Clem Hill's Reminiscences

kept low. In ordinary circumstances I would have attempted to hook it and would have been bowled for a certainty. But instead I blocked it. After a while figures in flannels began to show up in front of our dressing room and Laver waved a signal to me that reinforcements had arrived. Of course the delinquents had a variety of excuses, the most popular one being that the traffic was very heavy in the Strand, and they could make progress only very slowly. On this tour Hopkins cut his hand and could not play for some time. It was at the end of a day’s play against Derbyshire. There were no facilities for a bath at many of the cricketing grounds in England. Hopkins was throwing water with a glass over one of the players from a wash basin. He struck the tap while throwing and the glass broke and cut his hand. An amusing story is told of burly Warwick Armstrong. He weighed somewhere about 18 stone. He was at Southampton on a very warm day. While strolling about, he noticed a small boy following close behind. He took no notice for some time; he concluded it was another instance of hero worship. The persistency of the lad began to get on Armstrong’s nerves, so he stopped and asked what he wanted. The lad replied that he did not want anything. So the big Australian went on again, and so did the little fellow. Armstrong decided to put an end to the irritation. ‘Here, give me your autograph book and I’ll sign it’, he said. The boy did not have an autograph book. ‘Then what do you want?’, enquired Armstrong. ‘Please, sir’, came the reply, ‘you are the only bit of decent cool shade in the place. Cricketers meet many notable people. The late Earl Balfour 49 , when he was First Lord of the Treasury, came into our dressing room to meet us. We were in various stages of undress. One player held up his trousers with his left hand and shook hands with his right. Another had one leg in his trousers and the other out. Others, who were drying themselves, did not even have that much on. Instances have been known of people impersonating members of the Australian eleven for notoriety. While we were at Bath, Duff and Laver received accounts and letters from landlords who had been imposed upon by a person passing himself off as Duff. In a match against Surrey, Jim Kelly, our wicket-keeper, damaged a finger, and I had to take his place behind the sticks. I was struck on the eye and was out for two games. On a later tour there was an unusual accident at Durham. In running out to play a ball a batsman put his knee out of joint and was unable to get back to the crease. One of the Australians pushed the knee into position and the batsman was carried off, but a few minutes later he was walking about as if nothing had happened. Among the spectators at Durham were many coal miners. They had a strong objection to a fieldsman stopping the ball with his foot. They said he had hands His Fourth English Tour 78 49 Rt Hon. Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930) was a member of the British cabinet as First Lord of the Treasury from 1891 to 1892 and again from 1895 to 1905. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. He was created the first Earl of Balfour in 1922.