showe r bath and res ted and
,
-
,
being content with a bottle of b eer and a sandwi ch for

luncheon felt r eviv ed and quite fit to conti nu e th e innings
, .
Aft er luncheon I hit a ball to th e leg bou nda ry an d the next -

,
over G F Grace put a ball through th e slips and call ed m e

. .
for a run I thought though I may hav e bee n mi s taken

.
—
t here was n early time for t wo run s but wh en I had go t right ,
up t o him he said You can go back I shan t come

,
The ,
—
’
.
’
re s ult was I was run ou t O i course I did not get the £ 2 0

.
,
a n d I have neve r been abl e to quit e u nd er stand why it

”
should have b ee n o ff ered to me .
O scro ft w as one of t he team tak en t o Canada and the

S tat e s by Richard D a ft in 1 87 9 It was one of the bes t .
t ea m s t ha t ever left the se shores and Oscro ft had the t op ,
a verage A t the Ge rmantown Grou nd Ph iladelphia , in a

.
,
m at ch a grand smoking cap was o ffe re d by the ladies for t he

,
-
highe st individual score O scroft obtai ne d 6 9 and 3 0 and

.
,
m ade his cla im good for the priz e a nd was called up to the ,
ra nd s tand to r eceive i t at the hand s of o n e of t he fair sex

g .
O u his retur n a gold wat ch was present ed to him by his

friend s at Arnold as a token of t heir esteem O scro ft w ears .
t he wa tch wi t h pride to thi s d ay .
Returni ng to English crick et O scro ft has many furthe r ,
i n tere st ing remini scences to relate .
Nott s and K en t pl ayed at Cante rbu ry in 1 87 9 I n th is .
m a t ch I was p a r t icul a rly s ucce ssful with the bat as I got 1 4 0 ,
in one innings the h ighe st individual score of that season in

—
a cou n t y match I a lso received what I believe to b e the

.
g reat est co m plimen t I have ever had paid to me during my

c a r e e r as a cricke t er t hou g h i t w a s not g iven for my b a tting
, .
The com pli m en t wa s paid to m e by Lord Harris and it h a p ,
pe n ed in t hi s way
Kent had all t heir w ickets to fall at lunch on t he last day .
N o tts had plen ty of run s on a nd t o spare and i t was j us t a ,
u e tion of ge tt i n g K en t ou t before time I w as ca pt ai n of

q s .
N o tts and Alfred S h aw a nd Mo r ley w ere o ur prin cipal

,
1 66 om) EN G LI S H cal cxm s as .
I had made 49 not out and I added 8 next m o rn ing to my

,
o vernigh t score I n the M C C first innings Sha w bowled

. . . .
35 m a iden s out of 4 0 over s w i t hout tak in g a wicket bei n g ,
o n a t one s t age for an hour a nd t we n ty mi n ut es in which ,
t i m e he was only hit for 2 ru n s Morley going o n la te t oo k .
icke t s for 2 5 run s and A t te we ll s fi u res wer e 1 0 over s 9

’
5 w , g ,
maiden s 2 run s and 3 wicke ts The M C C se cond innings

, , . . . .
closed a t on t he second day and l e ft Notts 1 6 4to wi n ,

.
I t was a rra nged that play should conti nu e till if th e re

w ere a n y ch a nce of fi nis hing th e match tha t eveni n g and ,
furt her on i t was a gr eed to play t ill 8 w hen it was thought ,
the gam e would be finished in a fa ir light Ther e seem ed .
l i tt le doubt as to the side o n which victory wo ul d li e as ,
7 No tt s w icke t s went do w n rapidly for 5 4 ru n s .
I rem ember at this point Cap tain Holde n th e Notts hon , .
secreta ry ro se t o leave the ground in high dudgeon and d is

,
a ppoin t m en t at t he poor sho w w e were making I said t o .
h im , I he pe you are not going C a p tain T eddy Mill s is , .
I n his b lu fi
’
com ing ia he ll get a fe w it s not over yet
’ ’ '
—
.
’ ’
w ay he replied I t s as good as over n o w
,
How ev e r I .
,
prev a iled upon him t o stay a little longer Barn es was M ills s .
’
pa rt ner Mill s hit a w ay like a demon till the partners hip

.
h ad re ali sed 9 9 run s 5 9 of which w ere cr edit ed to him and

, ,
then he was bow led When Sh erwin faced Ba rn es 1 1 w e r e

.
re qu ired t o win In at te m pting a short ru n Sherwin los t h is

.
wicket ; and when Morley the l ast m an came in 5 run s w e re

, , ,
st ill n eeded Each man hit a single and then M o rley

.
,
sc o red a 3 f rom Rylo t t and w o n t he match for Nott s a t

,
e ig ht m inu t e s t o eight in s emi darkne ss and amid g r ea t -
e nthu sia sm B a rnes played splendidly for 6 6 not out Thi s

. .
re m a rk a b le m a t ch w as during my last year of cricket .
C a pta in Hol d en s dudgeon I ne ed ha rdly say had g ive n

’
, ,
w ay t o bro a d s m ile s of sa t is fac t ion before the winnin g b it

was m a de .
Ano t her ex ceedingly close con t e st was that betw een Notts
a n d L a n ca s hire on J uly 1 3 14 15 1 87 6 and I recall i t
, , , ,
ch i cfl y to bea r t e s t i m ony to the wonderfull y shar p and

W ILLI A M OS CBOFT . I 67
a ccurat e fie lding of th e R e v Vernon Royle than whom no .

,
b e tte r cov er point has ev er been see n I n the last innings

-
.
w e ne ed ed 2 0 3 to w in Mr 1 10 e ran out Se lby for 2 9 .

,
and n early ran out Richard D aft al so j ust befor e lu nch eon .
D a ft and I were to geth er at th e adjou rnment and on coming ,
out to play after lunch eon D aft said to me Whatev er we ,
do we must no t atte mpt to run for a hit to cover point -
aga in st Boyle u ntil th e ba ll has passed him Excell ent .

’
advice and mo s t n e ce ssary as D af t had so o n good reas o n

, ,
to know .
We had played fou r maid en s each and D aft was playing ,
his fif th wh e n h e s truck a ball to Mr Boyl e and disrega rding ,
his own advic e to b e cautious he shouted to me Come o n ,
I w ent b ut Mr Royl e had the ball in so brilliantly that D aft

,
w as run out I m ad e 5 3 and it was said to hav e been a

.
,
good inn ings The re was a rare struggle as the in n ings

advance d F Wild who had to r etire hurt in th e first
. .
,
innings pluckily tu rn ed out and though in great pain

, ,
with his damaged hand h e hit up 5 When Fred Morley .
cam e in last 6 ru ns we re need ed and there was grea t ,
exci t em en t r ound th e g round th e a tte ndanc e b e i ng very ,
la rge .Fred was equal to the occ asion and quickly hit ,
up 5 and as W Shrewsbury who had b ee n in a long tim e

.
, ,
go t an othe r run Notts won by 1 wick et That was on e of

,
.
th e c losest and most exciting co ntests I e v er witn ess ed or

took part in .
J ust l e t m e t hink a moment of th e rivalrie s of th e All Eng -
l a nd and U n i t ed t ea m s Old G eorge Parr w as so k ee n on his

.
s id e wi n n i ng that he would at any ti me have given £ 1 0 0 rather
than b e bea te n by the Un ited Wh en t he team s met at Old .
T rafl o rd in 1 86 7 on t h e las t day w e had an in n ings ea ch to

'
play and we thought th e mat ch could no t be finished

,
.
Howeve r w e w e re final ly left r e quiring only about 5 0 to

,
w in . Parr nat ura lly thought h is team had a good t hing

on. Bu t when D aft had m ade 4 George Freeman broke
his middle st ump Par r then said Look at that devil
.
, ,
how he s pe l t ing them I ho pe I shall not hav e my first

’
.
1 68 O LD EN GLI S H C RI C K ETERS .
’
ba ll from him But he had and do wn went his middle
.
st u m p O t her wickets fell and when I was in a ball f rom

.
,
F reema n w hipped back lik e a fl ash of lightning I played .
forwa rd at it and miss ed it and the ball s triking my trouse rs ,
there was an appeal for a ca tch but th e umpire g av e me ,
not ou t We j u st w o n at th e finish A t th e hote l after

.
’
.
’
t h e m atch one of the Uni t ed s supporters to ld Bob Ca rpen t e r
,
he w ould have giv en £ 1 0 0 to have b eate n Parr s team ’

.
C a rpen t er replied W e should hav e beaten th e m e asily

,
enough if the u m pire had giv e n O scro ft out But I .

’
was really not out .
Men t ion o f that grand b ow ler George Freeman re mind s

me that the popular York shirema n who lik ed his bit of fun ,
a s w ell as a ny of u s once tried to play a trick on me when

,
No tt s a nd York shire we re playing at Sheffield We w e re .
at a ho t el t oge t her and h e showed m e a box of ciga rs

, ,
and asked me what I thought of them I said they loo k ed .
ve ry good H e invi t ed me to take one which I did but

.
, , ,
b e ing su spi ciou s I managed to obtain access to Geo rge s

,
’
c iga r c a s e a n d exchanged the on e he had previou sly ive

g n
-
m e for one out of h is own c ase A t night we went t o a .
m u s i c hall a n d Freem an during the e venin g innoc ently

-
t ook t hi s very sm oke from his case H e hadn t bee n puffing .

’
m ore t han a minute or t w o before 0 6 it went l ik e a s q uib ,
t o t he great cons t ernation of him se lf and those s ittin g

n e a r h im H is prac t ical jok e the r efore r ecoil ed o n h is
.
, ,
o w n he a d .
“I re m e m ber in 1 86 in a m tch betwee th e All E gl n

5 a n , n a d -
Eleven a nd T wen ty t wo of Bootl e and D istrict a very e xtra

-
o rdina ry inciden t occurred A gen t leman was standi n g in

.
one of t he refre sh m en t boo th s and George Ande rso n w as at

-
,
t he w icket batt in g H e sm ot e a ball very hard and j u s t at

.
,
t he m om ent thi s gen t le m a n w as rai sing his glas s to drink .
The ba ll st ruck t he glass a nd smashed it in to atom s Strang e .
t o sa y no fur th e r d a m a ge was done

, .
“I fo r e t t he ex ac t d at e but I remember the A l l Engla

g , nd -
Ele ven w ere pl aying T wen ty t w o of Hull a n d D i s tr ict abo u t -

17 0 EN GLI S H e mok ar s as .
make 5 0 W
t han G or
‘
Shre w sbury
. 1
. 0
’
0 The Nott s Com .
”
m it t ee p aid m y fee w he n I stood do wn .
It should be added that th e return match wi t h the

Australian s in the sam e year (Septem ber 4 5 6
, , , ,
w as for O scro ft s b enefi It r ea lised £6 5 0 the highest

’
t .
,
s u m received by any profe s sional cricketer up t o that tim e .
O se re it was s ingularly fortunate in escaping serious i nj uries

during h is ca reer T wice only has b e bee n inca pa citated and
.
co mpelled to ret ire from play Th e first tim e was in 1 86 7 .
w hen playing for the All England Eleven at Be stwood Pa rk -
, ,
aga in st Tw en ty t wo of Arnold and D i strict Th e first ba ll

-
.
he received w as from his broth e r J oh n (who was playing for

t he Tw en ty t wo ) It smashed on e of his fingers and t o th e
—
.
,
g re a t di sa ppoin t m ent of hi s n ativ e villager s h e w as una ble to
re su m e h is position again during th e thr e e days .
The second t i m e w as during th e Cante rbury We ek of 1 87 4 .
The m at ch was Kent and Glouc ester shire v Th e Res t of .
Engl a nd .A brief referenc e to the publi she d record of th is

con te st w ill show ho w it came about I n th e se cond in nings .
O scro ft c am e in second man and began to hit in that fine, ,
free a nd t elling form that fe w could equal and n on e surpass,

,
a n d quickly ra i sed h is score to 2 0 wh en a bal l bowled b y ,
Ca pta in F ello w e s hi t him in t he mouth and dropped him his ,
t h um b bein g di slocated in the fa ll This was d escrib ed as .
b ein g a m i s fo rt une for his side as h e was qu it e un abl e t o ,
t a ke a n y furt her pa rt in the mat ch and the Res t of Eng la nd ,
lost t o the Shire s by 5 4run s .
I t m a y here be added that O scro ft s great stroke w as t o ’
l eg
. I t wa s a st roke n a tura lly ac quired and not the outc o m e ,
o f Ge o rg e l a rr s t ra d it ion s
’ ’
In 1 86 6 again st Surrey O s cro ft
.
, ,
hi t a ba ll ov e r t he e lm t ree on the Bridgeford side of Tre n t

-
Bri d g e gro und The hi t was m easured the distance b e in g

.
,
1 3 5 y a rd s The tree is st ill ca lled George Parr s t ree from

.
’
,
t h e fa ct th a t t h a t gr ea t le g hi tt er used t o hi t over it al so -
.
T h is m e a s u red hi t of O scro ft s st ill sta nds as a record for

’
the B ri d g e s .
A . H . M I T C H E LL
I T is
maste r of styl e rather
as a
th a n as a public exponent of
the game tha t Mr Richa rd Ar
thur Hen ry Mitchell is known
t o th e new genera tio n of crick
e t e rs The cla im s of first cl ass
.
-
cricket ga ve way to th e t utori a l

duti es and the playing field s of -
Eton in the y ear 1 866 Mr .
Mitchell is still a master at t he

fam ou s s chool n ea r the royal
borough but t he duty of super
,
vising the cricket intere sts of

t he College w as r e linquis hed by him a couple of yea rs ag o ,
and tak e n up by Mr C M Wells

. . .
In cricket given a b right sunlit d ay and a fas t wicke t

, ,
there is no style so delightful to witness as the fre e for ward

s trok es of t he Eto n sch ool I t is this style that Mr Mi t chell
.
for n early fort y years expo unded The claim s of his school
.
prevented Mr Mitchell having a long first cla ss career as a -
c ricketer him self but he has left his m ark on t he gam e in

,
t he succe ss of numerou s pupil s as the hi story of Eto n c ricket

,
for the last thi rty yea rs will show .
In the yea r 1 8 say s M r Mitchell when I was fi ft een

,
y ears of age m y bir thda y being January 2 2 , 1 843 I was

— —
in the Eleven a t Eton eight years afte rwa rd s I received an

a ppoin t m ent on t he College staff and I have remained her e ,
ever s ince When I came here as a boy I had n ever play ed

.
in a n eleven a side cricket match All I knew about t he -

.
ga m e had been picked up in a boy s casual way my ea rlier ’
education not hav ing been got at a private school but ,
w i t h a clergyman My birthplac e was Enderby Hall n ea r

.
,
L eicester When I got into the E t on Elev e n I had n ever

.
had a ball fro m a profe ss ion a l cricketer I had practically .
t augh t my self by p ractice reading observation and so o n

, , , .
There was no profe ssiona l here in my first y ea r Willi am .
Ca fiyn afterwa rd s ca m e for a short time but he was too

'
m u ch occupied with first class cricket to do much coach ing

-
.
A f t er ward s w e had for t wo years F Bell of Cambridgeshi re . .
H e w as a n excellent coach for a couple of yea rs but I am ,
a f ra id he a f t er wa rd s deteriora ted and h e di ed in 1 87 1 It, .
w a s Bell w ho first in stilled into us the principl e of con sta ntly

m ee t ing t he b a ll If he found a pupil wi th a ten dency to
.
m ee t a ball he w ould encourag e him to adopt that style

, I .
h a ve a l way s con sidered that this is a great principle in the

encourage m en t of young players Many professionals dire ctly .
,
they see t ha t a pupil sho ws a tenden cy to play forward at

t he b a ll drop the ball short a nd forc e th e boy to play b ack
, .
’
The e ffect is to cram p the young playe r s style and d es t roy
h is co n fid e n ce They should not p uz zl e a young player
.
t hey sho u ld ra ther encourage his style by bringing him o ut

t o m ee t t he ba ll a nd thu s give him confid ence in attacking
,
t he bow li n g .
“I ough t t o m ention t h at though there was no profess iona

l
here in m y first ye ar in 1 85 8 three or four yea rs before that ,
t i m e Ma rt in g e ll had been engaged as a coach For a coupl e .
of yea rs t he a nn ua l m atch wi th Ha rrow was dropped and ,
t ha t ca u sed t he g a m e to be put rather in the background .
T he reason t he i n t er school m a t ch w as dropped was that t he

-
a u t hori t ie s h e re d id no t like i t to be played in the holiday s

,
w hil e the H a rro w people did not c a re about pl aying in th e

scho o l t er m . The m at ch w as re sum ed in 1 85 8 and when we ,
w en t up t o L ord s t o p l ay it w e found that directly w e p u t

’
174 OLD EN GLI S H cm cxs rsns
'
.
thing ne w concerning th e Cha mpion but Mr Mi t chel l ma kes ,
a sta temen t tha t w il l surpri se most crick e ters I t is t hat .
W G was first included in the G e ntlemen s team for his

.
”
.
’
bowling and that his promise as a batsman w as not th e n

,
gene rally recogni sed .
Whe n W G G rac e appeared for t he first tim e with t he

. .
Gentlemen Players at t he Oval in 1 86 5 says Mr Mitchell , ,
he w as includ ed in the team on th e strong r e comm endation

of E M Gra ce as a bowler H e was placed eighth on t he
. . .
ba t ting li st and I know that E M Grace thought tha t was

,
. .
too lo w as he said his brother cou ld get a few run s a s well

,
A week late r at the Lo rd s match W G w en t

’ ’
as bo w l . . .
in first to sa t i sfy E M Alt hough W G w as only ‘

. .
’ ‘
. .
’
se ve nteen yea r s of age w h en he made his fi rst appearan c e in

‘
this company at the Oval he was t he olde st looking yo u ng ,

-
fellow who played that day H is ba tting styl e was rathe r .
rough and w e sa w fe w sign s of his pra emin ent ability H e

,
'
.
w as in short look ed upon mor e as a ri s ing m edi um pac e

, ,
-
bow ler th an as a bat ; and it was as a bow ler that he wa s

invited to play by the Surr ey Commi ttee .
In the next yea r however we were abl e to recog ni se , ,
W G s merits I always think that the m o st remarka bl e

. .
’
.
th i ng about W G w as his res uscitation H e went o ff . .

’
.
rat her early I thought but ten yea rs ago h e reblosso m ed

, ,
w i t h rem a rkable s uccess H e was always an extraordina ry .
p l a yer but ,
t h e w a y in which he recover e d h im s elf a n d re
g a i n ed h is fi rst c la ss form is to my mind th e most ex tra e r

—
d in a ry t hing about his ca reer I consider that h e was at h is .
be st by far the fin est of all players to w atch whe n oppos ed

t o fa st bow li ng To slow bo w ling he w as c ramped and fas t
.
f oo t ed N o w w hen you se e h im make a hundred t he re is

.
li tt le to adm ire beca use he st icks at th e wick ets a nd wai ts

,
f o r the o n stroke s whereas form erly h e was a mag nifice n t

-
hitter in every direction .
‘
W G s style ca nnot be con sid e re d a class ical on e b ut
. .
’
,
he had a style tha t no one cou ld imi ta t e He got his leg .
tremendou sly in fro nt of tho wic ke t not I be liev e with t h e , , ,

ME R . A . 11 . M I TC H ELL . 175
intention of ste pping the ball w ith his leg but in ord er that ,
he m ight ha ve greater comm and over his strokes and he kne w ,
that if he mi ss ed the ball he woul d be out It is perhaps not .
s urpri s ing unde r th e circum s tances t o fi nd that the univer sa l
opinion at the time I am speaking o f was that W G was

, , . .
’
no t given out l eg b e fore wi cket by the umpi res as freq uently

- -
as he ought to hav e been H is style I r epeat was not .

, ,
ort hodox but th e n it was his styl e A t all games that I have
,
.
seen great players hav e their peculiaritie s

,
A G Steel had . . .
a s tyle of his o wn A t golf Ball and Laidlaw hav e style s that

.
i t w ould not b e easy t o copy Grac e had a m arvellou sly .
accura t e eye and eye and mu scle s work ed to geth er in his case
,
with ex t ra ordinary uni son .
Ta lking about style n a tu ra lly brin gs me to th e style fo r

w hich the cricket her e at E t on h as obtain ed som e re putation .
I m ay h ave infl uenced that style a litt l e my self because my ,
o wn style of crick e t was th e forward s tyle Th e fact tha t I .
w as 6 feet 2 i n che s wh e n eight e en years of age an d po ss e ssed ,
a goo d re a ch may have had something to do with my pr e fer

,
ence for th e forward style An other factor that infl uen ced me .
’
w as the knowl edg e that Lord s wa s a quick gr ound and the ,
bow ling th ere was particularly suited to forward stroke s .
Thu s we have always tried to cultivat e as far as we could th e

s tyle that w as likely to pay be st in our s chool matche s at
L ord s W e found that a boy who was a back player was

’
.
al m ost cert ai n to b e beaten by the pac e of the ground E t on s .

’
h as a l ways b e en the forw ard style I won t say that I in t ro ’

.
d uced it but when I cam e here a s master I u sed to pl a y a

,
good dea l a nd probably I had in that mann e r som e e ffect

,
upon t he s tyle of the school .
“
Whom do I consider the most polished cricketers that
have gone out from Eton sinc e my t utorial connection with
t h e school 7 I should say that C T Studd Alfred Lyt t e l . .
,
t on G H Longman and W F Fo rbes were good examples

, . .
, . .
of t he bes t Eto n style I n each case the style was actually

.
a c q uired her e B u t the mos t reliable boy play er I ha ve ever

.
se en w as 0 J Ottaway who unfortu nat e ly only lived to

.
,
176 EN G LI S H cmcxsrs ns .
reach the age of eight y ears H e was not t he most

t wenty -
.
punishing ba ts m an w e had here but h e was the most d ificult ,
to get out and he had a great many strok es though t hey

, ,
w ere n o t hard one s .
C I Thornto n was our mo st punis hin g hitter y e t h e h ad

. .
,
w hen at s chool her e some curiou s idiosyn c ras i es S om e time s .
he w ould m ake up h is mi nd that h e would not hit th e t hird

ball of the over If h e did h it it he kn ew h e would b e out
. .
Then I re m e m ber one particular occas ion o n which h e sto pped

at the w ickets for a n hour a nd a half without attemptin g to
h it
. H is explanatio n was that he kn e w h e would b e out if
he at tem pt ed a hit I sho uld think that was th e on ly t im e
.
in his life t h at he stayed at the w ickets for an ho ur and a ha l f

w i t hou t getting 0 11 speaking term s as t he saying goes with , ,
t he bo w ler M r Thornton made som e of the longest hit s eve r

.
s een here at the s chool and w e wer e prepared for his phen o
,
m en a l hi tt ing a fter he left us and went into th e w orld of fi rs t
cl a ss cri cke t .
There is one incident connected with Mr Thornton s ca ree r ’
th at I really m u st tell yo u I t occurred at th e Old Orlea n s

.
Cl ub w hen t he Au st ra lian s were playing th ere If you hit

,
.
the ba ll out of one side of the ground there you w e re n o t ,
a llo w ed t o g o for it O n this occ asion Thor nton hit a ball

.
from S po fio rt h clea r out of the ground o n th e sid e from which

'
i t could no t be recovered The Au stra lian s were about to run

.
to fin d t he ba ll w hen Thornto n shouted out I t s no use

, ,
‘ ’
’
goin g a ft er that Then turning to the umpire he said Giv e
.
,
h im a n e w one : I t old him to put hal f a d oze n in his pock e t - -

,
a s I t hough t he m i gh t wa nt them
W i th rega rd to pre sent day Etonian s I am afraid I m us t-
ad m i t t h a t t here are no t a s m a ny E t onia n s in first class cricket -
a s t here w ere for m erly L ord Hawke and Mr Bainbridge are

.
Et on m e n .We h ave had some playe rs who w ould have m ade

n a m es for them se lve s in t he cricket w orld if they had had th e
t im e t o devot e to t he gam e C C Pilkington who was at . . .
,
Oxfo rd one year a ft er he l eft here w ould have made a first ,
cla ss cri cke t er had b e gone o n H C Pilkingt o n is another . . . .

17 8 ENG LI S H cmoxs m s s .
t nce s do not ad m it of it N0 boy is expect ed t o play cricket

s a .
at E t on unle ss he has a liking for it Th e r iver attracts many .
of our boys and stand s in the way of any comp ulsory training
,
in cricket We have t wo profe ss ionals for the El ev e n and

.
,
t w o for general practic e which you will see is a v e ry d ifferent

,
st ate of thin s to that prevailing when I got i nt o o ur school

g
Eleven .
Turning back a mo m ent at thi s point it ought to b e m en ,
t io n ed t h a t some of the b e st perform anc es of Mr Mitch e l l were

in the inter University matches Scores were d ifficu lt t o get in
-
.
those d ays owing to the state of the ground s but his ave rage
, ,
for the m atches w ith C a mb r idge was run s pe r innings

for six co m ple ted innings For the Gentlemen aga in st the
.
Pl ayers he could boast of such scores as 7 6 at th e Oval in

1 86 3
53
,
a nd
3 3 on the sa m e ground in 1 86 5 4 4 not out at ,
L ord s in t he sam e year and in his last Gentlemen Players

’
,
’
m a t ch a t Brigh t on in 1 87 1 (L illywhi te s b en efit ) 5 0 and 5 7

’
, .
In t ho se day s the se were con sidered good scores and th eir ,
v a l u e w a s e n h a nced by the fa ct that the professional bo w ling
o ff w hich t hey w ere made was exceptionally strong Th e n a .
sco re of 8 n o t out for Engla nd v Sur re y in Augu s t 1 86

9 .
3 re
pre se n t ed a high degree of exc e lle nce not often se en in amateur

circl es in those d ays Speaking of this innin gs Mr Mitchell
.
,
say s he w as nea rly di stra cted w ith toothach e all th e tim e h e
w a s b a tt ing There was a curiou s incident in th e m at ch

.
.
S u rrey w o n t he toss and at lunch tim e had score d 1 40 for

,
-
1 w i ck e t do w n A ft er luncheon Bennett bowled th e first

.
over a nd w i t h each of the four balls of th e ov e r obta in ed a

,
w i ck e t .
The best pa rt of Mr Mi t chell s tim e that is th e p e riod ’

—
,
w hen his cricket w o u ld have been at it s b est was spe nt —
a m on g the s t ud e n t s of E t on a nd his infl u en ce on t he p as tim e

,
g en e ra lly m us t be t rac ed in the c a reers of th e boys that cam e

a ft er him ra t her t ha n in t he mere stati stical record s of th e
,
ga m e .
A fe w in st an ce s h a ve o cc u rred in w hich t w o gen e ration s o f

cricketers h ave p a ss e d under Mr Mitchell s re view at Eto n ’
.
MR 11 . A . 11 . MITC HELL . 17 9
He has had three of his own son s in the school Ele ven .
Th e n in l ast seaso n s match w ith Harrow t h e boy s who d is

’
t ing uished them selv e s i n cluded H K Longman J Wo r mald . .

, ,
an d O C S Gilliat
. . Th e fathers of all the se young playe rs
. .
were in the E ton El ev en in thei r school days and we re c ricke t -
pupil s of Mr Mitchell .
Th e only touring team th at Mr Mitch e ll tho ught of aecom

panying was the one that went to Canada in 1 87 2 und e r Mr
Fitzgerald H e had promi sed to mak e one of the party but
.
,
had to re tra ct on find ing that he would hav e had to come

back early and travel home by him self .
Among a few curiou s ma tches that Mr Mitch ell has tak e n

part in mention may be made of th e following
,
I n his first ga m e with Eton again st Winche ste r wh e n th e ,
las t batsman ca me in th e gam e was a ti e B efore th e wi nning

,
.
hit could be m a de 6 maiden overs were bowled .
H e also took part in t wo tie match es in one season O ne .
was F o urt e en of Oxfo rd University 0 the old All Engl and .

-
Elev e n at Oxford ; th e other was Fou rte e n of th e Free For

esters v No t ts In the same year th ere was another singula r
. .
ga m e It was Perambulato rs v Reigat e at Re igat e Reigate

. . .
headed the Pera m bulators in the first innings but on taking ,
the last innings t he Perambulators had e xac t ly tied th e scor e

and had 8 wicket s in hand when t ime was called Thus th e y .
cou ld claim a tie but not a w in Mr Mitchell was not out .
wi t h 6 9 .
Mr Mitchell m entio ns a curiou s mannerism of Ge o rg e

Atkin son the old York shire bow le r who u sed to coach
, ,
occasionally at E t on A s h e deliv e red the ball with his

right hand his left arm was swung round with a similar
,
ac t ion . You thu s might h ave thought he was going to

delive r the ball with his left hand He came sa iling up .
”
t o th e pitch w i t h both a rm s sw1 ng 1ng like a w ind m ill .
It will have been gath e red that Mr Mitchell has views of

h is own as to what is mo st valuabl e in cricket and as he ca n ,
s pea k wi t h an a u thori ty that is almo st unique his opinion s ,
as to necessa ry reform s are ent itled t o b e receiv ed with

1 80 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C K ETER S .
respect by a l l classes of cricke te rs Wit h th e enunciation of .
the se views this Ta lk will close .
F irs t as to um piring I am afraid that in modern times

, .
pl ayers an d the public hav e got too much into t he habit of

obj ect ing to t he decision s of the umpir es That te n dency .
did not exi st in my younger days I rem ember w e were .
al ways told that an umpire would make mistak es and that ,
s uch m i s t ake s were part of the luck of th e me They

ga .
s hould t herefore be accepted in that spirit without any fu ss
being m ad e about them .
I do no t think that cricket is as g ood a sport ne w as it

w a s in my d ay O i course there are more good pla yer s than
.
t here w ere t hirty years ago but whether t he b est are much ,
bett er th a n t he bes t of thos e days is anoth er matter In the .
t i m e I am spea king o i if a man mad e a long score at the

,
Oval or F enners or at Brighton it was said that i t was no

, , ,
t e s t of cricket Any o ne could get ru ns on those g r ound s

.
,
a ltho u gh t here w ere no boundaries The test was the ir .
a bili ty to ge t run s on grounds that w e re more d ifficul t .
The ca reful preparation g iv e n to th e modern w icket s and ,
es pe cially the u s e of w a ter has brought about a revolution

,
in t he st a t e of the wickets all ov e r the count ry If you are .
n o w t o h a ve a ga m e t hat is really int e res ting you m ust so ,
a l t e r your rule s t h a t it will b e po ssible to play a match to a
fin ish .
“I believe th at one suggeste d alte ration is to be tri ed at

L o rd s in som e of t he m atches thi s summer This is th e
’
.
runn in g ou t of a ll b it s That is going back to the practice

.
t h at prevailed in m y ti m e The ball was then stopped by t he

.
crow d : it sho uld n o w be po ssible to put a net round th e

e n clos ure a n d t h e ball on st riking t hat and rebounding sho ul d
,
be con sid e red in play If it be hi t ov er t he n et and in to t h e

.
s pe ct a t or s ben che s I do no t se e how it is to be t reat ed as

’
,
a ny t hi n g bu t a bound a ry .
Another nece ssary a l t eration is in the leg before wick e t - —
la w . If i t is im possible to com e to a common agre e m en t

u pon t hat very con t roversia l qu estion I would m ak e a ,
T H E LA T E G E O R GE F R EEM A N .
I T is a mi snom er to c a ll this
chapter on G eorge Freeman a
Talk. Th e doye n of English
fast bow lers di ed on No v emb er
18 1 89 the id e a of th e e
, 5 ; s
Talks unfo rtunately did not

, ,
receiv e birth u ntil a consider

able time a fter ward s Y e t it
.
has not bee n a d ifficul t matt e r

’
to collect from G eorge Fr ee man s
friend s and contempora ri e s m a
t e ria l fo r what the write r tru s ts
, ,
w ill b e con s id e red an i n ter e st

i ug ch apter of remini scence s of on e who was perhaps th e
r
,
r a t s t fa s t bo w ler Engli sh cricke t has known

g e e .
I t is cu st o m a ry e ven n o w to speak of Georg e F reeman as

t h e crack M a l t o n pl ayer . To do se however is to mortally
, ,
o ffe n d t h e r e si d e n t s of a lit t le York shire town n o t far away
Bo rou g hbri d g e It was w hil e a member of th e Malton

.
(Jricket Club tha t Freem a n made a great name in first class -
cri c ke t but to Bo rou ghbrid g e belongs the di stinction atta ch ed

t o F re e ma n s bir thpl a ce a n d it w as w it h the B oroughbridge
’
,
Cl ub tha t h e re ceived his initia tion in t o th e mysteries of bat

a n d ba ll.
T he firs t r e co rd of Ge org e Freeman s exist ence is to b e

’
fo und in t h e reg istry of the B oroughbridge Pari sh Church .

THE L A TE GE O RG E FREEMA N . 1 83
This gives D ecember 1 0 1 843 as the d a te of his baptism

, , ,
”
th e son of Micha el and Ann Freema n the father s occupa ,
’
tion a m ason and bricklayer Freeman s birthpl ac e was in

.
’
th e Horse Fa ir but his parent s and he afterward s resided for

,
some y ea r s in a hou se on which n o w s tand s the York City
an d County B ank .
The esteemed vicar of B oroughb ridge the Rev Canon , .
O wen who celebrated the j ubilee of his vica riate in 1 89 7 was

, ,
George Freeman s earlie st cricket tutor

’
I t was he too who .
, ,
’
laid in the boy s h ea rt the seed s of those high mora l qualitie s
which di stingui shed him as a cricketer and a man and hav e ,
caused his memory to be revered in York shire as perhaps th e

memory of no ot her past cricketer has been to thi s d ay It .
was in 1 84 7 w hen G eorge

, Freem a n w a s a sturdy toddler of
fou r yea rs that Canon O wen took up the vica riate of
,
B oroughbridge and in the pa ri sh church and schools unde r

,
his gu id ance the lad grew and had his training .
H e was a very apt pupil say s C a non Owe n ,

We had .
va rious bra nches of a thletic s c o nnected w ith t he schools and

village and young George came out very well in them all
,
.
Moreover he was al ways good t empered civil and obligi ng

,
-
, ,
.
In his younge st cricketing d ays he had fairly the command of

the ba ll in bowling w i th the easy d elive ry for w hich he was
,
so m a rked in a fter life My pla c e was at the w icket and I

-
.
,
had a code of signal s w ith him by which w e u sed to attack

the batsmen in their wea k spots Thu s if I thought he ,
ought t o send down a fa ster ball I should rub my chin ,

.
Then if I con sidered he was bow ling a li ttle bit short I

, ,
would rai se my hat or cap while if I put up my righ t hand ,
or t he lef t it w as a signal to him w ha t to do next ball

,
.
Thes e signal s w ere of ten the mea n s of batsmen being got out .
H e bowled many time s throughout our m a tche s unchanged .
H e was a very good field e r and a d ashing bat but with , ,
perh ap s t oo grea t a tendency to hit .
The first entry of young Freema n s name in our B orough ’
bridge cricke t book (it is Canon O wen who is still talking)

is in a match on September 1 0 1 85 7 whe n h e would be , ,
1 84 O LD EN GLI S H C RI C KET ERS .
fourteen years of ag e I t was a match betw een T en B oy s of.
Boroughbridge an d Ten Boys of S essay H is first big per .
fo rman ce is recorded in a ma tch on Augu st 2 0 1 85 9 for , ,
Boroughbridge aga in st K n a resborough In th e first innings .
he t oo k 6 w ickets for 2 3 run s and scored 3 7 in th e s econd ,
he t ook 9 w ickets for 1 5 run s the tenth was run out and — —
s cored 7 F ift een wickets for 3 8 run s in a good repre sen ta

.
t i v e club m a tch is a fine feat for a boy of sixteen as I think all ,
w ill ad m it Freem a n s chief conf r ére in bo wling in th ese early

’
.
d ay s was J ohn D ag lish a left hand bow ler who is still living ,
-
, .
There was one incident in the se times at w h ich I am

a lwa y s inclined to sm ile w he n I r e call it It was when .
kni ckerbockers were first introduced and Mr George Cayley , ,
a f t erw a rd s Sir George Cayley Bart came to ou r groun d , ,
w ea ring a p a ir an d m a king a very fi , n e dis pl a y of legs He .
wen t in to bat wi thout leg gua rds G eo rge Freeman quietly -

.
Th e firs t ball
’
H e did
’
sa id, I ll ha ve a g o at t hose legs
‘
. .
hi t the m an d M r C ayley fiinche d a little The second hit

, .
him aga in on t h e leg s Mr Cayley dee m e d it desirable to

.
ge t a pa ir of leg guard s Then Freeman apparently thought

-
.
i t wa s nece ssa ry to leave the legs alone and go for th e

”
w i cke t for t he t hird ba ll bow led him
,
.
Ge orge F ree m a n s first e ssa y in the seriou s bu sin ess of lif e

’
w as m ade in t he o tfi ce of a Mr Hirst solicitor Boroughbridg e , , .
Then he ca m e t o L eed s follow ing the sam e bent H e was a , .
lad of nine t een w hen on Mond ay September 2 2 in th e y e ar , ,
1 86 2 ,
he pl ayed a famou s single wicket match at th e Royal -
Pa rk Ground s Woodhous e Moor A cup was off ered by Mr

,
.
T o m m y Cl apham the proprietor of the ground s a n d , ,
Georg e F ree m a n conte sted J ob Pearson known by the so b ,
r i qu e t of Nellie P ea rson of Fa rs ley for th e honour of ,
posse ss ing it The m at ch re sul t ed in favour of young Fr e e

.
m an by a n inning s a n d 8 run s The following is th e f u ll .
score
F R EE M A N .
1 s t in n in g s 1 3 w id e s , 2 to t al , 1 5 .
2 n d in n ing s , 9 w id e s , 2 t o ta l , 1 1 .
1 86 OLD ENG LI S H CRI C KETERS .
Edinb urgh for England an adve rtisem e nt was inserted o n his

,
’ ’
beh a lf in Bell s Life and no t a singl e reply was rec e ived
‘
, .
B u t Freeman found a congenial situation at Malton a nd it ,
was while co nn e cted with th e Malto n Club that the z e ni th

of his fa m e was reached .
Mr Harry D ewse of the Crick e ters A rm s Toft Green

,
’
, ,
Y ork a c rickete r of local eminence and re put e claim s to have

, ,
been chiefly in strumental in bringi ng F reeman to M a lton .
The circum stances are narrated by him as follows

York had ar ranged t o play Knaresborough for whom ,
George Freeman was playing I was struck wi th his bow l

.
ing in a double sen se in fac t fo r h e made my thigh

—
, ,
black an d blu e with his fast off pitch e d ball s I asked him -
.
hom e to tea with me and h e inqui red what I was doing

, ,
a n d I told him I was travelling in th e co a l trade He .
re m a rked to m e th at he was hea rtily ti red of b e ing in

S cotla nd . N ot long after Mr Wise a manur e merc hant ,
a t M a lto n asked me if I kne w any o ne lik e ly to suit him

,
a s a book keepe r and tra veller an d I re comm e nded George

-
F ree m a n to him I wrote to Freeman and got him to come

.
,
d o w n a nd pl ay for Mal t on again st Thirsk at Thirsk He , .
m ade 6 0 run s and go t ne arly all th e wick e ts and tha t l ed

t o a n engage m ent wi th M r Wi se a nd to his pl a ying wi t h ,
Thirsk again st All E ngland and afte rwards with the la tter
,
”
t ea m in S ta fl o rd shire
'
Ca non Owen has said that Freeman was a dashing bat ,
w i th “t oo great a tendency to hit ”

Thi s tendency h o w .
,
e v er once e nabled Free m a n to mak e a histor ic drive at

,
Bo roughbrid ge the ba ll clea ring som e trees outside the

,
e n clo sure and rolling on to the b a nk and the n into the river .
T hi s hit is st ill spoken of w i t h wonde r and is as much a ,
t reasur ed loca l tradi t ion as the fa m ous leg hits of Georg e -
Parr o n the Tren t Brid g e ground .
’
C a non O wen reca ll s being present at Lord s when for t h e
“
first t i m e he saw Free m an an d W G m e et as oppone n t s . . .
The first ball he says pi t ched to the o fl broke ba ck an d

” ’
, , , ,
sho t a cro ss toward s the leg st u m p W G ju st stopped it

-
.
‘
. .
’
.
T HE L A TE GEO RGE FREEMA N . 1 87
The s econd he stopped easily The third was hit to the on .
for 2 The fourt h was a ball l ike t he first bu t fas te r and

.
, ,
Gra ce s leg stump was struck b e fo r e he had tim e to stop

’
-
”
the shoo t e r .
The secret of Fre em an s peculiar shooting deliv e ries is said ’
by Ca non O wen t o ha ve la in in elbow w ork A t wi st was -

.
impart ed to the bal l which made it shoot a cross from the

pi tc h and spin even after the wicket had been struck Late .
on in his career says his old vicar a sm all muscle ga ve way

, ,
in Fre eman s elbo w and impa ired the effectivene ss of his

’
,
bo wlin g Freeman him self u sed to say that bow ling came
.
to hi m naturally and that he could no t help being a

,
”
bowler .
It was George Parr w ho in the y ear 1 86 5 obta in ed by his , ,
recom mendation a place for Freeman in the York shire team .
The match was York shire Cambridge shire played at ,
As hton under L yn e on Septe m ber 1 4 1 5

- -
16 In 1 86 6 , , .
Free man beca me a regula r member of the Yorkshire Eleven

and the sta r team s of the day and m aintained his posi tion ,
until he ret ired to devote his energies to the bu sine ss of an

auc tioneer at the Thirsk St ock Ma rt and other markets in
the neighbourhood This business he acquired in 1 86 9 and
.
,
in 1 87 2 b e determined to give i t his chief con s ide ra tion .
Hence he only a ppea red in cricke t on irregul a r occasion s

af ter ward s H is las t a ppea ra nce for Y ork shire nea rly t en
.
,
y ea rs after his retiremen t from regular se rv ice was again st ,
Las celles Hall H e t hen showed that his h a nd had not

.
lost it s cunni ng no r his eye it s po wer of tim ing by taking

, ,
9 w icke t s and s coring an inning s of 6 0 o ff the bat .
Ge orge Anderson one of Freem a n s close st friends gives a

,
’
few remini scence s that are wort h reproducing The firs t .
”
time I met George Freeman writes Mr Anderson was at , ,
Boston Spa but I forget t he year H e had ju st return ed

, .
from a cricket engagement at Edinburgh and woul d b e about ,
twenty one yea rs of age

-
The match was t he A ll En g land .
-
Eleven Tw en t y t wo of Boston Spa and D istr ict and h e

-
,
played for t he latt er A t tha t t ime h e bowl ed very high

.
,
1 88 O LD ENGL I S H CRI C K ETERS .
w hich the law did not pe rmit but th e o nly observation by ,
way of prote s t was made by J nli ne C wsar who said t o him , ,

’
I t hink young un if you had a cou rse of b rick s put down
, ,
you would be able to bowl a little high er F ree man was .

’
more successful in getti ng ou r wicke ts on tha t occa sion tha n

so me of t he o t her bowl e r s who w ere more e x er ie nc ed
p .
We afterwards had him agai nst us (the All England -
Eleven ) in othe r matches in which h e had cons id erabl e

,
s uc ce ss the las t tim e being at Thi rsk

, F rom th e re he we nt .
wi th t he Eleve n t o Tr e ntham and afterward s p lay ed r egu ,
la rly with the m for some t wo or thr ee seaso ns b e fo re h e ,
j o ined the U n ited All England Ele v en -

Wh e n w e had .
F ree m an in the Engla nd Elev en w e had th ree of t h e best ,
fas t bo wlers of the d ay viz him se lf Jackson and Tarrant

—
.
, , , .
’
Wh at a n ex am ple they u sed to make of th e Twenty t wo s ! -
F re em a n could get run s al so and often mad e big scor es

, .
“
Lat e r o n Freeman had the offe r of a b usi ness as an
,
a u ct i o n e er at Thirsk H e con sult ed me as to th e ad visability

.
o f givi n
g up cri cket prof e ss ional ly and goi ng in fo r th e bu s i
n ess I ad v i sed him by all mean s to ad opt t he la tte r cou rse
.
,
w hich I t hi n k he n ever had r e aso n to reg r et I n bus in ess h e .
g a in e d t h e c o n fid e n ce a n d r e s pect of e very on e who pat r o n i se d

h im by h is punctuality at t e ntion a nd civility
, ,
I n p rivate
, .
li fe he wa s a m o st kind and affectionate husba nd and fath er ,
a fi rm a n d last ing friend and the v ery sou l of hospita lity I

,
.
s a w a gr ea t de a l of him after h e gav e up c r ick et W e w ere .
’
bo th fo nd of shoo t i ng and had many good day s sport in
,
co m a ny
p . H e co u ld take h is part at that al so H is f r ie n d s .
a n d n e i g hbour s a n d I m ay mo st emphatically cou n t my se lf

(
a s one l a m e nt e d h is loss at th e compa rativ e ly ea rly age o f
)
fifty t wo
-
. J ud g ing from appeara nces not so v e ry long b e fo r e ,
”
h is d e ath i t see m ed t h at a g ood long life was b e fore him
,
.
R e fe re n ce has al ready bee n m ad e to th e si ngl e wick e t -
m a t ch in L e ed s in w hich Freeman won a cup against J o b

,
l e arson of F arsl e y A g re at er contest than this t oo k pla ce

’
.
four y e a rs l at e r in A u g u st 1 86 6 when Freeman was t wen ty

, ,
th ree y ear s of age I t was bet ween Freeman and H e n ry

.
1 90 OLD ENG LI SH C RI C KETERS .
hi t t i ng of Freeman was trem endou s h e seem ed t o b e most

4
’ ’
a t home w hen sending th e ball fo r and of which h i
3 s s s ,
g r ea t s core w a s principally compo se d and t o see the m fl yin g

over the rail way or into th e bon e yard was a common occur -
”
ren ce ere the close of th e i nnings F reeman s in ni ng s ca n .
’
be further reali sed when it is said that the Malton Tw e nty

two s score reached 2 2 0 and 1 2 3 of that figure was o ff
’
,
’
George s b at .
There is a record of a match b etwee n Malton and Be verl e y

on May 3 0 1 868 when Malton scored 3 81 Oi that fig ure
, , .
Ge o rg e Freeman scor ed 1 4 8 and then re tir ed ! ,
Geo rge Free m an a nd Roge r Id d iso n took ov er th e join t

se cr e t a ry ship of the North United Elev en and jus t aft er ,
wa rd s t he pair d id some big scori ng at Malto n again st The

”
S ca rb o ro ugh Vi sitors It was on September 1 7 1 86 9
.
, .
T he “ ”
Vi s i tors included Me ssrs R D and I D Walk e r . . . .
,
M r I M Th o rn t on A F Smith and o th ers and had b ee n

’
. .
,
. .
, ,
d o i ng big things aga in s t the bes t club s of the cou nty

,
'
But .
Ge o rg e Fr e e m an took 8 of the wickets and th e whole s id e ,
were ou t fo r 88 After thi s F r eeman scored 5 2 and I dd iso n

.
7 2,
a n d i t is recor d ed t h a t George hit two ball s into th e ra il
wa y s t a t i o n a n d o n e in t o the bone mill A s Canon Ow e n -
.
ha s s a i d Fr e e m a n cer ta inly po sse ssed a t end e ncy to hit

, .
’
F re e m a n s be st bo wling years w ill b e understood f r om th e
follo w ing sta ti st ics
Wickets .
66
46
50
55
29
A fe w be st b o wli ng perfor m ances may b e given culled

o f his ,
at ra n d o m fro m v ari o u s sour ce s Thus playing for the United .

,
t e a m a g a i n st It e d ca r T w en t y two on J uly 1 9 1 86 6 G eo rge

-
, ,
ca t u re d 1 wick t in one inni g while at on e p er iod h e

p 7 e s n s ,
t o o k 6 w i cke ts in e ight co n se cu t ive bal ls 1 A nothe r wond e rful

pi e ce of b o w ling was acco m p lished at Tadcaster a week lat er
r
, ,
T HE L A TE G EO RGE FREEM AN . 191
also wi th th e Unit ed again st a local twenty two I n th e -

.
s econd innings b e commenc ed by hitting J ohn O scro ft in
t he ey e and with h is fi,
rst nin e balls captu red 7 wicke t s .
I n th e ma tch at Tre ntham (in 1 86 4) to w hich Ge orge

And e rso n has alluded Fre eman captured 2 2 wickets and ,
scored 1 8 not out This was r eall y th e occasion of his d ébut

.
in a big ma tch as on e of t he crack s and not a me re loca l ,
antagoni s t I t was this performance that established F ree

.
man s po si t ion in th e wid e world of cricket

’
.
Surrey sufie red th e power of George Freeman s arm for th e ’

'
firs t t ime in 1 86 7 for he got 7 of thei r wickets for 2 0 run s

, ,
am ong his clea n bo wl ed victim s being J upp Humphrey -

, ,
Mort lock and Griffit h ,

.
There was an article on George Freema n in Cricket som e

tim e ago in which the great bowler is recorded as having
,
s po ken of W G Gra ce s innings of 6 6 aga in s t th e Yo rk shir e

’
. .
bowling at Lord s in 1 87 0 as follows ’
A more wonderful innings was never play ed Tom Emmett .
an d I have of t en sa id i t w as a marvel the D octor was n o t
ei ther ma im ed or unnerv ed for the re st of his day s or kill ed ,
ou t right I of t en think of his pluck on that d ay when I w a t ch

.
a m odern ba t sm a n sc a red if a medium ball hi ts him on the
h a nd H e should h a ve seen our expre sses fl ying about his

.
[W G ] s sh oulders an d h ead in 1 87 0
’
. s rib .
, I p re , .
ferred bo w ling on the Ova l to any other g round becau se it ,
w as a perfec t wicket ; for I al wa ys bo wled a t the stumps ,
kne w exa c t ly ho w much s pin should be put on the ball and was ,
”
vexed if t h e b ad w ickets gave it more or a di fferent b ias , .
The following two quotation s are also from th e sam e

so urce
“
Bowlers w ent for th e wicket then non e of your o il
'
bo wling in t he hope s of a catch If th e bat sman did get an .
o fib a ll then he went for it

-
Catch men like Tom Humphrey
, .
q uie t ly ta king no no t ice of such a ba ll They cut it Mr . .
I D Wa lker w ould pat the top of t he ball with a flat horiz on tal
. .
bat a marvellous s troke of his for t he ba ll was off to t he

—
,
boundary as if it had bee n shot And there was no legging .

192 OLD ENG LI S H CRI C KETERB .
in those d ays : the truth is nearly all th e bo wli ng was fas t , ,

’
and so legging was impossible I was at Scarborough wh e n .
the Austra lian s wer e ov e r in 1 890 : don t m e ntion nam e s h ere ’
bu t I was di sgu sted with a certain g reat bat sma n s dod g es ’

,
ru nning ou t to a breaki ng ball and d e liberat e ly cov e ri ng his ,

’
w i cke t s w ith his pad s I to ld him it wasn t c r ick et and that
.
,
if he had been playing tw enty five y ears ago h e could not h a v e -
d o ne it for the ba ll w o uld hav e b een on him to o soo n

, .
“I was in our comm ercial hote l one day wh e n a t ra g er

s n
cam e in Cricket was soon introduce d He was f ro m Lan

. .
cas hire a n d had but a mean opi nio n of Yo r k shi re s chanc es

'
,
a g a in st his county After h e had e xhau sted his stock o f

.
el o que nce I chi m ed in remarking th at there was a tim e w h en

, ,
Y ork shire m en thought nothing of their n eigh bo u rs skil l at ’
cri ck e t i nd eed I cou ld rememb er a match in which La ncashi re

w ere t w ice di s m i ssed for less than 5 0 run s each tim e I co uld .
t i n t g iv e d at e a n d score s b ut was co nfi d e nt of th e fact

, He .
o o h pooh e d it s a id i t was impo ssibl e an d we n t so fa r as to

p
-
, ,
w a g e r a s o v e re i g n about it I acce pted th e b e t and sta rted

.
,
’
h o m e fo r Score s a nd Biographies
‘
Wh e n I had gon e so m e .
,
body t o ld him who I was and that I had play ed in that m a tch , .
‘
Then wa s h is reply I may as w e ll stump up at o n c e
,
’
,
‘
.
’
W hich he did m ost honourab ly l eaving th e mo ney at th e bar , .
I n e v e r sa w him again The scores for Lancashire we r e 3 0 .
and 3 4 . I took 1 2 w icke t s for 2 3 Tom Emm e tt 7 for ,
The d at e of t hi s m atch the write r may add was J uly 9 , ,
and 1 0 ,
1 86 8 a n d t he venue w as Holbeck
,
.
Ge o rg e F re e m a n only once playe d in th e G entl em e n 0 .
Pl ay e rs m atche s That was at Lord s on J uly 3 1 87 1

’
.
’
, .
( h i t he seco nd d ay of the m atch h e se nt down 1 1 ov ers fo r

6 r un s a nd 4 w i cke t s and wi th four ball s bowl ed M e ssrs
,
W I I l l ad o w A A pp leby and S E B utle r

. .
,
.
,
. . .
I n s t a n ces a re rare in which a professional c r ick et e r has

“ ”
j o in ed the rank s of th e Great Unpaid and re ce iv e d an
’
i n v i tat ion to play w i th the representativ e Gentl em an s t e am s
o f t h e d ay Ge orge F ree m a n had this e xpe rie nc e
. Th e .
w ri t e r b e li e v es that about th e yea r 1 885 Mr F re em an re

19 4 OLD EN G LI S H cmcxm s a s .
A lla n Hill also reca ll s the following amusi ng incident

relat ing to George Freem an in a match at Mal to n Fr ee .
m an ran ne a rly h a l f w ay up th e pitch to th e bowler a n d

m i ss ed t he ba ll Th e wicke t ke e per took th e ball a n d threw
.
i t up for a run out but in his delight forgot to brea k t h e

,
w icket .Freem an proce eded to walk away as if making for

the pa v ilion but w hen in his ground h e turn ed took up hi s
, ,
st a nd a t t he wicket an d pr e p a red to receive the n e xt ball

, .
“Wh at are you come here for 7 ” ask ed th e as t oni s hed
w icke t keeper Beca us e you forgot to put th e wicket

.
do wn m y f riend
,
w a s th e cool reply
, F reeman then .
m ade 1 0 0 The w icket keeper was Ed S tephen son

.
-
. .
Geo rg e F re e m a n was a member of th e team that went to

A m e ri ca under the ca ptaincy of Edgar Wil lsher in 1 86 8 .
I n t ha t t our he c a ptured 1 0 4w icket s of which 7 4were clea n ,
b o wled A n u m ber of his le t ters written when on thi s tour

.
t o h is un cle M r J ohn Freem a n of Staveley have b e en pre

, ,
served by M rs Free m a n an d were ki ndly hand ed t o the

,
w riter for t he purpose s of these remini scences In t h e first .
l e tt e r d a t ed Everett Hou se Union Squ a re N e w York

, , , ,
M o nd ay Sep t e m ber 1 4 1 86 8
,
h e chatt ily d escribe s the
, ,
p a ssa ge (t en d ay s
) out includi n g the u s u a,
l e xperience s of
b ad sa il o rs :
I m u st n ot fo rge t a l so to m or five first

en t io n th at the fo ur
d a ys w e r e o n e s o f so rro w for m os t o f us an d w e w is hed m an y ,
t i m es w e w e re b ack i n d e a r o l d En gl an d W e were a l l b ad .
w it h sea s ick n e ss e x ce pt R o w bo t h a m W ill sh er an d Griffith s

-
, , , ,
a n d it w a s a gre at t r e a t t o h ear u s all k i ckin g u t h m t

p e os
h o rrib l e ro ws i m ag i n ab l e Fo u r o f n a sl e pt in o ne berth
.
,
a n d it w a s j u st l ik e l yi n g o n the shelv e s i n t h e n t r t h m
p a y a o e .
W e h a v e o n he ard ab o u t 9 5 0 so u ls w i th the cre w O n e , .
d e a th to o k p lace a n d we h ad a l so a b irth so th at in a l l w e ,
fin is h e d a s w e s t a rte d .
In n o t h e r l e tt er re fere nce is m ade to a match at Mon trea l

a ,
w hi ch is w o rt h repr o du cin g if only for t he mode st re feren ce

,
t o a v e ry fin e bo w ling perfo rm a nce w hich Fre e m a n a e co m
p l is h e d :
T HE LA T E GEORGE FR EEMA N . 5
T he 22 wo n th e to ss an d w ent in T he w i cke t w as hea v y .

,
a nd a r sh o w th e m d f i t w h d th m l l u t i
po o y a e o as e a e a ,o n
t w o h o urs for 2 2 r un s I to o k 1 3 w i ck e ts fo r 1 2 r uns

. Eve ry .
b o d y se em ed s u rpri sed a t th is as th e y tho ugh t they wou ld stand

,
a be tte r ch a n ce tha n the N e w Y o rkers h aving se v era l go od ,
l ay e rs in the te am
p .
Evidently Freem n a a bird ind eed a strong

was “home —
to n e of affection for his relatives run s through th e let te rs

I there [
w i sh I w as h o m e] n ow I t is a ge n e ral sayin g a m on g
.
n a o n ce m o re in d ea r o l d En gl an d
“ neve r no m ore ”
S t il l w e
, , .
o ug h t t o b e s a t is fie d as w e h a v e m e t w i th e v e ry k indne ss b ut
, ,
t h e ir way s a n d m ann e r s a re so di ff e re n t fro m o u rs .
In th e final letter before lea ving Ne w York for home on

Octo ber 2 0 1 868 Freeman wrot e
, ,
No do ub t e ve ry o n e w il l b e e xceed in gl y gl ad to find we have

bee n vi c to ri o u s in al l ga m es W e d id n o t m eet w i t h such k ind
.
n ess in P [ Phi lad e l ph i a] as we had d one in o th e r p laces an d we

‘
.
,
we re al l gl ad t o g e t a way I a m v e ry p leas ed in d e ed t o
.
sa y I s ha ll h a v e a cl ear £ 1 00 w he n I g e t b ac k a n d wi th r n ts
p ese ,
a n d a l l w e sh a ll be v e ry we ll sa t is fi ed an d I think n o n e t he ,
w o rse fo r the jou rn ey Th e re is n o m is ta ke t he co un try is well

.
w o rt h se ein g a n d i t is a grea t even t in o u r li fe ti m e

, .
T o d ay w e p laye d a m atch at b ase b all a n d w ere again de fea te d

-
, .
I t is a foo l to c r ick e t st ill the Yan k e es t hi n k o th e r wis e

, .
According to the te sti m o ny of his most in timate friends ,
M r Freema n in bu s ine ss was as s uccess f ul as h e was in

cricket C an on O we n says that at Thi rs k i t got t o b e almost
.
a n es ta bli s h ed problem in school ari t hme t ic to calcula te how
m uch M r Freeman would make in a yea r if he so ld so many

b ea s ts and pigs and sheep at a com mi ss ion of so m uch a
head Mr Freema n s dea th occurred as previou sly sta ted
.
’
, ,
on November 1 8 1 89 5 H e had be en ill for two y ea rs

,
.
,
’
Brigh t s dis eas e being the in sidiou s malady tha t took it s
relentle ss grip u pon his vigorous fram e a nd fina lly la id it ,
lo w Mrs Freema n says that he s t ru ggled m a nfully aga in st

.
the illn ess and for a long time would not belie v e in it s
,
s eriou s n ess .One d ay h e came to see a sp ecialist in L e ed s

t o as k for advice .The medical ge ntleman after m a king ,
h is dia gn os is asked
,
When were you se lling last 7
, Free
m an replied that h e had been on the ro str um at Thi rs k
m arket the previo us day H e was orde r ed to b e d im me
.
d ia t e ly and a long and painful illn ess e nd ed as state d

,
Some .
of his fri e nd s u se d to ask M r Fre eman if c ricket had s own

t he s eed of th e blighting di seas e but h e would not hea r of
,
t he possibility of such a t hing H e al ways main tain ed th a t

.
t he exposure w hich his bu sine ss often en tail ed was the in it i

a t o ry ca u s e of his illne ss It only rem ain s to add tha t his
.
dea t h in practically t he f ull years of his m anhood, was

,
deeply and widely regre t ted and that his m emory will
,
re m a i n througho ut the cricket world gree n in t h e hearts

of nu m b er less friends and sportsm en for many years t o
com e .
198 O LD ENG LI S H cal cxs r sas
'
.
of t he awful fate of “the

far fam ed Clifton m ai d and n u -
a cqu a in t ance w i t h t he minor poe t K irke White an d a ll h is
w ork s t he village rs will tell him that his education has been
,
neglec t ed Thi s is a rebuff t hat should be avoid ed

. .
I ha ve al ways been a bashful man says George Woo tton , ,
si tt ing in t he quie t pa rlour of h is quaintly pleasant farm s t ead -

.
When I was a lad at home in thi s village (where I w as born

on Oc t ober 1 6 and could bowl as well as ever I could
, ,
I would slide o ff anywhere rather than play in a matc h .
T hey u sed t o o ffer m e half a crown and 5 8 to get me to play - -

. .
Why I w as t wenty six years of age w h e n I went out in t o

,
-
public cri cke t and I retired into t he privacy of thi s farm

,
here so m e yea rs before my cricket career should properly h av e

”
c l o sed .
’
S t ill w hen o ne looks at George Wootte n s surroundi n gs
, ,
o n e is prepa red to conc ede tha t th e bashfulne ss which has
a ffl ic t e d h im t hrough life mu s t be not half a bad thing In .
o t he r wo rd s George Wootton in the evening of li fe appea rs

, , ,
t o h a v e fe w c a re s to w orry him .
I lea rned my cricke t here at Clift on and it was about the ,
y e ar 1 86 0 tha t I w en t out as a profe ssiona l That w as to .
R o c hd a le w here I ha d an e nga ge m ent for t w o y ears

, It w as .
old Alfred Cl a rke t ha t recom m e nded me Then I was .
’
e nga ged on t he ground sta ff at L ord s a position I never left ,
u n t il m y re t ire m ent from cricket tw e lv e years later H ad I .
k e pt t o cricke t in g I should probably hav e been at Lo rd s ’
now . P e rha ps I had be t ter re source s than the av e rage pro

fe s s io n a l cricke t er for I had taken up farm ing and ther e fore
, ,
ha d a n oc cupa t i o n in the w inter Most of th e c rickete rs of .
m y d a y w ere h a rd up by Chri stm as .
My fo rt e w a s l e ft h a nd bow ling a li ttle over mediu m

-
p a ce . M y fi rst big m a t ch w as I think again s t t he All , ,
En g la nd Ele ve n w i t h eig hteen of th e Halla m Club at H yde ,
Pa rk S he ffie ld Tha t was while I w as at Rochda le T hen I

,
. .
l yed in a b ig ga m e a t B a t h wi t h George Pa rr s t ea m
’
p a .
C a r pe n t er Ta rra n t H ay w a rd J a ck son and Mr E M G ra c e

, , , , . .
w e re pl ayi n g in t he first m a t c h I recollect I knock ed t he .

G E O RG E W OOTTON . 199
’
Coroner s middle stump out and for a new beginner I thought ,
tha t was a good fea t .
A t Lord s J immy Grundy and I played in t he b es t

’
match e s for several years J immy used to say I ll stick .

,
’
t hem up George you bowl the m out

, , and so metime s we did
it
. Ther e was one notabl e in sta nce in which w e got a tea m
out betw een us for 2 0 run s That was for the M C C 11 . . . . .
Norfolk in 1 86 4 Here is th e analys is

.
O ve rs . Maid ens . Run s .
11 5 9
101 7 9
It was ,ho we ver only a case of t it for t at for on a pr e

, ,
v io us occa sion N o rfo l k had got t he M C C out for 1 r un

9 s . . . .
N e ric lk at that t i m e w ere con sidered a good team Ano ther .
good bowling fea t by Grundy and m yself wa s for M C C v . . . .
Middlesex at L ord s in 1 86 4 Middlesex w ere di smi ssed a l so

’
.
fo r 2 0 run s Our figu res w ere

.
O ve rs . Ma id ens . R un s .
8 10
13 8 8
If you wa nt o ther bowling feats j ust to sho w that I was ,
s upposed to be a ble to trundle a bit I might mention th a t in ,
1 86 5 at S he ffi e ld playing for the All England Eleven

,
I got -
,
all the 1 0 Y ork shire wickets in one innings In ju stice to .
Y orkshire I should ad d tha t at t he time t hey had a bi t of a

split o n a n d w ere not repre sented by their re a lly be s t eleven
, .
Y et a not her fe a t 7 Well in 1 86 3 at Lord s for the

, ,
’
,
I took 8 w ic ket s six bow led bo w ling three men w ith the first
, ,
ba ll I gave them and hitting the middle stump out of the

,
r und four ti m e s Once a t Sc a rborough aga in st t he Engla nd

g o .
,
Eleven on the old C astle Hill ground I got 3 of the England

, ,
wickets wi t h the first three ba lls of the match ”

.
More of the se fea ts could be given but those enumerat ed ,
are s ufficie nt to pro ve the triteness of Richard D a ft s remark ’
You had to be in t ime when batting again st George

Woo tt on .
200 EN G LI S H C R I C KET ERS .
My bes t y ears were 1 86 6 when I took 1 5 0 wickets and , ,
1 86 7 when m y record w as 1 5 1 wickets

,
In the first named .
-
yea r I was the only bow ler in first class cricke t who took 1 0 0 -
wi ckets ; in 1 86 7 Southerton alone sh a red th e honour with

m e an d h is t o ta l was 1 1 2 aga in s t my 1 5 1
,
In 1 86 8 W illsher .
joined u s in the capture of wicke t centuries but in 1 86 9 ,
So u thert on a nd I again were alone in compiling th e t hree

fig u re record Ea rlier t ha n t hes e year s 1 86 2 I a l so had 1 1 9
.
, ,
wicke t s to my credit but th a t wa s nothing s eeing that 1 0

, ,
bo wlers sha red t he honour I was a long way below m y old .
friend s R ( Tinley and J Jack son who had the w onderful

.
J
. .
,
re cord s of 3 5 1 wickets and 3 3 5 respectively .
I ha d t he pleasure of playing in t he m atch in w hich

W G Grace m ade his first century in first clas s cricke t I
. .
—
.
co ngra t ul a t ed my s elf th a t I w as on h is s ide It w as for .
E ngl a n d v Surrey on J uly 3 0 1 86 8 The you n g cha mpion

.
, .
,
a s he t hen pro ved hi m s elf t o b e scored 2 2 4not out and I , ,
a c t u a lly preceded him in the b a tt ing li s t for I went in first ,
w i cket do w n ! I remember that in tha t match our captain ,
M r V E Wa lker ga ve young Grace leave of ab sence during

. .
,
the gam e to g o a way t o run in a hurdle race a t the C rys ta l

Pa l ace I gu ess a c ap ta in would be ho rrifie d at t he bare
.
s ugge s t io n of s uch a t hing n o w .
I had not a l ways the good luck though to be on W G s , , . .

’
s ide w h e n he w a s bre a ki ng the bowler s hea r t s H e playe d a

’
.
w onderful innin g s of 1 3 4 not out (o i a tota l of 2 0 1 l) at Lord s

’
, ,
in G e n t l e m en Players in 1 86 8 and I was one of t he un i e rt

, ,
u n a t e b o w l e r s on t h a t occa s ion Then the first t ime he m ad e .
t w o sep a ra t e hu ndred s in a m a t ch at Can terbury in t h e sa m e
y e a r I ha d t he luxury 7
() of bowling again s t h im That by .
,
t he w ay w as t he m a t ch in w hich C a non M C orm ick m ad e

,
‘
his score of 1 3 7 for o u r s ide I took 8 wickets in th e firs t.
i n n in g s a n d w asn t i t a sw eet t hing w hen at last I clea n

,
’
b o w led t h e cham pion w i t h his score a t 1 3 0 ! It was n ice t o

se e W G m a ke t h e run s
. . i t w as a posi t ive delight w hen yo u
sa w h is b a ck an d kn e w you had sent him to t he righ t
”
abo ut .
20 2 O LD ENG LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
one of Goodrich s lobs The light I may say was dread fully
’
.
, ,
b ad and Bidd ulph m i ss ed the ball which pitche d on h is

, ,
knee T here was an app eal for leg be for e and out Biddy
.
-
had to g o the match bei ng a tie with our sco re 2 1 1

, It , .
m u st ha ve been a moot poin t as to whether the ball would -
h a v e hit t he wicket for Bidd ulph had gon e far d own t he

,
pi tch to mee t t he man whom the Dea n of Roch es ter s aid

frigh tened so m a ny batsmen t o d eath We should have w o n .
very ea sily had i t not been for the phenomenally fine fie ld ing
of the fourteen F oresters It remain s to ad d that t h e e ffo rt .
m ade by Biddy and myself to pull off the match pl ease d t he

onlookers so m uch t h at we were each re ward e d w ith a don a
tion w hi ch w as handed to us a m id st great applaus e b y Sir
,
He n ry Bro m ley .
D id you ever hea r of a man acting as bowl e r wi ck e t ,
k e e pe r l o ng stop poi n t and short slip in one innings 7 N 0 7

,
-
, ,
-
W e ll Grundy once did it for the M C C again st Suss ex

,
. . . .
Pe rso nally I o n ly tried my hand at w icket keeping on ce -

.
Th a t wa s at B rig ht on a l so aga ins t Su ssex I k n ew so li tt le

, .
a b o u t t he job t hat I did no t look ro un d to se e t h e long stop -
t h ro w ih w i t h t he result that I go t a w ell deserved blow on

,
-
t he b a c k o f the hea d Af ter that i n cident I had no d ifficu lty

.
in co m ing t o t he conclu sion tha t wicket keeping was not my -
”
fo rt e .
M e n t io n of w i ck e t keeping re call s to th e w rite r s mind an

’
-
i n cid e n t t o ld h im by M r Bu chan an in which Wootto n was

c o n ce r n e d .S a id t he old Rugby bowler : “ On e of th e
t hi ng s you ne v er forge t is a bi t of splendid but frui t les s
c ri c ke t . T o m Lo ck ye r playi n g for Surrey again s t the M C C
, . . .
a n d Gro u n d w i t h Woo t to n b a t t ing once did one of t h e b e s t

, ,
b it s o f w i ck e t ke e pin g I e v e r saw ye t it was in v a in Woo tto n

-
, .
,
b e in g v e ry q u ick on h is l e gs ra n ou t to hit on e but m i ss e d

°
, , , .
Lo cky e r g o t his h a n d rou n d clo se to t he wicket but j u st a s ,
t h e b a ll r e a ch e d his ha n d Woo tton rega ined his grou n d an d

s a v e d h is w i c ke t The stu m ps were down and if Wo o t to n
.
,
h a d b e e n t h e m e re s t fra cti o n of a second la ter in getti n g

d o w n h is fo o t t h a n t he b all wa s in ge tt ing pas t the wick e t ,
E R
G O GE W OOTTON . 20 3
he wo uld hav e been out It was a superb bit of wick et .
’
keeping on Lockyer s part .
Wootte n s firs t match with Notts was again st Surrey at the

’
Oval in 1 86 1 H e hardly came out wi t h a fl o urish of

.
t rumpets for he did no t get a wicket nor score a run though

, ,
’
on e of his t wo o s was a not o ut In the retu rn m a tch t h e .
,
followi n g mon t h he took 5 wickets in the first innings and

,
the 2 t hat fell in th e second H e afterward s played with .
Notts for eight season s and was on the L ord s staff as stated
,
’
, ,
for twelve season s H is b e nefit at L ord s he say s was a “ ’

.
, ,
”
bad m atch playe d in bad weather and he receiv ed from it a
, ,
lit t le under £ 3 0 0 .
H e clai m s only to have been a li ttle above medium pa c e as a

“
bow ler but D aft de scribes him to the writer as a fine fast
,
left hand bowler wi th a pretty delivery ke eping an exce lle nt

-
, ,
”
length and coming quick 0 6 the pitch
, That he could and '
d id bowl fast is shown by the fa ct recalled by Wootton him ,
s elf that once at L ord s in bo wling a wicket down he

,
’
, ,
kno cked th e bail 44yard s ! For over tw e nty years since his
retiremen t from cricket Mr Wootton has been a subscri b er t o
Not ts County H e has seen m ost of their matches in tha t
.
time and ha s opinions of his own upon Notts play which h e

,
’
,
shall no w giv e
I think it must be admitted Notts are a bit slow slowe r —
at anyrat e than they were in our d ay But some pe ople .
blame t hem when they do not play slo w and I think af ter , ,
all a man should be allowed wit hout unkind c ri t ici sm to

, , ,
play his natura l game Ar thur Shrewsbury is slow yet he .

,
is very cert ain and very good Personally I w o uld ra ther see .
,
William Gunn make a hundred than any m a n in Engla nd h e

is a mos t arti s tic bat sman and can puni sh bowling without ,
t aking libe rtie s Knee play I confe ss I do not like I once

. .
sa w in a match at Trent Bridge t w o m e n lif t t heir ha ts a nd
pu s h out their knees to play the ba ll But they did not push .
fa r enough and w ere bowled at which I rejoiced ,

.
“T hen I ca ll bowling off the w icke t w asted energy As a .

.
r ule I used to bowl at the wicke t and v ary the pace I sa w .

‘
A t t ew e l l on ce bo wl t wo wid es and told him Old man you ll , ,
’
h a ve t o chuck it if you bowl w ides Oh I shall go on for .
,
t e n year s ye t And so I h e pe he will for he has be e n of

.
’
,
i m m en se service to his coun ty and I was delighted to fin d he ,
had such a good b e n e fit There was perhaps one thing I did .
a s a bowler which I ought not t o hav e done I detes t ed a .
sh o r t pi t ched ba ll
-
and I gave batsmen perh aps a fe w m ore
,
half volley s than I ought to hav e done Still whe n a man is

—
.
,
hi t t ing you ha ve always a chance that h e won t hit even a

,
’
half v olley acc urately

-
.
I ca nno t h o nestly think that the bowling no w is as good

as i t wa s t w en ty years or more ago M e n do not bowl a t th e .
w i cke t as they u s ed to d o and som e of them seem to bo w l as , ,
i t w e re w i thou t their head s We have not a bo wl er now l ike

, .
J a ck so n Ta rra n t and J C Shaw I do not think E n g la n d

, ,
. .
ever had a be t ter bowler t han George Fre em an and Al lan H ill ,
w a s very fa s t a n d st ra igh t but not v ery d ificult

”
.
,
W ootton has t old u s that he w as a bas hful so rt o f a

”
ch a p H e a l so says he was a home bird and when at Lo rd s
’
—
,
.
ra re ly w en t fa r a way from the ground Had h e enj o y ed .
t ra v e lling more he w ould not hav e retir ed f ro m th e ga m e as

,
so o n as he did One of the Messrs Walk er onc e as k ed h im if

.
he w oul d j o in a t eam to vi si t Am erica H e t hank ed h im for .
t he o ff e r bu t declin ed on the gro und that h e was not a w ater

,
s a niel
p
Aft e r his re t i remen t from cricket Wootton had a sho r t spe ll
o f u m pi ring .
I t is a very t h a nkle ss o ffice sa ys he and I soo n ga ve , ,
it up I l ike d u m piring very well b ut if you make a m i st a k e

.
e v e ry o n e is dig g in t you I coul d not t nd that o t of

g a s a s r .
”
t hing so I g av e i t up
, .
F or a b a shf ul m a n Ge o rge Wo otton is v e ry g oo i com pa n y

, .
A s a fa r m e r he a ppe a rs t o h a v e fa red fairly we ll on a g ricul

t ura l d e pre s s io n .
20 6 OI.D EN GLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
e t tors on t he Satu rday will l eav e them a littl e Open

sp c a ,
o n t he Sund a y mo r ning ; and that h e who m the pa rso n has
taught to t w is t will be th e more ready to list e n to his

”
di ssuasive s from tortuous conduct .
T he R e v E S Ca rt e r is no pious j e l lyfi
. . . sh of the pulpit .
You have bu t to seek an acquaintanc e with h is career

in the world of cricket to know that th e h ealthy doc
t rine of muscula r Chr i stianity has had in him an ea rn est
disciple and a capabl e exponent If you are privil eged
.
t o have an a fternoo n s ta l k with him in his study you

’
,
w ill find him a delightful r a con teur b r immi ng ove r with ,
a ne cd o t e and m irth ; and yo u will quickly come to the
co n c lus ion th a t h is e phod of prudery has lo ng s inc e b ee n
u n st a rched .
Ed m und Sa rd inson Carter was born on Feb ruary 3 1 845 , ,
a t M a lton a n d followed the foot step s of h is father wh e n h e

,
en t ered the Church Those who hav e a w eak ness for t ryi ng
.
t heir lu ck at a w i shing stone w ill b e intere sted in h is boyish

-
e x perience w hic h was certainly ve ry cu riou s This is what .
he sa y s
’
When fourt een years of age I be cam e a K i ng s Sch olar at
D urh a m and w hen m y cour s e was n early run the re I paid a
,
v is i t t o the F i n kle Abbey wi s hi ng st on e and I wi sh e d th ree

-
,
t hi n g s a ll most unlikely as I th en thought to occu r The

, , , .
firs t w as tha t I m igh t g o to Oxfo rd ; th e s eco nd that I might ,
l y in the Oxf o rd Eleven a nd th e third that I might ro w

p a ,
in t he Oxford Boa t They we re all realised th e first two

.
,
w ithi n ei g h t e en month s I won a schola rship w hich t ook

.
m e t o Ox ford in 1 86 4; in 1 86 6 and 1 86 7 I play ed in the

U n i v ersi ty El e ve n a n d in 1 86 7 and 1 86 8 r owed in the
O x fo rd B o a t . Only a b o ut eight o ther ge ntlem e n h av e
g a i n e d t h e se d o ub l e bl u es of whom ,
the Rev Cano n .
M C o rm ick a nd t he R e v J Ai t k e n are still living

‘
. . .
I wa s pre v e n t e d fro m pl ayi ng with the Va rsity Elev e n a

’
thi rd y e a r o wi ng t o an a tta c k of pleurisy which comp e ll ed ,
m e t o t ak e a v o ya g e in a sa iling shi p t o Au st ralia

-
Th e cir .
c u m s ta n ce s u nder which t hi s a tta ck was induc e d w ere 80 e x

T H E R EV . E . S . CA RTER . 20 7
ce pt io nal that I may be pa rdoned for referring to them .
They constituted my las t a thle t ic d ay at Oxford It w as .
"
ea rly in Jun e 1 86 8 I was in fo r t he Varsity pai rs with
.
’
R G Ma rsden who had rowed stroke in 1 86 7 and No 4in

. .
,
.
’
1 86 8 in t he Un iv ersity e igh t We start ed fo r a p ractice at.
e leve n in th e mo rn ing (cuttin g lectu res to do it ) as I was ,
e nga g ed in th e afte rnoon We row ed twic e ov e r the co urse

.
,
one a nd a half mile long m aking six mil es ro wi ng includin g

—
’
,
p a d dling to th e sta rti n g pl a c e at I fil ey Th is

-
over I t ro t t e d .
,
t o t he Co ll ege C rick e t G ro un d on Cowle y Marsh two m il es

-
, ,
w here my Col l e ge (Worces ter) was playi ng Pembro ke We .
wen t in to the field and I bow l ed a ll t h ro ugh th e first innings

, ,
ta kin g se v e n wicke ts D uring my in nings a t rem en dous

.
t hunderst o rm ca m e on whe n I had mad e 1 0 5 runs and as I ,
w as enga ged to r ow in our Coll ege Sc ratch Four that evening ,
I had only j us t time to get back to t h e riv e r fo r t he sta rt of

t he fi rs t hea t in which I was to row
,
I at once ran down as .
,
n o convey a n ce had yet a rriv ed and got tho rough ly soa ked on ,
t he way I arriv ed j ust in time to ta ke my place in the

.
b oa t. We won our first b eat and had to row a se cond t he ,
sa m e evening both clo se race s

,
O u m y way back to Co ll ege .
I got we t through a gain with a repe tition of th e heav y

t hunder rain -
I was al rea d y suffe ring f rom a ch es t co ld
.
ca ugh t a fe w day s before t h ro ugh having a long wait in a
co ld mi s t at th e sta rt for t he College eights N ext mo rn ing

I could no t d raw a long b reath wi t hout pa in T he doc to r .
w ho m I con sult ed p ro nounced i t a cas e of pl e urisy and se n t ,
m e ba ck t o my ro om s a nd t o bed ,
There I remain ed for .
so m e w eek s into th e long vaca tion thu s m issi ng my third ,

—
y ea r in t h e Universi ty eleven and eight but ga ining a ,
v oy age to Au st ralia by doc t or s orde rs and mo st intere s t ing

’
e xperience s in that colony .
The t rip did me immens e good for whe reas I on ly w eigh ed ,
1 0 s tone 1 0 lh when I w en t a boa rd on reaching Melbo urn e

.
,
I pulle d the scale at 1 3 s t one 4lb A s luck w ould have it .

,
t he fi rs t m an I sa w in Aus t ra lia a t t he end of the Sandridge
Pier was G P Robertson who played with m e in the Oxford

. .
,
20 8 O LD ENGL I S H CRI C KETERS .
Ele v e n t he year before H e was living in Melbourn e so at .

,
on ce got m e down to t he ground and en rolled m e as a m ember

of t he Melbo urne with the result that I was chosen t o
play again st the Aborigin a ls and in th e Inte r Colon ial match -
,
”
Victoria New South Wales a t Sydn ey .
A n even mo re e xt raordinary r en con tr e than th e m ee tin g

wi th his old college chum and one tha t shows w hat a little ,
world i t is should be here given , .
”
We were going add s Mr Carter afte r t h e inter , ,
c o l o nia l con te st to Wa rnam b ool to play a match ag ains t odds

, .
’
O u dri v ing from Ge elong through th e bush at three o clock ,
in the morning we cam e to a cross track A t t he sa me

, .
m omen t a m a n c ame rollicking acro ss from th e other d irec

t io n w i th a horse and car t I was on the box seat and a man .
,
n a m e d E va ns w ho seemed to know e v erybody r emark e d to

, ,
me C a rter you see that driver th e re ? he is a nam esa k e o f

, ,
yo u rs I re plied I must hav e a word with him ; p e rhaps

.
’
,
‘
h e s a long lo st brother
’
Evan s hail ed him with the word s
-
.
’
,
C a r t er w e ve go t a n a me sak e of yours h ere

,
’
Eh 7 Which .
’
’
o n e m is i t 7
’
Whereupon I e xcla im ed Why he s a Yo r k ,
‘
,
s hi re m a n I go t o ff t he coach and spok e to him and h e

.
’
,
Yo u ng m an is yo r name Carte r 7 Yes I repli ed

’ ’
a s ke d
‘
, , , .
’ ’
S o s m ine ; w h e re d ye co m e thro 7 From where you v e
’ ’ ‘ ’
’
be e n b e fo re Where s tha t 7 York shire
.
’
T h e n th e
’
.
’
m a n b u r s t ou t you re not one of Parson Ca rte r s ’

D
’
,
s o n s of M a l t on a re h
’ ’
I m I repli d only ’
yo u 7 e e , e s n o t , ,
Pa rso n C a rter of Ma l ton now but of Slingsby Th en h e , .

’
“
ro ll ed 0 11 the n a m es of a ll the villages round Slingsby Wh e n .
I a sk e d h im w h at he was doing out in Au stralia h e slily ,
re m a rked I d id n t pay my own expen ses You see I w as

,
‘ ’
.
u n d e r ke e pe r t o L o rd C a rli s le at Castle Howard Park a n d

-
t h e re w as a li tt l e bit of a m i sundersta ndi n g betwe e n me and

L o rd C a rli s le H e said a ll the deer in t he pa rk were his a n d
.
,
I th ough t so m e of t h e m w ere mi ne so we came to a bit o f a ,
tria l ab o u t it a nd they t urned out to be all his On re turn i n g

,
.
’
h o m e I fo un d th at w h at my rolli cking n am e sak e had told m e

,
in t he A us t ra lia n b u sh at t hree o clock on that March mor n i ng ’

2 10 EN G LI S H ott10 11 a .
1 882 h e was in talled Vi ca r of St Michael lo Belfrey York a

s - -
, ,
cure w hich he hold s to day -

.
The Y o rkshire County Crick et Y ear Book g iv es 1 86 5 as the -
year of the Rev E S C a rter s first a ppearanc e in county

. . .
’
’
cri cket but it was n o t until th e e arly Se venti es that h e was
,
a ble t o keep in clo se touch with Yo rk shi re c rick e t Even .
then he was n ot abl e to pl ay regularly with th e co unty o wing

to h is cleri ca l dutie s and his chief con nect ion ev e ntu a lly had
,
t o be re s t ri cted to t he match es at th e Scarborough F est ival .
A m a n of grea ter all roundness probably n ev er st e pp ed on -
to a cricket fie ld than th e Vica r of St Michae l le Belfrey A s

- - -
.
a ba t s m a n he was well in t he first fl ight ; as a bowl er h e was

o ri g in a lly ve ry fas t and latterly for h e has play ed in seriou s
,
—
c ri c ket within t h e la st two o r thre e y ear s he could m ake —
hi m s elf in t o a fast high arm a slow round a rm or an u n der , ,
h a n d lob b o w ler In th e latte r capacity he has had so me

-
.
“
re m a rkab le successes and them the r e Carters hav e b e e n ”
t h e t e rro r o f bat smen in the Ridi ngs fo r man y y e ars .
O n e in cident of h is ability as a wicket ke e p e r may b e g iv en -
no w . I t was on S a turd a y Augu st 1 6 1 89 0 when Mr C a rter , ,

—
w a s for ty fiv e y ea r s of age
-
Playi ng for Yor k shir e Ge n tle .
m en H e w or t h Re v ellers at York h e perform ed th e e xt ra , ,
o r d in a ry fe a t of s tu m ping thre e bat smen with three suc cess ive
ba ll s a n d in a ll ca u sed the re t i r emen t of se ven oppo nen ts

, .
T h e gro u n d w as s t icky and the bowler W Wi sker was a , , .

,
m e d i u m l e ft h a nder w i t h a good brea k from leg

-
Th e las t of .
the th re e vi ct i m s in order to avoid the fate of his two pre

,
d e cess o rs ru sh e d out of t he groun d to m ee t th e ball on t he

,
f nll p it ch b u t the bo w l e r sa w his object a nd pitching it short

, , ,
”
bo t h b o w l e r a nd st um per w ere credi ted w i t h th e hat t rick -
.
N o w f o r a fe w b o w li ng fe a t s When a cu rate at Ealing in .

,
1 87 4 p la y in g fo r Ea l in g a g a in st W ille sden M r Carte r bo wl ed

, ,
r
,
w i c ke t s in 8 o v e r s fo r n o run s h is an a ly si s b eing 8 ov ers 8

9 , ,
m a id e n s 0 ru n s 9 w i cke t s
,
This wonderful feat w as per
,
.
”
fo rm e d w i t h C a r t e r s ex pre sse s Se venteen year s after
’
.
wa rd s t o t he d a y or t he d ay a fter pl aying for C l ifl e Hall

'
, ,
”
a a in s t M id d l e t on L o d ge D a rli n gton with h is l b tw i t e r
g o s s, -
, ,
T H E REV . E . s . C A R TE R . 11
he ured 7 wickets for 1 ru n and in two days took 1 5

sec ,
w ickets for 2 5 ru n s In 1 87 5 playing for Ealing aga inst t he

.
,
on May 2 2 at Ealing he and a Mr Mumford got the

, ,
M C C out for only 7 run s ; and by the way in thi s y ear Mr

. . .
, ,
Ca rte r scored 1 0 5 off t he b at for the Yorkshire Ge ntlemen

aga in st a strong eleven got together by M r L eatham .
Other bowling feats with his express es include 7 wickets

for 9 r uns 9 wickets for 9 ru n s a nd 9 wickets for 8 run s in
, , ,
1 87 1 ; 7 wickets fo r 9 ru n s in 1 87 2 ; 7 wickets for 2 run s ,
and 7 for 8 runs in 1 87 4; and so o n Going backward in

,
.
,
1 86 5 though owing to an accident having to bat with one

, , ,
hand aga in st Luke Greenwood s bowling aga in st D oncas ter ’

,
Peripa te t ics at York Mr Carter m ade 2 6 and 47 ; while in

,
’
the same yea r again st Notts Ge ntlemen s C C at Southwell . .
, ,
he had to bowl s lows owing to lamene ss and No t ts were out ,
for 2 8 and 3 6 In No tts second innings the first wicket fell

.
’
for 3 0 ; all were o ut for 3 6 Aga in in 1 87 7 when playing .

, ,
for Yorkshire Gentlemen again st Horn sea his left hand was ,
disabled when he had made 8 but he went on batting with o ne ,
ha nd and proved top scorer wi th 5 8 Many other instances

,
.
of s kill and pluck m ight be given but thes e mu st suffice , .
They show that in the Rev E S Carte r the doctrine of . . .
mu scular Chri stianity has h ad an exceedingly ca pable ex

ponent .
I once played a t Thirsk for T wen ty Two of the D istrict 2 -

.
the Al l Engla nd Eleven a nd threw a b a ll 1 1 7 yards Tarra nt , .
sa id it was with the w ind George Anderson said Try .

,
thro wing it ba ck the ot her way a nd I threw it the sam e ,

’
dis tance I threw it 1 1 0 ya rd s in t he Oxford University

.
S port s but didn t win a m an called M itchell I think

,
’
—
, ,
’
beating me wi t h 1 1 2 I don t suppose I could th row 80 .
n ow .
on t he Lyndhurst ground that I caugh t the famous

I t w as
hi t ter C I Thorn t on in t he long fie ld a t a di st ance of 1 2 0
, . .
,
-
yard s from the wicket he having previou sly hit a ball over —
m y head .
In my be st days as a batsman I was suppo sed to be

212 G LI S H cmcx mrlms.
'
EN
part icularly st rong on s to ry t he ofiside , and the followi ng

-
’
pays me that compliment Yo nn g Tom H ea rn e so n of .
‘
,
Old Tom w as our ground sman and bowle r at Ealing and

,
’
,
afterwa rd s till l ast year wh en he w as appointed head

, ,
’
ground sman at Lord s was engaged in that c a pacity at ,
Welling ton College When Mr Ala n Gray brother of an .

,
ex Lord M ayor of York and now D r Gray orga ni st of

-
, ,
Trini ty College Cambridge went to W e llington as Professor

, ,
of Music he said one day to Tom D id you know Mr C a rte r

, ,
’
at Ealing 7 T o m r e pli ed I f you mean th e Re v E S ,
‘
. . .
’
C ar ter I knew him well
,
Could h e pla y cricket 7 as k ed .
’
M r Gray
’
To m s reply was Yo n drop him a short u n to
.
,
‘ ’
’
t he and se e wha t he ll do wi t h it .
’
M r C a rter s stories are ev e n be tt er than his c ricket

’
.
They tumble over ea ch oth e r in rich profusion b ut room ,
mu st be found for all .
Four yea rs ago I was playing in a m a tch at Cherry

Burton on t he beau t iful ground of Mr D F Bu rton I n the . . .
O ppo sing eleven was a m a n with whom I had played som e

thirty yea rs previou s I asked him if h e could play as well .
a s ever an d he replied
,
I think I can play them t idd liwin ks ,
of you rs (he had seen me bowling lobs) H e came in when .
I h a ppened to be bow ling ; and I bowl ed him almost im m ed i

a tely, the b all twi st ing bet ween h is legs and hitti n g th e
middl e stu m p the centre prod as it used to be ca lled in
’
the country in my youth Well I m dash ed l he excla i m e d .
, .
’
I replied I don t know whether you are that but I kno w
,
‘
,
’
you are out The ba t sm a n at my e nd a we ll known Ea s t
.
,
-
Ridi ng profession a l said to h is outgoing colleagu e I m , ,

‘ ’
s urpri s ed at a m a n of your experience being beat e n by a
t hing of th a t sor t The next over that I bowled the p ro

.
’
.
’
wa s a t t he o t her end a n d wi t h the first or second ball I g o t ,
h im in ex a ct ly the same way A s he walked away looki n g .

,
t horoug hly di sgu s t ed hi tting h is leg wi t h his ha t and mutter , ,
ing t o hi m self I could no t re sis t the t emp t ation to repeat t o

,
h im h is o w n w ord s Well I am surpri sed at a man of yo ur,

‘
,
’
ex perience bein g beaten by a t hing of that so rt .
2 14 O LD EN G LIS H C RI C K ET ERS .
M ention of the Rev H M S ims remind s m e that h e on c e

. . .
play ed for Yorkshire a t Sheffield and turned out in his beau ,
tiful n ew Camb ridge blue jacket t o field a t cov er point A s -

.
if by a concerted s ign a l th e cry went up all round t h e gro und

, ,
Tak t hi jacket 0 6 H e to ok no notic e By and by a ball .

- -
went to him and h e m isfie ld ed it and i t went to the boun d ary

, .
Then ca m e the cry louder t han before N a h will ta tak thi , ,
jacket o fl
'
I hav e oft e n been struck with th e r eady wit and

keen appreciation of crick e t crowds especially those at Sh e f ,
fie ld Th e only time I play ed aga in st the Aust ralian s there

.
I was fie ld ing altern ate ly at cover point and square le g I - -

.
w as sta nding near the scoring box at deep squa re leg a nd - -
twenty minutes pass ed before t he ball came to me I t cam e .
along with a beau tiful hop and I promptly return ed it where , ,
upon a voice in th e crowd shou t ed Here endeth th e first ,

’
le sso n. And with a serie s of laughs and rippl es He re ,
ende th the first less on wen t all round the enclosure .
It m ay be as well to m e ntion ap I OpOS of this excl am ation ,

' ‘
o i the Sh e ffie ld crowd that I was no t the young curate of

,
whom t he story is told that aft er exceptional succ ess in som e

big match on a Satu rday announc ed at the close of th e Fi rst
,
Le sson in church on th e fo llowing day He re e ndeth t he first ,
innings though the story has been frequ en tly credited t o
Tom H earne and I founded t he Ealing Club in which ,
pla ce I had m y first curacy There was on e match ag ain s t .
D r Gay s Eleven in w hich I said I could not play owing t o

’
,
my clerica l du t ies A t lunch t ime Tom Hearn e sent an urge n t

.
-
me ssage pressing me to come as they had nea rly all th e ir ,
wi cket s d o wn and were doing very badly I went to t h e

,
.
fie ld and a rri ved ju st a s the nin t h wicket fell I was just in .
ti m e to g o ia and added 2 7 not out for th e las t wick et

, .
Then I wen t on to bo wl I bow led v e ry fas t in those days

—
a n d got ne a rly al l their wicket s and w e won by abou t 1 5 ,
run s Pooley a nd S t reet of t he Surrey team were on th e

.
defeated side and th e first n a m ed said t o Tom Hearne I tell

,
-
,
thee wh at Tom the next time we come to play h er e w e sha l l

, , ,
T HE REV . E . S . CA RT ER . 215
com e o n Sunday and then that parson chap will be in ,

’
church .
I play ed t en o r eleven years ago for a Cl eri cal Elev en of

’
England again st Lo rd Lewisham s El e v en at L e wi sham A , .
la dy who w ith her daughter went to see t he match was

, ,
s ta t ed to hav e said I do hope that I shal l see th e cl e rgyme n

,
’
bat . O u a rrivi ng on th e g round th e daught er said Oh , ,
m a mma ho w lucky ! The clergym e n a re ia

’
,
How do you .
’
know d ear 7 ask ed th e moth e r
,
Oh don t you se e they .
‘
,
’
have go t thei r surplic es on O f cour se th e clergymen in .
ques t ion w ere th e umpires in their white coats Thi s st ory .
’
afte rwa rds appear ed in Punch .
No one could get a man into a trap bett er than W G . .
Once at Ch e lte nham for Yorks hire I w e nt out to field as a ,
s ubsti t ute Eph Lockwood cam e in took his block a nd

. .
, ,
th en looked round th e fi e ld The lat e F red G race was . .
fie ld ing at deep squar e leg and Ephraim took a second look -

,
a t him W G said to m e Carter you saw old Mary Ann

. . .
, ,
look round to see whe r e Fred is sta nding I ll make him . .

’
drop one into his mouth Sure enough Ephraim hit t h e .

’
,
ba ll right i nto Fred s hand s : I think it was th e first ball .

’
—
c ertainly it was in the fi rst over .
Then old W G victimised m e by actually catching and

. .
bo w ling me in front of cover point I had hit t hre e bal ls pas t -

.
cover point ; t he four th was a similar ball and W G afte r

-
,
. .
,
delivering it ran right round in fron t of cover point and

,
-
brought off th e catch It was a cool and dar ing thing to do .

,
but i t ca m e off all right I n th e sam e match the ground .

,
being very w e t W G re turned the easi est of chance s to Tom

, . .
Emmett who dropped it ,

Tom t he reupon t hre w his ca p .
down in the mud and trampled on it savagely and giving ,
the ball a kick sent it to the boundary and credited the

, ,
Champio n with 4 Tom s p e nt the res t of th e day in apolo

.
is ing to W G
g . .
When I was curate in Ealing I used to go to Lord s ’
whenever I could if Yorksh ire was playing On e day I sa id

, .
t o T o m Emm e tt What do you think of this W G Grace who

, . .
216 EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
is m aking uch big scores ? ( H

’
s e w as j u st comin g into
h is be st ) Tom replied
’
. I t s all very well again st thi s Sou th,
Coun t ry bow ling L et him com e up to She ffield and p lay

.
[
a ga in s t m e a n d George F reem a n
] and we ll sho w him s ome
’
thing d ifie re n t ’
'
A few days a fte rward s July 2 6 1 86 9 t he

.
, , ,
Nor th played t he South at Sh e ffie ld a nd W G got 1 2 2 in ,

. .
his firs t innings wi t h E m me t t and Freeman bowling

,
When .
’
T o m cam e t o L ord s shortly aft erwa rd s I said to him Well , ,
T o m you ve had him a t Sh effie ld what do you think of him

’
,
now 7 Tom replied very seriou sly Mr Carter I ca ll him a

’
, ,
non such : he ought to be m ad e to play w i th a li ttler bat .

’
Ta lking of T om E mm e tt who was really and ge nuin e ly ,
w i tty re m ind s m e of a very amu sing in ciden t whi ch occurr ed

,
a t S h e ffie ld I wa s playing on the Bram m all Lane gro un d for

.
t he coun ty Y ork shire w ere in the fie ld To m Arm i tage wh o

. .
,
w as no t a skele t on an d L ouis Hall who was scarcely a Fals t a ff

, , ,
w e re running a f t er the same ball Tom called to me M r .

,
‘
C a rt er t here goes La w a n d Go spel What do you m ea n ’

.
Tom ? I as ked You ough t to know b e ing a parso n

.
‘
, ,
he re plied ; S h ad ow a n d Sub stanc e !

‘
I was glad t o fin d ’
th a t h is theology wa s so sound .
A n a m u sing story was t old me about Tom Em m e t t,

w h i ch if t rue shows h o w h is wit did not d ese rt h im e v e n
, ,
u nder m o s t unin spiring circum s tanc es H e was o n his way to .
Au st ra lia w i t h the team t aken out by Lord Harris Tom w as .
a b ad s a ilor ; Lord Ha rri s wa s a good on e D uring th e .
cros sing of t he Bay of Bi scay poor T o m was prostrate w ith

97 10 ! d e m er ; bu t one fi n e morning when they had round ed
C a pe S t Vincen t a n d got in t o compara tively smoo t h wa t e r ,
T o m cra w l e d t i m idly up the com pa nion ladder a nd ha lted -

,
w i th h is fa ce ju st hi g h e nough t o s e e over t he ship s s ide

’
t o ob se rve his lord ship enjoying a ciga rette on deck His .
l o rd ship o pe n ed t he co n ve rsat ion Gla d t o see you ou t Tom , ,
b ut yo u d o n t look very w el l N 0 m y lord repli e d Tom

’ ’ ’
,
.
, ,
‘
I d o n t feel very b rig ht
’
Then h a ving a look overboard .
’
,
he ex cl a im e d w i t h a s ig h I do n t think t hey ve had t he ,

‘ ’ ’
h ea v y ro ll e r o n m y l o rd
’
, .
21 8 om) EN G LI SH C RI C K ET ERS .
Gen t l em e n ground at York and at Scarborough thu s ad

’
s ,
dressed the famous stum pe r Mr Pind e r you re a s inful , ,

’
H o w so Mr C rav e n 7 You bowl twist e rs ; twis ters

’
ma n .
,
a re in t ended to dec e iv e ; and all deception is sin

’
Pinder .
was a bit nonplu ss ed for a mom e nt and the n put the qu es t ion , ,
‘
I f he hits me to the bo u ndary for four how is it th e n M r , ,
Craven 7 Th e argumen t was carried no furth e r Mr C rave n .
was stumpe d .
I hea rd a v e ry good thing onc e at Kn a re sborough I t was .
at a match K naresborough v United North

, The team . .
in cluded J o nat han J oy and Charlie Penrose Th e last nam e d .

-
was a big h eavy man of about 2 2 ston es and h e had to b e ,
fo llowed in the batting by Joy A t th e drawi ng of stumps .
Pen ro se was not out and on leaving t he field I he ard one of ,
the crowd who could evidently not aff ord to break more
tha n one d ay say Dea ry me I ca me just to se e J oy b a t
—
,
‘
, ,
and here he s not going in un t il to morrow morn i ng

’
H is .
’
companion wittily replied Why don t you know that b ea vi , ,

’
ne ss (2 2 stones of it ) may endure for a night but Joy co m et h ,
in the morning 7
I was p laying onc e with George Freeman in a match in
w hich there w as a de a f umpir e Free man appea led for le g .
before w ic ket but th e um m re simply put his ha nd to his ea r

,
’
,
’
and said Beg pardon 7 George ask ed agai n How s that 7
, ,
’
What for 7 re queri ed th e umpire L eg be for e wicket o f

-
.
,
’
,
’
course said George Oh not out of course repli ed th e .
, , ,
umpire ; I only once in my life ga v e on e of my own s ide out

leg before wicket Wha t tim e is din ne r 7 That s t m ain .
’ ’
’ ’
thing w i u m pires .
Umpire s a re as a rule credited with v ery good appet i t es

, ,
on m atch day s Certainly I hav e known so m e who wo u l d

.
’
have made poor fasters I play ed onc e in a match for t h e .
Ea ling v Wimbledon Rain inte rfered con sidera bly

. .
wi th the play and con sequ e ntly th e re was more tim e e xpen d ed
,
over luncheon th a n would other wi se have been the case O n e .
of the u m pires did him self very well and on a re mark b e i n g ,
m ad e to t his effec t he said I ve not don e half so w e ll as I , ,

’
T HE REV . E
. S . C A RT ER . 21 9
did at E sh er the other day What did you do at E sher 7 .

’
Why I b ega n with a bit of roas t beef then I had a bit of

,
bo iled bee f ; th e n I had a bit of lamb ; t hen I had a bit of

duck ; then a friend of min e recomm ended the veal and ham - -
p ie so
, I had a bit of that ; bu t I liked th e boiled b e ef be s t ,
so I w e nt ba ck to that and m a d e m y d inn er of i t

’
.
Once in a match in which I was playing a w ell known ,

-
ex county player was u mpiring O u the luncheo n table was a

-
.
-
most useful D erby round of bee f which I was ca rving I

’
,
.
ga ve him three or four complete round s of thi s boneless m eat .
O u my asking him if he would have some more he repli ed ,

’
No thank you sir ; I m ra th e r poorly to d ay
, ,
’
It was of .
this same gentleman that I heard th e story that on ano ther

occasion when h e was as k ed by t h e carver what kind of a piec e
’ ’
he would like he replied Get w ee l hod on t wi t knife and ,
’
,
’ ’ ’
gie us a bit at won t bend .
“Every one know th e unwillingn ess of umpires to n o ‘

s
ball a bowler who is suspiciou sly like a thrower even whe n ,
h e does t hrow a bi t I played in a match a fe w years ago for

.
the Y orkshire Gentle m en v I Zinga ri in Escrick Park W F . . . .
Forbes was one of the I Z bowle rs and Granny Mart inge ll .

,
’
was umpire at his end I was batting Presently I said

. .
,
Why don t you no ball him Mart ing ell 7 H e s throwing

’
-
,
’
,
is n t h e 7
’
Granny replied It i sn t very plea san t no ,
’
bal ling a ge ntle m an Let e m begin at Lord s in som e of th e

.
’ ’
big match es Then he turned to Mr Forbe s and said ,
Now Mr Forbe s bowl 0 bi t bowl 0 bi t

, ,
I believe Mr .
, .
’
Forb es threw a cricke t b all 1 3 2 yard s when a boy at Eto n ,
s o it can be i m agin e d a t what p a ce a b a ll would com e from
him at 2 0 yards Fortunately we had an equally fast throw er

.
on our side Mr Arthur Motley who did e qual execution for

, ,
na. On e of his deliveries went o ff the Hon Alfred Lytt e l .
’
t on s h ead for four leg bye s ! I forget which s id e won but I
-
,
believe one side was out for 1 9 an d t he other for 2 3 .
Talking of the rapidity of Mr Forbes s bo wling I rem e m ’

,
b e r t hat in a match at Scarborough in which I had t he

ho nour of playing for Eleven Gentlemen of the Nort h v .
2 20 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
E leven Gentlemen of the South two long stops w e re requi si ,
t io n ed when he was bow ling on e being Mr A N Hornby , . .
and t he o ther myself The byes in one innings were 44 the .

,
ball having got past bot h of us eleven times to th e boundary .
Talking about umpiring stories remind s m e of an old

gentleman w ho when I was a boy umpired for a famous
, ,
cri cke ting village in the North Riding for which I played
s e v era l years H is umpiring attire includ ed blue sto cking s
.
a n d fus t i a n breeche s H e had a so n who u sed to bowl and

.
,
who is s till living Before th e m a tch commenc ed he would

.
re m a rk N0 0 lad which e nd is thi going to bool f ro 7

, , , I ’ ’
sh a ll bowl from t hi s end Then at this end I stands . By’

.
’
a n d b y t he old gent would say

-
Oh dear lad thi s ge tting ,
‘
,
’
’
on b adly Th a t acted lik e a signal for How 8 th at 7 w as
.
,
’
s oon hea rd and out the bat sman had to go

, .
The re w as a li tt le fellow n a med Sco t t a m as o n who was , ,
one of t he m a in stays at the wicket for a rival villag e Th e .
old u m pire u sed to say to his son Noo lad here s li tt le ,

‘
, ,
’
S co tt com ing in ; w e m u n hev him oot so m ehoo h o o ive r , .

’
A n d t hey did .
“I on ce go t 1 for Boroughbridge again t Ha rewo d

7 s o a n d ,
a m a n ca m e up t o me at the close of m y innings a n d sa id ,
N o w young m a n you mu s t com e a nd sup you ve won me

’
—
, ,
e v e r so m any qua r ts : I ve been backing you in ten s for a ’
u a rt s uppo s e h e h a d backed me for a quart every t en

’
q . I
ru n s Th e re w ere som e thirsty soul s at these old match es
.
,
bu t w i th a l pleasan t an d good tem pered

,
-
.
I w asn t pl aying in the m atch in which th e followi ng

’
i n ciden t occurred bu t I h ave oft en played on the ground in a

,
b e au t iful York shire pa rk in which it was reported to hav e

h a ppen ed The o w ner a noble lord was a kee n crickete r
.
, , ,
a nd n o t b a ckw a rd in pu tt ing hi m se lf on to bowl O u t he .
o ccas i o n he b o w l e d se ve ra l su cce ssive ba lls which would

H e at last bowled a ball
’
ordi n a rily h a ve been c a ll e d wide .
ev e n w i d e r th a n t he o t h e rs a nd the batsm an appea led to the ,
u m pi re Was n t t hat a w ide ?

,
‘ ’
Ye s for sure ; ah n e v er
’ ‘
,
s e e d a w id e re r 1) l his l o rd ship don t like e m c alling

’ ’ ’
.
22 2 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
Umpi res are as a rul e anxious to give fai r and un biasse d

, ,
decision s Th er e hav e bee n in stances in whi ch they could no t

.
resist t h e te mptation t o giv e th e b e nefit of t he doubt t o

O u on e oc cas ion in my o wn experi e n c e an
’
their own sid e .
, ,
expected u mpi re did not tu rn up and a man on th e gro und ,
was engag ed to tak e h is plac e J ust as th e play was going .
to begin he said Just let m e und erstand which sid e em I

, ,
‘
,
’
umpiring for 7
O u anoth e r occasion I took a pari sh t eam t o p lay in a ,
match on the Castle Howard Pa rk gr ound We were l ead ing .
by about 5 0 ru n s when t he last m an of th e opposing sid e came

in I had taken 2 wick e ts with lobs in my previous ov er a nd
.
,
it was about three minutes from time to draw stumps wh en I

was preparing to d e liver th e las t ov e r co nfi d e nt that I coul d ,
ge t the las t wicket Suddenly th e umpi re not ours pull ed .

— —
his watch out and said There s not tim e for thi s ov er to b e
’
,
’ ’
conclud ed I shan t allow it to b e comme n ced
. And wi th .
that he took the bail s a nd l eft th e ground lea ving na n o t ,

’
vic t ors bu t only with the match d raw n in our favour
,
.
The Oxford University Eleve n were playing M C C at . . .
Lord s in 1 86 7
’
Jimmy G ru ndy was umpiring in a bla ck
.
s uit of clo t he s : whit e coat s for um pi res had n ot th en b e e n
in sti t uted E M Kenny the famous left hand bowler was

. . .
,
-
in wi t h m e Grundy was s ta nding fac e toward s th e batsm a n

.
,
K enny w ho said Jimmy will you please stan d sid eway i

, ,
‘
,
’ ’
You a re right b e hind the bowl e r s arm Jimmy stood s id e .
on,
’
bu t knowing that his fig ure warrant ed t he statem en t,
,
’ ’
said I m broader this way than t oth e r
‘ ’
.
,
The mem bers of the Yorkshire t eam s in my tim e we re I ,
thi n k unu sua lly fond of sma ll harm less practical jokes O n
, , , .
on e occasion we were going to e njoy Lord Lo nd esb oroug h s ’
princely ho spi tality at Lyndhurst in th e N e w Forest and ,
play t w o or three matche s Hamp shir e 81 0 The trai n f ro m , .
Londo n was inconvenien t ly crowded and in order that th e ,
ca rri age conveying some of th e players might not b e un d ul y

invaded George Atkin son w ho was always a bit of a wag
, , ,
feig ned madne ss and a t ea ch station was see n by the peop l e

,
T H E REV . E . s . C A RTER . 2 23
on th e platform to b e violently struggling to e scape from t he

carriage be ing only re st rain ed by his supposed keepers
, .
Needl ess to say between the stations th e occupants o f that

,
ca rriage t ravell ed in comparat ive comfort .
In Lyndhurst the players w ere bill eted in cottage s ; and

again it was George Atki nson who could not resi st the
t emptation to play a practical jok& thi s time on his hostess —
.
H e said he was rathe r short of colla rs and would be much ,
obliged if she would kindly wash him on e or two She put .
t hem in wate r overnight and next morning she ca m e to their ,
o wner in great di stress and perplexity holding a few thread s ,
-
a ll t hat was left of the collars ia her hand with many —
,
express ion s of regret for wha t had happen ed t o them and ,
begging for forgivene ss as she could not aff ord to replac e ,
t hem with new ones The joke was cru e lly carried on t ill th e
.
end of the week wh e n George told h e r that they we r e pape r

,
colla rs and not inte nd ed to b e washed

,
.
”
Why is a yorker so call ed 7 ask s Mr Cart er “I hav e .
in my ti m e h eard much curiosity e xpr essed as to th e origin of

th e word yor ker as applied to a ball be tween a half volley and -
a fu l l pitch H ith erto I am sa t isfied with my o wn view

-
.
,
pending further light But the following piece of hi story .
w ill amu se if it doe s not sati sfy the curiou s on thi s que st ion
, , .
So me y ears ago a match was being pl aye d between two

public school s To m Bark e r of Not tingh a m was umpiring
. .
O n t he fall of a ce rtain wicket a shout rang out fro m t he

’
boys on th e bowler s side Oh ! Good yorker I D uring ,
the luncheon interval t he h ead m as ter of on e of th e school s -
pu t to Barker t he question Barker why is a certain b all , ,
ca lled a yorker 7 A yorker sir a yorker 7

’
Why a‘
,
—
,
’
yorker s a ba ll that pitch es in side th e bat s man s creas e
’
.
’
Yes B a rker I know wha t a yorker is but I wan t to

, , ,
know why tha t pa rticular ball is ca lled a yorker Aft er .

’
a pau s e and a though t ful sc rat ch of the head Ba rker re plied

, ,
Why sir I don t se e very well wha t else you cou ld ca l l it

, ,
’
.
T he q ue s t ion is s till u n settled .
The Y orkshir e Gentlem en we re playing the Royal Eu

2 24 O LD EN G LISH CRIC K ET ERS .
g in eers atChatham Som e of them had rooms in barra ck s ;

.
the o t hers w ere put up outside O ne of th e latt er (who has .
played for the coun ty som etim es ; he repudiates th e story ,
therefore I won t give his name ) was goi ng out of barrack s to

’
his ro o m af t er a mer ry evening and was challenged by th e ,
s en t ry wi t h the regulation Who goes th ere 7 C W L ,

‘
. . .
,
’ ’
thu s suddenly a rrested gas ped out For Go d s sak e do n t , ,
‘
,
’ ’
s hoot 2 I ll t ell you my name if you ll give m e tim e I m o ne
’
, .
’
of the Y orkshire Gentlemen .
In a m atch in which I played for th e at

D a rlin gton am ong our opponent s was one George N e wby
, ,
w h o m I ha d kno w n at D urha m as on e of th e b est with his

fist s as w ell as one of the be st in a sculling boat when I w as
,
-
a t s chool t here I was bowling lob s when N ewby ca me in

. .
The bat sm a n a t t he o ther end was a ge ntleman whom Ne wby

fa m ili a rly addre ssed as D ick (I thi nk his surna m e was ‘ ’
Th om pson ) Every b all I bowled to t he latter N ewby ca lled

.
o ut,
Pawp e r D ick
‘ ’
H e sa id to me I ll pawp you w h en
,
.
’
,
‘ ’
’
I g e t t o the other end When the batsmen ch anged e nd s .
,
j u st a s I wa s prepa ring to deliver to Newby he ca lled o ut in ,
h is d e li gh t ful D urh a m brogue Coom o n Artful ; I ll pa wp ‘ ’

, ,
you .
’
M ea n w hile I had put an extra man in the long fie ld -
.
A s l u ck w oul d have it Geordi e pa wp e d my fi r s t ball ,

’ ‘ ’
right in t o his h a nd s and he held it O u retiring Geo rdi e , .
fire d h is p a rt ing sho t w ith thes e friendly word s I f you d ,

‘ ’
’
done th at when you were at school I d have given y o u a ,
good And I believe he would .
In t he t a l k w ith E Peate t he share Mr Cart e r ha d in .
b ringi n g h im i n t o no tice is referred to Th e circum stances .
”
u n d er w hi c h P ea t e c a m e out add s Mr Carter ar e ce rt a in ly , ,
i nt e re s t in g We found w e w ere a m an short for Y ork shire

.
Ge n t l e m e n v S ca rborough at the clo se of the C a rnival of 1 87 8

.
.
I n t h e p a v ilion I a sked if there w as any one at l ib ert y who

w o u l d li ke t o pl ay A young fellow said he was at liberty
.
.
’
‘
C o uld he bow l 7 Ye s he could bowl a lit t le bit ‘
he , ,
’
t ho ug ht S e I t old h im to cha nge and come out I was

. .
ke e pin g w i cke t a n d I put him o n to b o w l first

, I n e v e r had .
2 26 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
the colle cting had plac ed th e bags on the plate more ca re le ss ly

,
than u sual wi t h t h e result that as I was handing it up to t he

,
Dean th e top bag fell off I n stinctiv e ly I made a grab at it

.
,
holdi ng the dish which was v ery h eavy in my l eft han d and
, , ,
I ca ught it before it reach ed th e ground and replac ed it ,
safely on the plat e and ga v e it to th e Dea n

,
Som e m emb e rs .
of the congregat ion who saw th e i ncident audibly tittere d ;

, ,
but I know that I b rok e out in t o a cold sweat at th e thought

of what would hav e happen ed ii whil e catching th e fal ling,
bag I had s loped th e di sh holding all th e rest Af ter t h e

,
.
s ervic e the D ean said with a smil e Well Mr Carte r I se e

, , ,
th e re a re some advantages in b e ing abl e to play crick e t .

’
Th ere u sed t o b e in the Mal ton Club a most steady usef u l ,
bat and dea dly lob bowle r Toby Fie ld a gentl eman st ill
-
,
—
li ving and respec ted in M alton H e had a d ea r old mot h e r

.
,
w ho se ad m i ration for my fath er as vica r of th e parish was

a l m o st e xceeded by h e r p r ide in h er so n On e day it was —
.
after I had left the Univ e rsity and re cently be e n ordained I —
pa id her a vi sit and had a pl easa n t talk over old tim es, at th e
close of which she said Eh ! Master Teddy wh en you can
,
‘
,
preach like your pa and play cricke t like my so n Tobias 1

What would have be e n the consequ enc es of s uch double ex
ce lle n ce wa s left for th e imaginatio n t o con clud e I k n ow .
’
that I ne ver could preach like my pa and I will l eav e it to
Mr Fie ld to de cide whether or no I e v er succeed ed in playing
’
crick e t like my son Tobias
‘
.
A LE C WA TSON .
I T h as
b ee n said by an i rreverent
hu m ori s t that the first Scotsman
who found salvatio n in England
immediately fe tched h is brot h er
in order that he too might find , ,
s om ething to h is material ad van
tage If thi s v ersion of Scottish

.
acqui sitiv eness b e tru e Al e c ,
Watson ha s fail ed to act up t o

the national tradition Al ec is .
th e one great Scotsman who has

found a name for him se lf as a
rofe ssional crick e t er in England
p .
H e has f e tch ed no brith er Scot down to shar e it with him .
H e sta nd s alone as the profe ssional r epr esentativ e of Scotland

in t he rank s of Engl i s h high crick et and h e seem s rath e r
,
proud of the i sol ation .
Though h is speech is not exactly that of a D rum tochty

m a n t here is sufficie nt of it to know that Alexander Wat son
,
display s the nation a l mode sty when he says I am supposed ,

”
to be a Sco t sm a n
. A s a matter of fact he was born at Coat
bridge on November 4 1 844 and his initia tion into se riou s
, ,
cricket took place under th e auspic e s of the D ru m pellie r

Club Wh en twenty yea rs of age he played on the Clydesdale
.
ground aga in st the All England t eam with whom w e re George

-
Parr Edgar W illsher Tarrant and other Pilgri m Fath ers of

, , ,
2 28 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C KETERS .
English cricket I w as played for my bat ting then he

.
,
sa ys. A b a t w as given for t h e highe st score on eith e r side ,
a n d I w o n it wi t h in n ings of 2 1 and
About t he year 1 86 7 or 6 8 Watson went as a professional

’
to the Edinburgh Caledonian Club H e recalls n ow the fact .
th at they broke up w hen I left They said t hey w o uld have .
carried on if I had remain ed with them another y ear but I ,
w a n t ed t o com e to England to hav e mor e cricket so I came , .
Alec t hu s followed his compatriots in th e ir succe ssful search

for the t hings of t hi s life wort h having .
In “
he explain s I came to play in two matches
,
wi t h Blyt hsw ood a Glasgow team against B owd e n and

, ,
Knutsford That vi sit led to my being e ngag ed wi th

.
Ru shol m e in 1 86 9 Two years later I play ed my first

.
m at ch for L ancas hire It was against Ch eshi re My con

. .
n e ct ion wit h t he County Palatin e continued until the yea r
1 89 3 so t hat I had a fa irly long sp e ll as an Engli sh county

,
cri cketer .
“
Wa tson re ca lls with p rid e t h e fact that I was never l e ft
out of t he L an cashire tea m until I was left out altoge ther .
I only m i ssed two matches in the whole period and that was ,
w hen I w a s su ff ering from som e i n t e rnal injury My last .
m at ch w as aga in st Su ssex at Old T rafiord on J une 1 2 3

'
, , ,
1 89 3 . I scored 1 3 a nd 7 not out and had 3 7 run s b it o ff me

,
in 1 2 overs (4 m aiden s) for no wicket I suppos e thi s was .
not con sidered good enough so I got my cong é Perhap s I , .
h ad no right t o q uestion the o flicial judgment I had had a .
good innings an d it was t i m e to make way for younger men

, .
Yet it will surpri se m any to know that after a retire m ent

of fiv e years I w as again as ked to assi st Lancas hire Se .
recen t ly as the back end of season 1 89 8 I was ask ed to p la y

-
a g a i n s t Surrey I t hough t however it was no goo d my

.
, ,
s t a r t in g again so I did not accept th e invitation th e y w ere

,
kind enough to give m e I ought to say that I am so much

.
engag ed coa ching at Rugby Marlborough Haileybury Wor , , ,
oe st er and el se w here th a t I h a ve kept in for m in fact I

, ; ,
play nea rly as m uch crick et as I e v e r d id .

230 ENG LI S H cat oxs rsas
'
.
d ro pped , and in 1 th e retu rn game w ith Ke nt was not

885
f u lfilled . I t was th e bowling of C ross la nd and Nas h tha t
’
was und e r su s pi cio n and e v en Al ec Watson s d e l iv er ies did
,
n o t al way s pass as fai r with th e pu r ists T h us t he lov er of .
c o nund rum s may ask how many th ro ws were there in those

balls that Al ec se nt down agai nst Lan cashi re s ’
o ppo ne nts I t is a subj ect which th e w ri te r at first thought

.
ca ll e d fo r deli cat e ha ndli n

g in o u r Talk b u t Wat son is no t ,
in the leas t afraid of t ac kling it This is wha t h e sa ys

.
I kn o w th e re use d to b e a lot of ta l k about th row i ng .
Cro ss l a nd and Nas h were chiefly aim ed at and the tal ke rs ,
( l id no t fo r e t to giv e m e a shar e O f att e n tio n Th e

g
c ri t i c i s m up s e t m
y t wo coll e a g u es nam ed v e r y m uch N as h —
so m uch that he could no t bowl Perso nally it n ever d is

.
t urb e d me I am a Scotsman and ha v e a fai rly thick ski n

.
, .
S o l o ng a s t ho umpires ne ver g ru mbl ed wha t rig ht had ,
a ny b o d y e l se t o gro wl 7
Lo o ki ng b a ck no w a nd spea ki ng as fai r ly to all pa rti es

,
as I c a n it is my honest opinion that th e rema rks mad e

,
a bout the bo wli ng of Cro ss la nd Nash and myse lf were

, ,
u ng e n e rou s a nd unfounded Talk about C rossla nd th row ing !

.
Why th e re is no man livi ng could th row at th e pace he

,
b o wl e d for t e n m inute s : h e would th ro w his arm o ff .
“Perso na lly I was n e v e r no ball ed and I ma

,
-
y ad d, I , ,
n e v e r ha d a w id e call e d all th e tim e I bo wl ed fo r La n ca s h ire .
I us e d t o g e t o n a g ood brea k from th e o ff with a t wis t o f t he

w ris t a nd i t was thi s t wi s t of t he wri st that u sed to m ak e
,
p e o pl e say I thre w Mr I) Buchanan was th e first bo wle r

. .
’
who m I s a w do anythi ng with th e ball
‘
It was he who .
re a lly tau g ht m e ho w t o ge t the twist o n th e ball with t he

t u rn of the wri s t a nd I n e v e r h ea rd that a ny o ne th o ug ht
th e re w as t he s li g h t e s t g ro u nd for qu estioni ng th e fairness of
his ac t i o n Ne i t h e r wa s th e re in my ca se
. Th e c riti cis m .
"
wa s ung e n e ro us a n d u nju s t .
Wa t s o n o nly ma de o n e a ppe a ranc e in a G e ntlem en v Pla y e rs .

’
ma t c h T ha t was a t Lo rd s o n J uly 2 3 4 1 87 7 He says

’
. .
, , ,
he s ho uld no t h a ve b e e n chose n then but fo r th e fact t ha t

W A T SON . 23 1
Alf Shaw was ill O u a subsequ e nt occasion h e was ask ed to

. .
play again st the Ge ntlemen at th e Oval but as th e Old T rafio rd

'
m anagers had a club match on th e Sa turday th ey would not

-
l e t him 0 11 H is singl e match in 1 87 7 ho wever was exciting

.
, ,
e nough to mak e it memo rabl e Says h e .
’
It was said at th e time that th e G e ntl em an s sid e was
th e st ronge st that had e v e r b een got togeth e r Se strong .
was it that the lat e Mr I D Walker had to go in las t in the . .
first innings and first in th e second H e got 0 no t out in the

, .
first innings and I bo wled him for 0 in th e se cond but that

,
is a detai l Mr G F Grace was t e nth on th e li st and Mr

. . .
,
W S Patterson who was then ca ptain of Cambridge was

. .
, ,
las t in th e second innings S e strong was th e sid e that it .
was a toss up who should g o in fi rst and las t and fi t t he ,

’
othe rs in as t hey liked When th e Gentlem e n s ninth wick e t
.
fell in th e second innings they n eeded nearly 5 0 run s to win

, .
M r Patte rson and Mr G F G rac e th e n knocked th em o ff and

. .
,
looked like knocking double th e nu mber off th e Ge ntl em en ,

”
winning a v e ry exciting game by on e wicket .
Ask ed what was t he most e xciting county match he played

in Wa t son unhe sita t ingly nam es th e gam e with York shir e at
,
H u d d e rsfie ld on July 2 0 1 889 wh e n Lancashire wo n by 3

, ,
runs .A s a general remark applicabl e t o Lancashi re and

York shire matches he first says ,
I will say thi s tha t whate v e r rival ri es may exist b e tween

,
the supporters of t he two counti es so far as th e playe rs of ,
La ncas h ir e and York shi r e we re th em se lves co n cer n ed the ,
match es we re always of th e pl easantest charac ter I n this .
pa r t icula r con te st at Hud d ersfield Louis H al l was captaining

the Yorkshire side and h e was th e first man t o go up to
,
M r Hornby and congratulat e him on Lan cashire s success ’

.
Such a thing as sharp p ractice between th e playe rs was

unknown and I have hea rd the captain s agree at lun ch tim e
,
-
t o play ou t a match if there was a chanc e of fini shing it by a

li tt le ex t en sion of t ime .
I n t hi s H udd e rs fie ld ga m e w e see m ed to b e an easily

bea ten t ea m on th e firs t day H o w th e gam e turn ed is a .
23 2 EN G LIS H omox s rs ns
'
.
matter which most p eo ple inte rest ed in crick e t well re

m embe r It was Mr Hornby who m ad e the catch which
.
won Lan cashir e th e match by 3 ru ns H e ca ught Midd le .
b roo k at point but was nearly balked by B aker who in

, ,
th e excite men t ran from short slip to mak e the catch and -
,
r ubbed again st Mr Hornby and n early threw him o ff h is ,
balan c e .Middy who had com e in last did not s eem to

,
’
,
be a bit ne rvou s H e told m e af te rward s that if he could

.
have played half th e gam es he was advis ed to play on

lea ving th e pavilion to go to the wick et h e would be th e ,
be st playe r in Engla nd
Richard Filling th e grea t est of Lancashire wicket keepe rs
,
-
The
’
was Watson s most intimat e collea gu e and fri e nd .
follow ing reminisc e nc e of Pilling and h is fatal ill ne ss sad ,
though it may b e is of great inte rest ,
Pil ling was the best wick e t k ee per that ever had gloves -
on take him day in and day out

, H e did not look so showy .
as som e wick e t k ee pers but he always got th e ball

-
H e was
,
.
a most un assu m ing chap too and particularly an xiou s to do , ,
his be s t at all times Wh e n h e thought h e had no t done

.
w ell which was generally when h e had not ta ke n 2 or 3

—
wick ets in a match he u sed to be uneasy and think th e

—
,
Lancashire author iti es would lea ve him out b e ca use he was

not good enough ! O i course th e Lancas hire Committee
w e re much bette r j udges than to e nt ertain any such n o tion
for a m om ent .
Wh en Pilling was in Australia h e had a sunstrok e from ,
the eff ect of whic h he never re covered H e kept wi cket .
many a tim e af t erward s when he should hav e been in b ed .
H e and I u sed generally to occupy the same b edroom a n d I ,
have seen him after h is return from Au stralia with a n ice

, ,
b ag on his head all n ight There was no doubt t o my .

,
mind that t he A u stralian climat e laid th e foundation o f

,
’
Pilling s fa tal illness To prevent mi sapprehen sion o n t he
.
pa rt of t he public who a re much to o prone to j ump t o

,
conclu sion s in s uch mat t ers I may ad d that Pilling was a ,
m ost te mperate man as near a tee t ota ller as poss ibl e

, I .
234 ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
th e glov e s and bowl The result was that I got 2 of th e

.
”
wickets and the match was quickly over
, .
A s Wat son s subsequent succe ss in c ricket was atta in e d as

’
a bowler and he admits his first id ea how to impart br eak

,
to a ball was obtai n ed from Mr D avid Buchanan it will ,
be corr ect to say that his case is a clear illust ratio n of

wh at diligence and b rain craft will do for a cricketer w hen
steadily appli ed .
Watson has pl easant re collection s of his b rother pro

fe ssio nals in L an ca shire cricket We w ere he sa ys a .
, ,
very happy family and up to a c e rtain time we all s ta yed

,
together wherever we went The f rate rnal feeling w hich

.
existed betwe e n us had I think a grea t d eal to do with

, ,
our succe ss .
I ought to ad d that th e Lancashire Ex e cutiv e were always

good to us Playe rs now want to b e paid in wint er as
.
w ell as in s ummer and I don t blame them so long as they

’
, ,
can get it B ut th e re was no chanc e of any such good fo r tu n e

.
in our d ays It was a hard task to k eep county cricket going

.
a t all then Why th e Lancashire Committe e have had to

.
,
lea ve B a rlow out be cause they c ould not afford to pay him .
If t hey could find a gentleman who would play and pay his
own expen ses it was a great re li ef to th em H ow many such
,
.
gentlem en do you find now 7

Asked as to his idea s of mod ern crick e t Watson say s he ,
does not think cricket itself is much improved but th ere ,
are m ore good players I dare sa y one could pick twenty now
.
a s good a s the be st of my day Wickets get be tter e very .
ye ar I t hink t he bow ling is a s good as it used to be it is

.
the perfection of the wickets that make s it look less so .
In L ancashire William M I nt yre was p erhaps e ntitl ed t o

‘
be called our best bo w ler H e was an eve ryday bowl e r I t

. .
did not matte r w h at t he wicket was like h e was o n th e top , .
H e w a s not a s fast a s Mold No one can bowl like Mo ld o n

.
h is d ay
. Bu t Mold has his ofidays and M I ntyre had n ot -
,
‘
.
What a di ff erence th at genia l g e ntl eman Mr A G Stee l . .
made to Lancashire cricket I rem em ber at on e Lancas hire

AL EC W A T SON . 235
v Yo rk shire mat ch old Tom Emm ett in his quaint humo rous
.
,
way ca me up to the gate at Old T rafiord and asked the jani t or

'
, ,
I s A G Steel playing t o day 7

. . R e ceiving an affirm at iv e
reply Tom said The d e uc e he is
,
Then turning to his
,
‘
.
’
brothe r York shirem en h e e xclaimed Let s go home lad s , ,

‘ ’
, ,
A G St ee l is playing
’
. . York shire s beaten In th e end .
,
however Tom and his pals alway s cam e up sm iling wh e the r

, ,
they had to meet Mr Ste e l or any one el se .
A n amu sing in s ight into club rivalrie s and the expedi e nt s ,
to which som e will go in order to cro w ov e r a n eighbour is ,
a fforded by an experienc e which Alec Watson once had in

Cu m berland The Sill oth Club wanted to win a ce rtain
.
match badly They engaged Wa tson but h e was to go with

.
,
only a pair of boots and a ca p and be about th e tent at the ,
time the game was to comme nce Silloth conveniently turn ed .
up a m an short and their captain se eing a simple looking

, ,
-
fellow in a cap hanging about t he tent asked him if he could ,
p lay Yes he could do a bit Would he play ? H e didn t

.
,
.
’
mind Had b e any crick eting clothe s 7 No but h e d a pair

.
,
’
of boots Well he should play

.
, .
H e did play and got wickets so fast that th e o ther sid e

—
became exa spe rated One batsman afte r m aking a blind .

,
sw ip e saw the ball

, g o s kyward s b a ck to th e bowler and ex ,
clai ming I never saw such plaguey (that was not quite th e
,
”
word ) balls in my life ran full tilt at th e bowl e r to prevent ,
him making the catch H e was too late and had to retire .
, .
Silloth won the m at ch and it is understood their opponents ,
have been su spiciou s of simple looking cricketers with only -
a cap and a pair of boots as accou t rements ev e r since .
Watson has sa id the professional s of h is day were a happy

family They were al so inveterate practical jokers O ne
.
incident may be given and this Ta lk will close , .
It was at a Gentleme n 0 Players of the Nort h of England .
match at Ma nchester Briggs and Barlo w stayed toget her and.

,
the ir host had prepared for the m a s ucculent lunch They .
co ufi d ing ly left it in the dre ssing room in a hand bag which - -
was lock ed A brother L ancastrian had a key and opening

.
,
23 6 OLD ENG L I S H C RIC K ETER S .
th e bag produc ed th e lunch eon which two Yorkshir e men who

, ,
shall be namel ess p r omptly de s patch ed I n its place t wo .
plump new cut sod s were ca refully d eposited and th e bag was
-
relocked A t lunch time in ru sh ed Br iggs and B arlow hot

.
-
,
and hungry B arlow ope n ed the lunch bag and passe d o ne

.
-
of the packages on to B riggs who in stantly detec t ed th e j oke

,
and quietly slipp ed th e parcel und er his s eat and w atch e d the
e ffec t on Barlow The latte r pull ed out his share of th e cold

.
lunch and without in spec t ing it u n ctuously h and ed it to a

,
colleagu e as an e xample of how well Br iggs and he w er e

looked after S eem s a bit soft must be a bak ed cake
.
,
no t eno ugh was th e su spiciou s rejoinder

,
B ar low th e n .
took his lunc h .
It is understood to be dangerou s to thi s day t o ask hi m

how he likes gr ee n sod for lunch e on If you w ere t o t ell .
him that the stolid Alec Watson had a hand in t he pract ical
j oke he wo u ld doubt your v era city For is not W at so n a
.
”
Scotsm an and do n ot Scotsm e n joke wi d eefeeculty 7
,
’
It re m ain s to add that Alec Watson carrie s on a large

athl etic o ut fitter s busi ne ss at 3 5 Oxfo rd Street Manchest er
’
, .
23 8 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
Born on J une 1 0 1 849 at Bombay the son of Sir Will i a m

, , ,
Ya rdley Chief J u sti ce of Bombay William Yardley was se nt

,
—
,
t o E ng land about the tim e of th e Mutiny for the purpo se of

being educa t ed It was to a Yorkshireman n am ed G e org e
.
P lace who w as his father s t ipstafi tha t he owed an am bi

’
’
, ,
dex t rousne ss t hat di splayed i t self at Rugby when he thre w a ,
cricket ball over 1 0 0 ya rd s with h is right hand and 7 8 yard s

-
w i t h h is left A s a child h e had a sini s tral tende n cy in

.
ba ttin g which t he t ipst afi cured

'
.
,
A t a pri va t e school at Wi m bledon J Shut er un der w ho se , ,
guida nce Surrey w as de stined in after y ears to play s uch a -
do m i n a n t p art in Engli sh cricket was j unior to Yardl e y and , ,
playe d in the school eleven with him for about one s easo n .
I n 1 86 3 you n g Ya rdley w ent to Rugby wh e re for t wo yea rs ,
h e wa s i n ca p a citated o wing to a bad gun accident which also ,
nea rly co st him the loss of his right foot But fo r that nu .
fo rt un at e interregnu m he would certa inly have been capta i n

o f t he Ru b y s chool t ea m In 86 he w a m e mber of t he
g 1 7 a s .
eleven a n d he now reca ll s the fact that it was probably t h e

,
s tron g e s t b o y eleven ever seen at a public s chool includin

g , ,
a s i t did B Pa u n ce fo t e C K F rancis both afterwards o f the

,
.
( ,
. .
O x fo rd El e ven ) F Tobin A Bourn e W Yar dl ey (all of

, .
,
.
, .
C a m b rid g e ) a n d F S t oke s of Blackh ea th who Mr Yardley

,
.
, ,
t h i n k s w o uld certa inly have been in th e Universi t y El e ve n

,
ha d he g o n e up .
I n Oc t o b er 1 86 8 Ya rdley w e nt up to Cambridge a nd in ,
t h e su m m e r of t he following year he won his place in t h e

C a m brid g e t e a m t ogether with C I T hornton and J W
,
. .
.
Wilso n t h e t hree being the only Freshmen in the 1 86 9 eleve n

, .
I t w as in 1 87 0 t h a t the first 1 0 0 was scored in th e Vars ity ’
m a t ch t he g am e i t self being a l s o one of t he mo st sen sational

,
in the his t o ry o f in t er universi ty cricket But Mr Yardley

-
.
m u st n o w s p ea k for hi m s elf
T h e m a t ch in 1 87 0 w a s truly a sen sational o ne I h ad .
no t been l ayi n g ve ry w ell during the se as o n although I h ad

p ,
m ade 9 0 n o t out ag a in st Surrey a t t he Oval ju st befo r e th e

, , ,
’
Va rsi ty m a t ch I n t h e first inni ngs again st O xford I o n ly
.
MR W ILL I A M 1111 11 a 1 . 39
"
m ade 2, and fee ling a bit 0 11 I ask ed to b e allowe d to go in
l a ter than cu sto ma ry O ur side p e rform e d ind ifl erent ly fo r
'
.
,
we made 1 47 in the first innings and Oxford repli ed with

'
1 7, 5 whil e in our seco nd innings w e w ere only a fe w r u ns on
a n d had 5 wick e ts down Th en I partne red Jack D al e who

.
,
had gon e in first T he score would b e about 42 th e n ; b efore

.
I lost his company it was ov e r 1 80 D al e was rul ed out to a .
s plendid ca tch by C J Ottaway ov er the rop e s

. It was a , .
glor ious ca tch but it could not hav e com e of? had it no t bee n
,
fo r the old fas hioned practic e of not having a sti ff fenc e I

-
.
maintained that he was not out o n th e ground that not only ,

’
t h e ball but O tt away s body was con sid e rably outsid e th e
b o und a ry line owing to th e giving of th e rop e which form e d
’
the fenc e though no on e could begrudge such a catch getting
,
a wick et .
My score tu rn ed out to b e e xactly 1 0 0 and there was a ,
v e ry curiou s thing about it I n those days you had no m ean s .
of telling wh a t you r own scor e was unle ss you kept a m ental ,
count of it yourself I had counted min e and kn ew I had

.
,
m ad e 99 My pa rtner at the tim e was F C Cobd e n and

. . .
,
betwe e n the overs I w e nt across and said to him Frank I , ,
have got 9 9 ; when I call come for all you re w o rth

’ ’
C K . . .
Fran ci s was bo wling fro m the pavilion end He sent m e down a .
b eautiful over including t wo shoote rs which are things you

, ,
don t often get nowad ay s The l as t ba ll of the over I pl ayed

’
.
s traight down the pitc h an d calling Cobden he ran for a ll h e

, ,
wa s w orth as I had asked him to do and e ven the n he only

, ,
ju st e s ca ped being run out My 1 0 0 t he first ever m ade in .

,
the Va rsi ty m atche s was rea ched an d I was ha ppy

’
, , .
But cricket has a curiou s knack of preventing a fello w

thinking too much of hi m self Full of bean s at h aving .
‘ ’
scored t he 1 0 0 I received the first ball of the next over al so

,
from Franci s who had crossed over and I let ou t a t it Th e

, , .
ball see me d to be going well over the bo w ler s head But ’

.
Franci s was an agile young gen t lem an as you may understand ,
w hen it is sa id t h a t he won th e high ju m p at Rugb y with

almost a record public school jump H e jumped up at the
-
.
240 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C KETERS .
ba ll knock ed it quite 2 0 feet in th e air and ca t ching it as it

, ,
came down h e had m e 0 and b ! I had only j ust s craped

home wit h my 1 0 0 in tim e .
Th e finish to thi s match fu rnish ed how e ve r t h e most , ,
se n sational part of th e cricket Camb ridge s second innings .

’
score was 2 0 6 of which D al e and I had m ad e 1 6 7 b e tw een

,
na from the bat Oxford took th e last innings r equiring 1 7 9

.
,
to win . When 7 wicke ts had fallen 3 run s we re w an te d

to tie and 4to win F H Hill was nic e ly set and h e hi t a
. . .
,
ba ll from E E Ward (who had bee n bowling b eautif ully

. .
th roughout the innings) which but fo r an ext raordinary sto p

, ,
with the one hand by A B ourne would hav e b ee n a boundary

.
, ,
and have given Oxford the v erdict by 3 wick e ts A s it was .

,
the hit only yield ed a si ngle The sam e field er caught S E . . .
“
B utler 0 6 th e s econd ball of C ob d en s ov er Hill having scor ed ’
,
a single o ff the first and Cobden clea n bowl ed the two follow
,
ing bat smen W A Ste wart and T H Be lcher with t he first

,
. . . .
,
ball each receiv ed Thu s th e hat trick was done in the ov e r

.
,
and Cam bridge achi e v ed what had seem ed to b e an impo ssibl e

vic t ory by 2 run s I was wick et k ee ping at th e t im e this
.
-
s en sa t ion a l finish occurred .
In 1 87 1 I was captain of th e Cantab s and as luck wou ld ,
h a ve it that was the only yea r of th e fou r y ea rs in which I

pla yed for Cambridge that we were b eaten That m at ch was .
alm ost a s sen sa tional as the one ju st noted for Sam Bu tl er ,
took t he who le of th e ten Cam bridge wick e ts in the first

in n ings for only 3 8 run s thi s being th e only occas ion o n
,
whi ch the feat has been done in the Oxford Cambridge

m at che s Ca m bridge made 6 5 run s in th e first innings a n d
.
,
of tha t figu re W B Money scor ed 2 3 and I was c redit ed w ith

. .
,
”
25. The others found B utler p ractically unplayable .
Reference has already been mad e in th e introduct ory p ara

graph s of thi s Talk to the extraordinary bet that was m ad e
aga in s t the repetition of century score s in th e Var sity matc h es
’
.
Mr Ya rdley now says th a t a t th e tim e h e state d that grou nd s

were so i m proving th at hundred s would av erage one a yea r in
the m at ches A s a m a t ter of fact a period of twenty six
.
,
-
242 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
bound to decide in favour of th e batsman which t o my mind ,
is sound enough umpiring .
Ottaway made his score into 41 and th e innings closed ,
for 1 5 0 H ad he been giv en out to t he first ball as h e should

.
,
hav e b e en t he moral effect would probably have bee n such

,
that it is only a fair inference to say it might have b ee n a

close thing as to w hether the lay e r of the b et of 2 0 0 t o 1
w ould not have been £ 2 0 0 the w orse for his con fi d ent spe en
lation Wi thout any admiration for O t t away s style I always
.
’
,
looked upon him as one of the soundest cricket ers I ever cam e
across There was nothing he could not do at crick e t and
.
,
though som e did not like his style he got there all th e ,
”
same as t he song sa y s
’
.
,
When nineteen years of age and still a student at Rugby , ,
M r Ya rdley played for K ent meeting with con s iderable ,
succe ss In Gen t lemen 0 Players he after ward s pla y ed at

. .
Lord s for six con secutive years a nd had an average of 40

’
, .
I u sed say s he alway s to bet W G G race half a crown

”
, , . .
- -
on m y run s again st his when w e played on the same side

a ga in st the sa m e bowling I n the y ea r 1 87 1 when Ge orge
.
,
Fre e m an was playing for the Playe rs 0 Gentlem e n at Lo rd s .

’
,
thi s friendly wagering led to an inte re st ing circum stan c e .
Gra ce went in first on a n asty w e t and s ticky wicket I , , .
w ent in second w icket down and G race hav ing mad e 5 0 m e t ,
me going to the wicket as he w as retiring to th e pavilion an d

sa id
,
I t hink I have got your ha lf c rown all right this tim e -
Bill I t s a n aw ful w icket and they re bowling l ike fien d s

.
’
,
’
.
’
Bu t I w as fort unate enough to make 5 1 so had the pl eas ure ,
of po cketing his h alf dollar -

.
In the second innings the same thing happen ed W G . . .
got 3 7 an d I h ad to follow him in when he said I m certa in

, , ,
’
t o g et th at h a lf cro wn ba ck t his time

’
-
But b e reckoned in .
erro r again I stayed on to the end not knowing e xac t ly

.
,
ho w m a ny run s I had got though being sure I mus t b e pre tty,
w ell in the nei ghbourhood of 5 0 George Freeman was bo wl .
ing from t he nursery end and I play ed a ball ve ry hard ,
rather w ide of h is left ha nd Ma king sure h e could not fie ld .

M R W ILLI A M YAR D LEY . 243
it , I backed up w ell thinking I should get at l ea st 3 ru ns for

,
the hit F reeman however field ed the ball in a marvellous

.
, ,
w ay and on trying to tu rn r ound and g e t ba ck to th e creas e

, ,
I s lipped on the mud fell on my back and was easily run , ,
ou t O i course I had my eye on th e score board as I walked

.
b ack to the pavilion and thinking of my bet wi t h W G , . .

,
I indulged in a broad smil e of sati sfaction wh e n I found

I had a gain got 5 1 and had v e ry eas ily won his second ,
half crown -
.
I think t he best innings I ever play ed in my life and I ,
a m al so inclined to sa y t he be st I ever saw W G play was in . .

,
a m a tch at t he Prin c e s Ground o n a w icket which could only

’
be de scribed as di abolical The m atch was Gen t lem en of th e .
Sou th Players of t he North W G as u sual went in first . . .

, , ,
a nd had m ad e 1 0 ou t o f 1 6 wh e n I j oin e d him second wick e t ,
down I forget the exac t fig ures but I know I mad e b et we e n

.
,
7 0 and 8 0 a n d he m ad e betw
,
e en 80 and 9 0 th e whol e side ,
being out for ra ther le ss than 1 9 0 We both got out within .
a few b a ll s of one a nother and we each st r ipped to t h e b ufi

'
in the dre ssing room with a view of having warm bat hs and
-
our brui ses rubbed w i t h em b rocation We w e re both ab so .
lu te ly bl a ck and blue from the blow s we had received f rom

M I n t yre J 0 Shaw and Morl ey
‘
, It was an extraordinary
.
,
.
b a tting performance on the part of both of us but we were ,
inclined to think that w e had b een fool s to stop in to b e

b ashed abou t as we had been .
You w ill know I h a ve n ever been to Au stra lia on a

cricke t t our but I e m entitled to say it was not for want of
,
an invi ta t ion I was ask e d t o go when W G Grace took his

. . .
tea m out and al though I was offered an ex t remely hand some

,
s um a part from a ll expen se s

, I decided not to g o Th e ,
.
reason for t hi s deci sion was pa rtly b ecau se my family were

again s t it a n d par t ly becau se I was doubtful whether it would
,
n o t co m promi s e my po s ition as an amat eur I need hardly .
sa y t hat if I had the same o fi e r now and wer e of the sam e

'
ag e I s hould not he sitate for a moment in accepting it

, .
I only played once again st the Au stralian s and that was ,

244 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
after I had g iv en up first clas s cricket I t was with t h e -

.
Orlean s Club on J uly 8 9 1 87 8 and I played in the

, , , ,
n a me of L L eigh I had not had a bat in my hand a ll

. .
the season so was not s ur prised wh e n I was caught and

,
bow l ed first ba ll by Allan I mad e 1 6 in th e secon d inn .
ings and prid ed myself on having stopped two s hooters

,
from Spoffor th .
I ought to say I was v ery fond of playi ng slow u n d e rhand

bow ling I rem e mber well on one occas ion playing fo r M C C
. . . .
again st York shi r e at Lo rd s when I was in with my o ld friend

’
,
J ack D ale who was just as fon d of lob s as I was and quit e
, ,
as good at hitting them if not b e tt e r We w e re w e ll se t ,

.
,
when d ear old Roger I d d ison call ed out Give m e th e ball ,

’ ’
I ll get them out
’
I said Roger you don t expect to get
.
, ,
Mr D ale or me out with lob s do you 7

’
You w ait and see ,
‘
,
’
’
w a s his retort Then I remark ed Rog er I ll bet you ha lf a ‘ -
.
, ,
s o v ereig n that I ll mak e mor e run s than you will bow l me

’
b a ll s D one along of you sir was his prompt reply so we

.
’
, ,
’
,
posted our two half sov ere ig ns in th e hands of o ne of th e -
u m pires as sta keholder This may not hav e bee n st r ictly .
cricket but it was at anyrat e an e vid enc e of th e g ood

, , ,
fellow sh ip that e xi sted between us .
We ll Roge r commenc ed by tossing up one of his high

,
s low one s I calmly walked out two or th re e yards and

.
cra cked it to t he boundary for 4 You can t b eat m e this .

‘ ’
’
o v er anyway Roger said I the ov er th en b eing four balls
, , , , .
How if I get you out 7 asked Roge r We hav e no stipula .
tion as to that I repli ed but I am willing to be t you 1 0 8 ‘

.
’
to 1 s you don t get m e out thi s ove r
. H e would not ta ke it .
on . The next ba ll I started out to meet him but h e d ro p p ed ,
i t a bit short and I m a naged to tak e it on th e long hop and

,
-
we could h a ve ru n 3 for it easily I should say t hat b e fore .
th a t D ale had i mpl o red me to let him have half of th e over ,
rem arking He ll never bowl anothe r one Bill and I d o want

,
’
, ,
to h av e som e of it I refu sed how ever and when thi s hit .

’
, , ,
whi ch could hav e been 3 was made D a le n ear ly ra n him self , ,
out in trying to force m e to run th e odd run The nex t ba ll .

246 O LD G LI S H CRI C KET ERS
EN .
py ramid s A nd that was all th e appreciation th e p ro mi sing

.
”
young crick ete r got from Ginge r Stubbs .
Several cricketers with whom the write r has had Talks

hav e referr ed t o th e Summ ers fatality Mr Yardley more .
t han all is able to t e ll what real ly h appen ed on that o cca sion ,
for he was k eeping wicket wh e n the accident o ccu rre d .
Parenthetica lly it may b e mention ed that Mr Ya rd ley has n ot

a grea t idea of his own abilitie s as a wicket k eep er Why -
.
”
I was ask ed to k ee p wicket he say s goodness only know s
, , ,
for I was a most indi ffere nt perform er behind th e sticks an d ,
though I k ept wicke t two y ears at Cambridg e it was s imply

”
beca u se no on e e lse would un der tak e the job .
Well I was kee ping wicket when poor Summ e rs received

,
h is fatal blow If Summers had bee n abl e to duck a n d avoid

.
the ball I must inevitably have got it bet ween th e eyes I .
ha ve often felt sorry since that it was not I who was struck ,
for I don t suppose that the re sult would have b ee n m o r e

’
than a pair of lov e ly black eyes to me whereas Sum mers was ,
struck in a vital part on the thinnest pa rt of the tem pl e ,
w hich was fractured by the blow it app eared at the po st , ,
morte m examination In all my caree r I never sa w a ball

.
g e t u p w ith s uch lightning rapidity The pitch of the ba.l l

and the blow on Sum mers s head app ea red to b e simulta neous
’
.
I am perfectly sure th e ball must ha ve st ruck a smal l st o ne

it was impossible for it to get up in that way from ordina ry
turf The occurrence was the purest accident When struck
. .
Su mm ers reeled like a t eetotum and fell H e di ed fou r days

,
.
”
a f t erwa rd s .
Mr Y ardley con siders A lf Shaw the fin est bowler an d

.
,
“
Martin M I nt yre th e most unpl easant h e eve r p la y ed
‘
aga in st . Shaw kept th e batsman up to the m a rk

“
M I nt yre bumped most unpleasantly and h e add s that
‘
,
the w ick e ts were sometimes horribly rough in those day s

you never k ne w whe ther the ba ll was going to shoot o r fly
”
ov e r your head A s a b itter M r Yardley wil l not p lac e
.
,
Bon ne r or any one el se on the sa me p edestal as C I Thor n ton . . .
H e a n d Thornton went up together t o Cambridge wi th h e ,

MR W ILLIA M YAR D L EY . 247
s ays a “tremendou s fl ourish

of trumpets They were o n .
,
opposite side s a s Fre shmen in w hich mat ch th ey each m ade

,
top score for their respective sides Mr Ya rdl ey s contribution ,

’
being 1 5 4 prett y n early if no t q uite a record in the Fre sh

—
, ,
man s m atch ; and both went at onc e into the Univ e rsity
’
Eleven .
O f late years M r Ya rdley has b ee n t oo bu sily occupi ed

to pay close a tt en tion to cricket H e has only seen R anj i “ .
ba t t wice at th e tim e of t he se li nes b e ing penned and

,
—
,
—
then u nde r circum sta nce s which are som ewhat curious as th e ,
following will show

“I n No vemb e r 1 8 6 I was at a dinn e r at the Hotel C ecil
9 ,
and sat nex t to Ra nj it sinhj i w hom I th us met for the first ,
time O i cours e we talked about cricket and shoo t ing both

.
,
of which past imes we were equa lly fond oi Towards th e .
’
end of t he evening I confe sse d t o Ranj i with some s hame ‘
tha t I had neve r seen him play wh e reupo n with that pleasant , ,
smile of h is h e ven tured the remark that p e rh a p s I had

,
s u ff ered no gre at lo ss I differed from him and promised to

.
,
ta ke t he pleasure of seeing him bat at the first subsequent

opportunity if h e would promise to mak e 1 0 0 H e laughingly .
r eplied he would do his best H e p roved as good a s his.
word . The opportunity came on May 1 3 of th e following

yea r when the young Prince delighted m e with a score of
,
2 60 out of 41 8 for Sussex agai n st th e M C C at Lord s . . .

’
.
Five days late r I saw him a s econd time fo r M C C v Lan . . . .
ca s h ire when he scored 1 5 7

,
Those w ere the only t wo .
oc ca s ion s on which I hav e seen the famou s Ranj l bat and ‘

,
a s he m ade 4 1 7 for t wice ou t I think h e r ed ee med his promi s e

,
”
to me in very hand some fashion indeed .
It has been said earlier in this a r ticle that Mr Yardley was

a m bidextrou s J ust a fact or t wo may b e added in p roof
. .
A t cricket h e bowl ed fast round arm with his l e f t and m ed iu m -
with his r ight I n 1 87 1 he won t he R acque t Cha mpion s hip

.
at Cambridge but was defeated eas ily by Otta way in the

,
’
in ter Va rs i ty conte st at Prince s
-
’
.
We hea r a great d eal n owadays of th e liberal expenses

248 o m) ENGLI S H omok s ras s
'
.
of am ateur players Mr Yardley and h is associates of the

.
’
Seventies d o not appear to have been thus favoured . When
” “
I w as playing he says a mateurs did n ot get more tha n
, ,
t heir travelling e xpen se s ; they did not even receiv e t hei r

hote l expen se s In K ent we had a rule not to allo w even
.
t ra velling expen ses for a journey of less than fift y m i l es I

.
"
gue ss thin gs ha ve chang ed som ewhat hav e n t they 7
,
’
25 0 OLD ENG LI S H CRI C K ET ERS .
Lock w ood though h e wil l b e th e last to say h e had not to

,
pay in the school of e xperienc e for th e irrespons ibilities of

his upbringi ng .
Lo ck wood was born o n April 4 1 845 The day when he , .
began cricke t practice is too far back for him to remember .
It u sed to be said that at Lascelle s Hall the boys turn ed

natu rally to c ricke t as a duck does to wate r Shoel ess and .
hatless wh e n th ey were not looking after bobbin s th ey wer e

,
playing c rick et Young Ephra im spen t many a ca reles s hou r

.
practi sing crick et with bare feet on t he road sid e There m a y .
be some conne ction between this absen c e of shoe leathe r -
and h is sub sequent reputa t ion as the possesso r of big feet .
“Eph ” Lockwood will la ughingly admit e v en now that h e

.
possesses perhaps th e largest big toe that has e v er ass ist ed

a m an to cov er th e ground betwe en th e wick e ts .
“We u sed to do a lot of p ractic e on th e road with s ea t

’
boa rd leg s and crew e lled yarn ball s D on t know what sea t
-
.
’
boa rd legs a re ! Ah you didn t know th e old han d loo m
,
wea vers S eat boa rd legs were the stick s that u sed t o
.
-
’
suppor t t h e handloom w eav ers s eat s Practic e ! Whe n I .
was a lad w e w ere alway s at it Pra ctice had e ven grea t er

.
attraction s than dinner I have often dine d on a turn ip

.
rather t han b reak away from a good p ractice I n th o s e .
d ay s there was not much dinn e r to b e had at L as cell es

”
Ha ll so that it did no t matter
,
.
When Lockwood took to cricket in it s more se riou s sen se ,
the method of prac t i sing at Lascelles Hall was t o let ea ch

m an receiv e 4 0 ball s at the wicket s and th e n
g o from o ne ,
position in th e field to another wi t h e v ery cha nge of batsm a n .
Thu s a field er starting at point would go n e xt to cover point -
a n d so on all round the fi eld unt il h e cam e to th e wick e t s
to bat .
A s ked as to th e first p ractica l results of his p roficie n cy ,
Lock w ood said his first e n gagm ent was as a Satu rd ay

m an a t K irkburton in 1 8646 5 I n 1 86 6 h e was e nga g e d
-
.
a t Meltham Mill s in 1 86 7 at Lockwood and in 1 868 at

, ,
C hee th am Hill Manche ster ,

When at th e last nam ed
.
-
EPH RA IM LOC KW O OD . 25 1
place he mad e his first spring up th e ladd er of fam e H e .
shall narrat e th e circum s ta nce s in his own wo rd s

“There had b een a b us accident at D erb ’
and George
y ,
Freema n and Luke Gre enwood wer e i nj ured Th e York .
shire te a m ar riv e d in London on th e Saturday n ight to play
Surrey at th e Oval on th e followin g Monday (August 2 4 ,
It was f ound that Freeman and G ree nwood would

be unabl e to play My uncl e th e late J ohn Thew
. lis on , ,
h ea ring th e qu estion of sub stitutes bei ng di scussed said ,
in a mod es t and hesitating w ay that h e had a n eph ew who ,
he thought was quit e goo d enough referring of course to

,
—
, ,
’
m yself Tom Emm ett backed up T hewlis s recommendation
. .
The result was that I was wired for to travel up to London

fo r the match Th e wire was sent to Ch eetham Hill but
.
,
I had com e on to Hud d ersfield as I had arran ged to p lay ,
in a t wo days match wi th Lascelles Hall at Yeadon H o w

’
.
ev e r the m essage was sent a fte r me and I set off on the

, ,
Sunday to London and played .
My uncl e and I opened th e York shire innings after

Surrey had mad e 1 9 5 and we s cored 1 7 6 for th e first
,
wicket .This p rov e d a record for th e Yorkshire first

wick et which was not broken until B rown and Tunn iclifie
’
mad e their first remarkabl e stand at Sheffield in th e match

wi th Su ssex in 1 89 7 We were each not out th e first night
.
,
Th ewlis being 5 1 and my self 5 7 I was a raw lad and .

,
was said to b e a collier a farm labou rer and what n ot

, , .
I can rem emb er on l eaving the wickets wh en stumps were

,
d rawn going to th e pavil ion through th e c rowd who had

, ,
ru shed to see th e lad ! One voic e I heard above th e

o t hers m aking the rem a rk Why he s more fit to eat a,
‘
,
’
penny cak e than play c ricket .

’
“How ev e r I got to before I w out n e xt morning

, 9 1 as ,
and my uncl e mad e 1 0 8 It was v ery hot the first day

.
,
a n d I rememb er Tom Emmett bringing m e a drink fro m
the pavilion and encou raging me by saying Re member

, , ,
’ ” ’
tha a o n thi m erits I was . .
’
It may b e add ed h e re that Lockwood s uncle and partn er ,
25 2 O LD EN GL I S H CRI C K ET ERS .
in thi s famou s pe rfo rmance J ohn T hewlis was popu larly , ,
suppo sed to have told Ephrai m wh e n he w e nt in with him
t o ha t that if he did n ot do som e thi ng wo rthy of the

,
compa ny in which h e foun d him self he would n o t be

a llowed to o back to La s celle s Hall alive ! It w the
g as
cheery w ay one relativ e had of encou raging the othe r .
Charle s Ullatho rn e one of L ockwood s conte m poraries

,
’
w ho pl ay e d in t he match g ive s to the w r iter the following

,
excellen t account of Ephra im s d ébu t : ’
Eph L ock wood was much talke d of that day for more
.
r ea son s tha n one The Cockney crowd g iggl ed and grinn ed

.
w h e n he st epped on to the field with a pair of trou s er s t hat

had run up in the washing and a shirt with red black and , , ,
green square s like a church w indow Ephraim looked a raw .
coun t ry lad a nd had gone up to the great met ropoli s t o play

,
for h is county carrying h is trou sers and shi rt in a parcel an d

, ,
his b a t in h is h a nd The stat ement has b een of te n m ade

.
t h a t he swo oped d o wn upon the city in clogs but that is n o t ,
t rue T he crowd that la id them selv es out to grin and giggle

.
s o o n b e a n t o r ea li se t h a t the lad w as n ot as ra w as he
g
lo ok e d . The ir good na tured chaff turn ed to ungrudgi n g
-
ra is e a n d w h e n Ephrai m left th e wicket with 9 1 to h is

p ,
c re d it ,
h is fa m e w as e stabli shed Yet h e ca me do wn to .
Ch e e t h a m Hill the follo wing Saturday and was bowl e d ,
r o u n d h is l eg s by a lob for a
L ock wood say s th at as his ca reer developed h e got a lot of
ru n s aga in st Surrey an d had a bigger a verage on K enning to n
,
O va l th an a ny oth e r vi sitor w hile no Northern crickete r w as

,
”
a g r e a t er fa v o uri t e t here Thi s is n o idle boast The y ea r
. .
a ft e r he m a d e h is d ebu t he again pl ayed for York shire again s t
Surrey a t the O va l (Aug u st 5 6 7 a nd l ed o ff with a

, , ,
sc o re of 1 0 3 (h is fi rs t century in fi rs t clas s cricket

) w hich h e -
fo ll o w e d in t he se co nd innin g s w i th 3 4not out In 1 87 0 h e .
s co r e d 2 4a n d 3 8 in t he co rre sponding match ; in 1 87 1 67 ,
n o t o u t f o r t h e Nor t h v t he Sou t h ; in 1 87 2 Augu st 1

. 2
3 , , ,
1 2 1 a g a i n s t S u rrey in 1 87 4 6 7 not out and 48 for Gen t le m en

,
11
. Play e rs a nd 9 6 v S urrey 1 87 6 7 8 v Surrey ; 1 87 7 9 7 a nd
,
.
,
.
,
m ade m e bowl two ov e rs in succession one from eith er end , ,
and in th e second I managed to get th e last wick e t and w e ,
won by 2 runs I d d ison said after ward s that h e mad e the

.
change because h e was afraid Tom Emm ett might bow l one
of his wides and th e game was too clos e to ri sk it
,
.
In the match with Surrey at the Oval on Aug us t 2 3 ,
1 87 6 York shi re look e d a beate n side wh e n on a bad wick e t

, , ,
Surrey h ead ed ou r first innings score by 5 1 runs I n th e ir .
s econd innings I manag ed to score 7 8 which at t he time was ,
described as steady and sound a di splay of batti ng as was

s een during th e se as on In the end w e ga v e Su rrey the t as k ’
.
of s coring 1 0 1 run s It had to b e essayed in a bad light .
as well a s on a b ad w ick et I remem ber Allan Hill and T om .
E m m e t t s itting in the pavilion ju st befo re th e commenc e ment

of the last in nings and in h is dry humorous styl e T om said
, ,
‘
Come 0 11 Allan thee fl ay [
, frighte n] em abt and I ll bahl ’
,
’
’
e m ab t They did : Yorkshire won just b e fo re the ca ll of
.
’
time by 2 4 run s H ill taking 4 wicke t s for 1 8 run s and

,
E m mett 5 for 45 .
There is anoth e r little circumstanc e which I think may , ,
be men t ioned I n the Gentlemen 0 Players match at the Ov al

. .
’
on July 2 3 4 1 87 4 I went in first and ca rri ed out my hat

, , , ,
fo r 6 7 .That was the first tim e such a feat had b een don e
since the e stabli shm e nt of the ga m es ea rly in th e centu ry
I n th e second innings I mad e 48 I n the othe r .
’ ’
Gen tleme n Play e rs match at Lord s in th e fol lowing w eek ,
Alla n Hill too k 3 wickets in success iv e ball s That was also .
the first time the feat had been accomplished I was told .
a f t er wa rd s there was no li t tle conve r sation in th e pavi li on
upon the fact that th ese things should hav e b een done by tw o
m e n w ho lived next door to each other in th e sam e vil lage .
I t cer tainly was a singular circum stance when one com es t o ,
think of it .
Perha ps my most perfect innings was th e on e at B ramall

La ne aga in st Lancashire on J uly 4 1 881 I got 7 3 and can , .
,
re m ember hea ring Mr Hornby say D ang it all (I am no t ,

‘ ’
s ure
‘
dang was th e word though ) it doe sn t matte r where , ,
’
E P HRA I M LOC K W OO D . 25 5
we place the men he put s th e bal l som e whe re els e

, W .
’ ‘
.
however was n ever excelled in this I hav e hea rd J 0 Shaw

, . .
sa y that he coul d put a b al l wh ere h e lik ed but W G ,

‘
. .
’
could put it where he liked also Once in the Gen t lemen 11 . .
Players matche s J immy Sha w mi ss ed a most si m ple chance

’
of d i smiss ing W G c and b I asked him why he didn t

‘
. .
’
.
’
ca t ch it a nd he cool ly replied
, Oh I l ike to se e him bat l , ,
I ca p ta in ed the Playe rs of En gland again st the Au stralian s

at the Oval in Augu st 1 882 That was Mr Murdoch s t ea m .
’
,
w hich defea ted Engla nd by 7 run s The Players won by an .
inni ngs and 3 4 run s and I remembe r I got a grea t many ,
compliments pa id me for th e wa y in which I changed th e

bowlin g M Read of Surrey s cored 1 3 0 for us in t hat match
. .
,
B a rnes and he m aking 1 5 8 for the fift h wicket Read s 1 3 0 .

’
was t he highe st hi t aga in s t the Au stra li an s on the tour and ,
i t brought him a collec tion of over £40 .
A s a s ide inciden t in t hi s m atch I may rep ea t a story

whi ch my w ife still chuckle s over She was si tting in com .
pany wi t h her sister in the reserved sea ts at the pavi li on ,
near w h e re thre e ga il y at tired society youn g ladies were -
s ea t ed The young ladies criticised t he poor players wi t h

.
u nblu s hing fra nkne ss D o you know who t ha t is 7 said one

. .
Yes t h a t s Punch was the reply Punch was Tom Emmett

’ ’
. .
,
’ ’
Wh o s that one there 7
’
That s Big Feet Big Fee t was .
your humble se rvant whose wife w as ta ki ng the conversation,

’ ’
a ll in . Who s the other ?
‘
Tha t s t he das hing young
’ ‘
Y orkshirem an The player thu s favoured was the late Billy

.
’
B ates My wife enjoyed the situation hugely w hen Punch

.
,
Big Fee t and the D a shing O n e walked from the field to the
,
p avilion t o ta lk to her The young l adie s m ade a hurried

.
depa rt ure .
“How was it I never w ent to Au strali a 7 Well I was ’

,
as ked to m a k e one of W G Gra ce s tea m w hich went out in

’
. .
,
1 87 3,
bu t somehow I didn t fa ncy t he outing at the t ime ’
,
a n d I did not a ccept the o ff er Sub sequently when D W . . .
G regory s t e a m
’
ca m e over t o Engl a nd in 1 8 7 8 he an d S p o i ,
for t h to ld me th e public in Au stralia had been much d is

25 6 O LD EN G LI S H CR I C K ET ERS .
’
a ppointed that I did not go out there Gregory s tea m I .
,
m ay men t ion c ame to H ud d e rs fi , e ld immediate ly afte r they
had got t he M C C out for 3 3 and 1 9 and I scored 3 3 and

. . .
,
1 6 a ga in s t the m We got them out in t he first inni ngs

.
for 1 1 8 but t hey won fina lly by 6 wickets I m ad e t h e mos t

,
.
r un s of any one in the match .
I had s evera l invi tation s on oth e r occasion s to g o out t o

A u stra lia a nd I did s ign a n agre e ment to g o out wi th Shaw s
’
,
t ea m in 1 881 but I was obliged to cry o ff in con se qu ence o f

,
s u ffe ring from a cu te rheu m a ti sm That was rea ll y t he reas on .

,
thoug h some of my friend s cha fied me and said I pre f e rred to

‘
st a y a t ho m e and get m arried .
“Though I did no t to Au tralia I did take a trip to

g o s ,
Am e rica Tha t was in 1 87 9 when I formed one o f D af t s

.
,
’
ele v e n to vi sit t he la nd of the Stars and Stripes O scro ft .

,
Bat e s a n d I cam e out as top scorers The trip w as m u ch

,
.
e njoy e d but w e had a plaguey time with th e m osquito es

,
.
S o m e m or n ing s I m ight have creat ed the impre ssion tha t I

h a d be e n in t he w a rs m y eye s and face being so m u ch
‘ ’
,
s w oll e n from t he bite s of the se trouble some in se ct s .
“I m e t old George Parr fo r the first tim e at Notti n gh am
in 1 86 9 a n d ha d the sa ti sfaction of running him out

,
I w as .
a ct in g a s lo ng s t op and po ssibly thinking I was a bit gre en

-
, ,
h e co m m enced t o run immediately the ball had passe d St e ph

e n son the w i cket keeper But I managed to send in a hot
,
-
.
r e t u rn a n d Pa rr los t his wicket

,
H e tr eated youngs ter s .
m or e wa rily a f t er wa rd s .
“I m e t Ned W illsh e r first at Canterb ury in a m at c h
b e t w e e n t h e North a n d South Mr J W D al e and I w ent . . .
in firs t a n d I rem e m be r W ill she r bowled so w e ll that he

,
le d o ff w i t h 1 6 s u cce ssive m a iden over s Yet we kept o u r .
e nd u
p y b w a t chfu l def e nce and fin a l ly I s cor e d 6 0 and
, ,
M r D a le 5 0 W illsh er w as pre sent whe n I played m y big

.
i n n i n g s so m e yea rs a ft erwa rd s at Grave send and h e said he ,
d e lig h t e d w i t h the perform a nce .
Wh e n W G Grace had m a de his famou s scor e of 40 0

. .
n o t o u t fo r t h e U n i t e d S o u t h of Engl a nd Elev e n 0 Tw nty

( ) e .
25 8 ENG L I S H carcxs rs s s .
th ere fore could see what h e was doing H e use d t o mak e .
th e ball come back 6 in ch es whipping like lightning from ,
the pitch It was all don e with a remarkable whip of the

.
w ri st .
The n what a mar v e llous bowler A lfred Shaw wa s Wh at

,
accurate pi t ch and length ! H e on c e had the followi ng

w onde r ful a n aly si s : 5 2 overs 47 maid e ns 5 run s 7 wick e t,s , , .
The re s bowling for you ! They u se d to play t hen to bowl

’
you out Shaw could alter his d e livery a yard or so in

.
height and the batsman could not di sc ern it from h is ac tion

, .
’
H e had more control and was better able to hu m our a ball ‘
”
tha n any man I e ve r kn e w .
Asked w hen and why he ceased playing for Y ork s hire ,

“
Lockwood said : Th ey left me out in 1 884 Perhaps I .
m ad e one mistake We i ss u ed too a challenge for Las c e lles

.
, ,
Hall to play the Rest of Yorkshire fo r 5 0 0 a s ide a n d I -
don t t hink the Shefield authori t ies lik ed it I wa s in good

’
.
form at the tim e and could hav e gon e on playing I had

, .
my b en efit in 1 882 and got 5 9 1 I re m ember that as my

, .
b en e fit m a tch was spoil ed by t he w e t Lord L onde sbo r ough ,
s ent for me a t th e Sca rborough Carnival and gave me a

555
note Lady L ond esborough who by t he way has a l ways
.
, , ,
ta ken a keen interest in cricket and cricketers u sed laugh ,
ing ly to say that I should run faster if I had not such big
fee t to carry .
I mu st t ell you about the famou s mat ch between Las c e ll es

Hall and S he ffie ld played on September 1 9 1 87 0
,
I t was , .
comme m ora t ed in a song which was ve ry popular in York

shire cri cketing circle s twenty fi v e ye a rs or so ago The .
refra in ra n
T h e S he ffiel d l ads,th ey are the l ads
T o pl ay at b at a n d b al l
Bu t t hey c o u ldn t bea t th o se eleven l ads
’
T h a t cam e thro Lascelle s H a l l

’
.
’
I m ade that m at ch wi t h J im D a rley of the Gre e n D ragon

, ,
Fargat e, Sh e ffie ld , which u s ed t o be ou r cricket ers head ’

2 1 1111111 11 LOC K W OO D . 25 9
q u a rter s Th e se wer
. e th e circum stance s that led u p to 1 t
We w ere driving in a cab up to Bram a ll L ane w ith Luk e ,
Green w ood and talki ng about loca l rivalries I sa id Lascelles

, .
Hall would play S h e ffield for 5 5 5 0 a side and backed my -
co n fi d e n ce by put t ing down a 5 5 5 note into Luke s hand

’
.
D arley prompt ly covered it the ma tch was made a nd w e , ,
m ade him stakeholder The conte st duly came o ff a nd .

,
La scelles H all batt ed first and m ade 2 1 0 Sh e ffie ld scored .
10 6 ,
and had to follow o n fina l ly lea ving us w i th only ,
82 t o get t o win O i course it s eemed an e asy t ask but

.
,
w e looked blue when we had 4 wickets down for 6 run s ,
including m y o w n D avid Eastwood and Luke Greenwood .

,
ho w ever pra c t ica lly rubbed the score 0 11 and w e w o n by 5

, ,
wicket s .
Wh at a recep t ion we got on r eaching home ! Mr Walter

Haigh w ho has been pre sident of the L ascelles Hall Club
,
for thirty years a n d m ore met u s w i t h a waggonette and ,
four and w e w ere re ceived like conquering heroe s Tha t

, .
will s ho w the rivalry there was between La scelle s Hall and

S he ffie ld The score of t he match is printed in letters and
.
fig ures of gold and s till hung up at the Ta nde m Inn the

, ,
club s head qua r t ers a t Lascelle s Hall The men who formed
’
.
t he Lascelles Ha ll Eleven w ere E Lock w ood J The w lis .

, ,
L Green w o od A Greenwood D Eastwood D Poll ard A

.
, .
,
.
,
.
, .
Hill G Shot to n T Redfea rn J Brook and J Ambler In

,
.
,
.
, ,
.
the m at ch A m bler brought o ff a wonderful catch C ut t el l .

,
fa ther of the pre sent La ncash ire cricketer w as b atti n g and , ,
m ade a st roke high t hrough the s lip s where A m bler w a s ,
fie ld in g A m bler w as a very tall long a rm ed fellow and

.
,
-
, ,
s pringing u p he brought t he ball ,

from t he cloud s as t he ‘
,
’
s o ng g o e s .
There is something in the hereditary pr inciple of cricket ,
s u rely .The Lock w ood s Eastw ood s a nd Ba te ses on the t op , ,
of t hill a re a ll related The T hew lises too w ere m y un cle s

’
.
, ,
a n d cou s in s I remember that once ele ven T hew lise s played

.
a t C h icke n le y a n d got about 2 5 0 ,

Then my w ife is a niec e .
”
of t he fam ou s Fuller Pil ch and a keen cricket enthu siast ,
.
26 0 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
Most of o ur popular crickete rs are rechris tened by their

a s soci a te s a nd intimate frie n ds Thu s L ockwood w a s more
.
“
fre quen t ly address ed by his colleagues as Old Mary than ”
by the ba pt i sm al Ephrai m This Talk may conclude by the

.
tra cing of t his sobr iqu et t o it s source .
I o w e m y n am e of Old Mary say s Lockwoo d

,
’
to the ,
l a t e Ge o rg e F reeman We were p layi n g in a match on the

.
Leed s Clare nce Ground at Kirk sta ll the sides b eing I think
, , ,
the Uni t ed North a loca l Twenty two I was fie lding at

-
.
long slip to F reem a n s bow ling and as t he ball shot t o w ard s

-
’
m e Ge o rge shou t ed out

, , Look aliv e, Old Mary I be ca me .
’
”
Old Ma ry from that day .
262 O LD ENG L I S H C RI C K ET ERS .
t on is t hat w hen his nam e was first printed o n the “c orr e ct

,
ca rd ,
and order of going in the printer could not find a
”
,
foun t of ca pi ta l I s A J had th e refore to b e u se d and the

’
.
,
e rror once gi ven a life has died hard .
I n bu si ne s s M r Thornton is chairman of the firm of Me ssr s

R a tl e t y Thor n t on Co 4 Old Bro d S t r eet L ondon
'
,
2 , a .
, .
The firm ca rry on a la rge bu sin ess as timb er m erchants .
Cri cketers of a humorous turn of mind w ill at once se e in this

fa ct a n expl an at io n of Mr Tho rnto n s wond e rfu l hitting ’
po wers H e believe s in the free use of wood

. .
A s to his e a rlie st cricket association s it w ill b e su fficien t to ,
sa
y t h a t M r Thornto n w as i n th e E t on El e v e n when s ix teen
yea rs of a ge a n d played as a schoolboy in the eleven s of
,
I n 1 86 7 he scored 1 4 83 run s H is a v erage

’
1 86 6 6 7 and 6 8
-
. .
w h il e a t Eton for all public school ma t ch es was 41 a n d fo r -
g ener a l cricke t 39 A n extr a ordin a ry t

. hing about h is Eton
ca r e er was th a t though he made 5 0 in the match with H a rro w
,
e v e ry year he w a s never on th e winning sid e M r R H

,
. . .
M it chell a n d the Hon 0 G Lytte lton now Lord Cobham . . .

, ,
ha d a s i m ila r experi e nce O u t h e o ther hand W h e n in th e.

,
C a m b ridge El e ven fro m 1 86 9 to 1 87 2 i nclu sive he was

,
—
ca p ta in in the las t mentioned year Mr Thornton was o n th e

- —
w in n ing side t hree time s in the matches with Oxford It was .
in t h e 1 86 9 m a t ch that he m ade old Jo hn L illywhit e a n d all

’
t h e v e t era n lm bit u és of Lord s Op e n their ey es wid e w ith
a s t o n i sh m e n t by hi t ting a bal l clean over th e pavilion the re
‘
Th is hit wa s de s cribed by L illyw hite at the time as the b iggest

s t ra i g h t d ri v e he h ad ever s een .
A s ked t o e x pl a in the s ecret of h is remarkable h itting

po w e rs M r Thornton di scla im s the possess ion of ab n o rmal
,
phys i ca l d e v e l o pm ents H e has of course a good r e ach .

, ,
e v e ry m a n of 6 f e e t h as th a t but he con siders he has a lmos t

t h e s m a ll e st a r m s of an y cri cketer of his siz e and w eight (1 5
s t o n e ) in En g l a nd an d h is bi cep s w o u ld certainly not pass
,
mu s t e r wi th the n e w Sa ndo w school of phy sical cul ture A .
h a w k l ike e ye a n intui t ive knowledge of t iming the ba ll a nd

-
b rin g ing t h e b a t 0 11 t o i t at t he right place a be lief that whe n ,

MR C . I . THORNTON . 263
a hit is attempted ther e should be no fin nicking half m easu re s

a bout it and a natural delight in feeling the ball sail sky
,
wa rd from the bat to drop into th e field s beyond the se m ak e ,

—
up the why and the wherefor e of Mr Thornton s penchant for ’
ha rd hi t ting .
Put t i ng it colloquially Mr Thornton say s I was always , ,

’
a bit on the hi t after reaching seventeen or eighte e n years
,
of age When a young boy t her e was nothing in my cricket

.
to ma ke on e suppose I should b e noted as a big hitter It .
became aft erward s a natural part of my gam e Wh en I w ent .
to the wicket i t w as my idea to get r un s Occasionally I .
succeeded in putti n g that notion into e ffe ct as th e record s ,

”
w ill sho w .
H aving got at once as it were to the base of Mr Tho rnton s

, ,
’
renow n it w ill be appropria te to give in his own w ord s som e

,
incidents which ju stify the wr ite r in describing him as th e

hi tter of the century .
“I believe it is a fact that on e hit of min e is th e long est
authe n ticated hit in the world It was m ad e during practic e .
in front of the pavilion at Brighton The ball after pitching .
rolled do wn t o the We stern Road The distanc e to the point .
a t whi ch it pitched w as mea su r ed by the R e v J Pycroft and .

,
was found to b e 1 68 yard s I n a match the farthe st hit I.
m ade w as for the Orlean s Club again st th e Au stralian s and ,

”
th at w as found t o measure 1 5 2 yard s .
The m ost s e n sationa l di splay of hitting ev er see n in England

was from Mr Thornton s b at at the Scarborough Fe stiv al in
’
1 886 . The writer places it eas ily before Mr Gilbert J essop s ’
1 89 7 perfor m ance at Harrogate ro o in forty minutes for — —
the re ason that the Harrogate boundaries at that ti me w ere

so very easy .
I t was in the match Gentlemen of England v I Zingari .

,
“
re calls Mr Thornton and am ong I Zingari bo wl ers was Mr
,
A G Steel I w e nt in for th e Gentlemen in th e second in nings

. . .
whe n t he scor e wa s 1 3 3 for 4wickets In seventy m i nute s .
t he score w as exactly doubl ed and I had m ade 1 0 7 out of ,
1 33 ,
all the oth e r wickets having fallen and I be ing not
2 64 EN GL I S H C RIC K ETERS .
’
out There were e ight 6
. one bei ng attribu ted t o an o v er
s—
throw and t welv e 4s in m y score and on e of t h e 6 s w ent

—
’
,
’
through a n open window in one of th e houses on t he Square

s ide of t he ground Pr obably Mr Stee l had n e v e r s uch r ough
.
punishment before .
I t w ill be inte re sting to reproduc e th e e xact h i ts in thi s re

m a rk able i n n in gs nam e ly : 6 1 6 4 6 2 1 1 4 6 4 6 1
—
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
444
. .
I 6 . 444
. .
6.
1 .
6 4 4 41. 2 . Th e re
.
w e re. it wi l l. . . . .
.
be s een only 2 9 strok es in the not out score of 1 0 7

,
-
One of t he eight 6 hits in thi s score of 1 0 7 w as a d rive

which sent the ball ov e r the houses into Trafalg ar Sq uare
beyond It is a hit which to this day is s poke n of at
.
S carbo rough and by those w ho saw it as one of th e gr eatest

, ,
driv es ever m ade Mr W G Grace in his book o n cricket

. . .
, ,
sa y s ,
Unfor tunately th is hit could not b e m eas ur ed but it ,
”
w as thought t o be th e larges t bit h e e v er made In this the .
champion is in error What says Mr Thorn ton 7.
The hit s ent th e ball over th e third chimney from the

s pa ce b et w e en th e hou se s and it was 0 6 A G Steel
'
, The . . .
l at e Mr B a ker the Sca rborough secre tary and I mea s ured it

, ,
n ext d a y an d w e found the di stanc e to b e 1 3 8 ya rd s

,
It .
wa s t herefore not a r e cord by any m ean s ; those who th ought

it w as w ere deceiv ed by the extraordina ry height at which
t he b all s oared : a low swimming hit will of cours e go a lot , ,
”
farther t han a very lofty o ne .
T he re wa s som e mor e curiou s crick e t th e followin g day ,
a dd s M r Thorn t o n We played a sc ratch gam e be twe en t he

.
Gentleme n of M iddle se x and Ge ntlem e n of E ngland I n my .
sco re of
54 t here were fi v e 6 s t w o of th e m from s u cc ess
’
iv e ,
s troke s In one over of five balls it was found n e cessa ry to

.
u se fo ur di ffer e nt ball s Three of them had bee n knocked

.
into t he fie ld ou t side the ground The re was anot he r hit at .
S c a rboro ug h in w hich the b a ll w ent through an open w indow

on t h e se co n d fl oor of one of t he houses a nd was th ro wn ,
b ack thro ugh a windo w on t he first fl oo r How it mad e th e .
d e sc e nt fro m one fl oo r to t he o ther wh e ther it rolle d do wn —
”
or wa s ta ken do w n w e never ascertain ed
—
.
266 O LD EN GLI S H C RI C K ETERS .
a rden a river and a fie ld beyond ; but the b it w a s n e v e r

g a , ,
mea s ured It has a l so been said that Mr Fello wes o n ce hi t a

.
1
b all 1 7 5 ya rd s but tha t too was not au thentica ted ,
As , , .
sh o win h o w big hit s m ay be deceptive I may me n tion one

g ,
by m e 0 11 the C a stle Hill at Sca rborough which T om Emme tt ,
To do so i t w ould hav e had t o

'
sa id h a d gone into t he s ea .
t ra vel a q ua rt er of a mile ! My big hits w ere al ways made

w i t h a ju m p o ff the right foot O i course I had t o ta ke the .
ri sk of being stu m ped but I got wa ry of the w icket keepers ,

—
.
W h e n a st um per s tood straight u p to the wicket I paid him

,
re s pec t if he crouched ba ck a bit I took m ore libe r ti es .
A sked to give other in stance s of rapid run getting M r -
,
“
Thor n t on says th at perhaps one of th e most striking
e xhi b i t i o n s (n o pu n intended ) wa s in the match Cambridge
0 . a t L ord s in 1 87 0 I scored 3 4in ten b its The
’
. .
firs t st roke w as a long hit to sq ua re leg o fi Farrand s ov e r the

’
-
r a n d s t a nd b u t t here w as a bigger hit in an o u driv e into the

g
-
,
a rd e ns a l so o ff F a rrand s at t h e eas tern ex t remity of t h e

g
— —
g ro u n d A t Bri .
g hton in 1 87 1 playing for Gentlem e n 0 , .
P la ye rs thi s w a s beaten by a record of 3 4in nin e balls O n e

,
.
’
of t he b all s I did not hit th e others yielded seven 4s and
o ne 6 .
“T he re w as u sing conversation in thi s match w ell

an am
w o rt h r e ca l lin g The first four ball s I receiv ed were f rom

.
S o u t he rt o n a n d they w ere all boundari es

,
A t the compl e tion .
of t he o v e r Southert on ca me across to me and said

,
For ,
‘
o o d n e ss sa k e M r Thornton do erve M I n t yre the sa m e

’ ‘
s
g , ,
w ay . W i t h pl eas u re I replied and as luck would h a v e it

’ ‘
,
’
, ,
I d id s e T hi s w ould b e com forting to Southerton if n o t to

.
,
M I n t yre b e t ween whom as representing South

‘
,
N ort h ,
ro fe s s i o n a l s t h e r e w as perh a p s some nat ural rivalry

p , .
If yo u w an t f u rt he r in sta nce s of rapid hitting here a re a ,
fe w m o re On ce a t Rickling Green the Orlean s Club had t o

.
sco re 2 5 0 ru n s in t wo hours t o w in th e m atch The run s .
w e r e g o t in a hu n d r e d m i n u t e s m y sh a re of them being 1 7 0 ,
“
no t o ut T h e f e a t cost m e A 5 for I had l aid 1 0 to 1 in hal f

.
,
S e e T l k w t h M D a vid Buch anan o n t h is incid ent

1 a i r .
11 11 c . 1 . 1 11 0 111110 11 . 267
so vere ign s t hat we did not ge t the run s The Rickling G ree n .
gro un d is an eas y one it must be ad mi t ted Y ou w ill , .
remember t h a t i t wa s t he re in Augus t 1 882 the yea r befo re —
t he in cident j ust re ferred to that t he Orlea ns Club sco red —
w hich a t t h a t t im e was a reco rd for any match O n

9 20, .
ah o t he r occas ion with t h e Orlea n s Club on their g rou nd at
T wickenham I h e lpe d myself t o s uch sco res as 9 1 out of 1 0 0

”
in one in nings and 49 out of 5 0 in th e next
, .
The w rit er m ay add ot her instances o f fiery hi t ti ng O u .
Ma y 1 6 1 888 t he re was a rem arka ble ex hibi t ion of t errific

, ,
hi tt ing by Mr Thornt on for t h e Orl ea ns Club ag ain st th e

Mercha n t Taylors School A total of 3 0 0 run s was sco red
’
.
in t he first two hou rs and of thi s fig ure M r Thornton claimed

,
a modes t 1 9 3 .
A yea r af t e rw ard s playing for the Lyric Club 0 G ree n

, .
J acke t s t he grea t hi tte r am used him self by knockin g up 1 3 8

,
run s in fift y eight min utes off his o wn ba t When he was

-
.
bo w l ed t he sco re was 1 80 as t he res ult of the first hour s play

,
’
.
A li t t le la t er a lso for th e Lyrics in a mat ch in which M essrs

, ,
S po tio rt h an d Mu rdoch took part the levia t han s co rer a ctually

'
m ad e 1 0 4run s in 3 8 m inu tes hi tt i n g th e ba ll se ven times out ,
o f t he und It is a m a t te r of regret that t he r i no r ec rd

g ro . e s o
of t he adj ect i v es used by the hea rtbroken bowl e rs on these

occas ion s .
Tha t t he bow le rs did mak e remarks at tim es the foll owin g

in c iden ts w hich M r Thornton recal ls will show
, ,
“Playing on ce w i t h t he Mess rs Walke r tea m at South ’

s
g a t e a g a in s t the Fr ee F o r es te rs Mr D a vid Buch an an was ,
t rea te d by me ra t her ro ughly A s a m a t t er of fact I felt in .
v ery good form a nd sho w ed it by knocking up 1 8 ru

, 5 n s .
W hen I was at las t dismiss ed Mr Buchanan w i t h a s igh of , ,
relief re marked No w w e sha ll ha ve some cricket

, , The .
’
fa mous old Can t ab in his d ay t he bes t ama t eur slow bowle r

,
in t he coun t ry did not like havin g li b erties taken wi th his

,
bo w ling Who is t he bowler th at w ould 7

.
The la t e Hon Robe rt Grim ston on ce felt hurt at the way

.
in w hi ch I t re ate d th e bow ling of a Har ro w boy nam ed D a wes .

268 O LD GLI S H C RIC K ET ERS
EN .
My cou sin M r Percy Thornt o n M P po pularly known as

, , . .
,
Friday Thornton had as ke d m e to go dow n to Ha rrow to ,
play in a m a tch agai nst t he school The result was that I g ot .
about 1 2 0 in an hou r M r Grim ston was furious and v e n te d .

,
h is fee lings w ith th e rem a rk I t s al l th ro ugh that silly foo l ‘ ’
,
’
F riday bringi ng him dow n Evid e ntly the incide nt was .
cheri s hed at Ha rrow for I was not again invited to p la y ,
there until s ix y ea rs ago .
The la te H H Stephen son whe n a coach at Uppi ngh am

. .
, ,
al so did not like to see the ave rage s of any of his bes t bo w l ers
spoiled by liberty taking bats men I o nc e played again s t th e
-
.
school t e am w i t h a n el e ven taken down by t he lat e Mr I D . .
Walker Mr Walke r and I were in toge the r and I score d 6 0

.
, ,
while he m ade a few le ss Th e follo wing day S te ph e nso n .
pre sented Mr Walke r w ith a bat What have I done .

,
S t ephenson ? said I Hav e n t you got one for m e t oo ?

’
.
’ ’
‘
No w as his s evere reply ; Mr Walk er plays crick e t, you
,
’ ‘ —
’ ’
don t .
A t Prince s ground on one occasion I re memb e r hitting F

’
.
M Bu ckla nd four times out of the ground in o ne ove r in a

.
M iddle sex Oxford University match H e said nothing b ut .

,
looked vo lu m es There was another match in which I hit

.
V e rnon R oyle out of th e ground on th ree successw e d e liv eries .
A t the fourth b a ll h e bowled a grub r e mar ki ng No on e shal l , ,
e ver say he hit Vernon Royle four tim es out of th e gro un d in

o n e o ve r
O ne n ig ht at the Ra n elagh Club Bo nnor was dinin g wi t h

, ,
me after a m atch in which I got 1 2 0 r uns and hit a ball in to

t h e ri v e r w hi ch was 1 3 5 ya rd s (meas u red ) away
, Mr Bonno r .
s aid ,
You think you can hit ha rd but I hav e a s i s te r in ,
’
A u s t ra lia w h o can hit as h a rd as you I repli ed Why n ot .
,
‘
bri n g he r o ver h e re a nd ma rry her to Loui s Hall and com ,
bi ne the t w o s t yle s 7 When in Au stralia in 1 89 1 I was as ked

’
by a m an a t lunch on th e Melbourne gro und if thi s sto ry was

”
t r ue Thi s s h o ws how tale s tra vel
. .
A h illu s t ra t io n of the risk run by a ski ng st ra nge rs to play

in a m a t ch m ay next be given A t Oakham in 1 87 2 I .
, ,
0 OLD ENG LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
re on I beg n to
as a one glov e always on the left hand
w ear —
w as t h a t C K F ra nci s when a boy at Rugby broke o ne of

. .
, ,
t he bone s in th a t hand In May 1 89 0 w hen Sam m y Wood

.
,
bo wled the whole of our side out at Cambridge t he m a tc h —
was t he Univer si ty my Englan d Eleven he bo w led a n ail —
o ff m y h an d as well as my wicket w hile in the sa me yea r

Terro r Turner when I was not wea ring a glove broke the
, ,
to ! ) join t of the first fin ger of m y left hand

”
.
Will O scro ft has referr ed to an incident in which he was

s t ru ck on the h ead by M r Thornto n when p ract ising a t the
nets Mr Thornton co nfirm s th e a ccount of th e accident and

.
,
add s t ha t he was always exce edingly ca reful when pra cti sing
a t t he ne t s to make onlooke rs s tand a t a safe di s tance
“ I .
”
had the grea t est horror of hurt ing anybo d y says M r Thorn ,
t on and in a t on e that no one can m ista ke

, .
One nat ura lly ask s if Mr Thornton e ver i nj ured a bowler

w i t h his h a rd hi tt i n g “ ”
So far as I can reco l lect replies
.
,
M r Thornton nothing of a rea lly se rious nature e ver

,
h a ppened . I was told whe n I was in Au stra lia that

, ,
Sout herto n u sed to say he oft e n lay awake at night wonder

in g w h a t w ould happen to him if I drov e the bal l st ra ight
back t o him But he never told me that him se lf and I never
.
,
a v e h im the opportuni ty of fi n d in
g out what would happe n
g
in fact i t w a s ra rely t ha t I drove a ba ll quite st raight back
,
to the bow le r Once when pl aying at Hare w oo d I had a ball

.
fro m a b o w l er n am ed Lin fo o t w hich I se nt back to h im hard

,
a n d s t ra i g h t H e had ju st t i m e to put his h a nd t o h is face

.
t o sa v e perh a p s a broken no se but ev e n then the blo w was ,
h a rd e n o ug h t o send him spra wling I was much reliev ed to.
”
fin d he w a s none t h e wor se for the a ccident .
O n e o ccas ion a lly m eets in the cricket fie ld persons whose -
e n t h us iasm for t he g am e qu ite out strips their p ractical know

l e d g e of it a nd w h o a re n e ver so proud as when the y have
,
t h e o ppo rt u ni ty o f ind ulg in g in the w ea kne ss popu la rly know n

as sho w i n g o ff M r Thornton n a rra te s with grea t gl ee
.
, ,
ho w on e “ b a t sm an gave pro of of thi s and of the sa yi n g

t h a t a li t t le know l edge is a da n gerou s t hing .
ME 0 . 1 . THO RNTO N . 27 1
Strolling one d ay on to the ground a t Canterb ury I st ood ,
behind the wicke t keeper as a certa in bat sm a n of lordly mien

-
,
w ho knew me by sight was batting H e ch anced b y an d b y

,
.
- -
to turn round and seeing me lifted his b at and shouted

, , , ,
H i there get out of the line of sight plea se

’
, , I got away , .
fro m his back view at once ; and the ob st ruc t ion re m ov ed he

”
proce eded with his innings in co m fort .
Recalling re m ini scence s of umpire s M r Thornton say s t he ,

'
most am u sing incident in his experience occurred in a m atch

Tim n o w Sir T C O Brie n
’
a t H a rston near C a mbridge
’
. .
, , .
,
and I w ere batt ing and looked like m a king a big score when
, ,
the w icket keeper appe aled for a c atch o ff a b all which had
-
touched O Brie n high up on the sleeve of his shirt

’
Ou t .
‘
,
’
w as the umpire s verdict T im wa s furiou s and going up to

’
.
, ,
the umpire said Tha t w as ei t her a very ignora n t deci sion or

, ,
a dow nright s w indle The um pire pu t ting on his blan de st

.
’
,
s mile coolly r e plied

,
I gue ss sir it w as ju st a bit of both
, , , .
’
“A J Wilkin son the old Midd le sex cricketer u sed to be

.
, ,
ve ry am u sing in the fie ld O n one occa sion a t Oxford an .
u m pire gave him out leg before w icke t not fairly as he - -
thought A t t he end of play he went up an d a sked the

.
u m pire his n ame an d address The m a n very afiab ly ga ve

’
it t hin king perhap s h e wa s going to be pu t d o w n for a

,
Chris tm as box When he heard the voice of A J W

-
. .
telling him he would take care he never umpired again in

any m a tch he t ook pa rt in his feelings can be im agined ,
be t ter than it is poss ible to de scribe t he m .
Anot her a m u sing bi t of umpiring occurred to me at H igh

Wycom be when playi n g for M C C there about ten yea rs ag o . . . .
The first ba ll of the m at ch ju st touched my finge r a nd w ent

’
in t o t he w icket keeper s ha nd s sta ndin g b ack The w i cket
—
.
keeper a ppea led un succe ssfully a n d no one hea rd i t bu t he ,
a nd I When I go t over to t he bow le r s end t he u m pire sa id ’

.
,
‘
D id you hit th a t first ba ll ? I sa id We ll I did but it ’
,
‘
, ,
w as t he s ligh e st t ouch in the w orld a n d you w ere quite r ig h t ,
to sa y no t ou t if you di d n t hear it I got 1 0 2 run s a fter ’

.
’
wa rd s and as there was a nother m at ch the nex t Sa t urd ay I

,
27 2 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C KET ER S .
w en t do w n a ga in When I had got 66 run s a ball hi t the

.
b ack of m y t rou sers (I didn t even pl ay a t it ) and w en t in to ’
t he w icke t keeper s h a n d Ho w s th at ? said t he w icke t

’ ‘ ’ ’
-
.
keeper Ou t say s the u m pire (the sa m e umpire as the

.
‘
,
’
previou s Sa t urday ) I said Why I never even p layed at .

,
it.
’
Never m ind said the u mpire you w ere ou t last
‘
,
’
,
Sat urd ay w he n I ga ve you not ou t so this wil l square it , .

’
I had t o g o out thi nking a good d ea l but saying no t hing

, .
Once w hen playing cri cke t at Colo m bo t he bo w ler a t t he

end a t w hich I w as ba t t ing kicked down the w icket in t he
ac t of delivery The umpire a soldier a t once calle d No
.
, ,
b all . I told him he w as in error which annoyed him The

’
, .
ga m e wa s stopped a rule book was sen t for and exam in ed ,

-
a n d i t was found t h a t I was right The hea t at t h e tim e I .

—
d o n t m ea n t he u m pire s w as 9 0 in the shade so that t he

’ ’
—
°
s li g h t in t er v a l w as refre shing .
I t wa s t he sa m e u m pire w ho gave a man out for kn o cking

h is w i ck e t do wn in running When I proved to him that the .
m a n w a s no t out a ll he w ould say w as Was n t h e ? ’

, ,
R e feren ces a re m a de in the cours e of this t a lk to Mr

T ho rn t on s t ra vels The reader m ust not run away with
’
.
t he idea t h at they w ere cricke t i ng j a unts They we re bus i .
n e ss e x curs ion s in the course of w hi ch Mr Thornton never

,
l o st a n O ppo rt u n i ty of a li tt le p ractice at h is favourit e g am e .
Th us w i thin the spa ce of fo ur teen month s he has playe d

cri ck e t in En g l a nd Ceylon Au st ralia China Japa n a n d, , , , ,
A m e rica C a n a ny o ther cricketer t he writer w onders la y

.
, ,
c l a im t o t hi s v a ri e d experience in so short a tim e ? I n Ho n g

K o n g M r Th o rn to n see m s to have had rare fun H e got t wo .
ni gge rs t o bow l a t him a nd a m used h imself by hitting t he ,
b a ll s i n t o t h e h a rbour A t Colom bo with the thermom e te r

.
,
in t he s u n he hi t a b a ll 1 5 0 ya rd s
°
1 60 ,
The r e aso n why M r Thorn t o n has not taken par t in any

c ri cke t in g t o u rs is t ha t he could not suffer the di s loca t ion
o f b u s i n e ss t h a t a l o n g ab s ence from ho m e on cricke t pleas ures
w o ul d e n ta il N e edle ss t o sa y i t wa s no t for t he want of

.
,
t s kin
g th a t h e d id n o t journey abroad for the pur o se s o f
p
27 4 OLD EN G LI SH C RI C K ET ERS .
At the Oval in a K ent Surrey match J im Street was

, ,
bo w li ng on a billia rd tabl e lik e w icket I said to L ord Harris - -

.
’
N o w le t s see who can hit him th e farthe st Agreed
’
.
, ,
replied h e and promptly hit Stree t into th e pavilion The nex t

, .
ov e r I had my opportunity and drove a ball from Street over ,
t he players old d re ssing roo m w hich was close to the pre sen t
’
-
en t ra nce gate but facing the ground I should sa y it was

, .
m u ch be t ter fun playing again s t Surrey then than n o w You .
c an n o t t a ke such liber t ie s w ith L ockwood and Richard s on .
“ I h a ve h ad a s much fun with W

G G rac e at crick e t as . .
a ny o n e Alway s keen and thoroughly playing the gam e he

.
, ,
w a s a ra re comp a nion in the fie ld or o ff it and m o reover , , ,
he w a s a l way s ple ased to do any on e a tur n if h e co ul d I .
re co ll e c t once a t Scarborough th e J ub ilee Plu n ger Be n zon , , ,
a ve a b a ll a t the Royal Hotel to which all th e c rickete rs

g ,
t h e n pl aying a t t he Fe st iva l were invited One of our younger .
m e m b e r s w a s very anxiou s to dan c e w ith a lad y w hom h e

d i d n t kno w
’
Old W G say s Oh I ll introduc e you to
. . .
,
‘
,
’
h e r a n d s u i t ing t he action to the w ord h e walk ed u p w ith

’
, , ,
h im to t he yo u ng l ad y and sa id Oh allow m e to i n troduce ,

‘
Mr S he bo w ed ; dit t o Mr and off the pa ir went

d a n ci ng T he lady though t W G was t he M C A n d so I
. . . . .
t hi n k he w as a s he was ordering e verybody ab o ut t h at

,
e v e n ing We had a rar e laugh ove r the bold int ro duction

.
a f t e rw a rd s .
W G h as a keen sen se of humour as anothe r incid e nt

. .
,
w il l sh o w On ce whe n playing at Cambridge for m e aga i ns t

.
,
t h e U niver si t y I a sked h im to go in fi rst with Po s n o who

, ,
w a s a l so pl aying o n my sid e A t that t ime Po sno w as n o t .
k n o w n t o fa m e a s a cricketer at any rate W G d id not , . .
’
kn o w h im fo r he s a i d F irst with Fosno ! What s Po sno l
, ,
'
’
I s i t so m e t hi n g t o e a t ?
O ld J o h n L illyw hi t e w as a rare good sort with a w eak ,
n e ss fo r b a ts m a d e fro m a cert a in tree Onc e he told m e th at .
h e w o uld gi v e m e a b at for n othing if I mad e 1 0 0 w ith it

d u ri n g the s ea so n The bat he said had been m ade o u t of .
, ,
t h e s a me t r ee t h a t E M and W G Grace s bat s had bee n

’
. . .
.
ms 0 . I. THORNTON . 27 5
m ade out o i I had repeatedly h eard hi m say t he sa m e thing

.
before so concluded tha t it was a la rge and pro lific t ree

, .
Ho wever I m ade 1 2 0 w i t h it in the first ma tch tha t I used

,
it
. H e m ade m e a pre sent of t he bat an d continu ed th e ,
same gif t eve ry yea r t o his d e ath .
The present Lord D arnley used to amus e us in the old

Eton days as he got very an noy ed when thin gs w ent a
,
bi t u nlucky Once when playing again st him a t Charles

.
Hoare s plac e at Beckenh am a bea utiful ground su rrounded

’
by t re es I hi t his bowling s eve ral times into the trees O f

, .
cours e the fie ld e rs could not ca tch them through the trees .
A t las t he thre w do w n t he ba ll and said it was no use b o wling

t o m e in a bloom ing fores t !
I was fie ld ing at po int w h e n poo r George Summ ers
1
, ,
one of t he nices t pros w ho ever liv ed w as s t ruck on the

.
,
head by Jack Platts bow ling from the Pav ilion e nd at Lord s
,
’
.
Wi th Bill Ya rdley I helped to ca rry him down to t he parlour

at the ta vern I a lw ay s fa ncy he thought he was sett l ed from
.
t he momen t t he ball struck him I t was a fearful c ra ck on .
t he tem ple an d when struck he j umped up into the air an d

, , ,
t hen fe ll al l of a hea p I think his d eat h was a ccel erate d by

.
t h e jo u rney t o No tt ingh am t oo s oo n after t he a ccident I shall .
never forge t Rich ard D af t com in g in nex t wi t h a to wel ro und ,
his head co v ered with a sca rf t ied under his chi n The first .
ball he had pi t ched abou t ha lf way and w ent clea n ov e r his -
hea d H e did le t Pla t ts h a v e it an d no m ista ke and th e

.
,
bo wler was taken off af t er tha t o v er In thos e day s L o rd s .

’
w as a very di fferen t ground from what i t is now ; at leas t

one ba ll a n over would be a shooter while in a very dry ,
s ea son t he fi e ry na t u re of t he wicket m ad e i t po s i t ively
d angerou s .
Ha ve you ever seen three stumps knocked out by t he

bow ler 7 N o Well I ha ve seen it happe n t wic e and though
, ,
I h a ve as k ed scores of people I have never m et w i t h one who

ha s se en it The first t im e I saw it done w as by H arv ey
.
Fello we s in his d ay the fas tes t bo w ler in England at Can ter

, ,
1 Osc ro ft p uts th e po s it ion as l o ng l eg

.
27 6 EN G LIS H C RI C K ET ERS .
bury whe n he bowled G M K elson out in the M C C

,
Ke nt . . . . .
m at ch The second tim e I saw it don e w as by G eorg e Fr e e m a n

.
in M C C v Y orkshire at Lord s in 1 87 0 th e only ti m e he

. . . .
,
’
, ,
e ver had the opportunity of bowling on a hard dry wick e t at

Lord s The batsm a n was 0 R Filgat e It was a me m orable
’
. . . .
m a t ch Old W G s 6 6 I al way s con sider was th e best

. . .
’
innings (if there could b e a be st w i t h such a record as his) I

e v er sa w About t wo balls e very over either hit h im on the
.
ribs or hit t he shoulder of th e bat and I remember ho w ,
brui sed h is left sid e was when he show ed it to me after the

in n ing s C E Green was at the other end and a fin er or
. . .
,
m ore sc ien t ifi c di splay of bat t i n g under d ifficult ies co uld no t

”
be seen t h an those t wo gave that day .
M r Thornton a pp ea rs to hav e had as much h ealthy fun an d

e nj o yment out of cricket as any man ev e r had H e ca ndidly .
con fe sse s th at he never took the game too se riou sly as so ,

”
m a ny do no wad ay s It is but a game after all say s he
.
, ,
a n d thinki n g peop l e w ill app l aud that sen t im e nt A s an .
ill us t ration of t he lighter side of crick e t th e merry com rad e —
shi p w hich pervad es the sport and of which the public as a ,
rule s ee a ll t oo little the following e cho from a Scarbo ro u gh

—
w e ek w ill t a ke som e beating It has appea re d e l sewh e re .
w i t hou t a ckno w led gm en t though it was first g iv e n to th e ,
w riter by M r Thornton in thi s “ Talk ”

.
In Se pte m ber 1 888 I man aged to bag a brace aga in st

t he Au st ra li an s on a sticky wicket at Scarborough T ha t .
n i g h t w h e n dining a t L onde sborough L odge a big parc e l w as

, ,
bro ug h t in t o me I at once smelt a rat as I was not expe cti ng

.
,
a ny p a r cel par t icularly as I sa w old W G s eagl e e ye fi

’
,
x ed . .
’
on me Ho wever I didn t want to spo il the fun and I op e n ed
.
, ,
it. T h e pa rcel conta i n ed t he biggest pair of spec s you e v e r .
s a w ab o u t a y a rd w ide
,
I had t hree more by post n ext day . .
’
W e ll t hi s w a s n t a ll We went to th e circu s aft e r di n n er
,
.
,
wh e re L o rd L o n d e sborough u sed to tak e seat s for all the

pro s a n d t he ir fa m ili e s as w ell as for us Wh e n th e clown
.
, .
a ppe a re d Wh im s ica l Wa lker by n am e h e was d ress e d up —
in a n Eto n blu e cap n o pad s and g love s like me and w h en , , ,

27 8 OLD EN GLI S H C RI CKETEBS .
They alway s play the gam e lik e spo rtsmen and ge ntlemen ,
and I kno w we are proud of hav ing t w o of perhaps the mos t

celebrated of any of them I allude to Spo fio rt h and Billy
'
—
Murdoch as reside nts in this country Long m ay Aus t ralia

—
.
fl o uris h and produc e such cricke te rs as th ey hav e of la te

”
y ears .
In view of the leg before wick et controv e rsy still b e ing

- -
waged in crick e t circle s an incident which has its humorou s

, ,
m ay be quoted from Mr Thorn to n s e xperien ce

’
s ide
,
A .
que st ion had ari sen as to whether a man could b e g iv e n ou t

leg before wick et f rom a ball t hat struck him on th e body
- -
and in proof t hat h e can Mr Thornto n says

When I was playing at Wi nd so r for Ascot on Augu st 2 5 , , ,
1 888 Page a well known haird re sser at E to n was hi t on t he

, ,
-
he ad by a full pitch from W A Tobin an A ust ralian crickete r . .

, .
H e w as gi v en out leg before w icket and quite fairly to o in m y

’
- -
,
o pinion .The ball was a full pitch a nd Page ducke d do wn -
, ,
a s he thought to avoid the ball but in s tea d of doing thi s h e

, ,
ac t ua lly got in th e w ay of it Th e ball would hav e hit t h e .
w i ck e t a bout four inches from the top Th e umpi re was .
”
Hea rne the eldest so n of th e vet e ran Tom H ea rne
, .
Mr T hornton never had th e pleas ure of batting again st t h e

la t e Ge o rg e Freeman who he say s once told him h e (M r
, , ,
Thornto n ) was th e only first class crick e te r of his day that h e -
ne v er b o wl ed aga in st Speaking now Mr Thornto n thinks h e

.
,
s hould h a ve had a d iffi cult y in hitting the great Boroughbridge
bo wler ou t of any ground Whil e Jackson and Tarrant w e re .
t h e t wo be st fast Engli sh bowlers of Mr Thornton s pers o n al

’
a c q u a in t ance it is his opinion that neither was so goo d a

,
bo wler as Mr S pofio rt h Th e D emon say s Mr Tho rn ton

’
'
.
, ,
had a head like an a lm a nac H e was alway s dodgi ng you . .
I n t hi s s e n s e t oo L ohmann wa s on e of th e b est bo wl e rs that

, ,
ever b o w le d a ball .
H ither to in thi s Talk Mr Thornton s big hitting has had ’
pro m i ne nce Bu t he was a great deal more than a hitte r

.
,
t h c f re q uc ncy o f h is go o d s core s aga i n st the bes t bowli n g in

t he l a nd s ho ws tha t Moreover when a match had to be
.
,
MR 0 . 1 . THORNTO N . 27 9
s av ed he could pl ay th e goo se gam e with th e bat b ea r —

,
in mind as effectively as any on e

—
A s one proof of thi s .
ma ny could be cited he re call s a match at Stafford wh e rein —

,
h e was at the wick ets an hour and forty minute s for 2 8

r un s !
What I di sagre e with we are spea king of certain —
”
te ndencie s of t he goo se school that often a rou se cri t icism
says Mr Thorn t on
-
is t he practice of playing the ball ,
’
wi th the leg I think that is the most rotten strok e in th e
.
world I c o uld not do it if I tried I should not know how

. .
to start The bat is t he thing to play the ball with not th e

.
,
”
l eg .
Thi s Talk would be incomplet e wi t hout a reference to

Mr Thorn ton s connection wi t h th e Scarborough Fe stival
’
It .
was he who origi n ated the Fe stival in the y ea r 1 87 1 and ,
with the e xce ption of th e year 1 87 4 when he was ill he has , ,
not mi ssed a Cricket Carnival at the No rt hern Q ueen of

Wat ering Places since -
.
In say s Mr Tho r nton whe n not twenty y ears of ,
age I mad e my first app ea rance at Scarborough in a team got

,
up by t he visitors among whom was th e late Mr I D Walker , . . .
The m at ch was playe d on th e Castle Hill in such windy

wea ther t hat iron b a ils had to be used O n that occas ion not .
more t ha n e igh ty pers on s w e re presen t It was on Septe m b er .
1 ,
1 87 1 however that what may b e call ed th e fi
,
rst match of,
the Fes tival proper was play ed The match was entitl ed .
Scarborough Vi sitors v Lord Lond esb orough s Eleven and .

’
,
’
the n a mes of the players were as follows

“T he Vis itor s A J Wilkin son P M Tho rnton R D —
. . .
,
. . .
, .
Wa lker J W D a le 0 I T horn t on I D Walke r W Law

, .
, . .
, . .
, .
,
A F S m i th H J Whe e le r T G D ale a nd E J Mi t chell

. .
,
.
,
. .
, . .
“Lor d Lo n d esbo rou h s E leven D Eas t w ood H D w

’
g e s e —
.
.
, .
,
J Ma tthi son E L ockwood A G ree nwood R I dd iso n J ,

.
,
.
, .
, .
Hick s T Emmett A Hill G Lyn as and J Robi nson

, .
, .
, .
, . .
“S cor es V isi tors 1 3 2 and 9 0 ; th e Eleve n 1 0 4 and 84

—
.
.
, ,
The vi sitors won by 3 4 ru n s .
Three or fo ur ye a rs late r I got permiss ion of th e M C C . . .

2 80 O LD ENGLI S H C RI C KETERS .
to ar ra nge a match with t he Yorkshi re Eleven and s uch a ,
match has s ince b ee n on e of th e y ea rly attra ctions of th e

F es t i va l
.
Whe n I compl et ed m v twenty fift h y ea r of s ervice on

-
behalf of t he Festival my good fr i e nds at Sca rborough were

,
ki nd enoug h to prese nt to me a 5 0 gui nea silver loving cup in

—
token of t heir esteem and app reciation of my services to the

Festiva l a nd to c ricket generally
, The pre se ntation w as
.
m ade by the Earl of Lo ndesbo rough on Thursday Aug us t 3 0 , ,
1 89 4 . I need hardly say that I valu e th e pres e nt a n d th e ,
kindly feeling tha t prompted it mos t hi ghly and shal l a lways

, ,
con t i nue to do so
.
While o n thi s matter I ought to say tha t I ca n not speak

t oo wa rm ] y of the great in te rest shown and e n coura gem e nt
give n by Earl and Lad y L ondesbo rough n ot o nly in th e ,
Sca rborough F es t ival but in crick et g enera ll y They ent er

,
.
t a in ed u s a ll in a mo st princ e ly fashion York shi re cricket

.
owe s a lot t o Lord Lond esborough Why I recoll ect in old

.
,
d ay s i t w as no uncom m on thing for him to hav e th e e ntire

York shire Eleve n do wn t o his country seat and pay all t h eir
e xpen ses a n d in addition get up t h e tea m to play again st
,
t he m a nd I a m sure no one enj oyed t h e match more than h e

”
a nd Lad y L o n desboroug h .
beca me acquaint ed with Cricket trophies and pre se nt s in

.
nu m erable mem entoes of grea t perfo rmances on t he field are

, ,
ta s t efully d isplayed But wha t Barlow probably most values

.
is t he a rray of bat s w hich hang on the bathroom wa ll W ith .
one of t he se now broken faced and splintered he scored 40 0 0

,
-
run s In 1 882 he play ed seven times through a n innings

.
w i th it H e has taken i t with h im round the world a nd

.
,
w hen in it s pre sent batt e red condition he s cored 4 4 run s wi t h

i t a t Melbourne again st V ictoria No wond e r therefor e tha t
.
, ,
”
Barl o w t hinks it a record bat .
I t is not possible to do j ustice to Barlow s car ee r or to ’

,
produce more than a t ithe of h is voluminous remini scences ,
w i t hi n t he compass of thi s “ Talk ”

Th e famou s Lanca shire
.
cricke t er has gon e through th e world w ith his wits a bou t

him . H e has during his ca reer collected material from w hich
a m o st intere st ing book could be written A t pre sent he is.
h alf incli n ed t o put t his m aterial to it s legitim a t e use The .
o t h e r h a lf of the inclination w ill probably soon b e forth

coming .
Ri chard Gorton B a rlo w was bo rn at Bol ton on May 2 8 ,
18 0
5 H
. i s s econd Chri st ian name is s uffic ien t ly rare t o
j ust ify an expla nat ion H e claim s t o be the last of the Gor
.
t o n s a n old fa mily whose estat e it has been found impossible

,
to recover from the ca pacious maw of the Court of Chancery .
U p t o the ag e of fourt een B a rlo w s pare n ts resided at B ol t on

’
.
Then they re m ov ed t o Staveley his father having b een ap ,
po i n t ed m an ager of the painters and decorators of the Sta veley

’
Work s Co m pa ny A foretaste of th e boy s abilitie s as a
.
cri cke ter wa s gi v en before t hen Barlow was only eleve n .
yea rs of ag e when he first carried his bat through an inning s

Thi s was clearly a ca se in which the child was father o f
t he m a n .
A t S t aveley you n g Barlo w was put to the moulding trad e .
I t was n o t a nat ura l m ould This may be judged when i t is

.
s ta t e d th a t he u s ed to get up a t to get th rough h is

piece w o rk in order t o h ave extra t i m e for crick et pra c t ice
-
.
H is ea rly a m bi t ion wa s t o be a w icket keeper bu t he was so o n

-
,
R . G . BA RLOW . 2 83
cured of this I kept wicke t at a m atch at Tin sley n ear

.
,
S he ffie ld On e of th e batsm en named Burro ws in t rying to

.
, , _
hi t a leg ball m issed the objec t and caught my head a t e rrific

-
whack I was knocked do wn and rendered in sen sible Wh en

. .
I recovered my wits I came t o the conclusion that wicket

keeping was not my fort e A week or two afterward s .
a ge ntleman nam ed Riley saw me bowl at S t aveley H e w as .
kind e nough to say he liked my d e livery and he advi sed me ,
to st ick to bowling Tha t was really how I ca m e to ta ke up

.
bowling seriou sly To perfe ct m yself in prac t ice I u sed to

.
,
mark ou t wi th pieces of paper the proper pitch es for a fast

and a slow bowler and thu s ob tained accuracy in length
, .
My first professional engagement was at S pinkhill College ,
near Eckington It was there too that I was for tunate

.
, ,
enough t o make a name for my self The Sheffie ld Wednesday .
Club played at Spinkhill and I scored 2 6 and 1 0 1 not out , ,
besides taking 6 wickets for about 1 8 run s Thi s perfo rman ce .
at tracte d the notice of M r Gillett a memb e r of th e York shir e ,
County Cricket Club and h e as ked me wh a t county I was

,
born in H e seemed a t rifle sor ry though it may hav e bee n

.
—
my imagin a tion th a t I was not born in York shire but h e

—
,
generou sly told me that if I wanted a regular e ngagement

a ny where he w ould be glad to give m e a te sti m onial Both .
he and Richard D aft a fterward s did so the latter having seen ,
me play agai n st the All England Eleven It was through -

.
their tes t i monials that I secured a profe ssional engage m ent ,
out of forty applicant s at Farsley near Le eds where in , , ,
the first year I took over 1 0 0 w ickets at a cost of ju st ov er

run w icke t and h ad a batting average of 2 9 S ub se
5 s a -
.
,
uen t ly I served for fi v e years as profe ss ional to the Sal t air e

q
C lub .
B a rlow s first m at ch w i th Lancashire was in th e year 1 87 1

’
again st York shire at S he ffie ld H e w as not required to pas s .
t hrough a Colts t ria l before entering the county tea m Th e

’
.
La ncashire Com m i ttee had heard of his abilities and i nvited ,
h im t o t ake h is cricke t t h ings and have a lit t le pra c t ice on th e

Old T rafl o rd grou n d on a Friday aft ernoon He complied
'
.
,
2 84 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ETERS .
and was put through h is pace s by critical exp erts I n three .
’
d ays t i m e he had a lett er reque sting him to play again st
Y ork shire O f thi s his first county match Barlo w say s
.
, ,
We wo n t he toss and Mr Hornby wi t h Mr E B Rowley

, . .
ca m e to m e and asked me wh e n I genera lly went in I .
replied innocen t ly e nough I genera lly go in first sir

, ,
.
’
Then he said Perhaps you would like to go in first here 1

,
’
Aga i n I replied innocen t ly I don t mind sir Th e g e ntle
,
‘
,
.
’
m e n sm iled and went a way B ut they did not put me in

.
firs t. I w ent in fourth wick e t down and scored 2 8 not out , .
When I had made 6 I had to retire with a fractured fin ge r ,
the re s ul t of a blow fro m a ball by Bob Clayton The n e x t .
d ay I was a llo w ed to continue my innings I playe d w ith .
the l im b ba nd aged and made my sco re in to 2 8 not out I t is

, .
s ingul a r t h a t pra c t ically the only seriou s i nj ury I me t wi t h in
m y ca reer was in t hi s my first match .
Ano ther rem ini scence of this match may b e worth m e n

t io n ing . B e fore I had my first chance of bo wling for m y
cou n ty 0 Co ward told M r Hornby abou t my bo wling at him
,
.
in prac t ice tha t morning and when I d d iso n and We st were

w e ll s e t M r Hornby hand e d me the ball and with t he firs t ,
delivery I took We st s middle stump Thus th e first ball I

’
.
”
bo wl e d for Lancashire got a w icket .
Wha t B a rlow did in first class cricket from his initiat ion
-
d o w n t o h is re t irement in 1 89 1 a per iod of twen t y o n e y ea r s

,
-
,
’
it is no t the w riter s province to n arrate in detail To do so .
w o u ld inv o lve t he publica t ion of a v as t arra y of fi g ure s ; a n d

s t a t i s t ic s a re not Talk s I t must be sufficient to st ate that he
.
ha d 3 88 innings for La ncashire scored 80 9 2 run s w ith an , ,
a v e rage of 2 0 6 per innings In bowling h e took 7 5 4wick e ts

.
f o r 9 9 86 r un s a n a verage co st of 1 3 2 per wicket

, I f all the .
c o u n t i e s h e pl ayed aga i n st w ere cla ss ified first class as no w h e -
w o u l d ha ve the record of over run s a nd mor e tha n

1 0 0 0 w i ck e t s .
O n e o t he r s t a t e m ent should certainly not be omitt ed In .
t h e y e a r 1 882 he h e a d ed b o th the batting and bo w lin

g
a v e ra ge s for his county H is a verage w ith the hat was 3 0 9 1
. .
the old m an 8 game I batted through th e innings and carried

ou t m y hat for a score of 6 6 in a total of 2 6 9 Fo r th a t per .
fo rm a nce £ 1 5 w as collected and presented to m e and I also ,
had a bat given to m e by an admire r of the innings W e los t .
the ga me by 4wickets but Mr Hornby had his wish in that

,
we made it into a good match .
“Then take another match O u S e ptemb er 1 1 884 the .

, ,
Nort h of Engla nd played the Au st ralian s at Nottingham an d ,
the N orth w ere out for 9 1 in the first innings and the ,
Aus tra lian s scored 1 0 0 When I went in a second time the

.
old m an s game en abled m e to scor e 1 0 1 and Flowe rs (who

’
,
m ade 9 0 ) and I put on 1 5 8 for th e six th wicket Result the .

,
N or t h w o n by 1 7 0 ru n s So much fo r th e utility of th e old

.
m a n s game I a l ways con sid e r that match contain ed the

’ ’
.
be st perform a nce of m y ca ree r Not on ly did I get the .
cen tu ry on a sticky Wicket but I capture d 1 0 wickets for 48 ,
run s The score was pres ented to me on satin £ 1 6 was

.
,
collected a nd given to me and I had several oth er presen ts , .
Am ong thes e w as a diamond breast pin from a st range r who -
had com e a hundred miles to see th e match and who was so ,
delighted w i t h it tha t he in si sted upon m e accompanyin g h im

to a j e w eller s shop th a t h e might make me a present
’
.
Singula r to state two yea rs afte rward s J un e 2 1 2 2 2 3

, , , , ,
1 886 playing again at Trent Bridge for th e Playe rs of

,
England again st the Au stra lian s Flowers and I add ed 1 7 2 for ,
t he nin t h w icke t I m aking 1 1 3 an d Flowers this tim e miss i n g

,
t he cen t u ry by 7 In each in stance I had worn th e bowlin g

.
d o w n w i t h t he old m an s game and Flow e rs r eap ed t h e

‘ ’
b e n e fit as w el l a s m y se lf It will b e seen therefor e th a t .

, ,
s t o n e wa lling h as it s u se s
-
.
“I w ill ive t w o m ore in s t a nc e s of the valu e of t he so

g
ca ll e d st one w a ll t a cti cs
-
I think they al so show that st o n e
.
w a lling a n d n er v e a re not unassociated I n th e Englan d v . .
Au st ra li a m a tch at L ord s in 1 884Lord Harris cam e t o th e ’
players tent a nd sa id t o m e B arlow play th e old man s

’ “ ‘ ’
, ,
g a m e k e e p your end u p I s hould like t o win

—
t hi s m a tch .
’
‘
All right m y lord w as m y rejoinder
, ,
’
I w en t in w h e n .
B G BA RL OW
. . . 287
A G
. Stee l who was playi ng brilliant cricket (he mad e
.
,
needed a steady pa rtner Before I left the score had bee n .
increas ed by over 1 0 0 ru ns the greater propo rtion of which ,
w as from the brilliant L a ncashire amat e ur s bat

’
.
The ot her occasion was Engla nd v Au stra lia at Old .

,
T rafio rd on July 7 1 886 The wick et was d ifficult in the

'
, ,
.
las t innings and England n e ed ed 1 0 6 to w in and lo st W G

, , . .
Grace Shrewsbu ry and W W Read for 2 4run s Mr Stee l

, , . . .
,
our cap t ain came to me and wa nte d me to go in earli er than

,
’
he had arranged saying For God s sake Barlo w stop this
, , , ,
rot g o in nex t I went in m ade 3 0 and Mr St eel comi n g

.
’
, ,
in a fter ward s finished o ff the work a nd we won by 4wick ets

, , .
These cas e s show that t he old m a n s game pays your side ’
that it require s some nerve and that the public are n ot ,
generou s w he n they gro w l at the so calle d slow play -

.
But I was not such a dre adfu lly slow scorer after a ll ev e n ,
if I did make som e thing like a record in scoring 5 run s in two

and a half hours at N ot t ingham I ca n produce many .
in stances in which I scored as fast as the recognised h itters of

the d ay but a fe w will suffice Take La ncashire v Surrey in
,
. .
1 87 3 4 0 o u t of
, 95 from t he bat ; 5 6 out of 1 1 4 a gain s t Ke nt
in 1 87 7 3 5 out of 9 9 and through the innings again st ,
Sh aw Morley Mycroft G G Hearne in 1 87 8 ; 5 2 n ot out of

, , , . .
a t Old T rafi o rd in 1 886 d o thes e fi re s show slow

'
u
10
5 g
—
play 7 Then t he first time I m et Sha w and Morley at ,
No t t ing ham in Ma y 1 87 6 I played through t h e innings fo r

, ,
34 . Th a t is a fe a t th a t required s o m e doing a gain s t t ho s e

bo wlers and t hey at least would not call it ei ther slow play
, , ,
”
or s tone wa lling -
.
F rom a ll of which the reader will be j ust ified in opining

th a t B a rlow is a nxiou s it should be mad e known the devil is
not as black as he is pa inted .
’
When not called upon to pl ay th e old m an s ga me Barlow ,
could hi t S t range t hough it m ay s eem there is a record of

.
,
’ ’
h is once having hit t hree 4s in on e over at L ord s That was .
in t he cou rse of a n innings of 1 1 7 in 1 884 which he mad e in ,
three hours a rat e of scoring that no on e could ca vil at I n

—
.
t he e y ear again s t Cheshire at Stockport h e hit the ball

sa m , ,
out of t he cricket enclosure and i nto a potato field w he r e it -

,
w as lo s t ! Ev e n fie ld sm en hav e found he could hit so h ard

that they were compell ed to retire to a resp ectful di s tance for
sa fety Here is an illu st ration in point
.
In 1 87 8 in the Lancashire v Yorkshire match a t Hud

,
.
d e rs fie ld B ate s was bowling to me and he would have Hall

, ,
t o fie ld clo s e in at s illy mid ou H e told th e Batley man to

’
-
.
Ge t in Ba rlo w won t hurt you

—
B efore long Bates g a ve me
’
.
’
one th at I let g o a t and the ball hit Hall full on the h ead ,
.
Lou is spun roun d like a top and dropp ed ; I thought I had ,
killed him Fort u nately the injury was not so seriou s as it

.
,
loo k ed but Hall sa id h e would not fie ld at s illy mid o n

,
-
’
agai n ei ther to me or a ny one el se .
“A s a set o fi to thi s I may sa that in 1 888 poor Ge o rge

'
y
-
U lye t t ca u g ht me clos e in o ff Peel at point H e s eem ed to .
t ake t he b a ll al m o st 0 1? th e edge of the b at I n the second .
i n n i ng s H a ppy J a ck again cam e close in 80 I r emark ed

‘ ’
, ,
‘
N o w George I should not like to kill you
, ,
I sh a ll be .
hi t t i ng o n e very h ard to the off if one com e s that way .

’
‘
W c ll D i ck was t he re ply if you do I shall b e the first
, ,
’
,
‘
t ha t yo u h a v e killed by hard hitting Howe ver in th e .

’
,
n e x t o v e r Ulye t t brought o ff anothe r ca tch almost o ff th e

,
b a t a nd I re t ired w i t h t he re m ark You are my m a s te r th is

, ,
‘
m a t ch Ge o rge
’
.
,
A ga i n s t Le ic e s t ers hire I once w e nt through an i nnin g s fo r

2 9 co m pil e d in over t hree hours
,
There was a di n ner a nd a .
j o ll ifi c a t io n a t ni h t
g a n d being called upon t o,s in g I g av e ,
t h e m Yo u ll re m e m ber me qui te uncon scious of any h u m ou r

’
,
’
in t he s el e ct io n A few minutes aft e rw a rds one o f the

.
s e a ke rs sa id h e d id not kno w w heth e r I had sun that ong

p g s
w i t h a S pe c ia l m e a ning bu t a f t er the inning s of that d a y h e ,
co ul d iv e a n a s s ura nce t h a t t hey were no t likely to fo rge t

g
me
W G . . Grac e h a s
er c ap tured pair in firs t c lass
nev
“a -
cricke t : R i c ha rd Ba rl o w ca n m a ke t he sa me boas t Bu t h e .
ad m i t s h e has bee n very n ea r it and add s that W G

” “
, . .
290 O LD EN G LI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
c o lli s ion at sea which as by a stroke of Provid en ce j ust

, , ,
e scaped adding a ghast ly contribution to t h e g reat wr ecks

that m ark the pathways of Briti sh maritim e commerce and ,
form t he price of Ad miralty of which Rudyard Kipling so

s tirringly sing s .
The j ourney out on the Peshawu r was inter esti n g and

pl ea sant e nough up to a certain point It e nabl ed the team .
t o se e t he e ff ects of the bombardment of Alexandria Their .
ship wa s the fi rst t o ca ll th e r e aft e r the wa r and Bates , ,
B a rlow and o thers found the oppo rtunity to go on s hore and

,
se e t he h a voc wrought four month s earlier by th e Alexand ra ,
the Monarch the Invincible the Penelope the Condor an d

, , , ,
o t her m ighty engin es of n aval warfare It was a grand .
”
s igh t ,
sa y s B a rlo w when he now r e call s it ; from whi ch the
,
reader will a ssum e that the ruin was grea t O u shipboa rd .
Ba rlow show ed his a thletic v ersatility by carrying off t h e first

prizes for the 1 0 0 yard s scratch race th e hurdle race and th e ’
, ,
egg a nd spoon besides being second in the high j ump Th e

,
.
trip in shor t was p leasa ntn ess itself until on e n ight on th e

, , , ,
open sea a big bl ack hull with sails full set to t h e br eez e
, , ,
sh o t su ddenly out of the gloom and crashed amid ship s into
the l e sha wu r Then came te rror confusion despai r and

’
.
, ,
—
aft er a ll a great tha nkfuln ess Bu t Barlow mu st t e ll t his .
t hrilling experience hi m self .
We were about 3 5 0 m iles out of Colombo and had not ,
s een a n o t her ship I t w as S unday night about nine o c lock ’

.
, ,
a n d chu rch s ervice had j u st concluded I was looking ov e r .
t h e side of o u r ve ssel in company with W W R ead Fr ed , . .

,
M orley and o t h e rs of our party when I saw in th e n ear

, ,
di stance a full rigged ship com ing before a bri s k b reez e

-
st ra i g h t t o w ard u s I looked a moment and then excl a im ed

.
,
’
My w ord she s com ing too nea r to be pleasant ; th e r e s
,
’
h d
’ ’
o i n g t o b e an a ccident if t hey don t mind I a sca rce ly
g ,
.
t t h e w o rd s ou t of m y m ou t h wh e n the prow of th e v esse l

g o
c ra she d in t o o u r s t e a m er nea r t he engin e room t eari n h e r

g
-
, ,
p l a t e s a n d l e a v i n g an ug ly gap la rge enough to d r ive a c oach
a n d p a i r t h ro ug h Then she sheer ed off and lay to

. .
R
. G . BAR L OW . 29 1
What my sen sation s were I cannot describe Inwa rdly I .
bade every one at home go od b ye Ladies were fainting and -

.
praying passenge rs and crew rushed hurriedly about while

, ,
the captain ca lled calmly for the boats I seiz ed and ‘

.
’
donn ed a life belt ; others did the same Th e lif eboat and
-
.
oth er small boats w e re launched and pre paration s were mad e ,
to lea v e a s it was thought the sinking ship But th e ship

, , .
was not sinking By the m ercy of Providence th e g r eat rent

.
in he r side stopped about half a yard abov e th e water line -

.
The sea too was as calm as a mill pond and remain ed so

, ,
-
,
during the four days that it took us to put back to

Colombo .
We had four hundred soul s on board the sea was infested ,
with shark s and one shudders ev e n n o w to think what would

,
hav e happened h ad the blow gon e b elow the wate r lin e or had -
the colli sion occurred in a stormy sea The ship that coll id ed .
with us wa s the Glen Roy about 1 5 0 0 to ns bu rt h en and w e

, ,
tow ed her back to Colo m bo We we re d e tain ed there nearly .
a week for repairs A vote was taken by th e pas sen gers as

.
to whether w e should wait for the ship to be mad e seaworthy

a gain or g o by a nother boa t and we d e cid e d to wait
, , .
Tha t colli sion prac t ically fin ished poor Fr ed Morl ey He .
ha d severa l ribs broken when the Glen Roy st ruck us but th e ,
n at ure of his injuries was not known until w e got to M e l

bourne One day I found him crying lik e a chil d in his bed
.
room When asked w hat was the r eason h e said I don t

.
,
’
know what is the m at t er with m e but the re is something ,
seriou s ly w rong so m e w here I spoke to Mr Bligh and h e .

’
,
had Morley ex a m ined wi t h the re su lt that the f ractu re of the

,
rib s was di scovered We mi ssed his bowling sadly during

.
the tour But the effect was much w o rse than that Th e
. .
accident l aid t he seed s of a fatal illn ess Morl ey did not liv e .
long af t er his re t urn to England .
The Colom bo experience was not th e on ly narrow escap e

Ba rlow had O u the 1 881 trip we had bee n out to supper
.
across the river at Sydney and being deta in ed just mi ss e d our

,
boat It was moving off wh e n w e reach ed the wha rf We

. .
29 2 O LD ENG LI S H cmo k s rs s s
'
.
w ere a nnoyed at our ill luck But that boa t n e v e r rea ch ed

-
.
its de s t ina t ion It was spli t op e n in a colli sion and s ent to

.
t he botto m and s evera l of those on board found a watery

,
gra ve I think Providenc e must hav e been watchi ng ov e r us

.
”
on th at occasion al so .
In his three trips to Au st ralia Barlow neve r missed a match

tha t is t o say he played in every game in which t h e thr ee
,
te a m s too k pa rt It is probable that no oth er Anglo Aus tralian

.
-
cri ck e t er ca n say the sa me In on e of the las t match es he hurt .
h is foo t bad ly and had a m an to run for h im

, H e wis h e d to be .
able t o sa y he had played in all match es ; oth erwi se h e would

h ave st ood ou t .
The 1 881 trip was made via San Franci sco It was th e re .
th a t a celebrat ed baseba ll pitcher pitched the t eam o ut for -
a s m a ll score in the fi rst inning s The late Ed P eate and . .
Ge o rge U lye t t in their ,

Ta lks mention that in th e sec ond ,
innin g s so fa r from obj ec ting to the style of the pitcher “

, ,
t hey h o ped he would be kept on throughout and th e pit c her ,
nea rly pi t ched his arm o ff while Ulyet t and Barlow w ere
m aki n g 1 6 6 run s O i that incident B arlow says
.
U lye t t and I took twen ty half c rown s to on e th a t we -
wo uld n o t put 1 0 0 on in the second innings before we w ere

p a r t ed . We w o n the bet ea s ily enough ; b e fore I l e ft the
s core w as 1 6 6 O n that to ur when at Sydn e y p l a ying
.
, ,
a ga i n s t t h e C o m bined Eleven of Au stra lia there was an other ,
curiou s batt ing succe ss When Ulyett and I went in t o o pen

.
t he second innings George said Now D ick I ll b e Mr

, ,
‘
, ,
’
’
Horn by le t s se e if we ca n t put 1 0 0 on before w e are ’
pa r t e d ’
Righ t said I we will
‘
,
’
And we did ; t h e score
,
.
’
w a s 1 2 2 w hen t he first wicket fell Ulyet t made 6 7 and .
m y s elf 6 2 .
The first eleven a side m atch I play ed in in Au s t ra lia

-
com m enced o n D e ce m ber 9 1 881 a ga in st New South W al es , , ,
a n d I w a s b a tt i n g for a bou t fo u r hour s for

75 th e t op fi g u re
—
o n o u r s ide A s I w a s wa lking back to th e pavilion a g e nt l e

.
m a n s t epp e d o v er the r ail s a n d wi th ceremoniou s p o lit e ness ,
h an d ed m e an old cri cke t bel t w i t h the remark I t h oug ht -
,
‘
29 4 ENG LI S H cs rcxnrnss
'
.
spad e to get the mud out of th e bo wling hol es so that I could -
fil l them up with sawdu st In th e first innin gs of th e match .
my ana lysi s was 3 1 overs 2 2 maidens 1 9 run s 5 w ickets , , , .
In the se cond 2 7 run s were hit 0 3 m e and I could not ge t a

, ,
wick et I grou nd my teeth with vexation time an d t im e

.
a gain ; and if ev e r I s wore in a m a t ch to m y self it was — —
t hen There was som e nervous n ess on t he English s ide a t

.
the finish but I was not ne rv ous even though Spo fio rt h did
'
, ,
bow l me for a d u ck Thi s match by th e way enables me to

.
, ,
make a sta t ement not boast fully but as a fact of inte rest
—
, .
I was selec t ed t o both bat and bowl first for Englan d (also
for the Players Gentle men the same year) That is wh a t .
no o ther representa tive English cricketer has been calle d upo n

to do in Engl and .
Nex t t o Alf Shaw I e m entitled to say I hav e clean

.
,
bo w led D r Gra ce m ore frequently than any other bowler did

up to 1 89 5 The fea t I m ay tell you is richly cov e t ed by
.
, ,
bo w ler s for W G is such a champion In 1 888 a t Liverpool

,
. . .
I bow led him t wice for 4 in the first innings and 1 6 in the
,
second .I re m em ber tha t in thi s match a gentlem an who had

co m e fr o m M a n che s ter to se e t he match bet me a ne w hat to
a shilli n g a fter I had bowled W G in t he fi

,
rst inni n gs th at . .
,
I did n o t repea t the fea t in the second I too k the bet an d .

,
”
w o n it .
M os t cricket er s h a ve good umpiring s torie s t o tell wh e n—
t hey ca n think of them This of Barlow s is .

’
on e of th e
be st
The 1 886 87 te am t o Australia play ed against twe nty t w o
- -
of Coo tam undra on N o ve m b er 2 9 3 0 of th e form e r yea r , .
The m ayor of the place stood as one of the um pires O ne of .
the loca l ba t sm en hi t the ball to J ohnny Briggs at cover poi n t -
a n d he w hipping i t back w ith his us ua l deftn ess and ac cura cy
t o S her w i n t he o t her batsm an who had t hro wn in his bat

, , ,
was e a s ily run ou t Bu t he m ade no effort to go though

.
,
Sherw in sa id Ou t m y dear fellow out

,
‘
No one had
, , .
’
d r e a m ed of a ppe a ling t o the u m pire but a t las t we did so , .
All t he a n sw er that could be got from his worship w as ,

R . G . BAR L O W . 29 5
D —
good bit of field ing that wasn t it I
d Thi s n ovel ,
’
reply produc ed a con v ul sion of m erriment ; and Shaw ge n er

ous ly allowe d th e batsm a n to have anoth er i nn i ngs .
Barlow ca rri es on a private business in athle tic requis ites

at his hom e in B lackpool H e formerly had a large r busin ess .
at Mancheste r On e day when in that es tablis hm e nt a man

.
came up and ask ed him if h e kept a full supply of cricket

” ”
requi sites C ertain ly was th e r es pon se
. Th e n grav ely
, .
,
demand ed th e m an wra p me up a bottl e of arnica a paper

, ,
of cou rt plas te r and an arm sling I e m going to play in a

,
-
.
cricke t m at ch th is af te r noon a gain st Jack C r oss lan d .
Here is anoth er good C ross land story

Som e y ears ago at Nantwich Mr Hornby s e lev en was , ,
’
la i aga in s t a local eighteen Cro sslan d was bowling and

p y g n .
,
on one of th e local batsmen comin g in th e first ball struck ,
him on the kn e e Th e n e xt hit his finger The ba ts man

. .
dropp ed h is hat and walked away to th e pavi lion You re .

’
not out wa s the remark made to him as h e left

,
’
No was .
,
’
the reply but I know if I sto p th er e I soon shall b e out so

,
‘
,
’
I m and off h e w ent .
On e item more and thi s des ultory Talk m ust close

In 1 889 we had here at Blackpool th e m ost ext raordinary
exhibition of c r ick e t I hav e e v er s een I t was a match .
,
My team
’
Barlow s El even Twenty two of B lackpool -
.
included Mr A N Horn by Mr J Eccles Fran k Sugg, .

, ,
F H earn e G G H earne Po ugh e r Alb ert Ward Wat so n ,

.
, . .
, , ,
l illing Na sh and my self

’
, We wer e all out for 1 5 runs
,
. .
A nd thi s to lo ca l bowling
GEO RGE U LY ET T .
E A RLY in th e y ea r 1 89 8 o n e
could hav e tak e n a l ease on t he
life of Ge orge U lye t t Ye t a t
.
mids umm er h e was d ead C o lds .
wer e cont rac ted and cou ld n o t

b e s hak en 0 5 H e pa id w hat
.
prov ed to b e h is l as t vis it t o
Bramall Lane du ring the p ro
gre ss of th e Yor kshir e 2 K ent .
match on J une 1 3 It was a .
bitte rly cold day for th e t im e

of th e y ea r . Ulyett co n tract ed
an ot he r cold pn eum on ia su p e r
,
v e ned and a t t h e e nd of th e week c rick e te rs th e wo rld o v er

,
w e re s hocked to h ear of h is death . He di ed on Jun e 1 8 ,
1 89 8 .
T hi s Ta lk wi t h George U lyet t took p lace ea rly in t he sa me

y ea r It had to be arranged by stratagem U lyet t was t he
. .
m o s t o bli g ing and genial of men and would talk of cri cke t
,
by t he h o ur whenev e r he could get any one t o ta lk t o But .
t o tal k about him se lf to a j ou rn alist with t h e id ea o f his

c on v e rsa t io n being recorded w as mor e tha n his m o d es t w
y as
e qu a l to S everal appointments betw ee n us w e r e m ad e b ut

.
,
t h e r e ge n era lly cam e a po st ca rd or a te l eg ram e xpressin

g
r e g re t t hat he had been ca lled out of to wn A t los t with
.
,
t he a id of A .F Smith t he Y orkshire umpi re

.
“ H appy
, ,
298 OLD EN G LI S H cmoxs m s s .
when ixte en yea rs of age was propo sed as a m ember by

s ,
t he secreta ry a Mr Pickersgill ,
Th e committ e e d e clin ed to .
elect him becau se he was not of the required ag e I n t he

n ex t t w o m onth s George laconica lly remark ed I gr e w to
, ,
”
eig h t een yea rs and was duly elected ,
.
Here is a phot o of the team Th e g reat rawbon e .

,
an gular lookin g -
u nta med colt in the backgr ound
, with his ,
s leeve s rolled u p is your six t een year old hum bl e servant ;

,
- -
the bea rded player in the front is t he r eal Jack Ulyett ,
looking older tha n he doe s no w The trad e I was b rought .
up t o wa s in t he rolling mill I was so fo nd of c ri cket t hat

-
.
I u su ally got the sa ck about a doz en tim es during the

s u m m er for going away to play in matche s but my e mployer ,
was g enerou s enough to always tak e m e on again .
I t was in 1 87 1 that I first really too k up c ricket as a

profe ss ional In that y ear I went to t he B radford Club an d
.
,
wa s en g ag ed by the m for that and the two following s eas on s .
I was s u ppos e d to be a bowler but of course I could not ,
bow l a bit a nd I never did much at batting and fie lding any

,
’
t i m e durin g m y tw enty yea rs ca re e r They u sed to pla y me .
in t he Y o rk shire t eam for my whi st ling .
“While at Bradford I had the good fortun e to take a t

p r
in a p e rfor m a nce aga in st the United South at Bradford that

w a s m u ch ta lked about The South wanted I think 6 6 .
, ,
t o w in I bo w led th e Big Un [ W at 3 4 an d the ’ ‘

.
,
.
o t h e r 6 w icke t s fell to A llan Hill and my sel f witho u t a

ru n t he b a t s m e n not even cro ssing the wicket !
,
Tha t per
fo rm a n ce w a s one of the chi ef cau ses of my ge ttin g i n to t he
co u n ty t e a m .
“I p a id m first vi sit to L ondon in May 1 8 It w

y 75 as to .
P rin ce s Gro u n d for a No rth

’
South match there were —
se v e n m a t che s under t h a t t i t le tha t year and I wen t up —
w i t h All a n H ill T o m Em m e tt Eph Lockwood and others

, ,
.
, .
W he n w e go t there w e found tha t Mr Prince had g ot t w elve

m e n up W G t hen said Young n u you hav e t welv e
.
‘
. .
’
,
‘ ’
,
m e n ca n you s ta nd as u m pire ? do you know anythin g at

,
’
a l l a bou t it ? I sa id Yes of course and so I put o n
’ ‘
, ,
1 11 11 LA T E G E ORGE ULYET I
' ‘
. 299
th e w hite robe Whil e batting W G jumped out to hit a . . .

’
sl ow ball but jump ed t oo far and the ball hit him on t he

, ,
’
foot . How s that 1 ‘
Out was my reply The docto r .
look ed at m e you should have seen him look —

and said —
,
Wha t ? I r eplie d as cooll y as a j udge Out and out he , ,

’
had to go .
Wh en h e had gon e ther e w as som e ta lk about th e

incident and I said I would prove between th e i nnings that
,
I was right in my d e ci sion .
I went into th e pavilion at t h e close of th e i nnings and ,
found W G and other s sitting in solemn co nclav e awaiting

‘
. .
’
me . W G still looked things unutterabl e H e said You

‘
. .
’
.
,
‘
made a great mistak e in my decision I don t think so Mr .

’ ’
,
G race was th e re ply

,
’
But I am ce rtain he said Was .
,
’
.
n o t the bowl e r making th e ball turn so much 1 (indicati n g

’
the break wi t h his hand ) Yes I said Well that . .

,
wouldn t get a wicke t would it ? h e ask ed

’
B ut sir , .
‘
, ,
’
sa id I th e ball pitch ed on your foot Th e bowl er didn t

, .
’
tell m e whethe r he was going to turn th e ball or not and ,
your foot didn t give it the chance to turn W G strok ed

’
.
’
. .
’
h is chin an d smil ed and turni n g good humoured ly to m e ,

-
,
’ ’
sa id All right you ngster you ll m anage
‘
.
, , ,
Ulyet t s first appearance with York shi re took plac e in 1 87 3

’
in the match with Su ss ex on J uly 1 4 1 5 and 1 6 at B ram all , , , ,
Lane H e was not lon g in getting into a sc rap e

. .
We we nt down to play the retu rn match with Su sse x at

B righton the ne xt we ek T wo Bradford ge ntl e m e n m e mbe rs .
,
of the Brad ford Commi ttee were there Th ey ask ed four or , .
fiv e of t h e boys to g o down in th e ev e ni ng to whe re th ey

‘ ’
wer e s taying but none of u s turn ed up About , P M . . .

,
as I w as coming off the pier alon e I m e t th e two gentl e m e n , ,

’
who said they had waited in until n early t en o clock for us .
They would have m e g o back wi th th em and I stay ed in ,
their company until about O u re tu rn ing t o m y

lodgings which I had d ifficult y in finding as it was my
—
,
firs t v isit to Brighton I found I was locke d out and though —

,
I nearly 1 at t led th e door down I could get no admission .

300 OLD ENG LI S H CRI CKETEBS .
Tha t was a nic e how d ye do Fo rtuna te ly a t ob acconist

’
.
nex t door thought I was knocking his doo r d own and he ,
cam e out to see what was the matter O u te lli ng him who I .
w a s a nd that I want ed to g et to th e York shir e crick e te rs he ,
ki ndly to ok m e th rough his shop to th e back, and pr ov id ed

m e with a l adde r to ge t to th e wi ndow of th e roo m wh e r e I
kne w Alf Smith and A ndrew G reenwood we re sl ee ping I
. .
clam bered up the ladder and sta rtl ed my two compan ions out
of s leep They thought it was a case of burglars b ut st eadi ed
.
,
t heir excited n e rv es on re cogni sin g my whi spe r Th ey le t me .
in through th e wi ndow the fri endly to bacconist took the

,
ladder away and I was sa fe , .
Well the news of this e scapad e l ea ked out and at the

, ,
m a t ch a t S he ffield th e following week I was ca rpet ed b e fore

t he Co un t y Committe e I had b een up the bigg est part of
.
the nigh t o n thi s my first cou nty e xcursion Th ey h ad it .
do w n in bl ac k and white and I mu st an swe r th e d re adf ul

,
ch a rg e It was the same with th e B radford Com mitt ee I

.
—
w as in a dre a d ful m e ss wi t h the m ! B ut when I was abl e to

sho w t h a t I h ad b ee n in the s taid and e xce lle n t compa n y of
two m e m b ers of th e Brad ford Committee the charg e of ,
ra ki ng o u t was withdrawn and I was e xonerat ed Of co urse

, .
I didn t tell th e Coun t y o ffi cials about th e ladd er esca a d e

’
p ,
thou g h m y co lleagu es did not forget to call m e Jack Sh e ppa rd

”
fo r so m e t i m e afterward s .
“H a py J ack e ver took h i doi with bat b

p n s n
g s an d all
w i t h su fficie n t seriou sne ss to mak e a n ote of th e m an d h e ,
had a pp a r e n t ly forgotten that his high est scor e was 1 9 9 not

ou t in 1 887 H e admitt ed that though h e was play ed fo r his
.
goo d b e h a viour and h is whi stl in g powers, h e occasionall y had

a turn w i t h b a t and ball w ith a s light adv a nta ge t o h is s id e .
It was a l so true that fo r a fe w years h e had a hard tim e with

bot h b a t a nd b a ll for he had to shar e th e att ack in his
,
o p o nen t s
p innin g s
’
and t hen
, g o in fi rst with th e b a t a n —
a rra n g em e n t which he did not think wise fo r any tea m t o
ad o p t
. A s he got older he u s ed to bowl as a chang e a n d h e ,
t ho ug ht t h at was be tt er for hi m both in bowling and b at ti ng .

I could s wi m a nd I had to swim too a t one sta ge of t he

, , ,
ex ci t ing ad v en t ure or I should not hav e b een here n ow

, .
Thi s is no fa iry ta le mind you ; what thi s pict ure depic ts

,
is q ui t e t rue . It was pa in t ed by one of the coachi n g pa rty ,
as t he in s cription J Gibb Oh Oh N Z
‘
s hows
, . .
, . .
, .
Well when we got t o the other side our di scom forts w ere
,
no t at a n end There was a sh a nty at which w e s ought

.
accomm od a tion it being too late and our clothes too wet
, , ,
for us to con t inue the journey There was no chair in the .
sh a n t y , only l umps of w ood to sit down upon We s oon .
dra n k e v ery t hing t here w as in the hou se bar wate r There —

.
w ere only t hree bo ttle s of s pirit s on the premi ses and they ,
did no t l as t long so w et and exhau sted w ere we all T hen

, .
w h a t a s i g h t w e were s ta nding round the fi , re la ce clad in

p
t h e s ca n t ie s t of ga rm en ts w hile w e dried our clothe s
,
We .
rea ched t he pl ace at midnight dreadfully knocke d up , .
There w as o n ly one bed and five of us crowd ed into t h a t

,
the o thers rest ed as be st they could or not at all for the , ,
w a ter ro se in the hu t a l so .
“A t fiv e o clock t he next morning w e left t h

e sh a nty
’
i n t ending t o proceed on our journey but t w o m ile s u p the ,
m o un ta in w e found t here had been a l a nd slip a nd w e h ad to ,
r e t urn to t he b u t until a path was cleared for th e coa ches .
W e had ea t en t he li tt le food there was in th e shanty but ,
the o ccup ie r set ou t with his horse and gun and ret ur n ed ,
in abo u t t wo hours wi th a sheep N0 ti m e was lost in c u tting .
up t he ca rc ass a n d throw ing it on the fire to roast Whi le it .
w a s r o a st ing I se t to and m ade so m e br ead cakes I t e n d ed .
t o t he ca kes w i th a h ay fork a nd never did fat sh ee p an d

-
o v e n bott o m ca kes seem a greater luxury than wh e n we were

-
able t o a tta ck t he m .
We g o t to Chri st church eventually but in stea d of rea ching ,
th e r e the d ay b e fore the m at ch w e did not arrive until e leven,
o clo ck o n th e m o r n ing w hen pl ay should commence Befo re

’
.
w e g o t th e re w e ha d t o cro s s a no t her brook up to th e kn e es

in w at er . T o m E m m e tt had been riding in the rain o n t he
box fo r hou rs bu t J upp was so v exed a t having to get out of
,
T HE L A T E G E O RG E ULYET I
‘
. 30 3
the coach and wade while Emmett was sitting in his w e t

,
clo t he s on the coach that he p u lled Tom o ff and they quit e

, ,
got to high word s over it I suppo se J upp thought th a t as .
Tom was already soaked a li ttle ext ra wet would have don e
,
him good while he (J upp ) might have been allow ed to

,
re m ain under cover as the brook was bei n g forded .
We were so stiff cold and s ore with being wet and

, ,
c ramped u p in the coach tha t we could scarcely bowl or r un .
The loca l Eighteen batted first and we only man ag ed to get ,
them out j u st before t he end of the first day Some of th e .
loca l critics said that if t hat were the English tea m they had ,
be tter ha v e stopped at hom e than come all that way to t ea ch

Christchurch folk h o w to play cricke t That rema rk in fact .
, ,
appea red in a lit t le local evening paper In the evening I .
told Lilly white th a t as w e had been up to the neck s in water ,
had no bed and no thing to eat it w as w orth stretching a ,
poin t so w e got him to allo w us a c ase of champagn e and

, ,
w e h ad a m erry eveni ng The next day we went on to the

.
fie ld n e w men The local paper had to alter it s opinion of

.
the Eng lish team .
’
In t h e match with L ord Harri s s team again st New South
Wa les at Sydney in F ebruary 1 87 9 U lyett took 4wickets
, , ,
in four succe ssive ba lls in the New South Wa le s second

innings though s om e of the publi shed reports in England do
,
not show tha t t o have been the case George took 2 wickets .
wi th the last t wo ball s of one over and 2 more with the first ,
t wo b a ll s of the next over The feat is duly mentioned by .
Lord Ha rri s in his r ésu m é of the trip in the Red Lillywhite

Annua l for 1 880 while a nother well know n crick e ter in his
,
-
de scrip t ive no t es of the visit of the Engli sh t eam in th e

Green Lilly whi t e for 1 880 a l so give s Ulyet t th e credit of th e
’
performance Wi sden however credits George with but
.
, ,
3 w icket s .
Thi s was the fam ou s match wh en somethin g lik e a riot

occurred Ha ppy J ack s remembrance s of it are now
.
’
given
We won the toss and Lord Harri s m ade the b at t ing ord er
,
304 OLD ENGLI S H C RI C KETERS .
o ut , M r A P Luca s I to go in first as usua l

. . Mr and , .
Hornby how ev er had his pad s on and expressed a wish to

, , ,
g o in fi rs t and o n Lo rd Ha rris sa ying ao I said,

,
Al l righ t ,
‘
,
m y lord and waite d to go in first wicket down I had to

’
.
,
wait some time for Messrs Horn by and Lucas pu t on 1 2 5

,
run s for t he first wick et When I got in Lord Harris s oo n .
joined m e Spofiort h was bo wli ng pretty w ell at th e t im e

‘
.
,
but I had a hitting fit ou Between t he overs his lord ship .
would g ive m e the nod and say Geo rge do play stead y we , ,
w ant t o win thi s match All right my lord was my .

‘
, ,
reply and bang w ent two 4s and a 3 th e next over This

,
’
.
so rt of t hing w e nt on u ntil af t e r being se ve ral times t old to ,
play s teady I mad e the r e m ark B ut my lor d I feel ,

‘
, ,
’
ra ther li ke hitting th em Then he said All right d .
, ,
you g o ou,
I w e nt on and kn ock ed up 5 5 in j ust ov e r ha lf
.
’
,
an hour wh en I was caught by Evan s Ou lea ving Lord

, .
,
Harri s sa id to me D idn t I t el l you you would get ou t l ,

‘ ’ ’
’
Ye s my lo rd I said but I hav e put 5 5 down on t he book
, , ,
‘
,
’
a n d h a ve had a rare good time .
Well we m ad e 2 6 7 and New South Wal es had to f ollow

, ,
on go behi nd Mr Murdoch and Al e c Ban nerm an O p e ned

.
t h e s e cond innings and th e first nam ed hit one to cov er poin t

,
- -
w here the fin est cov e r fie ld e r I ever saw was on d uty Mr V —

.
F Boyle
. H e had the ball back l ik e lightn ing an d M r
.
,
M 11 rd o cl1 was run out a good two yards Mr Murdoch wen t .
a w a y bu t the p e opl e in t he pavilion who cou ld no t p oss ibl

, y ,
s e e t he incident properly shou t ed o ut Go b ack ; you re no t ‘ ’

, ,
out .
’
They would not send an other man in, and th e crowd
ru shin g in t o th e field what a lively tim e w e had ! I g o t ,
be side th e s t umps thinki ng they might b e u seful and too k , ,
up one in each hand r eady for an em ergency O n e m an .
s t ruck a t Lo r d H arri s and I elbowed m way to hi m d

y a n ,
’
sa i d L et me have a go a t him my lord No, no Georg e
‘ ’
, , .
, ,
he repli e d we are going to do no thing w rong

, Mr H o rn by .
’
,
however cam e up and taking the m an who had struck Lo rd

, ,
II a rris by th e colla r he dragged him unaid ed t h ro ugh a ,
couple of thou sand person s t o the pavilion wh ere he gave th e ,

306 ENG LI S H omoxnm ns
'
.
We had bee n stayi ng at a place call ed B ourke and o ur ,

’
stea m e r was due to leav e at four o clock in th e morning, an d
ca ll at different po rts for cargo A ge ntl e man who possess ed .
a b eautiful steam laun ch invited na t o st op and hav e a

champagne brea kfas t and proc eed in his laun ch to cat ch
,
the stea m e r before it reach ed th e open sea It was put t o .
the vote whether w e should do ao and we put both h an d s ,
and bo th feet up in favou r of s topping for t h e br ea kfas t .
A jolly t ime we had too ! Afte r b re akfast when sail in g

, ,
in the lau nch w e had a lark with a you ng docto r who was
,
going to Sydney with u s I sudd enly turn ed to th e doct o r

.
a nd told him h e was not well that his liver was w r o ng , ,
that he was m aking too much bloo d and n eeded ble ed ing ,
and I g ravely ask ed him to permit me to pe rform t he

latte r ope ration upo n him at the sam e t im e te ll ing som e
,
on e to fetch a glass You bl eed m e ! What do you k now

.
about it I wond er ? I t old h im I kn ew al l abo ut it and

,
’
,
producing a la nc e I always ca r ried one to m ak e p eo pl e

—
believe I knew something of s urgery point ed to th e plac e —
in his arm from which I should tak e half a gill I was .
sitting on the bul war k of the launch and when I was abou t ,
to touch him wi th th e lance h e put out his arm su ddenly and

Ge t away
’
m ade the rem a rk ,
I got away quickly : I .
t umbled head ov er h eel s into th e water .
The scre w j ust mi ssed me and th e n th ey re v ers ed t h e

,
e ngine s and turn ed round to pick m e up I was p e rfectly

,
.
at home in the water and so proceed e d to qu ietly s wim

,
in the direction of the launch I was w earing e las tic .
s ide boots and I took them o ff to enabl e m e t o swim

,
be tt er
. I hadn t any paper o r pencil at t he tim e o r I
’
,
should have lab e ll e d th e m home to England Sudden ly .
’
t he skipper of the launch shouted There s a shark comin g 1 ,
and sure enough th e re was Fortunately it did not see

.
me and I dived and swam unde r th e water som e dis ta n ce

, .
I was able to do thi s with my ey es Open and thus wa t ch

the shark Some on e had a spear on the launch rea d y to
.
o for the sh a rk if it ru shed a t m e as I was bein g ha u l ed

g
THE LA TE G EO RGE ULYETT . 30 7
up . When I go t hold of th e rope they threw out to me ,
I felt as if th e shark would have to pu ll over the launch

and all if it se iz ed me but fortun ately I got on board with
,
no wo rse effects than a good wetting and a bad fright It is .
a fact that I had my k nife out to defend myself again st th e

shark but I was not u nde r the n ecess ity of u si n g it
, When .
I got on board the young doctor look ed as if I had bled him

of mor e tha n half a gill H e said he would giv e me £ 1 0 0
.
’
w hen w e go t to Sydney but after g iving m e a pos s um rug as
,
an evid ence of his generosity and good faith I never again ,
saw hi m or the
George Ulye tt was also a membe r of th e first Engli sh

team that went to South Af rica in 1 888 “I did not ”
,
he said go out with them but re ceived a ca blegram asking

, ,
m e to join them as Mr J H Roberts was summon ed hom e

, . .
by th e death of his father I only got word on th e Friday .

,
and had to be in Lo ndon on the Monday A friend ga ve m e .
a four gallon j a r of whisky to take out with me an d on

-
boarding the ship two of the officers stopped m e on th e

g ang w ay I told the.m I had a ca blegram to g o out t o th e
English tea m in Sou th Africa Oh ! But what is that .
you have ? poin ting to my w hisky j ar Th ey are b reaking -

.
‘
’
all the bat s out there owing to th e great h ea t I r eplied , .
’
This is lin seed oil to oil the bats with Th ey passed the j ar . .
O u the voyage I of course got chummy with t he o fficers .
I n their ca bin s at night we us ed to stand whi sky in o ur ‘
turn On e night I too k th e opportunity of filling a ship s

.
’
bottl e w i th the whi sky f ro m my smuggled four gal lon jar -

.
They s oo n wanted to know what b rand it w as and wh ere

I had got it but I did not enlighten the m u ntil a few n ights
,
afterwa rds w hen I produc ed th e lin seed oil jar A s they

,
‘
-
.
liked the whi sky and said they e njoy ed my co mpany they
, ,
”
forga ve me the lin se ed oi l dodge -
.
Happy Jack was one of D a ft s America n team and also ’

,
went to San F rancisco with the team that t ravell ed that way
to Au stralia in 1 881 82 ca ptain ed by Alf Shaw
-
“At
, . .
”
’
Fri sco he sa id,
we ca me up again st an A me rican baseball
,
308 EN G L I S H cnroxs rns s
'
.
pl ayer who in th e first innings j erk ed n early all of u s out

, .
When we went in a second time some Engli shmen p res ent ,
a sked u s why w e did n o t make th e man bo w l but we simply

a l t ered o ur tac t ic s B arlo w goi n g in for s topping the m and I
, ,
for hit t ing t hem The basebal l pi t cher kept as kin g Alf Shaw
. .
if he objected to his pi t ching and A lf sa id to me J ack do ,

.
,
‘
,
’
you object to thi s pitcher Not I I replied ; I wi s h he‘
,
‘
’
w ould pi t ch at both ends Th e pitcher nearly pitch ed his
.
a rm a wa y w hile I m ade 1 6 0 odd not out and fin ally he

, , ,
rem arked in di sgu st I guess I do n t care about cricket I t s

,
’
.
’
too darned long Gue ss I rather li ke a match that s ov er in

.
’
abou t two hours .
One of George Ulyet t s best performance s in te st crick et

’
w i t h t he ball was seen in th e second Au stra lian innings of the

ma t ch E ngland v Au st ralia at Lo rd s in July 1 884 His
.
,
’
, .
an a ly si s was 3 9 overs 2 3 m aiden s 3 6 run s 7 wickets There

, , , .
w as a w onderful ca t ch by w hich he di smi ss ed the giant

Bo n nor a catch th at has oft en been referred to What were
—
.
U lyet t s i m pre ssion s of it

’
The b a ll was no sooner out of m y hand than it was back

ag ain —
som ething a fter the manner of thos e elas t ic ball s with
w hich you see young men and maiden s amus ing them s e lv es
nowad ays on the sea side parad es I had no time to j udge
-
.
the cat ch a t al l the ba ll was back in my han d like lightning ,
and stuck there I was not hurt on the in side of my ha nd

.
,
b u t on t he out side or b a ck of the hand I su ffered some pa in

fro m t he force of the conc u ssion The delive ry was a s t ra ight .
h a lf vo lley and Bo nno r m iddled it

-
,
B oth W G and .
‘
. .
’
L ord Ha rris sa id I w as very foolish for at te m pting the catch ,
f o r if t he b a ll had hit my w ri st or arm it w ould have snapp e d ,
t h e li m b as if i t w ere a sti ck .
When the innings and w ith it the match was ov e r a boy

, , ,
ca m e t o m e an d sa id I w a s w anted in the pavilion I w e nt .
up a n d sa w no o n e only an old gentleman in a tall h at H e

, .
n e v e r spoke a n d I d id not speak but went out again Th e ,

.
lad ca m e to m e a seco n d ti m e an d again I w ent T h e old

, .
ge n t l em a n w a s still there an d I didn t kn ow him from Ad a m

,
’
.
3 10 OLD EN GLI S H C RI C K ETERS .
game and to ld Bates that h e ought to accept 3 o s w hich h e

,
.
,
did .
A w ord as to the famous def eat by 7 r un s of England by

the Au st ralian s at the Oval on August 2 9 1 882 when th e , ,
ashes of English crick e t wer e take n to Aus tralia G eo rge .
thought England ought to hav e won that m atch as eas ily as

”
any t hing Asked the rea son why England di d not w in
.
,
George replied I am afraid one or t wo of our batsm en w e r e

,
a bit nervou s It looked 1 0 to 1 on England when W G

.
‘
. .
’
an d I w ere together for w e only want ed 85 to win and w e

, ,
made 43 between us They let B oyl e bowl m aid e n afte r

.
m aiden when a hit or two would have m ad e all th e d iffer e nce

, .
Person a lly I was neve r nervous when I had to go in

, .
Another exciting match which cricket readers will read ily

,
re ca ll was tha t at Manchester in August 1 89 3 wh en Lanca

, ,
shire defeated Y ork shire by 5 run s I thought we wer e sur e .
t o w in t h a t ma t ch I w ent in to join Moorhouse and there

.
,
we re Hirst and Hunter to follow Moorhou se goes out and .

,
the n in comes an d out goes Hirst That left only H u nte r .

,
a n d 6 run s were wanted I thought to myself I mus t t ry

.
,
a n d force the fi h t s omehow I f D avid Hunter had t b e e

g . n o n
the last m an I should have w ai t ed but I thought it wa s ,
b e t ter t o m ake the run s if I could while I was facing J oh nn y

Briggs So I went for the boundary but Albert Ward was
.
,
o n t he edge of i t and we lo st I still thi nk I adopted t h e

.
ri gh t course I thought it was 1 0 0 to 1 o n us win ni ng t h e

.
ga m e a t one tim e The sequel shows how little you can b e

.
cer t a i n of in c r icket .
U lye t t was p erh ap s the coolest cu sto m er that e v er

Y or kshire c r i cke t ha s produced Edmund Peate n a rrat ed .
ho w George invited hi m self into a Mini st e rial reception in

D ow ning Street Another colleague Charlie Ullatho rne t e lls , ,
the follow ing

We w ere pl aying Surrey in L ondon Happy J ack a n d .
I st ayed at the Crow n Court Hotel We and anoth e r of o ur .
m e n a f ter the m a tch ordered s teak for thr e e I n du e co u rse .
i t came a big porterhous e st eak in a dish The wa i t e r .

1 11 11. LA TE 0 110 110 11. ULYEI T
’ ‘
. 311
l a ced it oppos ite Ul et t who p romptly h e lp ed him se lf to th e

p y ,
lot We sat ex p ectant for a few minutes and t hen ca lled th e

.
,
waiter and ask ed wh e n our share was lik e ly to m ake it s

appearance Beg pardon gentle m en but you orde re d steak
.
, ,
for th re e and I brought it What i said Ulyet t thi s fo r .

’
,
‘
th ree ! No nsense ; b ring th e gentlem en one apiece We .
”
always grow th e m this siz e in our country .
”
Happy Jack near the close of his caree r was playing on
, ,
the Le eds g round A j ournalist from a ne ighbouring to wn

.
wi sh ed to inte rvie w him Calling at th e d ressing room in .

-
,
Ulyet t s ab senc e h e an nounced his d esire which was duly

’
, ,
com m unica t ed to G eorge A littl e lat er Ulyett sta lk ed in to

.
’
the r oo m in a state of grea t exciteme nt and said I t s too , ,
”
bad lad s The re will hav e to be a change som ewh ere
,
. .
’
What s the matt er Jack l Why read this t e l egram
,
‘
, .
The wife has had twins Th e inter vi ewer f orbo re to .
i ntrude u pon Happy J ack s excitem ent but th e n ex t day ’

,
a pa rag ra ph cong ratulating him ubon th e i nc rease in th e

fam ily duly app ea red I t is to b e feare d th es e twin s w ere
.
bo r n on a good m any occas ion s Th e m i rt h th ey cau sed in .
th e Players dressing room is not easily d escrib ed

’
-
.
Ulye t t had his b e nefit in 1 887 The match was ov er in t wo .
days and the gat e m on ey was a disappointment

, Happy .
Ja ck s great popular ity was shown howev er in th e sub

’
, ,
scripti on lis t which yielded the han dsom e sum of

, 7
”
I w as very pl eased said Ge orge “to fi nd mysel f so
, ,
re spected ”
The b en efit tota lled to ju st four figures Ou the
.
w hole U lye t t fa r e d we ll out of cricket but h e ad mit ted he

, ,
was lucky in getti ng so many tim es across th e water .

TH E I XTE E .
D EA T H has sadly thi nne d the

ran ks of the old Y or k shire
briga d e in t he clo si n g y ea r of
t h e nin et eenth century Row .
botham T he wlis Bates and , , ,
Pea t e all w e nt to thei r re st

within th e spa c e of th r ee
m onth s “ ”
Ted P eate di e d o n
.
S unday Mar ch 1 1 1 9 0 0 ,
Th e,
.
p r eviou s Tuesday h e calle d u po n

m e to present m e w ith th e
photograph r ep roduc ed b e s id e
the se se ntences The follo wi ng .
l ue s d ay it was m y me lan choly duty to witne ss his int erm e nt

' ‘
.
n e u m o n ia d th ! A with U l t t d B at e s so i t
p ea ,s ye a n ,
w a s w it h l e a t o
’
.
( ) f t h e t h re e g re at c ri cke t i ng nu r se ri e s of Lasc e ll es H all ,
Hut t n in A s h tie ld a nd Y e adon t he l ast claim s to b e t he

o ~ -
, ,
t ra ini ng g ro u nd o f the g r ea te st n umb er of p rofe ss ional

La s ce l le s l l a ll b e at s it in it s n umber of co un ty
1 11 11 b u t Ye a d o n it e s s a y t he y h o l d t he al m for t h la r ge t
p
-
1
,
e s
n u m b e r o f m e n wh o ha v e g o n e out in t o the world as

p ro
f e s s io n a l ri k e t e rs in o n e s e as o n
c c I t was in th e Yoa d o n
.
n u rs e ry t h a t l hl l m m d I e a t o had his tra ini ng B o r n at

‘
’
, .
J l ll k n Ma rc h 2 1 8 6 h is p a re n t s t o o k him W ith th e m
o o
5 , ,
t o Ye a d n w he n h e wa s s ix ye a rs o f ag e
o .
314 ENGLI S H C RI C K ET ERS .
’
for the Chi na m arket I m ad e a copy of Amos Ma r sha ll s
.
s tyl e Th e result was that I found I co uld k eep a good

.
length and ge t som e t wis t on the ball and in t he sp ring I ,
had put the winter s practice to such good use t hat I cam e
’
ou t as a slow bowl er My first m atch with Manningham .
was again st Yeadon A s I had bee n engaged as a fas t b owl e r

.
,
the Manningham Club we re rathe r su rpris ed to find on taki ng

up my e ngagement with th em that I was bo wling slow I n .
the ma tch with Yea don howe v e r I bowl ed fast and t ook 7
, , ,
wickets for 2 8 run s T hat was th e last t im e I bowl e d fas t

. .
I knew that slow bowli n g with an occasional fas t d e liv e ry , ,
w a s m y f or te an d I stuck to it
,
.
Peate dist urb ed some convention al id ea s about bowling

” ”
on a spot pitching o n a sixp e nce and other phenom e na l
, ,
fe a t s of accurate len gth bowling att ributed to him se lf a nd

-
o ther great bowlers .
Peo li le u sed to say that I broke t his and b r ok e

‘ ‘ ’
that bu t a s a matte r of fact I n e ver b rok e the ball m uch

,
a t a ll I u sed to b eat the batsman by le ngth bo wlin g by

.
,
s t udying his w e a k point s dec e iving him with th e ac e d

p , a n
fl ig ht of the ball and so o n B ut th e talk about finding a

, .
‘
’
S po t is a ll To m my ro t You must forg iv e th e e xp ress ion
’
.
,
for I re a lly cannot call it anything else I r emem b er o nce .
o n a soft w i cket it wa s mention ed t hat I had b o wl ed o ne
o v e r in w hich each ball dropped e xactly o n th e sam e s pot .
N o t hi n g of the sort : there w ould be a d ifl erence in th e pitch

'
of a ll t he deliverie s though each migh t b e a good l e n gth

, .
It w a s the eleva t io n that deceiv ed The ball s might se em .
to dro p a ll on the same spot but they certai nly did not ; and ,
I cou ld not h ave bowled to o n e spot no m atter how I t ried , .
Alf S h a w a nd I have l aughed many a time at t he n on s ense

.
w hi ch ha s been spoken and wri t ten about pitchi ng on a spo t .
Why i t w ill ta ke a clever man to pitch to a square foo t not

, ,
to m en t ion a sixpence T here is a len gth which no ba t sman

.
can pla y a n d I u s ed to s t udy to fi n d it and a lso t o f

, g o o r ,
t he batsm an s w eak poin ts I could break the bal l both ways

’
.
,
bu t very littl e and I never t ried to break it much For

, .
T H E LA E 11. T P EA TE . 3 15
r ti p u r p os e s we we re favourably si tu at ed at Y ea don as
p ac ce ,
we we r e ofte n able to co mmen c e p ractising out of doo rs in

”
Feb ruary .
I t was whi l e fulfilling his engag em ent at Mannin gham in

his s econd y ea r the re ) that Pea te was engag ed wi t h
1 87 9
(
York shi re coun ty The p re vious season wh e n playing against
.
,
Sca rboro ugh the Rev E S Carter took a fa ncy to his bow ling
,
. . .
and re co mmend ed him to th e Yorksh ire auth orities When

'
Peate played with t he Colt s h e said he took 1 0 wi ck e ts for

1 1 run s in th e fi rst in nin gs and scored 2 5 n ot out I n th e ,
.
se cond innin gs he took 7 wickets for 2 3 ru ns and a Coun ty ,
Com mitte e m an went up to him patted him on th e back and , ,
sa id ,
Ah Peate I saw you were not t rying in the se co nd
, ,
inn ings You only want ed to give them encouragem e nt !

.
Af ter that trial Peate we nt straight in to t he coun ty team .
His first county game was aga inst Notts in 1 87 9 at Tre nt

B ridg e when th e field was at times n early unde r wa te r
, .
Yorkshi re got Notts out onc e and were then dis missed for
4 6
, an d scored 2 for n o wicket in the second innin gs th e ,
match being d rawn A day later they we nt on to Hul l to .
pl ay Surrey T hey co uld not sta rt on the first day at all

.
,
an d when they did com m enc e p lank s and blocks of woo d had
to b e laid dow n to enabl e the specta tors to get over the po ols
of water .
From this match sa id Peat e w e went on to Sh effield , ,
t o pl ay K ent an d there I r ea l ly clen ch ed m y position in t he

,
York shire team for I took 6 wicket s in o ne innin gs for 3 9

,
r un s and 6 m the n ext for 3 8 runs in all 1 2 for 7 7 Three

,
—
.
y ea rs la te r in a m atch w ith K ent on th e sam e gro und June —
1 2 an d 1 3 1 882 I did som ethi ng out of the comm on

,
—
I .
upse t th e H ouse of Lords and k n ock ed out Hom e Rul e in

th ree ba lls I n other word s I got rid of two liv e lo rd s and
.
,
a n Ir is hm an with the hat trick Th e former we re Lords .
’
Harris and T hrowley ; the Irishman E O shaughn essy . .
Ba tes in th e same mat ch took 6 wick e ts for 1 2 runs .
For this hat t rick I was presented with a silver mount

fo r a walking stick H ere it is You will see it is in t he
-
. .
form of a fist clasping a revolver I n ow tell m y friend s .
i t is a facsim ile of a mail ed fist presented to m e by t he ,
Ge rm a n E m peror .
I a lso go t ta lent money for th e bowling f ea t w hich

-
,
re m ind s m e t hat bow ler s someti m e s used to get smal l th a nks

f o r their be st perform anc es M a ny people w ill r e m e m ber
.
t h e m a t ch a t Holbeck betw e en York shire an d Surrey in J u ly

1 883 . Surrey in t heir first innings scored 3 1 and I t ook 8 ,
w i ck et s for 5 run s We ll som e on e suggested to a Holbeck

.
,
m a n t h a t a colle ct ion should be made in r e cognitio n of my

bo w ling Wh a t do you t hink was the reply
. Oh b e ,
h e h a s ruined our g a te I sh a ll obj e ct to th e hat going

ro u nd . And tha t w as my only re ward !
’
“Wh a t w a my be t year wi th the ball

s s ? O h 1 882 un , ,
d o ub t edly In th a t season I took 1 6 5 wickets w hich I

.
, ,
m a y s a y is t he gre a te s t nu m ber ever tak e n in one sea s on by a

,
Y o r ksh ire bow ler t hough m ore m atche s are play ed n o w th a n

,
t h e n A t Ma nche st er a gain st the Au st ra lia n s on June 1 9

.
and 2 0 1 884 I bowled thro ugh bot h innings

, ,
and had t he ,
fo llo w i n g a n a lys is
O vers . Maid ens . R u ns . Wi c k e t s .
F irs t in n in g s 24 28 5
S e c o n d in n in g s 25 23 5
I t was ah a rd w icket a n d I con sider this th e bigge st

g o od ,
t h ing in bo w li n g I a ccom plished in all my career Mr Hornby .

,
w h o m ad e 9 4in t he sam e match pr e se nted me with th e bal l , ,

”
w hi ch I h a v e n o w .
Tu m bl in g severa l pl at e in scribed ball s out of his pocket

-
Pe a t e pro d u ced t hi s one bea ring t he abov e an a lysis An other .
b a ll b ea rs t h e i n s cri pt i o n “From Moreton in t he Marsh t o

.
- - —
E P e a t e fo r h is spl e n did bowling York

.
,
Glouce s te r on , ,
8t h , 9 t h, Ma y l o th
C o n ce r n ing t h e Mo re t on in the Ma rsh incid ent, Peat e

- - —
re
c a l le d fo l lo wi n g in t erest ing an e cdote affecti ng

t he “W .
a n d sh o w i n g the d a n g e r of cock su re d n e ss in any g a m e of -
c ri ck e t : We w ere b e ing en t er ta ined to a banqu et by a cert a in

3l 8 O LD ENG LI S H CRI C KETERS .
was ov e r w i t h his Fi rst t eam I t was th e re tu rn m atch .
w ith Y ork sh ir e I open ed at th e to p e nd to Mu rdoch

. .
G eorge Freem a n miss ed him o ff the first ba ll at sho rt s lip ; -
Lockwood mi ssed him o ff the second ball at point ; o f? t he

t hird ba ll he was mi ssed at the wick et by Pi nd er ; while off
the four th L ockwood caught him at point H e was thus .
m i ss ed three tim es in four balls and caught off th e four th .
’
Ra ther a glorious innings wasn t it i ,
Then at Bradford once I nearly bowled hi s leg stump -

.
Mr Murd o ch put h is b at do w n in position an d ste pped out

to see how he could have missed playing the bal l He .
in spected the position with great care and prepar ed to ,
re ce ive the next ba ll But th e next ba ll bowl e d him !

.
H o w the cro wd did l a ugh .
One of t he m ost dangerous men I ever cro ss ed w as

Bo n n or but he woul d p e rsist in trying to play the fancy
,
g a m e
. A t Bradford in Jun e,1 882 he w as kind eno u gh ,
’
t o hi t m e three tim es out of the ground for 6 s I had m y .
revenge in a no t her m a tch wh e n h e cam e in about t e n ,
m inu t e s fro m draw ing ti m e H e went on playing over af t e r

-
.
over as nice as po ss ible until it got to the very las t ball

,
of t he l a st over of t he day I sent h im dow n wha t he .
e v ide n t ly t hought was a regula r sloppy o ne and of co urs e ,
h e m u st let fl y with the re sult t hat he was ca ught at

,
cover poin t H e went ou t looking as if h e would l ik e t o

-
.
ki ck him s elf .
There is a n i n cident told at th e e xpen se of Peate w hich

s hould no t be o m it t ed It occurred in the match be tw een
.
M urdoch s S e cond team an d an Eleven of Engla n d at

’
H a rr o ga t e on Sep t em ber 2 5 1 882 and is told b y an

, , ,
A u st ra lia n who w as pre sent Alec Bannerm an w as f a m ous .
a s a co v e r poi n t
-
wa s prob ably the b e st man in that po s ition
—
e v e r s een fro m Au st ralia Perh aps the sm a rt es t and c l ea n est

.
bi t of w o rk he ever did in th a t position w as in this m atch

a t H a rro g a t e Pe a t e kept on dodging a yard or so o u t o f
.
”
h is c re a s e a n d b a c k a ga in playing the Angora, as Geo rge
Bo n n o r in h is re fin e d way term ed it Alec notic ed th i s b ut .
,
1 11 1: LA T E 11
. PEA T E . 319
did no t pret end to throw at the w ickets u ntil presently Peat e ,
advan ced about an extra foot Then with su rp rising dash .

,
and rapidity of action Alec pick ed up and thr e w t he ball in

,
to B lackham who had th e bail s o ff in an in stan t b e fo re t he

,
as toni shed Peate could ge t back N ever before or si n ce .
has a bat sman seemed more utt e rly cre stfall e n than Peat e
appea red as he walk ed to th e pavilion amids t the laughter
of th e crowd The only person s who did not laugh were
.
Pea te him self and little Alec whose dander was up t o ,
such a n ext e n t that h is mou stache fairly bri stl ed a s he
sai d ,
Play the Angora w ith m e will you ? ,
In th e mem orable match at the Oval on August 2 9 ,
1 89 2 when Au st ra lia defeated E ngland by 7 run s Pea t e s

’
, ,
was the las t w ick et that fell Gifien wri tes about him b e ing
'
caught out but as a m a tte r of fact Peate was bowl ed by

,
B oyl e for 2 H e al ways d eclared that he was not n er

.
vous and said that if th ree or four othe r batsm e n had

,
m ad e ev en as many run s as h e did England would not ,
have lost .
“A few d ays after thi s r emarkable m a tch add ed Peat e , ,
we w ere talking about it in the pa vilion during a shower

of rain at Sca rborough The late Mr I D Wal ke r said
. . .
’
to me Pe ate why did n t you t ry to keep your end up
,
‘
,
until Ch a rlie [ M r C T S t udd] could get t he runs ?

. . I ’
repli e d qui t e gra vely th a t I thought I was t he better bat i

Mr C I Thornton the n chimed in Yes you re quite right
’
.
, ,
.
,
T ed Before they w ent in Charlie w as walki ng ro und t he

.
pavilion wi th a bla nket around him ; Stee l s tee th we re al l ’
’
in a chatt e r ; and Ba rn e s s t eeth would have be en chatte ri n g
if h e had not left the m a t hom e
’
.
There wa s a scene at t he Oval on August 1 1 884 duri ng , ,
which Pea t e was asked to harangue the multitud e The .
m atc h was Pl ayers of England v Murdoch s t eam and at .

’
,
lu n ch ti m e on t he last day the Austra lia n s only want ed 1 1

run s to w in an d had 9 wick e ts to fall Th e adjou r nment
,
.
was ta ken a fa c t w hich cau se d the crowd to b reak ov e r the

,
g round pul l up,

t he stu m p s and mak e a n oi s
y d em o nstration ,
3 20 OLD ENG LI S H 0 3 1 0 11 3 1 11113 .
in f ront of th e pav il ion Af terwa rd s they would not d ispe rse

.
when the players were r eady to continue the game and Peate ,
was ask ed by Mr Alcock if he would sp eak to the crowd a n d

”
pacify them Tha t wa s nothing in my line said P eate so , ,
I told him N0 tha nk you I came here to play crick et not

, , ,
to q u e ll a rio t .
’
Pea te paid bu t one vi si t to the la nd of the Go lden Fleec e .
H e was a me m ber of the s ixth Engl is h tea m whic h invad e d

the An t ipodes under t he guida nc e of Sha w Shr ewsbury and
, , ,
L illy whi t e in 1 881 82 The trip was made mid San Fra nci s co
,
-
. .
A good sa ilor Pea te said th a t on th e voyage h e coul d n e ver

,
m a n a g e m ore t h an fiv e m e als a d ay -
.
O u our voya ge from San Fra nci sco t o Aus t ralia w e

enjoyed t he di st in gui shed compa ny of the K i ng of the
S a n d wich I s la nds K ing Kalakaua as far as the Island s
, , .
H e ha d b e e n o n a tour round t h e world and was retur ning ,
hom e The previou s summ er h e had been in England a n d

.
,
s o m e of u s w ere introduc ed to him at the Oval so t hat ,
w e w ere q ui t e old pa ls K in g Ka lakaua call ed us into hi s

.
c abi n on boa rd the Aust ra lia t he ship we sailed in e ve ry — —
m orni ng in ord e r to hear Billy Bate s sin g Th e B onny ‘
York shire Lass .

’
A t Honolulu we had an invitation to the K ing s palac e ’

.
The K ing o ff ered our ship s ca ptain £ 3 0 0 if he would wa it ’
until w e could play a m a t c h but though Shaw and Li l ly

whi t e were qui t e prepa red to play a game to pl eas e his
Maj e sty the ca p tain woul d no t accept th e off er
, .
O f Pe a t e s genera l perfor m a nce w hen in Aust ralia it is o nly

’
ne ce ssary to say th a t he t ook 3 0 wickets at a co st o f 1 8 4

run s a wicket a nd had a b a tting a verag e of 1 7 3
, Ther e was .
o n e r e m a rk able m a t ch however to which special referenc e

, ,
m u st be m a de I t w as the first m a t ch with V icto ria at

.
,
M elb ourne on D ece m ber 1 6 1 7 1 9 a nd 2 0 1 881

, , , , , .
Vic toria sco red 2 5 1 in t he first innings and we m a k in g , ,
14 6 only had to follo w o n

, Then thank s to a mar v e llous .
,
i n n in g s by Sh re wsbu ry w h o scored 80 not out w e t o ta ll ed

, ,
1 9 8 w hi ch lef t V i ct o ri a re uiring i
, q 94 to w n O u t h e l as t .
322 OLD ENGL I S H cmcxs rs s s
if the w icket perform ed as it did in England no tea m in ,
the w orld could mak e 1 0 0 run s again st us H e then .
s t a r t e d ta king all the extra vagant odd s agai ns t En g la nd he
could a nd did so w ell that h e finished up by rushing d o w n to

,
t he boa t an d presenti ng us with a 10 note each T he .
b ook m a ke rs were v e ry badly hit by t he res ult of t he m atch .
Ce rt a in of their schem es fa iled much to th e satisfa ction of ,
m o s t of us .
On ce in Scotland w e had a lesson in the virtu e of hum ility

t a ugh t u s It was about the y ear 1 882 We were pl a ying
. .
a m a t ch again st eight een of D ru m pellie r and D is trict and ,
had prob ably the stronge st tea m t hat ever went into Sco t land .
W hen w e wo n the to ss we se nt in Shrewsbu ry and Scotton ,
a n d though t t hey would hav e such a good long i n ning s that
w e propo s ed to g o rabbi t hunting in t h e adjoin ing wo od s -

.
Bu t w e had not got to the bound a ry before a wicket fell .
W e w ai t ed a n d then fell a nother and yet another Finally , .
w e cam e t o the conclus ion t h a t we had bette r postpone the

ra b bi t killing expedition as the slaughter of our cricket
-
,
r ep u t a t ion required all our attention ; in fact we struck a ,
b e e line t o the dres sing roo m and put our pad s o n the rabbi t s
- -
g e tt in g a holid a y The whole team mad e 2 9 run s And ye t

. .
w e had S h re w sb ury Sco tton U lyet t Lockwood S elby Ba t e s

, , , , , ,
Ba rnes B a rlo w Shaw P illing and myse lf o n th e s ide

, , , In , .
t h e next innings Shr ew sbu ry to ok root and w e drew th e ‘ ’

,
m a t ch .
A w ord as to m y b est bowling pe rform a nce in club cric ket .
I t w a s for Idle at t wo Feas t match es The first was a g a m e .
w it h Gu i seley a n d I go t a ll the 1 0 wickets and d id t he ha t

,
t ri c k t w i ce The nex t was with Wind b ill and I got 9 wi c kets

.
,
a n d h e lp e d t o run the other out J Tye then playing for . .

,
Nott s w as t he bo w ler at the other end and he said if I w e n t

, ,
o n in t he s eco n d inning s he should not bowl ! I got a watc h

a nd
g u a rd for t h a t du a l performance .
A t l t ipo n on ce in a m a t ch w i th the Un it ed South they

, ,
e n ga g ed A l f Sh a w a nd m y se lf With the inte ntion of ma ki ng

. .
the m a tch la st the Ripo n it es put on two local bowl ers who
, ,
T HE LA TE E . PEA TE . 3 23
took the Opportunity of getting the Unit ed South out for a

ve ry few ru n s The n w e went in to bat and I got 5 8 in on e
.
,
i nnings and 47 not out in the next I n the South s second .

’
innings Shaw and I w ent on to bowl We m ade the match .
last right enough Th ey ga ve m e a seal fo r that performanc e

. .
Some one sneaked it from the dressing r oom in th e pavilion -
at Melbourne and the Melbourn e authoriti es gav e me 2 0

,
as compen sa tio n for th e lo ss of it .
You some t im es get your fing ers bu r nt though in trying , ,
to m ake a m atch last I r em e m ber a case in point not many

.
,
years ago at Horsforth Oxford and Cambridge a Yorksh ire

, , .
t eam We w ere winning with ease at o ne tim e and th en

.
,
s l a ckened wi th the re sult th a t Mr Tim O Brien now Sir Tim

’
, ( )
knocked us all ove r the pa rk and a fterward s C W Rock of , . .
Tasm a nia bowled na out neck and h eels and we lost th e ,
match .
I must not forget to mention my great batting pe rform

ance at D ewsbu ry again st Surrey in J uly 1 884 I scor ed 9 5 . .
Wa lter Read was kind e nough to care fully mi ss m e before I

had broken my duck D uring th e in n ings I hit a ball so high
.
tha t the Surrey team were able to hold a committee m eeting

to decide w ho should attempt th e catch Th ey call ed D ive r .
from m id ofi to mid on to mak e it as h e was supposed to b e

'
- -
the safest ca tch er on the side Th en wh en he had ca r efully .
judged it the ball fe ll three yard s behind h im !

,
“I n a Gentlem e n 7) Players m atch at Lo rd s Mr I D Walker
.
’ ’
. .
was bo w ling t o me with his lob s I st eppe d back and hit th e .
ball round t o leg for 4 In so doing I ju st knock ed the l eg

.
ba il o ff but I was in such a posi t ion at th e tim e that neither

,
umpire could see what had happe n ed Th e re w as an app eal .
to both bu t each gav e me not out Th e wick et keep e r and

, .
-
others w a nted m e to go out b ut I s tood my grou nd until I had,

’
the umpire s decision s when of cour se I con tinu ed my i nn ings
, , , .
There was a match in which A G Stee l played fo r . .
Lancashire again st Yorkshire at Sheffield A s h e was going .
into t he fie ld Tom Emmett said to him I beg your pardon, ,

‘
Mr Steel but you hav e forgotten to lace your boots

, O h, .
’
3 24 OLD EN G LI S H C RI C KET ERS .
never mind Tom was his cool reply I ca n get York shire
, ,
’
,
H e did too h e go t 7 w ickets at a

’
ou t w i thout boot la c es -
.
,
very s mall cost .
Then at Scarborough onc e we w ere playing I Zinga ri .
They had such a thick tea m that Mr C I Thornton put him . .
s elf do w n No 1 and M r J Robert s on Wa lker as N o 1 1

. and -
.
,
the re st drew lot s for po sition s in batting We did very well .
un t il Mr S teel came in te nth man H e got 1 0 0 in mo st .
m a rvellou s fashion Som et im es he would fetch a ball from

.
m e which was very nearly a wide on the o ff side righ t rou nd -
to square leg A more wonderful batting p e rformance on a

-
.
”
s t icky w icke t I n e v e r sa w .
Like m any other old cricketers Peate was of Opinion that ,
fi
t he pract ice of leaving o balls a lone is ca rri ed to excess by
l
some modern bat sm e n It is true h e thought there are s o m e

.
, ,
o ff ball s whi ch ha d better b e left alone but there ar e m a ny

-
o thers which batsmen like Eph Lockwood and others wo uld .
ha ve hi t m errily for 4 In on e Gentlem e n Players m atch .

’
”
at t he Ov a l ad ded Peat e I bowled Mr A P Lucas w ith a
, , . .
b all which he left alone but which broke in and struck h is ,
ofi s t um p H e vowed and declared that he would n e ver l eav e

’
a no t her b a ll a lone no m atter how w id e it seem ed to b e

, .
Wh at irrepressible practica l joke rs the old school of l ight

hea rt e d devil may ca re crickete rs were is shown on s eve ral
- -
,
”
occasion s in these Talk s Peate had a few memori es of .
t heir e sc a p ad es For in stance .
We w ere playing in Gen t lem e n Players at the Oval wh e n ,
I c a rele ssly left my wat ch on t he dressing room t able at the -
hot e l w ith the bedroom door open Eph Lock wood pas s ing
,
. .
,
a t t he ti m e hopped in and carefully put the watch in his

,
po ck e t for safe ty When I could not find it I was u nder

—
.
’
the i mpress ion th at it ha d been sn eak ed on the g round ‘
.
Lord Harri s W G Grace and oth ers condoled with m e o n

,
. .
,
m y lo ss a n d Eph L ock wood and my other pal s went w ith me

,
.
t o S cotl a nd Ya rd t o repor t it We rou sed all Scotlan d Yard .
u p ne a rly a n d I was bu sy for a bout a fortnight mak i n g

,
i n quirie s abou t m y mi ssing watch A t last when I thoug ht .

,
3 26 O LD ENGLI S H C RI C K ETERS .
di fferen t circum stanc es from th ese though as th e followi ng

, ,
s t ory w i ll s ho w
We were once driving Bates, Emm e tt U lyet t and , ,
my self to the Derby ground wi th our bags &c fro m the

—
, .
,
D e rby M idl a nd S tation wh en th e axl e of the back wheels

,
bro ke in t wo and th e body of th e cab fl opped to th e g rou nd .
T o m E m m e t t j umped out in g r eat al a rm but Happy J ack ,
pu t his head out of the window and looking up at th e d river

,
in the m ost nonchalant way simply ask ed Say driv er what

, , , ,
are you stopping for l ‘
When Peat e l eft Yeadon to tak e up his h ead qua rt e r s at

L eed s he wa s pre se nted with an illuminat ed ad dress com
m e m ora t ive of the services h e perform ed for th e Yeadon Club
from 1 87 7 t o 1 89 0 Th e addre ss sets fo rth that he p lay ed
.
1 0 3 i n n i n gs w ith th e b at for th e Y ead on Club was tw e lv e ,
t i m e s no t ou t mad e 88 as his high est score and had a n

, ,
a v e ra ge of p e r innings With the ba ll his wo rk is

.
r e pre se n t ed by the foll o wing re m arkable figures : 1 40 8 ov ers ,
m a id e n s 2 9 4 run s wick e t av e rag e f

35 3 3 5 2 1 s an o
—
, ,
run s pe r w i ck e t To take over 5 0 0 wickets fo r on e club at a

.
,
cos t o f le ss t ha n 6 run s a wicket is a record of wh ich any

,
bowl e r m ay w ell be proud .

W . A . W OOF .
THE
Me ssrs Grace w e re such
brilliant st ars in the firm am ent
of Glouc estershire crick et that
poss ibly other luminar ies ap
red to b e l e bright tha
p ea s s n
they r eally were Thi s at any .

,
rat e will b e re cognised by pract i

,
ca l crick e ter s that Glouc est e r has

,
had no b etter profess ional slo w

bowl e r than W A Woof now . .
,
t he chi e f coach at Ch e lt e nham

College It has been a su rpri se
.
to th e oute r world why the ser

v ic es of a bow ler of th e abilitie s of Woof should not have
been longer u t ili sed in the Gloucestershir e team B ut t o refer .
to tha t matter now w ould b e to anticipate what th e p lay er

hi m self has to say on the point in this Talk “ .
William Alfred Woof was born a t Glouce ster o n July 9 ,
1 8 9 so th a t he is anything but a n
“ old ”
c r ickete r in t h
5 , e
nu m ber of h is years . H e is the so n of a civil e ngin eer to ,
whi ch prof e ss ion he wa s a ttached in h is you t h Th e tas te for .
c ri ck e t w as de v eloped if not inculcated at Bedford Gram mar

, ,
S ch o ol . H is first a ppearance in Glouce st e rshire crick e t was as

a col t in Ma y 1 87 8 w hen he took 5 w ickets for 7 8 run s a mong
, ,
t h e m b e i n g t h e coveted wicket s of W G and G F G race. . . . .
O n t he st reng t h of thi s perfo rmance h e was e ngag ed t o play

3 28 OLD EN G LI S H CRICKET EBS .
g in st Surrey and Sussex but in the first gam e he was only

a a ,
called upon to bo wl 2 0 ov e rs of which 1 0 were maiden s w hile , ,
aga in st Su ssex his servic es as a bowler were not requi s itioned

at a ll .
Few p eople w ill know or if they knew they will probably

, , ,
ha v e forgotten says Woof that I nearly came in t o firs t

”
, ,
class cricket as a Lancastrian I accepted an engagem ent at .
Old T rafl o rd and in my first game there for M C C v La n

'
. .
, . .
,
cas hire Colts I wa s fortunate e nough to take a lo t of wickets

,
l i tt le J o h nn y Briggs being on e of the victim s with a pair ‘

.
W G Gra ce h ea ring that I had improved in 1 880 secured for

. .
, ,
me a post at Cheltenha m College and thus m y id ea of quali ,
tying for Lan cashir e came to nothing .
Brief as was my stay up no rth it was not without incident ,

.
O n one occasion I re m ember I b e came a dragoon gu ard for

, ,
one a ft ernoon Th e Gua rd s w e re quartered at Salford and

.
,
had a rra nged to play a m atch at Macclesfield I was enroll ed .
for t he d ay as Serg eant M Pherson In thi s capacity I m an aged

‘
.
t o pl ay havoc w i th the Macclesfie ld w ick e ts Finally a s pec .
ta t or gave the show away so to speak by reco gni sing m e a n d

, ,
Tha t s no sergeant it s Woof of Old T rafio rd This ’

'
’
saying
’
.
,
d is covery ra ised a scene in th e midst of which th e d rago on s

,
and t heir bog us sergea nt m ade their way to th e station hug ely ,
”
enjoying the fun .
Anot her poin t that is probably not known is that thou g h

Woof m ade his nam e as a slow bow ler like T ed Pea t e he w as , ,
originally a fas t bowler Both of course were l eft han d ed

.
-
.
Woof was a ctually engaged at Chelte nham as Peate was a t ,
Ma nningh a m as a fast bowler

’
,
The change in Woof s cas e .
was t aken on t he a d v ic e of M r A N Ho rnby . .
”
I found says Woof t h a t I had gr eat command of th e
, ,
ba ll a n d co uld i m part a good deal of spin to it The re su lt

,
.
w as so on se e n in t he repu ta t ion th a t I was fortun a te enough

to est ablish in a n d a round Chelt enham Old J im L illywhite .
a t len g t h asked M r W G Gra ce to giv e m e another tria l in

. .
t he coun ty t eam Mr G F Grace cam e up to the co ll ege

. . .
ground a nd asked m e to gi v e him some practice and the ,

W oof s form has conti nu ed good right d own to the prese nt

’
d ay . In 1 89 8 among a number of good pe rfo rmances was

o ne of 7 w i ck e t s fo r 2 8 run s for Ea st Glouc este rshi r e ag ain st
the while in 1 899 hi s bo wling was describ ed as bein g

a s good as ever it was .
The m ost extraordina ry match in which I too k part ,
sa ys Woof was at N o t t in g ham o n Sept emb er 1 3 1 4 1 5

, , , ,
1 883 No ttingham w ere all out fo r 2 3 r uns A t o ne tim e

. .
the teleg ra ph board showed the followi ng remarkable figure s

-
0 -
6 0 -
I t ought to hav e shown 0 7 0
. The match was - -
.
for t he b e n efit of t he Notts County Crick eters Arthu r Sm ith .

,
w ho a f t er wa rd s pl ay e d for La nca shire made 1 0 but he was , ,
firs t ca ugh t a t sho rt slip by Bob Rylott Th e umpire Fran k

-
.
,
Fa rrand s on being app ealed to gave Smith not out and the n
, , ,
coolly t urned to me and sa id Thi s match is for th e b en e fit

,
‘
of our ch aps you know Wha t I said I wil l not repeat I

, .
’
.
have no d o ubt of course that Fa rra nd s gav e what h e thought

, ,
wa s a pro per dec ision an d the remark h e made was j u st hi s

,
li t t le h um our Th e analy sis of the bowling for that i n nin gs

.
wa s
I hav e
t old you about being onc e introduced into a
d ra go on s t e a m ’
for the specia l b enefit of Maccles fie ld
cricke t ers Well .
,
there is a no the r incid ent of a more recent
d ate that will be found w o rt h the m entioning I hope I n , .
1 89 7 I was up at Aboyne Aberdee n shi re, p laying with

,
W . A . W OOF . 331
Mr E T Heav en
. Elev en
. Mr F S Jackson was t here
’
s . . . .
I t was ag r eed tha t my id en tity shoul d not be disclosed I .
dy ed my mousta chios, and altered my appearance as best I

c ould .My nam e fo r th e time b eing was again M Pherson
‘
.
W e ll, Mr Jackson cam e in unsuspectingly Guard , sir 1 .
as ks th e umpire Oh, anyt hing will d o, nonchalantly t e

.
’
p li ed t h e L eed s ge nt lema n S o th e game proceeded W h en

. .
I had bowled an ov er or t wo Mr Jackson asked Mr Heaven

who I was and r ema rk ed I was quit e good enough for Scot
,
la nd. Wh en Mr Jackson had mad e 5 I managed to send in

what h e a fte rwards ca lled a clinker and down went the old ,
’
Cam b ridg e ca pta in s leg stump Mr Heaven s team won easily

’
-
.
’
.
My id e ntity was k ept secret until j ust about the time when
th e te ams w ere leaving Then Mr Heaven forgot himself .
and ca l l ed m e by my name Mr Jackson heard the name, .
and at onc e saw th ro ug h t he j o k e Oh ! t his is M Pherson,

‘
.
is it ? W ell I don t m i nd having been bowled by him now

’ ’
.
,
Th e incid e nt ca use d much amusem ent and Mr Jackson has ,
n e v er see n m e s in ce witho ut asking how his friend M Pherson

‘
was getting o n .
You as k m e why I have not had a benefit from the

Glouceste rshi re Club Frankly I don t know I should like.
,
’
.
to know I ass i sted t h em for eleven years and a benefit was

.
. ,
p romised to m e by Mr W G Grace I t has been stated that . . .
I abso lutely re fuse d to play with the county team, but that
is simply not t rue Last year they had me down t wice no
.
reserv e but I was not called u on to

, p p lay W hen on the .
B risto l ground read y to play a gentleman told me t hat he ,
was g lad I had reco nsid ered my resolution not to lay a ain
p g
fo r Glouc es te rshi re ; b ut I to ld him I had never refused to
play and t he id ea that I had refused at any time to play
,
when as ked was enti rely wrong I cannot understand how .
it o ri ginated .
I know that Mr W G Grace was greatly offended at my . .
a ccepta nc e of th e chi ef be rth at Cheltenham Co lle e, which

g
p re v e nted m e playing with the county team before the
vaca tion The County Committee once wanted me to sign
.
332 O LD EN G LI SH C RI C KETERS .
an agreement to leave my situation h ere and play regularly

w i t h t he t ea m I aske d them if they would giv e me a term
.
of ye a rs as a n engagement but Mr Beloe who was in the , ,
ch a ir s ta t ed t h a t t hey coul d not do it

,
I th e n told the C om .
m it t e e tha t t hey could not e xp ect me to leav e a c e rtainty for

a n uncert a in t y Th ey therefore left m e out of the tea m
.
,
t h o ugh I w as a t the top of my fo rm Pe rhaps it is only .
n a t ura l t hat I should con sid e r my se lf rath e r bad ly u sed in
t h e m a tt er I have received nume rou s letters asking m e

.
w hy I w as not pl aying for my county Th e reas on is no w .
gi v en I w ould hav e played had I be en asked

. .
I should add that the late Mr I D Walker got m e o n to . .
t he s t a ff a t Lord s at the end of season 1 880 I b owled him

’
.
t w i ce in p ra ctice before he engaged m e It was Mr Wa lker s .

’
ide a to ge t me qualified for Mid dl ese x and he mad e m e a n ,
o ffe r of g 7 a m a t ch but I did not acc e pt t he Opening

-
,
Mr .
H o rnby w ho m I onc e bowled se v e n tim es in on e seas on ha d

, ,
b e fore t hi s as ked me to qualify fo r La n cashi re I think I .
s h o u ld h a v e got a b e n e fi t from either county I also had an .
o ffe r in m ore re cent year s to qualify fo r Warwick shi re .
But w e w ill pa ss thes e matters if you pl ease D r E M ,

. . .
Gra c e w a s al way s good t o the professional s and was much ,
lik e d b y the m I t is due t o him to say that it was h e w ho

.
g o t t he pay m e n t of talent money to bowl e rs e stabli sh e d H -

e .
u sed t o a rg ue t ha t a man who obtain ed six w ick ets had d o n e

a t l ea s t a s m u ch t o en t i t le him to talent mon e y as t he batsm a n -
w ho ha d s cored 5 0 run s Glouces tershire paid th e fee and .

,
o ther co un t ie s follo w ed s uit The Coron e r al so got an e xtra .
1 for t he u m ire s
p M r G F Grace w as al so ve ry popul a r
. . .
a m o n g t he prof essional s and person ally I lost a v e ry g oo d

,
f rie n d w h en he died H e u sed to say to m e No w young

.
,
‘
,
’
un ,
o
p p t h e m up a n d I ll ca t ch them for you And h
’
e in v a ri .
’
a b l y did H e wa s a brillia nt out fie ld and a splendid fe llo w

.
-
,
a ll w a ys .
M r G F Gra ce . . in the out fie ld reca ll s a c ircum

’
s w o rk
s t a n c e c o n n e c t e d w i t h the l as t i m por ta nt match in which he
la e d b u t a f o r t n i h t b e fore h is d eath It was t h e m a tch

p y , g .
334 EN G LI SH CRI C KET ERS .
wa lked cre stfallen to the pavilion E M had fairly bus tl ed . . .
Bo nn or out of his wicke t But h e was only allowe d 2 ov e rs . .
I t m ay seem stra nge but it is th e fact that though I , ,
h a v e ofte n go t W G s wick et in p ractic e I may say I got

. .
’
—
i t in al m ost every p rac tice I never had the chance of bo w ling —
t o him in a se riou s m atch I did once think I should h a v e .
t he cha nc e w hen I had a wire at Lord s from Mr I D ’

. .
Wa lker to the e ffect Self and G G H earn e se le cted Pla ye rs , . .
G G H earne duly r ec e iv ed oficial no t ifica

’
Gen t le m en . . .
t ion bu t I did not and I subsequently l ea rn ed that E Pea te

, , .
’
had through a cert ain party s inte rv ention bee n ca ll e d u po n
in my stead I was bowling v e ry well at that tim e and
.
,
shor t ly before t hi s incide n t playing for M C C v Notts at , . . . .
Lord s (June 4 5
’
I had taken 6 wicke ts for 1 5 r un s
, , .
A s it h a ppened grea t a playe r though Ted Peate was this

, ,
w a s not one of h is succe ssful days for his 1 wick e t cost about ,
0 run s
9 .
I t will be news to many crick et followe rs to know that -
Glou ce st er county m ight hav e had Arth ur Mold s ser vices ’

.
I was pl aying w ith M C C v Northamptonshire when Mold . . . .
bo wled the M C C ou t l ike a lot of schoolboys

. . . I told .
W G abou t Mold s performance and said that h e wish e d t o

’ ’
. .
,
u a li fy for Glouce st ers hire Sub s equ e ntly Mold play ed a ain st
q g .
t he H a rro w Wa ndere rs and the result was th e acc epta n c e o f ,
a n e ng a ge m en t on the ground s ta ff at Manch es t er a n d th e
o b ta i n ing o f a q u al ificat io n for Lancas hire Som e tim e afte r .
w a rd s w hen a t Old T ra fi o rd I point ed Mold out t o o u r ca

'
, p ,
ta in a n d said th a t was the North ampton bowler that I had

,
t o ld h im abou t W G then said he wo uld like to hav e a

.
‘
. .
’
fe w b a ll s fro m him Mold gave him a f ew and bowl ed him

.
,
t h ree ti m e s in t he pra ctice That was during the tim e tha t .
Mo ld wa s qu a li fying for t he L ancashire Co unty t eam, o f

w hic h he h as s i n ce bee n s u ch a di stingui sh ed o rnam en
I n his ca paci t y a s coa ch at Chelt e nham Colleg e se v e ral
e m in e n t pl ay e rs o f t he n e w generation hav e pas sed u n d e r
W o o f s t ut o rs h ip
’
A m o ng t he m w ere t he fiv e broth ers
.
C ha m pain fo ur of w ho m have played for Glouc es tershi re

, .
w . A . woo s . 335
T he s e ta lented broth ers and Messrs E T H eaven E M ,

. .
,
. .
B a rre tt a n d D u Boulay Woof con siders to hav e been his best

, ,
pupils a n d he award s to Mr Hugh Champai n and Mr F H B

, . . .
Ch am pain the credit of being the best captains h e has b een

a ss oci a t ed w i t h a t Cheltenh a m College Woof adds that h e .
a l w a y s look s out for a good lob bo wle r in th e school team -

.
H e t hink s tha t a boy o r a man for that matter who is

—
,
—
h alf a lob bowler is worth his place in a t eam O u th e

-
.
prin ci ple t hat a run saved is a run gained Woof would al so ,
gi v e preference to a good fie ld er over a playe r who is m e re ly

a b a t sm a n or a bowler .
In rece n t s ea son s Woof has been engaged on umpi ring duty

w hen h is college claim s permitted H e was umpi ring at .
So u t ha m p t on in August of last yea r (1 89 9 ) when Ha nts were

pla ying Worcestershire and he says t hat in that contest h e
,
s a w t he fi n e st hitting h e ever sa w in his ca reer The per .
fo rm er was Ca ptain Wynyard The gallant Capta i n w ent in .
s e v en t h w hen i t looked 1 0 to 1 on Worc e st e r but in an hour ,
a n d t w en ty minute s on a crumbling wick e t , h e scored 1 0 8 ,
ru n s
,
a n d t hu s e nabled h is s ide to w in H is hitting was .
t e rrifi c a ll round the wicket .
“
I wa s u m piring in the second match that Mr W M . .
Brad ley played in for Ken t It was again st Lancashi re at .

—
Ca n terbury in August 1 89 5 Mr Patterso n th e ca ptain of .

,
the K en t t eam sa id I ve a n ew bowler h ere Woof He has

, ,
’
, .
b e e n d o in g t remendou s t hings in rustic crick e t

’
‘
D o you .
m i n d m e t a lking to him a bi t C erta inly not sa id Mr ‘

,
’
Pa t t e rs o n When Brad ley ca me in I asked him if h e was

.
a cc us t o m ed to such surroundings I t was Canterbury w eek, .
’
a n d th e re w as a di st in gu i shed co m pany pre se n t No was ‘
.
,
t he re p ly . Well never mind th e lookers ou

‘
,
You kee p -
.
yo ur eye on the o fii st ump M r Bradley did k ee p his eye on

.
’
t h e o tf s t u m p with th e re s ul t that he took 9 wickets fo r 86

-
ru n s A t t he close he was hea rd to r emar k t o a fri end I

.
,
‘
li ke t ha t u m pire H e t a lks to you

. Mr B radl ey was a bit .
’
”
ra w a t t h a t t i m e H e bowled in sa nd boots
.
-
.
I t m ay be added that in addi t io n to his duti es at Chelten

336 O LD ENGLI S H CRI CKETEBS .
ha m College Woof carries o n a n athl e tic o ut fit t er s bu sine ss

,
’
in Su ffolk Ro ad in t he tow n H e is al so a well known

.
-
breeder of fox te rri ers and has carr i ed off numerou s prizes
-
in the Midla nd s a nd Wes t of England among his winning ,
t errier s being Cots wold Brittl e Ch el te nh am B eauty Arden

, , ,
Cha llic e Co tsw old Rusty Cotswold Va ni ty Co tswold Molly

, , , ,
a n d Bim y Bu stle Spor t o n th e Cots wolds find s in him a

.
devo tee . A yea r ago he had a hand in th e bagging of

s e v en b adgers on t h e H ill s includi ng th e larges t dog badger
,
-
(3 8 l
. h ) b a gged in the di strict for y e ars H
. e e vidently bri n g s
s o m e ing e nui t y t o b ea r upon h is athle t ic bu si ne ss seeing that ,
h e is pat entee of a wooden h andl e du m b bell an adj us ta bl e

-
I ndia n cl ub a n d a spi ral spring handle bat

,
-
.
338 IND EX .
Be ll F , 1 7 2 C a fl yn , w 3 6, 5 7 , 64
'
, . .
,
Be n ne t t G , 1 0 1 , 1 7 8 ,
. . 96 , 9 8, 1 0 1 , 1 7 2 .
Be rry J o h n 35 1 5 2
, , , . C am b rid g e , 1 0 , 1 1 , 4 1 , 6 3 , 6 7 , 68,
Be r w i ck , u m p ire t o t he Ro yal A r 7 1 , 1 1 7 , 1 60 , 1 6 1 , 23 8, 2 4 7 , 26 2
t 1l l e ry, 1 2 .
— v e le ve n o f Engl a nd , 1 60 , 2 7 0
»
.
Be s bo ro ug h , Lo rd 23 , 68, 7 0 , 7 1
s
. . M C C 69 , 2 66— 0 . . x fo r d , . O
Be s t wo o d Pa rk , 1 7 0 . 2, 3 , 4 ,
2 40 , 2 4 1 —
0 o rkshi re , . Y
Bic kl e y J 22 . . 79 —
C
a m b rid g e and x ford 0 a O .
Bid d u l ph 20 1 20 2 , , . Y o rksh ire t ea m , 3 % amb rid g e —

C
Bign a ll T o m 1 5 7 , 1 65
, ,
. sh ire v orks hire , 1 87
. Y .
Bir ke nh ead Park 1 4 7 ,

. C an ad a , Engl ish t eams t o , 62 , 1 4 5,
Birm in g ham and D is t rict 0 . U nit ed 1 64 , 27 3 .
So ut h , 4 6 . C a n te rb ury , 58, 7 3 , 1 24 ,
1 35 ,
1 4 0 ,
Bis h o 1 , o f Bo n d St ree t , 21 . 16 1 7 0, 1 7 3 , 200 , 256 , 269 , 2 7 3 ,

Bl ack a m , 82 , 3 19 . 233 ?
Bh g h , H o n I vo , 1 1 7 , 289 . . C a rlis l e , Earl o f, 7 2 .
Bo n n o r G J , 25 , 24 , 6 , 26 5 , 268,. . C a rl o w, 6 9 .
3 08, 3 1 8 3 3 3 Ca e nt er, Rob e rt, 3 5 , 4 0, 4 5, 4 8,

gg
.
,
Boro ugh b rid ge , 1 82 et seq . 64 , 6 5 , 69 , 8 2, 92 , 9 3 , 9 8, 1 5 6 ,

1 5 9 , 1 68, 1 98 .
Bo w l in g 7 20 22, 24, 36 39 , 4
6 . , , C , a rt er , Re v E S , 20 5 et seq , 3 1 5 . . . . .
5 0 5 7 , 68, 7 0 ,
, C ayl e y, Sir eorge , Ba rt , 1 84 G .
1 2 2 et seq , 1 29 , 1 4 3 , 1 50 , 1 7 9 , .
,
1 83 C ha m p ain , th e five b rot hers , 33 4 .
1 87 , 1 90 , 1 9 1, 1 9 3 , 203 , 2 10 , , 21 1 C h arl w o od , 1 35 , 1 4 0 .
2 3 0 , 25 7 25 8, 27 5 , 283 , 3 13 , ,
3 14 C he l tenh am oll ege , 33 1 st seq C .
328 l oh b o wl ing , 2 3 7 1 ,
— -
82 C h iselh urst , 10 .
m o d ern b o wl in g , 4 9, l C la rk e , A l fred , 5 9 64 , 19
8 , .
Bo x , T o m , 8, 29 , 36 , 5 9 , 1 00 C la ke , W il liam , 29 , 3 0 , 32 , 36 , 3 7
s
.
Bo yl e , H F , 3 10 , 3 19 , 321 . . . 4 70
Bra d fo rd , 81 , 86 , 9 3 , 1 5 8, 29 8, 3 1 8 . C l a yt o n , R , 1 4 7 , 284 . .
Bra d l e y, M r W . M 335 . , . Cl itton , 1 1 8, 1 9 7 , 1 98 .
Bra m a l l L a n e , 7 8, 1 0 6 , 1 4 7 , 29 9 . C o bd en , Mr , 2 4 0 .
Bra m pt o n , C , 1 5 9 . . C o bh a m , Lo rd , 20 , 262 .
Brig g s , J , 22 9 , 2 3 5 , 29 4 3 1 0 , 3 28 C o n tab l e Burt o n 0 arl ing t o n , D

s
.
,. .
Br i g ht o n , 25 , 1 00 , 1 3 5 , 1 4 8, 1 5 4 ,
1 7 8, 2
20 2 26 3 2 99. ,
. C o n way, M r J 1 63 .
Brl s t o l , 6 1 . Ccc pe r, Mr W H , 1 1 5 . . .
Bro o k , J 25 9 . C o ward , C , 284 . .
Bro u g h t o n , 7 7 . C rave n , M r, 21 7 .
Bro ug h t o n , M r R , l et ter fro m , 7 . C ricke t , p ast a n d p resen t , 10 , 1 3 ,

Bro w n , 25 1 . 26 1 0 1 , 1 80 ,
,
Bro w n , o f Brig h t o n 8 , . C rick e t ers Frie n d l y Socie t y , 5 6

’
.
Bu c h a n a n , M r D a vid , 24 ,
3 9 et seq , . C rossl and , A , 3 7 , 1 5 0, 21 3 , 23 0 , .
2 0 1 , 2 0 2 , 2 30 , 23 4 ,
2 6 6 tu 26 7 . 295 .
Buc k l a n d , M r F M 2 6 8 . .
, . Outte l l , 25 9 .
Bul l e r, M r C F , 1 25 . . .
Bu ll o c k y , 20 9 . D a ft , C F , 1 2 1 . . .
Bu rb id g e M r F , 2 6 , 9 6 , 9 7 , 9 8
, . . D aft , Rich ard , 28, 5 8, 5 9 , 6 1 , 4
7 ,
Burr up , M r \V1 l l ia m , 4 4, 1 3 3 , 1 44 . 64 , 7 7 , 82 , 8 5 a t s 1 1 6 , 1 20 ,
Bus h , M r J A , 4 2, 4 7 . . . 1 2 1, 1 4 7 , 14 9 , 1 5 8, 63 1 6 5 , 1 6 7 , -
But l e r , M r S E , 1 92 , 2 4 0 . . . 1 9 7 , 1 9 9 20 3 , 256 , 27 5 , 283 , 3 0 7

, .
Bu t t ress, W 6 0 6 1 6 8, 91 , 1 1 7 .
, , . D ag lish J oh n , 1 84 , .
D al e , Mr J W , 229 , 24 0, 24 4 , 25 6 , .
C ae sar , F re d , 1 4 0 . 27 9 .
C aes ar ,
J u l iu s , 22 , 26 , 29 , 6 1 , 9 6, 9 9 ,
D al e , T G 27 9 . .
D a rk, Mr, 26 , 4 8, 62 .
I ND E X . 339
y
D arnl e , Lo rd , 2 7 5 . 1 68, 1 82 cl seq , 20 4 ,
2 1 6 2 1 8, .
-
D a rn t o n , T o m , 1 1 7 . 24 2 , 243 , 25 1 , 25 3 , 25 7 , 260 , 2 7 6 ,
D a vi s , T o m , 9 9 , 1 0 0 . 2 7 8, 3 1 7 .
De a n , J , 29 , 7 2 . . Fm et , M r Pe rc i val , 6 7 .
De r by , 14 9 v Es s e x, 9 3 — f
. .
b y
D e w s ur , 1 5 2 . Gal e , Mr, 1 3 7 .
D e ws e , M r H arr , 1 86 , 1 89 , 27 9 y . Ge n t l e m e n y
P la e rs , 6 , 1 1 , 1 7 , 1 9 ,
D i v e r, 23 , 9 0 , 3 2 3 . 21 , 22 , 4 1 4 4, 46 , 4
-
7 , 50 , 6 2, 7 0 ,
D i xo n , M r, 1 2 3 7 3 7 7 , 1 1 7 , 1 25 , 13 7 , 1 4 4, 1 47 ,
1 7 3,
.
D o l p hi n , R e v J , 9 . . . 1 9 2 , 200 , 230 , 24 2,
D o w s o n , M r E , 2 1 fn 26 , 9 6 . 2 5 2 , 25 4 ,
2 6 6 , 3 2 3 3 24 , .
36
q G e n t l e m e n v Pl a era o f t h e No rt h
.
D o w fl o n , Mr E M 9 6 , 1 5 6 . . of E
ng l an d , 23
k
D ra e , 7 1 G e n tl e m e n o f Eu la nd Ge n t lemen
£
.
D u b li n, 7 2 . o f M i d d l e se x , 3 .
D u Bo u l a , M r, 3 3 5 y . G e nt l e m e n o f t h e No rt h v Gen t l e .
D ud le , 1 6 9 y . m e n o f t h e S o ut h 4 6 .
G e nt l e me n o f t h e éo ut h l aye rs P
Ea s t w o l l , 6 1 , 89 . o f t h e N o rth , 2 4 3 .
Ea s t w o o d , D a v ul , 2 5 9 , 2 7 9 . Gi ff e n , G 29 3 , 3 1 7 , 3 19
. .
Ec c lc s , M r J , 2 95 . . G i l e rt , 9 0 R , 1 3 8
b . . .
El m l m m , 1 0 . G ul l ia t , M r O C S , 1 7 9 . . . .
Em m e tt T o m , 4 6 , 5 1 , 8, 9 4 Gl as go w , 3 2
"
, ,
1 0 3 .
t eq , . 1 9 1 , 1 9 2, 2 1 5 Gl o uce s t e r, 1 , 3 27 9 York s re , —
. hi
2 1 7 , 22 5 , 25 4 ,
25 5 , 265 , 7 9 , 1 1 0 , 3 09 Eas t l o uces t e r G
2 6 6 , 2 7 9 , 298, 3 0 2 , 3 0 9, 3 1 7 , sh ire v . 3 30 .
Goo d ri ch , T , 20 1 , 202. .
En g l a n d v G l o uce s t er , . 1 09 v. Grac e , Mr, se n i o r, 6 1 .
Ke n t 64 ,
u rre S y ,
20 , 22 , Grace, Dr E M , 1 3 , 36 , 6 3 , 7 0 ,
. .
2 3 , 5 8 1 0 1 , 1 7 8, 2 00 0 , 1 7 3, 1 7 4 1 9 8, 3 1 7 , 3 32,
11
.
, ,
Ep s o m v K l ng s c o t c , 9 . . 3 33 .
Et o n , 3 , 1 7 1 1 7 5 , 2 6 2 , H a rro w , Gra ce , M r G F , 1 1 0 , 163 , 1

. . 21 5 ,
3 —
v W i n c h e s t e r, 1 7 9 23 1 , 3 0 9 , 3 27 , 328 329 , 33 2 3 33 .
2 , 1 3 , 26 , 35
. .
,
Eva n s , 3 0 4 . Grace , Mr W .
4 5, 4 6 , 7 3, 7 9’ 82 83 ,
1"u rrm ul u, F ra n k , 2 6 6 , 27 7 , 3 3 0 . 1 06 , 1 1 0 , l l a, 1215,
Fe l i x , N , 2 3 , 2 9 , 7 0 . . 14 7 , 16 1 , 1 7 0 , 17 3 ,
F e l lo w e s , C a p t 1 7 0 . . 20 0 , 216 ,
Fe llo w e s , M r H a rve , 27 5 y . 266 , 27 4 , 27 6 .
F v ll o w e u, M r W a l t e r, 2 2 , 4 7 , 2 66 . 287 , 2 88, 29 6, 306 ,
F l c l cl , T o b ia fl , 2 2 6 . 3 16 , 324 ,
3 2 9 ,
33 1 ,
k u l cl m g , 5 , 92 , 1 1 6 .
Gra ves en d , 25 3 , 25 6 .
P i t / g ru c
vo
l l, Mr R . A 17 9 , G ray , D r A l an , 2 1 2 , 2 1 4 .
G re e n, Mr C E , 1 1 1 27 6 . .
. .
F lo w v rs , 2 86 G ree n J ack et s v Lyric Cl u b , 267 . .
Fo rh c q , W F , 1 7 5 , 2 1 9 . . . G re e n w o od A n d re w, 7 6, 1 3 7 , 1 63 ,
,
"
I n ! cl , M r F G F , 90 . . 2 5 9 2 7 9 , 300 .
. .
.
Fi n e s t o f A r de n v Lca m in gt o n , 4 9 . . Gre e n w oo d , J o h , 62, 7 6 .
Mr A 43 . . Gree n w oo d , Luk e , 7 6 et seq 1 06 ,

7 , 1 5 9 , 2 1 1 , 25 1 , 259
.
lfil xn u s ,
'
K , 23 8, 2 3 9 , 2 7 0 . . 14 3, 1 4 .
F m Po w d e rs , 1 8 64 ,
1 4 9 G r o ry , D W , 1 1 3 25 5 , 3 2 1
. .
N o tt 1 ug l1a m s 1nixe : 96
.
6 . t h, G , . 14 4 ,
—
S o ut h g a t e , 4
v . 7 . 1 91 , 1 94 .
F rm n m n , ( i v o rg c , 23 , 2 4
'
, 3 6 ,
5 0 ,
5 9, '
Gri ms to n , H o n Ro b e rt , 23 , 9 1 , .
6 1 , 82 , 9 4 , 106 , 1 4 0 , 14 1 , 1 67 , 26 7 .
340 I ND EX .
Grim woo d S , 3 21 . . 14 4, 1 90 , 24
4, 25
3, 2 5 4
,
Grun d J , 49 y7 2 , 86 , . ,
27 9 , 284 .
17 11111 crick e ters , 7 2

.
145 , 1 5 5 , 1 99 202, 2 20 .
I rvi ng , Rev A J 21 3
,
Gu nn , W , 1 23 , 1 29 , 1 69 , 203 . . . .
I sli ngton , 24
.
G uy, J o e , 60 . .
I Zingarl , 69, 32 4— v Y o rks h ire .
H al l o w , Mr \a t e r, 4 3, 14 5 , 1 92 . Ge ntl emen , 21 9 .
H a i g h , M r W al t e r, 25 9 .
1 111 11, Lo u i s 2 1 6, 23 1 , 268, 285 ,

. J ack so n Mr F 8 33 1
, . .
H a m i l to n , Mr, 21 3 . J ac kso n J o h n
, 9 2 2 , 24
, 1 , , 4 8, 5 5 at
H a re c amt l e , 60 . seq" 1 21 , 1 5 6 1 5 8, 1 88, 1 9 8, 200 , -
Hare nc , 9 . 204, 233 , 27 8 .
H arr i s , Lo rd 5 1 , 1 1 1 1 1 4 , 1 4 7 ,
1 6 4, ,
-
J Mr Herb ert , 1 cl seq , .
1 6 5 , 21 6 , 2 7 3 , 27 4 , 2 7 7 , 28 6 , 301 ,
3 0 3 , 304 3 0 8 3 1 5 , 324 J ephson Mr D L A 2 3 . . .
J essop 1111 Gil bert 7 4 26 3

.
, , .
,
Ha rro g a te , 263 , 3 1 8
“
.
.
, , ,
a rro w , 1 9 , 1 7 2 , 26 8 J ones 8 P 83 . . .
1o uat han 21 8
. .
l l a w ke , Lo rd , 3 7 , 5 6 , 84 94 , 1 08, J o y, .
m
.
7s 1 25
,
1 7 6 , 2 25 . Ju a
,m1 , , 14 0, ,
H ay wa rd , T O 111 , 20 , 4 0, 4 8, 5 8, 60 , 4 4 , 1 9, 56 , 1 62 , 1 63 , 1 9 1 , 302 .
64 6 9 , 82 1 5 8, 1 5 9 , 1 89 , 1 9 8
“
.
, ,
ca m e , 295 . Kei b l ey 1 05 v . U n it e
d
"ca m e , 1 e rgo, 1 8, 287 , 29 5 , 33 4
1 -
, . E e ven , 1 06 .
H e a rne , T o m , 1 9 , 6 1, 9 2 . Ke l so n, Mr G M , 27 5 . . .
1 10 11 1 1 0 T 0 111 (youn ger) , 21 2 , 2 1 4 K em pson M r Mat , 7 1 7 3

3
.
K e nny , h1r E M , 22 2
, , ,
27 . .
1 10 11 11 11 , Mr E T , 33 1 , 3 35
1
. . . Ke nt, 8— v Lanca s lu re , 3 3 5 — v . .
1 11 11 10 1 1 1, 6 0
1 3
. 227 v M i dd l es e x, 2 1
—
.
Hic k s , J , 2 7 9 . . v Nott s , 1 21 , 1 56 , 1 6 4 v S u rre y ,

'
. .
1 1111 R o c kh m n pt o u, 1 2 . 27 4 v York shire , 25 3 296 , 3 1 5

—
. .
11 111, A l l a n , 24 5 0 , 7 9 , 82 1 93 , 1 9 4 —
W e st Ke nt 11 No rfo lk 1 0
Kent 111111 Glo ucester 11 I1e 2 t o f
, . , .
20 4 , 25 4 , 2 5 7 , 2 5 9 ,
2 69 , 2 7 9 ,
2 9 8, .
En gl an d , 1 7 0 .
1 1111 Mr F , 24 0 . . K nares worth v U nited Ele ve n 2 1 8 . .
y
H il l e r W , 29 , 3 6 , 5 9
, . .
H in k l y, 161 1111 11111 1, 3 7 , 61 . La ncas re , 23 4 hi —

l eague cricke ia , t
H i rs t , 3 1 0 . 15 1 .
11111 11 3 0 11 , I k e, 3 2, 3 3 , 5 9 , 60 , 86, 93 ,
1
La nca sh ire v 24 7 .
15 9 M id d lese x 23 — v No tts , 1 66 — r
4
. . .
1 11111 10 11 , C ap t a n , 1 66 i . Surre 1 4 287 — 41 us s e x , 228 . S

111m m , 1 3 21 ork s1
' ‘
.
— v . 1 ire, 23 1 , 283 , 288.
y
H o rn b , M r A N 1 1 3 , 1 1 4 ,
1 1 7, . 293 , 3 10 — Gent l e 111e 11 11 Pl a ye rs .
1 17 , 2 13 , 2 2 0 2 29 , 2 3 1 , 2 32 , 2 5 1 ,
-
, of 14
, 4 Nort h ancash ire v L .
2 842 86 , 289 29 3 , 29 5 , 3 1 6 ,
-
, M a nc e ste r, 1 4 h 3 .
3 2 8, 3 3 2 . 1411 11110 11 , M v C W , 213 . . .
H o wi t t , ( 10 0 11 1 0 , 2 1 , 1 6 1 . 1411 11 0 , Rev C G , 29 , 9 6 . . . .
2 3 1 , 2 5 6 , 25 7 , 288, 3 17 . La s c e l les 7 6 , 80 , 81 f n , 83 , .
1 11111, 62 . 1 5 3 , 24 9 , 25 8, 3 1 2 8111111111111,
y
H u m p h re , T o m , 2 6 , 7 8, 1 0 6, 1 2 5 , 25 8 .
La w W , 27 9, . .
1 11 1 11 g rfo r11,
1-
La w re nce , ( L, 4 1, 72 .
H un t , T o m , 2 9 . Le a th a m , Mr G A B 21 1 , 21 3 , . .
1 1 11 11111 , Da v i d , 3 1 0 . 2 1 7 , 22 5 .
H u n t e r, 2 17 . 1 0 0 , 1 89
1 .
Le e d s , 1 84 1 89 . .
1111113 0 11 , Ro g e r, 2 0, 3 7 , 7 7 . 82 , 86, Le ices t e rsh iro v Wur wickehlre, 51 . .

342 IN D EX .
North 11. ,
S o u th
23 , 29 , 5 8, 7 3 , 7 7 , Pil c , F u ller , 32, 5 8, h
86 , 1 24 , 1 4 0 ,
29 8 2 59 . .
N o rt h o f ngl a n d v E urre , 35 , Pi l in gto n , Mr C . S y k .
98 .
P11k ingt o n , Mr H C , 1 7 6 . . .
No rt h ern o m ad s , th e, 1 4 N 9 F ill ng . R c ard , . i ih

No rt o n , Mr B , 64 . .
N o t ti ng h am , 2 1 , 5 8, 1 20 , P nd e r, George 1 1 6, 1 1 7 , 1 3 4 , 14 1, i ,
3 30 .
No tts , 85 ,
,
20 3 11 us se x , 1 5 4 ,
P 19
—
e rs v S 11
. 1r ey,S .
'
15 8
1 65 , 1 6 8, P oo l e , Ed ward , 1 3 1 et seq 21 4 y . .
Fos no , 2 7 4 .
O Brie n, Sir T C , 2 7 1 , 3 23
’
. Po tt er, T O , I 4
. 4 . . . .
O l d h a m , 60 . Pough er 295
Po w ys , 14
.
O l d T ra fl ord 4 0 , 1 67 ’, 228, 1 24
'
. 1 ‘
.
285 , 287 , 2 89 , 32 8 Presto n, 1 13 . .
O s cro ft , C , I54. T . rin ce s Groun d , 3 6 , 2 4

’
. 3 , 29 8 P .
O scro ft , J , .
Oscro ft , Wi l l i a m , et Quaifes th e t wo, 1 28 .
seq 25 6 , 2 7 0 , 2 7 5 f n
. .
O sh a ugh n ess , E , 3 1 5
’
y Ranp t sinhp , K S , 84
. .
, 24 7 . . .
Ot ta w a , 1 4 6 . Read , M auri ce , 83 , 2 5 5 .
O tta w a , Mr C J , 4 y 3, 14 5 , 1 7 5 , R ea d , W W 2 87 , 290 , 323

. . . .
23 9 , 2 4 1 , 24 2, 2 4 7 Re d cap , 20 9 .
1 , Re d fe aén , T ’
.
4 .
4 2, 4 4 , 78 ”
, te , 1 1 .
1 0 2, 1 0 6 , 1 o7 21 3 .
R h od es , W 11fr1d 93 .
25 4 , 27 4 ,
3 19 , R ich ard so n , J , 27 4 .
32 4 ,
3 33 . R ickl ing Gre e n ,
O we n, Mr, 93 . R o erts , M r J H 3 0 7 b . . .
O w e n , R e v Ca no n , 1 83 , 1 86 , 1 87 ,
. R o ertso n , Mt G b .
1 95 . R o e rts o n W al er, Mr J , 3 24 b -
k . .
O x fo rd , 4 ,
4 7 , 1 7 3 , 20 6 R o nso n , M r J , 27 9 . bi . .
Ro ch d al e , 60 .
Page , M r, 2 7 8 . R o c k , C W , 3 23 . . .
Pug e t , Lo rd A l red , 5 0 f R o w o th am , J o e , 1 4 . 0 , 1 94 b .
Pa m t e r, 3 1 7 . R o w l e , Mr A , 1 3 , 1 4 4 y . .
Parr Ge o rg e , 29 , 3 2 , 3 6 , 4
, 8, 6 2 64 , R o wl e , M r E , 1 4 4, 23
3 -
y . .
7 3, 74 , 7 7 , 80 , 88, 90 1 4 4 ,
1 5 5 R o l e ,
R e v V e rn on , 1 1 5 , 1 67 , 268
, y . .
1 5 8, 1 6 7 , 1 7 0 , 1 87 , 1 9 8, 227 25 6 R 0 yl e , Mr V F 30 4 . . . .
P a t t e rso n , M r W S , 23 1 3 35 Bu b y ,
. . . v Man .
—
.
Pa uu ce fo t e , Mr B , 4 3 , 23 8 c es t er, 3 9
. . .
P e a rso n , J o h , 1 84 ,
1 85 , 1 88 R u tt er, M r E 25 . .
Pe a t e , 1 0 7 1 1 0 1 1 2, 1 1 7 , R lo tt , R , y .
22 4 22 9 , 29 2 , 29 3 , 3 1 0 , 3 1 2 cl
,
s eq , 3 28, 3 3 4
. .S am 80 11 , R e m
Pe e l , R o ert , 9 3 , 25 3 , 288
b Sca r orou8 h
g , .
Pe nn , Mr F ran , k 2 1 3 , 21 7 , 263 , 26 4 , 27 4,
Pe n rose , C h a rl e s , 2 1 8 27 6 27 9 , 3 2 4 . o rksh ire Ge n , Y
I e rmub u l at ors v R e igat e , 1 7 9
’
t l e m e n , 22 4 Vi s itors 6 ord.
—
. L
Pe rri n , M r P , 9 3 Lo ud esb o ro ugh s El even , 2 7 9
’
. . .
P e t e r o ro u g h 6 1
b , co tt , 22 9
. S .
5 8, 6 5 1 6 4 co tt o n , 285 ,
3 22 . S . .
P1ck e r111g , 1 4 5 . el , 1 67 ,
3 2 1 , 3 22 S by .
I ND EX . 343
Se w ell , T o m , 96 , 9 8, 9 9 , 101 . Syd n ey ,

1 1 2 et seq.
Sh w a , A l fre d, 5 6 , 7 8 81 , 82 , 93 , ,
1 08, 1 1 1 , 1 1 8, 120 et s eq , .
1 641 66 1 6 9 , 1 89 , 2 3 1 , 24
-
3 , 24 6,
25 6 , 25 8 8 2 89 , 2 9 4
, 28 , 2 7 ,
5 29 5 , et seq 27 8
T ayl o1, W , I O2 :
, , .
’
.
T e m pl er, M aj o r, 241 .
Sh e ffie l d , 3 6 , 5 9 , 6 3 , 7 8, 9 8, 1 1 0 , T he wl 1 s, J oh n ,
1 36 , 1 6 8, 1 9 3 , 1 9 8, 1 9 9 , 2 1 4 1
, 2 6 ,
25 1 , 2 83 , 3 09 , 3 15 , 3 23 . Thi rs k ,
S h e ffie l d , Lo rd , 1 2 7 , 1 28 . Th o m s ,
Ro be t r ,83 .
S h e p h e rd , 1 5 6 . Th o n tr on, Mr C I . .
, 25 , 7 7 4 1 24
4 , , ,
S h erm a n , T o m , 1 40 . 21 1 , 238,
S h e r wi n , 1 6 6 , 2 94 .
S h o tto n , G , 60 , 2 5 9 . . Th ornton Mr P M 1 90 2 7 9 , . .
, , .
S b y
h re ws u r , W , 1 1 1 , 1 23 , 1 2 6 1 29 , .
-
T h ro w l ey Lo rd 3 1 5 , , .
1 67 , 287 , 2 89 , 3 0 1 , 3 20 , T i l la d M 1 0 46
r , .
,
.
T i n l y Chri s 32 48 5 9 60
e , , , , , , 63 ,
Sh u gb o ro u gh Pa rk , 7 7 . 1 5 8,
S h u t er, Mr J 23 8 . T y
i nl e , M r F 5 8, 20 1 .
S i m s , R e v H M 1 60 , 21 3 , 2 1 4
. . T o i n , M r F , 23 8
b . .
S l i n u , W 86 , 9 4 ,
15 5 . T o i n , W A , 27 8
b . . .
S m it h , A F , 1 90 , 2 7 9 , 2 9 6 , 3 00 ,
. . T o we rso n , J 3 7 .
3 30. T o w n s e n d , M r G , 30 9 . .
S un t h , J , 1 4. 0, 14 9, 1 5 7 , 15 9 . T o w n s e n d Mr P , 4 2, 1 09 , 3 17
, . .
S m i t h D o rri e n , M r , 2 13
-
. T re nt Br i d g e , 1 5 6,
S m o kers v N o u s m o e rs , 2 5
.
-
k . 165 , 1 7 0 , 2 5 3 , 2 86 , 3 1 5 .
S o ut h A fri ca , En g l is h t ea m t o , 3 0 7 . T re n th a m ,
S o ut h e rt o n , J a HI C b , 45 , 1 0 2, 1 63 , T ruro , 3 2 , 5 8 .
z
2 00 , 266 , 27 0 . T un nicl ifie 2 5 1 , .
S o u t h g a t e , 1 7 , 1 8, 2 1 25 , 27 , 7 4 , 97 , , T urn er, C T B , 2 7 0 , 3 1 7 . . . .
T urn er, M r M , 4 3, 4 5 , 14 8 . .
Sp o ff o rt h , M r F 24 , 25 ,
82 , 1 1 5 , T ye , J 3 2 2 .
17 6, 2 4 4, 2 5 5 , 2 6 7 , 2 7 8, 285 , 29 4 ,
T yle co t e, M r E F S , 4 3 . . . .
3 04 .
S t e e l , M r A G , 83 , 1 7 5 , 23 4, 263 , . U ll at h o rn e , G , 1 89 25 2, 29 7 , 3 1 0 .
, .
26 4 ,
2 81 , 2 87 , 3 1 9 , 3 2 3 , 3 2 4 . U 1yet t , Ge o rge ,
S t e ph e n s o n , 3 7 , 5 8, 87 , 9 3 , 1 9 4
3 22 , 325
,
217 . et seq . .
S t e ph e n s o n , H H , 2 6 , 3 6 , 3 7 , 5 7 ,. U m p i ri n g , ” 83 , 92 ,
64 ,
S 7 , 9 1 , 9 2, 9 6 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 2 , 1 0 6 , 1 1 1 , 1 60, 1 80 , 20 4
,
2 1 8 et s eq , .
23 3 2 7 1 , 29 4
, .
S t v w a rt , M v W A , 2 4 0 . . .
S to ke s , M 1 P , 2 3 8 ‘
. . Un it e d So uth o f Engl an d v t we nt y .
S t ra ch a n , M r Ge o rg e , 1 1 8 . t wo o f Gr i m s , 25 6 by .
S t xe e t , G , 2 0
. . Unite d tate s , Eu 11811 t eam s t o , 6 2,
S
Sh e et, J 1 36, 2 1 4 27 4 1 1 , 1 1 6, 1 40, 1 5 , 1 64 9 4 6
1
,
.
,
1 , 25 ,
S t m l d , M r C T , 83 , 1 7 5 , 3 1 9
. . . 30 7 .
S u g g , F ra n , 5 6 , 2 9 5k . Un ive rsit ies Past an d Pres e nt 12 .
S u g g , \V11 l t e r, 5 6 . G
en t l e m e n o f t he o ut , 4 6 S h .
S n u n n c w , G v o rg o , 87 , 27
10 2 , 1 3 3 u sse x , 10 0 , S V erno n Mr G ,
. F 12 7 .
135 —
11 .Y 0 1 k 4l 1 ire , 3 2 , 1 0 6 ,
1 3 6 , 2 5 1 , 25 2 2 5 4 ,
3 16 , . W al k er Mr A 1f 6 d 27,
1
’
, .
S ns w x, 7 3 1 1 Y o r s hi re , 29 9
—
. k . Wal k er, Mr Fred 2 7 , .
344 IN D E X .
W al k er Mr I D 27 30 41 4
3 , 7 8, 86 , 93 , 1 3 4
, 1 3 7 , 1 38, 1 4
0 , 1 94
7 0 , 7 8, 1 25 , 1 35 , 1 9 0 , 19 1 , 23 1 ,
, , , .
, .
,
200 , 227 , 25 6 .
268, 27 9 , 3 1 9 , 3 23 , 33 2, 33 4 . W i l so n , M r J W , 2 3 8 . .
k
W a l e r, M r J O 11 11 , 1 9 , 4 w sd en J oh n , 1 9 , 22, 29, 5 7 , 5 8,
gé
7 . .
k
W a l e r, Mr R D , 1 90 2 7 9 . .
, .
k
W al e r, Re v R l e t t e r ro m ,
. . f W i sk er, W 210 .
, .
38 . Wood s Mr S M J , 27 0 . . . .
k
W a l e r, Mr V E , 1 7 et seq , 5 8, W o o f, A , 3 27 et se
{
. . . .
70 . 7 4 , 1 00 f
n , 200 . . W oo t ton , Geo rge , 87 , 3 7 , 1 4
5 , 155,
W a r d, A l be rt , 29 5 , 3 1 0 . 1 93 , 1 9 7 et seq .
W ard , Re v A R 63 , 7 1 . . W o o tto n , J ames , 25 3 .
W ard , Mr E E 24 0 . . W o rd sworth , Bish op, 3 .
W ard , N r w 1 0 1 1 7 1 . W ormal d , J 1 7 9
5
.
W ar w icks h ire W righ t, M r C W 1 5 4 . .
W a tso n , A l ec 1 50 22 7 at seq , . W ri gh t , Rev F W , 233 . . . .
W e l l s , Mr C M 1 7 1 . . W yn ward , Cap ta i n , 33 5 .
W e l ls G , 1 0 1
, . .
W e nm a n E G , 8 29 , . .
, . Yard l e y , Mx W .
, 4
6 7 3 7 4 23 7
, , , at
W est , J oh n , 7 8, 1 4 7 , 284 . se 27 5 .
W h ee ler, H J 27 9 . . Ye 0 11 , 3 1 2 .
W h 1t eh a ven , 3 7 , 1 3 9 . Yo r k , 2 0
1 .
k k
W i c e t ee p i ng , 6 , 8, 1 33 , 1 4
-
1 . k
Yor e r, o rigin o f t he te rm , 223
”
.
W 1111, F , 1 6 5 , 1 67
. . k
Y or s hi re, 29 , 9 3 1 0 5 , 1 60 r ,
—
.
k
W i l i n so n , A J , 2 7 1 27 9 . . . M i d d l e s e x , 2 4 G e nt l e m e n v
W il l sh er, Ed gar, 20 , 29, 3 7 , 5 7 , 6 1 ,
.
H e wort h Re venera, 21 0 .
T HE END .
P R I NT E D BY W I LLI A M BLA C KW O O D A N D S O NS .

A. W. Pullin - Talks With Old English Cricketers

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

A. W. Pullin - Talks With Old English Cricketers

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

I NTRODUCTI ON .

t h e y are t o b e fo un d in t h e e s t a b lishe d chro nicle s o f

I f t h e yiel d shoul d e n ab l e t h e pub lic t o a ppra is e t h e

b es t k n o wn he roes o f En gl is h cricke t , t h e t ask

write r wi ll h a ve b ee n a cco m pl is hed T he preparat io n.

o rigi n ally un d ertaken o n b e hal f o f t he Yo rks hi re ‘

Port ra i t f rom p hoto by Wheeler Br ig hton

Port ra i t f rom p hoto by Turner (2 Dri n kwa ter '

Por tra i t f rom p hoto by Phil lips , Not t ingha m .

Portra i t f rom photo by Dicki nson , Lo nd on .

Port ra i t f rom pho to by Ha wki n s , Bri gh ton .

Por t ra i t f ro m p h o to by R ussel l , Ch iches ter .

Portm it /m p hoto by E l iot! t Fry , Lond on .

Portra it f rom photo by Falk, S yd ney .

THE county of Glouc este r has

Bu t i t can lay claim to ano th er

e s t ing p er s on ali ty i s Mr Herbert

Jenn e r Fu st who resid e s at H ill

Court n ear Falﬁe ld Glouce ster

shi re I t was t o t h e a u tho r a

mos t hopeful augury that in

re minis c e nc es personally g iv e n fo r th e ﬁrst t im e of th e olde st

hero of t h e cricke t ﬁe ld s till living T he kind reception t e

ce iv e d f ro m t h e re m a rkable nonag e na r ian of H ill Cour t and ,

t he encou ra gement t hat t h e in tervi e w afforded had no t a li tt l e

to do with the author s prosecution of th e Ta lk s u n til they

reached the dim e n sions recorded in thi s volume .

M r J enner Fust was born on February 2 3 1 80 6

Pres id e n t of the M C C in 1 83 3 wh e n twenty s even years of

W G Grace the great c rick et luminary of t he nineteenth

cen t ury was born To e mphas i s e hi s long span of life stil l

more clearly i t should b e mention ed that M r J enn er Fu st

was born a y ear after Trafa lgar wh e n George I I I w as ,

king was n in e years old at the bat tle of Wa t erloo and

was Pre sid e n t of the M C C fo ur years before the Queen . . .

ca m e to the throne H e has see n fou r monarch s on th e

throne ; and has main ta in e d hi s alleg iance to King Willow

Yet one more remarkable fa ct H e i s the only s u rvivo r of .

the ﬁrst Oxford Cambridge match played in 1 82 7 in , ,

which h e acted a s the Cambridge captain The ot her t we n ty .

one have all j oin e d the gr eat majori ty What he recollects .

of the ﬁrst c rick et Battle of the Blues will be told later o u .

In hi s c rick et ing days Mr Jenn e r Fust was known as H er -

bert Je nn er The nam e of Fus t was add ed later H e i s

no relat io n of th e great D r Edward J enn er whose monumen ,

tal wo rk in di scov ering the prophylactic po wer of vaccination

O n e of my ﬁrst q u er i e s had reference to the q ue s tion of

lar that n am e and n eighbourhood should be id e n t ical for the ,

famou s D r J enner was born at Berkeley which i s but four ,

mile s di sta nt from Hill Court But M r J enner Fust i s o f .

di st ingui sh ed paren tage H is fa t her was the Right Hon S ir

Herbert J enner Fu st who in t he ea rly d e cad es of the cen t ury

M r J enner F u st s ucc eed e d h is fa ther in t he H ill e state s in

the year 1 85 2 and has resid e d at H ill Court sinc e 1 86 4 The

Court i s a sub stantial country m a n sion beau t ifully s i t u a t ed in ,

a posi tion overlooking t he Fores t of D ean The nea res t rail .

w ay tations a re Tho rnbury a place nam e for ever famous in

c ri c ket annal s som e fou r miles away

t h e sam e di stan c e in th e oppo site directio n A ﬁne av e nu e of .

fe w yard s from th e hou se stand s a quai nt old chu r ch portion s ,

of w hich had th e i r architect and build e r in th e thi rt eenth cen

Seventy eight yea rs have p ass ed sinc e H erbert Jenner

won hi s cricket spu rs at Eton It was on Augu st 1 1 82 2 .

t hat he played in th e Eton tea m again st Ha rrow at Lord s ’