Cricket 1882

30 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. MAY 25, 1882. T H E C R IC K E T E R S OF M Y T IM E . (By J ohn N yben of the Hambledon Club.) No. II. G eorge L e a r , of Hambledon, who always answered to the title among us of Little George, was our best long-stop. So firm and steady was he that I have known him stand through a whole match against Brett’s bowling and not lose more than two runs. The ball seemed to go into him, and he was as sure of it as if he had been a sand­ bank. His activity was so great, and besides he had so good a judgment in running to cover the ball, that he would stop many that were hit in the slips, and this, be it remembered, from the swiftest bowling ever known. The portion of ground that Lear would cover was quite extraordinary. He was &good batsman, and a tolerably sure guard of his Wicket. He averaged from fifteen to twenty runs, but I never remember his having a long innings. What he did not bring to the stock by his bat, however, he amply made up by his perfect field. He had a sweet counter-tenor voice. Many a treat have I had in hearing him and Sueter join in a glee at the Bat and Ball, on Broad Halfpenny. I have been there and still wonld go, ’Twas like a little heaven below. Edward Aburrow, a native of Hambledon, was one of our best fields. He always went by the name of Curry ; why I cannot remember, neither is it of the utmost importance to inquire. He was well calculated for the post he always occupied, being a sare and strong thrower, and able to cover a great space of the field. He was a steady and safe batter, averaging the same number of runs as Lear. Aburrow was a strong and well-made man, standing about five feet nine inches, he had a plain, honest-looking face, and was beloved by all his acquaintance. Buck, whose real name was Peter Steward, is the next Hambledon man that occurs to my recollection. He, too, played long-field, and was a steady man at his post ; his batting, too, reached the same pitch of excellence. He could cut the balls very hard at the point of the bat, nothing like Sueter, however, very few could have equalled him. Buck was a dark-looking man, a shoemaker by trade, in height about five feet eight, rather slimly built, and very active. He had an ambition to be thought a humourist. The following anecdote may serve both as a specimen of his talent, and of the unfas- tidious taste of the men of Hambledon. When a match was to be played at a distance, the whole eleven, with the umpire and scorer, were conveyed in one caravan, built for their accommodation. Upon one occasion the vehicle having been overturned, and the whole cargo unshipped, Buck remained at his post, and refused to come out, desiring that they would right the vessel with him in it, for that “ one good turn deserved another.” This repartee was admired for a week. The tenth knight of our round table, of which old Nyren was the King Arthur, was a man we always called “ the Little Farmer,” his name was Lambert. He was a bowler, right-handed, and he had the most extraordinary delivery I ever saw. The ball was delivered quite low and with a twist, not like that of the generality of right-handed bowlers, but just the reverse way; that is if bowling to a right-handed batter, his ball would twist from the off-stump into the leg. He was the first I remember who introduced this deceitful and teasing style of delivering the ball. When All England played the Hambledon Club, the Little Farmer was appointed one of bowlers, and egad ! this new trick of his so bothered the Kent and Surrey men, that they tumbled out one after another, as if they had been picked off by a rifle corps. For a long time they could not tell what to make of that cursed ' -;st of his. This, however, was the only virtue •essed as a cricketer. He was no batter, and 'dgment of the game. The perfection he ed in this one department, and his neral deficiency, are at once accounted it that when he was tending his father’s sheep he would set up a hurdle or two, and bowl away for hours together. Our general, old Nyren, after a great deal of trouble (for the Farmer’s comprehension did not equal the speed of lightning) got him to pitch the ball a little to the off-side of the wicket, when it would twist full in upon the stumps. Before he had got into this knack, he was once bowling against the Duke of Dorset, and delivering his ball straight to the wicket, it curled in and missed the Duke’s leg-stump by a hair­ breadth. The plain-spoken little pumpkin, in his eagerness and delight, and forgetting the style in which we were always accustomed to impress our aristocratic playmates with our acknowledgment of their rank and station, bawled out, ‘ ‘ Ah ! it was tedious near you, sir ! ” The familiarity of his tone, and the genuine Hampshire dialect in which it was spoken, set the whole ground laughing. I have never seen but one bowler who delivered his balls in the same way as our Little Farmer ; with the jerkers the practice is not uncommon. He was a very civil and inoffensive young fellow, and re­ mained in the club about two or three seasons. With Tom Taylor, the old Eleven was complete. There were, of course, several changes of other players, but these were the established picked set, the elite. Tom was an admirable field, certainly one of the best I ever saw. His station was between the point of the bat and middle-wicket, to save the two runs, but Tom had a lucky knack of gathering into the wicket, for Tom had a license from our old general, so that if the ball was hit to him, he had so quick a way of meeting it and with such a rapid return) for no sooner was it in his hand than, with the quickness of thought, it was returned to the wicket (that I have seen many put out by this manoeuvre in a single run, and when the hit might safely be calculated upon for a prosperous one. He had an excellent knowledge of the game, but of fielding, in particular, he was perfect, both in judgment and practice. Tom wss also a most brilliant hitter, but his great fault lay in not suffi­ ciently guarding his wicket ; he was too fond of cutting at the point of the bat balls that were delivered straight ; although, therefore, he would frequently get many runs, yet, from this habit, he couldnot be securely depended upon, and,indeed, it was commonly the cause of his being out. I have known Lord FrederickBaaislerj (e:sr;aiuly the finest batter of his day) throw away the chance of abrilliant innings by the same incaution, that of cutting at straight balls, and he has been bowled iu conse­ quence. Taylor was a short well-made man, strong, and as watchful and as active as a cat, but in no other instance will the comparison hold good, for he was without guile and an attached friend. Having now described the best of Iny native players, I proceed to their opponents, and as the foremost man of all, must stand the well-known bowler Lumpy, whose real name was Stevens. He was a Surrey man, and lived with Lord Tanker- ville. Beyond all the men within my recollection Lumpy would bowl the greatest number of length balls. His pace was much faster than Lord Beau- clere’s, but he wanted his lordship’s general know­ ledge of the game. In those days it was the custom for the party going from home to pitch their own wickets, and here it was that Lumpy, whose duty it was to attend to this, always committed an error. He would invariably choose the ground where his balls would shoot, instead of selecting a rising spot to bowl against, which would have materially increased the difficulty to the hitter, seeing that so many more would be caught out by the mounting of the ball. As nothing, however, delighted the old man like bowling a wicket down with a shooting ball, he would sacrifice the other chances to the glory of that achievement. Many a time have I seen our general twig this prejudice in the old man when matched against [us and chuckle at it. But I believe it was almost the only mistake he ever made professional, or even moral, for he was a most simple and amiable creature. Yes, one other he committed, aud many a day after was the joke remembered against him. One of our matches having been concluded early in the day, a long raw- boned devil of a countryman came up and offered to play any one of the twenty-two at single wicket for five pounds. Old Nyren told Lumpy it would be five pounds easily earned, and persuaded him to accept the challenge. Lumpy, however, would not stake the whole sum himself, but offered a pound of the money, and the rest was subscribed. The con­ fident bowler made the countryman go in first, for he thought to settle his business in a twink ; but the fellow, having an arm as long as a liop-pole, reached at Lumpy’s balls, bowl what length he might, and slashed and thrashed away in the most ludicrous style, hitting his balls all over the field, and always up in the air, and he made an un­ common number of runs from this bowling before he could get him out; and egad ! he beat him ! for when Lumpy went in, not being a batter, while the other was a fast bowler all along the ground and. straight to the wicket, he knocked him out presently, the whole ring roaring with laughter, and the astonished old bowler swearing he would never play a single-wicket match as long as he lived—an oath I am sure he religiously observed, for he was confoundedly crestfallen. Lumpy was a short man, round-shouldered and stout. He had no trick about him, but was as plain as a pikestaff in all his dealings. (To be continued.) TW O A G A IN S T E L E V E N . This is takenfrom a M.S. account o f the match in thepossession of Mr. JS. Winse, of 49, Lime Street, who saw it played. Both Mills and Wenman are still alive. On Thursday and Friday, September 4th and 5th, 1834, an extremely interesting match was played at Wittersham, in the Isle of Oxney. Mr E. G. Wenman and Mr. R. Mills, of Benenden, played against eleven chosen players of the Isle of Oxney at double wicket for £20. So great was the interest existing, that though the scene of action was in a very marshy and thinly populated district, upwards of four thousand spectators were assembled to witness this singular contest, which has no parallel in the annals of cricket. Such was the confidence of many present that the Benenden two players were backed to a considerable amount, and many heavy sums changed hands on the occasion. The chances against the two enterprising players were great, the match having been made as follows— the Two against the Eleven, in every point of the game, they having none to field, and their opponents being all in the field, and what was more particularly against them was, that when one was out both were. Thus, in reality, each had but one innings. They commenced the game on Thursday, the 4th, by taking the bat, and by a brilliant display of fine hitting succeeded in scoring 150 before they parted. Knowing the value of their individual wickets, they no doubt guarded them with as scrupulous care as a sacred relie would have been by the monks of old. The score of their opponents in both innings amounted to 132, out of which they numbered 48 byes, leaving them only 84 from hits. Taking into consideration the great disadvantages under which they entered the field, we must say that these two scientific players have achieved a triumph that will never be forgotten by those who' beheld it, and secured to them an honour that will not be easily surpassed in this manly exercise. B enenden . First Innings. Second Innings. ~ E. G-. Wenman, b D. Nere .. .. 65 not o u t..........................tfi It. Mills, not o u t .......................84 caught o u t...................JO B ......................................... 1 B . . . . . . r . T ota l..........................150 Total.. . '3 I sle op O xney . First Innings. Second Innings.11 J. Wood, c M ills ..........................7 b W enm an.....................T 7 E. Brignall, 1-b-w........................0 notout........................... -• F. Haines, b Wenman...............0 b W enm an.........................0 H. Hoskins, c Wenman .. .. 2 b W enm an........................ 3 H. Nere, b M il l s ....................... 2 bW enm an.........................0