Cricket 1884

No. 56. VOL. III. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1884. PRICE 2d. E D W A R D B A R R A T T . T hough not able to claim a place in the Surrey eleven by right of birth, Edward Barratt has played a conspicuous part in the development of the cricket of that County during the last decade. Stockton on-Tees was at one time the home of several players of repute, and indeed it was a famous nursery for the game well within the recollection of cricketers of the present age. Barratt, who was born there on April 21, 1844, consequently learned his cricket in a good school. He does not seem to have figured very prominently on the cricket field until well out of his teens, and, indeed, the first mention of his name in “ Scores and Biographies ” is in 1870, when he was engaged as professional to the Longsight Club at Manchester. The following year found him attachod to the same society, and it is evident that he had then acquired some reputation as a bowler, from the fact that the next season saw .him at Lord’s, one of the large staff of bowlers repre­ senting the ground of the Maryle­ bone Club. H b first noteworthy performance was achieved that year, and bis bowling for tbe North against tbe South—at Prince’s as well as at Lord’s—furnished two of certainly the most sensational feats of 1872. Many will still w»ll rem­ ember what a surprise he created by his bowling in the match between North and South, at the former ground, at the commencement of the season. Indeed, his bowling on that occasion completely puzzled a strong batting side of the South, and, helped by the wicket, the work he got on to the ball was surprising. We well remember even now the havoc he caused when he was put on a second time. In the innings he took eight of the ten wickets, and he finished up bis bowling in a most sensational fashion, disposing of 6ix batsmen in four overs at a cost of only two runs. At Lord’s in the Whitsuntide match between the same sides, he was also very suc­ cessful. In the second innings of the South he was credited with seven of the ten Southern wickets at a cost of only eighteen runs, and he was able to claim the distinction of dismissing three such batsmen as Mr. Yardley, Jupp, and Richard Humphrey in six balls. Six wickets in the first innings of Cambridge, at Cambridge, fell to him for only twenty-nine runs, but he did not come off against either University at Lord’s, and he was rather heavily punished. The records only gave him an aggregate of ten wickets for M.C.C. that season, and it was perhaps the lacs of opportunities he had at Lord’s that induced him to try fresh fields. The following summer at least witnessed his appearance as a ground bowler at Prince’s, but he had little scope there, and his best feat for the Club was in taking six out of eight wickets of the Harrow Wanderers. An engagement as a ground bowler at the Oval in 1874 induced him to take up his resi­ dence permanently in Surrey, and after the necessary period of two years for qualification had expired, he duly made his appearance in the Surrey County Eleven at the com­ mencement of the season of 1876. His first match was against Cam­ bridge University, at Cambridge, but he failed to take a wicket in the fifteen overs he had, and as the weather did not allow the County an innings, he had no chance of batting. Though at times success­ ful with the ball, Barratt’s batting was of quite as much service to Surrey at the outset, and he played more than one useful innings. His sixty-seven, against Middlesex, at the Oval in 1876, were well got, and many will still remember the excitement when, after playing well and being thoroughly set, he was easily caught out the last wicket of the match, and the game ended in a tie. His best bowling performance in 1876 was against Yorkshire, at the Oval, when he took ten wickets for 102 runs, and one of his most notable feats with the ball in the following year was also against Yorkshire, though at Sheffield,where he was credited with seven wickets at a cost of 81 runs. During the same season he mainly conduced to the very small innings of 40 made by Sussex against Surrey at Brighton, and on this occasion he was credited with five wickets for only 24 runs. He was one of the “ Together joined in cricket’s man ly toil.”— Byron.