Cricket 1882

“ Toge ther joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— Byron. No. 6. VOL. I. Registered for Transmission Abroad. T H E C R IC K E T E R S OF M Y T IM E . (B y J ohn N yren of th e Hambledon Club.) . .. No. V. Before I prooeed with my catalogue of the Hamble­ don Pantheon, it may be worth while to mention a circumstance connected with poor Noah Mann, the player named a few pages back. As it will tend to show the amenity in which the men of lower grade in society lived in those good old times with their superiors, it may prove no worthless example to the more:aristocratic, and certainly less beloved members of the same rank in society of the present day. Poor Noah was very ambitious that his new­ born son should bear the Christian name, with the sanction of his namesake, Sir Horace Mann. Old Nyren, who, being the link between the patricians and plebeians in our community—the juste milieu — was always applied to in cases of similar emergency, undertook, upon the present occasion, to bear the petition of Noah to Sir Horace, who, with a willing condescension, acceded to the worthy fellow’s re­ quest, and consented to become godfather to the child, giving it his own name; adding, I have no doubt, a present suited to the station of his little protege. How easy a thing it is to win the esteem of our inferiors; and how well worth the while, when the mutual pleasure only, resulting from the action, is considered ! Sir Horace, by this simple act of graceful humanity, hooked for life the heart of poor Noah Mann; and in this world of hatred and contention, the love even of a dog is worth living for. The next player I shall name is James Aylward. His fatherWas afarmer. After he had playedwith the club for a few years, Sir Horace got him away frojn us, and made him his bailiff, I think, or some such officer; I remember, however, he was but ill quali­ fied for his post. Aylward was a left-handed bat­ ter, and one of the safest hitters I ever knew in the club. He once stayed in two whole days, and upon that occasion got the highest number of runs that had ever been gained by any member —one hundred, and, sixty-seven ! Jemmy was not a good fieldsman, neither was he remarkably active. After he had left us, to go down to live with Sir Horace, he Played against us, but, never to my recollection, with any advantage to his new associates—the Hambledonians were almost always too strong for their opponents. He was introduced to the club by Tom Taylor, and Tom’s anxiety upon the occasion, that his friend »hd>uld do credit to his recemmenda- THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1882. tion, was curiously conspicuous. Aylward was a stout, well-made man, standing abont five feet nine inches ; not very light about the limbs, indeed he was rather clumsy. He would sometimes affect a little grandeur of manner, and once got laughed at by the whole ground for calling for a lemon to be brought to him when he had been in but a little while. It was thought a piece of finnikinness by those simple and homely yeomen. And now for those anointed clod-stumpers, the Walkers, Tom and Harry. Never sure came two such unadulterated rustics into a civilized commun­ ity. How strongly are the figures of the men (of Tom’s in particular) brought to my mind when they first presented themselves to the club, upon Wind- milldown. Tom’s hard, ungain, scrag-of-mutton frame; wilted, apple-john face (he always looked twenty years older than he really was), his long spider legs, as thick at the ankles as at the hips, and perfectly straight all the way down ; for the embellishment of a calf in Tom’s leg, Dame Nature had considered would be but a wanton superfluity. Tom was the driest and most rigid-limbed chap I ever knew ; his skin was like the rind of an old oak, and as sapless. I have seen his knuckles hand­ somely knocked about from Harris’s bowling ; but never saw any blood on his hands—you might as well attempt to phlebotomize a mummy. This rigidity of muscle (or rather I should say of tendon, for muscle was another ingredient economised in the process of Tom’s configuration,)—this rigidity, I say, was carried into every motion. He moved like the rude machinery of a steam-engine in the infancy of construction, and when he ran, every member seemed to fly to the four winds. He toiled like a tar on horseback. The uncouth actions of these men furnished us, who prided ourselves upon j a certain grace in movement and finished air, with an everlasting fund of amusement, and for some ■ time they took no great fancy to me, because I used \ to worry, and tell them they could not play. They were, however, good hands when they first came among us, and had evidently received most excel­ lent instruction; but after they had derived the advantage of first-class practice, they became the most admirable batters, and were the trustiest fellows (particularly Tom) in cases of emergency or difficulty. They were devilish troublesome cus­ tomers to get out. I have very frequently known Tom to go in first, and remain to the very last man. He was the coolest, the most imperturbable felUw in existence ; it used to be said of him that he had no nerves at all. Whether he was only practising, or whether he knew that the game was in a critical PRICE 2d. state, and that muoh depended on his play, he was the same phlegmatic, unmoved man—he was the Washington of cricketers. Neither he nor his brother were active, yet both w.ere effective fields­ men. Upon one occasion, on the Marylebone grounds, I remember Tom going in first, and Lord Frederick Beauclerc giving him the first four balls, all of an excellent length. First four or last four made no difference to Tom—he was always the same cool, collected fellow. Every ball he dropped down just before his bat. Off went his lofrdship’s white hat—dash upon the ground (his constant action' when disappointed.) calling him at the same time “ a confounded old beast.” “ Idoant care what ee zays,” said Tom, when some one close by asked if he had heard Lord Frederick call him “ an old beast.” No, no; Tom was not the man to be flustered. About a couple of years after Walker had been with us, he began the system of throwing instead of bowling, now so much the fashion. At that time, it was esteemed foul play, and so it was decided by a council of the Hambledon Club, which was called for the purpose- • The first I recollect seeing revive the custom was Wills, a Sussex man. I am decid­ edly of opinion, that if it be not stopped altogether, the character of the game will become changed. I should hope that such powerful and efficient mem­ bers of the Marylebone Club, as Mr. Ward, &c., will determine not only to discountenance, but wholly and finally to suppress it; and instead, to foster and give every encouragement to genuine, bonajide bowlers—men with a fine delivery. I never thought much of Tom’s bowling ; indeed, the bowling of that time was so supereminent, that he was not looked upon as a bowler—even jfor a change. He afterwards, however, greatly im­ proved ; and what with his thorough knowledge of the game, his crafty manner (for he was one of the most fox-headed fellows I ever saw), and his quickness in seizing every advantage, he was of con­ siderable service to his party, but ho never was a first-rate bowler. He was a right, and Harry a left- handed batter, and both were valuable men. They came from Thursley, near Hinehead; they and their father were farmers, and their land lay near to the Devil’s Punch-bowl. The next in succession will be John Wells, the Beldhams, Harris, and Freemantie. Shortly after the Walkers had joined us, John Wells became a member of the Hambledon Club. John lived at Farnham, in Surrey, and was, if I recollect, a baker by trade. He was a short, thick, well-set man ; in make like a cob-horse, propor-