Cricket 1883

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— B y r o n . mm J f e & J S & S f c - . THURSDAY , SEPTEMBER 6, 1883. HON. M. B. H AWKE . C ounty cricket has never claimed amore stead­ fast supporter, a keener advocate than the Hon. Martin Bladen Hawke, who this year has occu­ pied the distinguished position of Captain of the Yorkshire Eleven. Mr. Hawke’s family, for generations, has been identified with Yorkshire, and no one more suitable could have been found to act as the leader of the cricket forces of the County. Mr. Hawke is the eldest son of the Bev. EdwardHenry Julius Hawke, the Sixth Baron of the name, of Wighill Park, Tadcaster. He was born on the 16th of August, 1860, and is a little over three months older than Mr. C. T. Studd, whose contemporary he has been both at Eton and Cambridge. Mr. Hawke, afteracourseof preliminarytuition, at Aidin House, Slough, a nursery for many of the best Etonian athletes, entered Eton in 1874. He soon began to show proficiency at cricket; but it was not until his fourth year there that he was able to secure a place in the Eleven. His first season was suc­ cessful, and the great match that summer, at Lord’s, against Har­ row, saw him credited with a very useful first innings of 32, out of a total of 109 from the bat. Messrs. G. B. and C. T. Studdwere both in the Eton Eleven of that year; and in 1879, Mr. Hawke’s second and last season in the team the latter was Captain. In the Harrow match of 1879 Mr. Hawke was only able to secure 4 and 12 ,but thewicketwas deadfrom rains, and the scoring was so low all round that only 320 runs were made for thirty-four wickets. A long period of private tuition fol­ lowed Mr. Hawke’s retirement from Eton and, he did not go into residence at Magdalen Col­ lege, Cambridge, until the October term of 1881. Just previous to this he had made his debut for Yorkshire, in the Scarborough Week, and, though pot successful against Marylebone, he him for the first time a place in the Cambridge Eleven. The return match with Lancashire, at Manchester, in which he figured was in no way a test of anyone’s ability, as the University were all dismissed for the small total of 31, and seven of the best wickets were down for only Inine runs. The end of the same [week sawhim one of theUniversity ! Eleven against Surrey, at the Oval 1 and the cricket he showed on this occasion was the best on the side, both his scoies of 58 and 15 being well got. Another excellent per­ formance, a few days later, when he made 44 and 5 against a strong eleven of Marylebone Club and Ground consolidated hispositionas one of the University Team, andhe thoroughly justified his selection by Iwo useful scores of 15 and 30 againstOxford. Afortnightlaterhe madehis first appearanceforYork­ shire, in a County match at Shef­ field, against Surrey, and in the second innings, with Ulyelt, he made 35 of the 44 required to win without the loss of a wicket, York­ shire it may be remembered only wanting nine to win with all their wickets to fall. Against the Aus­ tralians, both at Dewsbury and Bradford, he showed good crieket, but his best performances for the County were against Gloucester­ shire at Sheffield, and Sussex at Brighton. In the former his fine second score of 66 greatly con­ duced to the creditable victory of the Yorkshiremen by 29 runs, and at Brighton his scores of 30 and 46 were the result of reallythe best cricket on the side. His average for the County last year, for six­ teen innings, was just under 15 runs, but for the Universityhewas able to showabetter record of 24 1 , and in first - class matches his figures showed 33 innings for 570 runs, and an average of 18.12. The Yorkshire Committee acted wisely in inviting him to undertake the Captaincy of the County Eleven, and, under his command, Yorkshire has had one of the most successful campaigns for some years. His showed very promising cricket in the subse­ quent fixture with I Zingari, in which he scored 10 and 32. His first appearance at Cambridge was in the Freshmen’s match of last year, but he was not in luck, and his aggregate in the two innings only amounted to 15. A succession of good scores in minor matches, however, brought him more prominently before the notice of the moving spirits of the University Club, and it was, we believe, mainly the fine cricket he showed in a match between the Athenseum Club and I Zingari which secured