Clem Hill's Reminiscences

find myself humming those words. I liked the music halls of London. They were bright shows, and the world’s best artists appeared at them. George Robey 19 , the great comedian, used to come down to Lord’s to have a hit with us before we started the tour. He achieved his ambition as a bowler, so he told us, when he bowled Victor Trumper. The great Victor hit over the top of so many balls that at last one struck the wicket. Jones was a splendid fieldsman at mid-off – in fact, the greatest I have seen in that position. 20 He could bound to the side at great speed, and snap up the ball with either hand, and make a quick return to the wicket. A batsman named Diver, who was playing for Warwickshire, hit one hard between ‘Jonah’ and the bowler. ‘Come on, an easy one in it,’ he called out to his partner. But he had not reckoned on the fleet-footed Ernie Jones. In a flash he had pounced on to the ball, and knocked the wicket down. Diver was not half-way down the pitch. ‘Plum’ Warner, who is co-manager of the English team now in Australia, also fell a victim to smart fielding, this time by Syd Gregory. He must have forgotten that Syd was about the place. 21 ‘One in it, perhaps two,’ he called to his partner. But he was too optimistic. There was not one in it. Before he had got to the other end Gregory had whipped up the ball and thrown the wicket down. It was not easy to take a catch in the slips off Jones, as the ball travelled very fast. On one occasion two or three were dropped off him. When we reached the dressing room at the adjournment he said, good humouredly, ‘Some of you fellows wouldn’t catch the town hall clock if it fell.’ The same afternoon he missed the easiest of catches. What a time we gave him! Whenever we passed a town hall after that we pointed to the clock and enquired tactfully if he thought he could catch it. Batsman whistled for confidence We used to joke with players of the opposing team, even in Test matches. Jessop was a very fine fieldsman for England at cover point. He anticipated well and threw in smartly to the wicket. We had to be very wary when sneaking a run, if a ball went in his direction. If we did succeed in beating him we would call out, ‘Beat you that time, Gilbert: bit slow off the mark, weren’t you?’ To which he would reply, ‘Yes, but I’ll get you in time.’ And he did. He got my wicket; and, as I walked past him to the pavilion he said, ‘We’re even now for a while, Clem.’ I was always interested in watching the actions of men as they came out to bat. Some did a little whistling, others chewed a blade of grass. You could depend upon it that they lacked confidence and might go cheaply. Other batsmen, to mention two, Joe Darling and Alf Noble, were not like that. They walked to the wicket with determined stride, looking neither to the right nor the left, took His First English Tour 28 19 George Robey was a famous music-hall artist from the 1890s who in a long career turned to Shakespearean roles, particularly Falstaff, in the 1930s and appeared as a dying Falstaff in Laurence Olivier’s 1940s film, Henry V . 20 Jones’ brilliance as a fielder is often forgotten. 21 This reference to Warner relates to his management of Jardine’s Bodyline tour.