Cricket 1883

416 CEICKET; A WEEKLY EECOED OF THE GAME. o c r . 25, isss. debut for the Players against the Gentlemen, at the Oval In 1880,with a fine score of 63, the best on the side, and the public estimation of his abilities as a cricketer was shown in the fact that he was one of tho only three profes­ sionals in the Eleven which represented Eng­ land against Australia, at the Oval. As Barnes sided with the other Nottingham professionals, in the ill-advised combination against the County executive in 1881, he was absent from the Eleven until the end of July, and the loss of his services wa3 shown in the success which greeted him at the end of the season in the five innings he played for Notts. A severe illness during the winter of 1881 prostrated him, but his cricket in tha following summer was not affected in any. way, and,jindeed, considering his physical condition, his play was extraordinary. His most noticeable performance was his 130 in the return match between Surrey and Notts, at the Oval, and on this occasion Shrewsbury and he got 289 runs while they were together. On June 1st, for Maiylebone Club and Ground v. Leicestershire, at Lord’s, Midwinter and Barnes raised the score from 19 for two, to i73 for three wickets, and the latter’s 266 is by far his best innings in an important matoh. The splendid cricket shown by Barnes and Maurice Bead, for the Players against the Australians, at the Oval, will long be remembered ; and, again, Barnes was one of the Eleven selected to repre­ sent England against Australia. During the tour of the Hon. Ivo Bligh’s English Team in Australia, Barnes was, apparently, not in the best of health, and his cricket was in every way disappointing. He began the season of in England, 1888, too, in very discouraging style, but during July and August his play was exceptionally brilliant, and a wonderful suc­ cession of good innings entitled him to be con­ sidered one of the four best professional batsman of the year. As an all-round cricketer Barnes has certainly few superiors at the present time. As a batsman his style is not the most taking. His attitude at the wicket is rather awkward, but he plays the game thoroughly, and, as his defence is excellent, he ii always difficult to get out. When set, too, he is a more than usually danger­ ous batsman, hitting well all round, though his off-driving, which is particularly clean and hard, is his b«st point. As a bowler (medium pace) he is fairly successful. His high delivery makes him, when the ground helps at all, very awkward, and, as he gets a slight curl from the off, he always requires watching. He is, too, a thoroughly safe field anywhere, and a sure catch in the country, a point, indeed, in which he has no superiors. A F T E R TH E C R IC K E T SE A SON . To an old cricketer there is always something melancholy attending the passing away of another cricket season. Men may hunt,and shoot, and ride, may even row and play lawn tennis, to a comparatively advanced age, but in few pur­ suits does Time mark his progress more unmis- takeably, refuse postponement, and overcome plea and excuse more inexorably, than in our national game. The man who can associate his life with the cricket-field since the days of his toddling childhood, when he really feels that his cricket time is over, regrets it as the dispel­ ling of a pleasant life-dream, and looks at the world from another point of view. He may re­ main an enthusiast to the very last, he may join heart and soul in the cricket chat round the winter’s fire, he may still religiously read every line of the cricket column tin his daily paper, and when acting as spectator of the game may long to joiu the active group be­ fore h im ; but he has lost for ever his indi­ viduality as a member of the great cricketing world, and he cannot expel from the retrospec­ tive feeling which comes over him a tinge of sad­ ness. But with the yet active man the retro­ spect is always pleasant. He may, perhaps, be a little annoyed that his batting average instead of having advanced upon that of the preceding r has gone back, or that the peculiar break- k of his bowling has not been so effective; but if he is a thorough heart-and-soul lover of the game, ihe will look at the past season from other and more social points of view than that of mere selfish prowess. Every cricketer is sure to have one or more extraordinary yarns to spin about the season just passed. He cannot help working himself up into a rage again when he recalls the fiat of that rustic umpire who gave him out leg before wicket when the ball hit him full on the chest. He is sure to have seen a bail sent spinning away thirty yards from the wicket, or to have seen the middle stump up­ rooted while the other two were left standing, or to have seen a ball graze the wicket without disturbing the bails. He is certain to have his little stories of wondrous running, of one-handed catches, of “ hat tricks ” performed, of succes­ sive maiden overs, of “ gallery ” hits and superb innings, of exciting finishes and hollow victories, and of a score of other events inseparable from an average cricket experience. Every matoh he has played has its own asso­ ciations, as marked and distinct in his mind as the recollections of past summer holidays. If he is a first-rate player the character of his retros­ pect is more monotonous, and is generally con­ fined to the issues of various matches, or his own individual prowess therein, for one big match is pretty much like another ; but if he be one of the many thousand average cricketers, good enough never to be in want of a match, yet not up to “ county form,” his experience is far more varied, and his chat about the varieties of players with whom he has associated, and those little incidents which rarely break the stately course of a first-class match, is perhaps more interesting and amusing. He will never forget the rustic match, perhaps th^pleasantest of the lot—a day’s festival enjoyed Upon the green of some sequestered country village, or in the demesne of some hearty old cricketdoving squire a day’s contest in which the whole local population took an absorbing interest, and about which the enthusiasm was genuine, and as un­ like the keen, silent criticism of a metropolitan cricket audience as can be imagined. He re­ members the local big guri1—perhaps a gigantic blacksmith—famous for fast underhand bowling, or the new curate fresh from Parker’s Piece or Christchurch meadows; he recalls the apple­ faced rustics who came in With only one pad on, and their great arms bared to the shoulder, who threw their bats down as they went out, and who invariably disputed the umpire’s decision ; he can tell us innumerable stories about the rustic umpire, who -begs pardon when he gives the squire out, and joins frantically in the applause which greets a good stroke; on the part of “ our lads.” For ever will the recollection of that pleasantest of holidays, a cricket tour, linger in his' mind; the flitting from one pic­ turesque placc to another ; the evening’s social enjoyment at the old coaching inn or the squire’s house which followed the stern, hard,day’swork ; the hospitality, tho good fellowship, the delight of being from morning till night in the easiest of attires, the splendid physical trim in which he felt himself at the expiration of the too quickly sped weak. He recalls chats wfth “ oldest inhabitants” and old players who could talk of the old Lans­ down, the Vine, andHambledon Clubs ; of Alfred Mynn, Fuller Pilch, Jemmy Dean the longstop, Box the wicket keeper, Lillywhite, Hillyer, Cob- bett, and a host of others whose names are still sacred to all lovers of cricket; of the glorious days of Kentish supremacy, when m§n stood up to terrific bowling without pads and attired in tall hats, braces, duck trousers, and ordinary shoes ; when half the the day was not wasted in arriving at the scene of action, lunching, and smoking cigarettes ; when men played for their sides, and not for themselves. Especially does he recall the visit to his old school as an “ old boy; ” and he goes a long way back in his life and remembers when he was a little chubby- faced fellow who regarded old boys with awe and admiration—those same old boys being now old boys in another and very different sense of the expression. These and many other pleasant recollections crowd upon him as he sits at the smoking-room fire upon a chill autumn or winter evening, and none but a cricketer can appreciate their narration any more than a non-hunting man can see the fun of getting up before day­ break to ride ten miles to meet, to gallop about all day in rain and slush, and at the end of it all to write the word “ blank ” in one’s diary. True cricketers fighting their battles over again live in a world for the time being which is peculiarly their own; their lingo is not to be understanded of outside folk, although happily in these days such outside folk who do not understand cricket parlance are few and far between. A cricket joke, like a Stock Exchange or a mess room joke, is something quite per se; similarly a cricket disaster is related with as much solemn head shaking and sighing as if an important public interest were at stake, and the remembrance of a missed catch or a bad run out will linger in the memory of a cricketer long after many other events of greater importance have been forgotten. So it is that the enjoyment of cricket never ter­ minates with the season ; the contemplation and discussion of old scenes and incidents serve to while away many a long weary hour,until,at the first burst of vernal werther, bats, pads, and flannels are drawn from their hiding places, ground-men are busy with hoe and roller, and hunting men riding to their last meet of the season behold the lads on village greens already commencing operations. And so it is that cricket “ shop,” when it is does not deal too ex­ clusively with individual personal performance and powers, is the least annoying of all “ shops ” and that many an hour is wasted over worthless literature which might be given to that keenest of observers of men and manners, an old cricketer, with advantage,— Globe: L oud E kkd A il l , son of the Earl of Dalkeith, is to contefct Dumfriesshire in the Conservative interest at the next general election. Lord Esk- daill, who is only 22 years of age, was Hon. Sec. of the Cricket Club at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1883, and is a very fair cricketer. M b. W. B. G ilb e r t , tho cricketer, has fi led a petition in the Cheltenham County Court. TnE Sheffield Challenge Cup having been carried off by the Elsecar Club, Mr. W. B. Wake, the donor, intends next summer offering another or competition. B ules of the M.C.C., containing latest re­ visions, now ready, price 2 d., post free 2 ^d. W. B. Wright and Co. (Cricket Press), 17, Paternoster Square, London, E.C. A curious cricket match was played at Denton Park a few days ago, all the players being ladies. There were twenty-six in number, two being married and the rest single. The divided skirt would have been of great service on this occa­ sion, for ten of the players were run out, show­ ing that their dresses must have impeded their running powers. Nine of the ladies were “ ducks ” and only one was caught, and we hope she was not one of the married ones. One of the married ladies earned her bat right through the innings for two. Fortunately the ball did not make too close an acquaintance with the faces of any of the lady cricketers .—Modern Society, October 6 .