Cricket 1882

282 CEiCKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. SEPT. 14, 1882. short mid on—and some extraordinary catches he brings off in that very dangerous place. He is very justly considered one of the best judges of cricket in Australia. The confidence felt in him indeed is shown by the fact that the whole selec­ tion of the Inter-colonial teams in Victoria has been, for the last four years, left solely in his hands. Boyle is in many respects the type of a true cricketer. He takes equably what falls to his lot in cricket without grumbling. He works works hard and pluckily from first to last, and is content to sink his own personal feelings in the interest of the side. He is head of the firm of Boyle and Scott, cricket warehousemen, Melbourne. For the benefit of the curious in such matters, it may be added that he is 6 feet in height and 11 stone 4 pounds in weight. M ID D L E S E X C R ICK E T . N othing is commoner than to hear a cricketer account for the lack of bowling talent in Middlesex by the fact thatthere are no village greens in the county. The speaker, we take it, cannot have wended his way through Shepherd’s Bush to Acton, thence to shady leafy Perivale, bright with a wealth of foliage such as Hampshire or Kent might envy, and blessed with a priceless peace and quiet, the more valuable that it exists within a few miles of the -great metropolis. But the aforesaid country sketch might have been enlarged did but time and opportunity admit, and after crossing the N ew River Company’s canal, th e voyagcur might skirt the base of Harrow Hill and pass through a wild piece of country stretch­ ing towards Uxbridge, which finds but a counter­ part in regions where the iron road has not yet permeated, and where mankind live in blissful ignoranceof London and all its ways. Mostresidents on the north side of London are familiar with the uplands of Stanmore, rich in distant and varied sylvan prospects of much beauty, even if they have not penetrated to the regions of breezy and bracing Southgate ; while, should the delights of such ac­ quaintance with nature be yet untasted, there are few w ho have not sauntered along the banks of old Father Thames and revelled in the delicious shades of Twickenham, visiting, if it be Saturday, the Orleans Cricket Ground, when Mr. C. I. Thornton’s team are engaged in one of their weekly contests. Love of nature again may not have taken the visitor to Lalebam or Feltham, but in that region he is inMiddlesex still, and the lowland expanse between the latter village and Hounslow is ground whereon a Middlesex county secretary is at liberty to monopolize local talent. And on every one of the aforesaid spots, not to mention cricketing Enfield and Hornsey, is it open to secure genuine county talent. Aud yet, professionally speaking, such an article does not exist. Why, even when the Rutter family lived at Uxbridge, and carefully sifted all the talent on behalf of the county, they met with the same indifferent success which has awaited the watchful Tom Hearne while observing the youngsters of Acton, Ealing, and Hanwell. It is really almost incredible to learn that not on a single village green in the above- mentioned localities, not either in the suburbs of Chiswick, Hammersmith, or Turnham Green, the open public space available for East-end cricketers at Victoria Park, or above all at Harrow, dedicated almost to bat and ball, has a native bowler of high repute been discovered since living cricketers can remember. One is almost led to ask can the system adopted be correct, had not the case of a sister shire, Kent, been present to demonstrate how, with four times the local advantages, amidst a sympathetic and enthusiastic population, and working under the best of county secretaries, not one first-class native professional bowler has come out, while the two or three useful men found in their natal county have aled, so far as serviceability is concerned, before a liddlesex youth — George Hearne, who was nduced to accept a bird in the hand from he county of liis residence in preference to one in the bush from the county of his birth. There­ fore it is that the cause of Middlesex professional cricket being (with the exception of Burton, who came out in the annual colts’ match) conspicuous by its absence must be elsewhere sought for. Middlesex county cricket may be fairly described as a need of our times, one, moreover, felt early in the century, before the rush of vigorous youth to London was so great as it now is, both from Oxford and Cambridge, as well as from the great schools. True it is that a Marylebone Cricket Club (not to speak of various satellites, such as the Islington Albion and others) were even in the last century ready to exercise our youth in the national pastime, but, as facts will show, the desire for the formation of a county team took very early form. Mr. Ward’s greatest score was][accomplished in a Middlesex match, the record of which will be found on the walls of the Lord’s pavilion. And indeed a research into the antiquarian records of early cricket will find the County of Middlesex frequently in the field. Nor has the continual tendency to encourage such espiit de corps in cricket in any degree or from any point proved a failure. The establishment of the present Middlesex Cricket Club dates from 1863, when, answering to an out­ spoken demand, Mr. V. E. Walker and Mr. C. Hillyard became secretaries, and under the presi­ dency of Mr. John Walker, of Arnos Grove, South­ gate, established their head-quarters near the old Cattle Market, north of Islington. The ground, a very fast and true one, became celebrated for long scores, several interesting encounters with the strongest counties there taking place. It was here, playing against Middlesex, that Mr. W. G. Grace made one of his earlier appearances in the metro­ polis. It was, moreover, at the Islington ground that T. E. Case, J. J. Sewell (a magnificent field), J. C. Gregory (almost a counterpart of his Austra­ lian namesake), Mr. Bissett Halliwell (unsurpassed amongst amateur wicket-keepers), Mr. B. B. Cooper (whose defence against first-class bowling was grand), Messrs, John, V. E., R. D., and I. D. Walker, Mr. A. W. T. Daniel, Mr. C. F. Buller, and Mr. B. Pauncefote all made their first appearances for the home county. Neither should we forget Tom Hearne, Mr. A . J. Wilkinson, Pooley—the famous wicket-keeper, who subsequently seceded to Surrey, the county of his birth — together with many other cricketers less known to fame, but with their hearts in the right place so far as love of the noble game was concerned. And then wbat a grand bowler poor George Howitt was at this period. He did indeed want some stopping whon pace, break, and spin combined to overwhelm the batsman’s defence, however steady, however skilful. But, alas ! cricket on this semi-suburban ground did not pay. Cricketers connected with the county came to back their men up, but there was no neighbour­ hood directly to hand where thousands might, as at Sheffield, steep theirweariness in forgetfulness,while with every energy concentrated on the game, they delivered themselves up to enjoyment of its delights. Mr. V. E. Walker, however, would not surrender, but nailing his colours to the mast commenced afresh at Lillie Bridge, where the still youthful club lingered on, powerful in cricket, but doubtful as to its future. In January, 1871, Mr. V. E. Walker having done all thatone man could compass for cricket, delivered up his office to Mr. P. M, Thornton, of Harrow and Cambridge University, who after the mainte­ nance of the Club was resolved on in full conclave but by one vote, entered on his term of office with a clear balance-sheet, conscious moreover that he was engaging in a labour of love. Lillie Bridge being found a too contracted area, Prince’s, at Hans-place, became the head-quarters of Middlesex cricket, and it is due to the proprietors of this magnificent ground that acknowledgement of their services should be made, rendered as they were at a moment when events were not ripe for the ul­ timate retirement to Lord’s. During the club life at Prince’s some remarkable matches took place, memorable moreover for the advent into the county team of men such as W . H. Hadow, J. W. Dale, C. I. Thornton, Montagu Turner, and last, but by no means least, the late Mr. C. J. Ottaway, whose two great innings against Surrey aud Notts in 1875 live in the memories of those who best know what sterling batting really is. The period during which Middlesex was at Prince’s is memo­ rable for the resuscitation of Mr. C. F. Buller as a county player, who after several years of retirement appeared in the eleven, furnished with all his special gifts and with the old beautiful style still unimpaired. Mr. V. E. Walker moreover was gradually placing the management of elevens in tho field into the hands of his younger brother, Mr. I. D. Walker, who not only} justly earned from George Freeman the claim to have timed his fast bowling best of all opposed thereto, but developed an influence over those placed under his guidance which, based on personal respect, not to sajJ'affec­ tion, contained the elements which render men supreme in other and more important spheres. Moreover it has survived all the varied vicissitudes of our noble game. Of the cricket which was played during the above-mentioned wanderings, we have the more lively recollection of a game with the M.C.C. at Lord’s in 1872, when after fielding out to an innings of over 300, the County nevertheless won in one innings, and that althoughW. G. Grace was playing against them when in his very ) prime, being the centre of the strongest eleven Mary­ lebone could muster. The main cause of this success was Mr. Hadow’s great innings of 2 17 , famous even as it still is amongst more recent and even larger scores. Mr. Hadow’s services to Middlesex have been as pre-eminent as those of his family to Harrow, and we say this, conscious that an omission of great importance was patent when Mr. Hadow’s name was unmentioned in the recent sketch of Harrow cricket. But we must not be supposed to aver for one moment that any overpowering success of a permanent nature can be claimed for this essentially amateur team since Howitt’s break deserted him, and the eleven had to rely upon Mr. E. Rutter and Mr. R. D. Walker’s slow bowling, which, if successful, was not determining upon the result of the game. And as we know great batsmen will occasionally go out for small scores, so we may go so far as to declare, as the result of experience, that under certain circum­ stances, viz., on wet wickets against first-class pro­ fessional bowling they are sometimes absolutely useless. Our readers all know how, in the absence of Middlesex at Prince’s, it happened that Lord’s was denuded of its amateurs when they were most needed, while it likewise became notorious that Prince’s was doomed to become smaller year by year until, beautifully less, it was palpably unfit for first-class cricket. The County management there • fore straightway accepted the handsome offer of the M.C.C., and played their matches on the leading metropolitan ground. Since this occurred in 1876 we must admit their success to have been somewhat chequered, but into the Middlesex County Eleven, nevertheless, has been drafted all the available amateur talent. Men wish for something more exciting and replete with interest than a mere club contest, and whatever else may be said, they do at Lord’sget good opponents to compete with. Annual Colts’ and other trial matches have led to the finding of but one professional bowler in Burton, even if respectable talent has been discarded (as more than once it has been), because in the highest company no such moderate powers have a fair chance of distinction. As for the objections to the advantages which London gives to Middlesex, so long as the two years’ clear residence qualification is allowed, one county has as much right to profit thereby as another. It is, we believe, cricket generally that distinctly profits by the presence in the metropolis of a county team, and on looking back on the last twenty years or so, one cannot but acknowledge the truth of suoh averment. Not only would such innings as those lecorded of Messrs. Ottaway and Buller have never