Cricket 1884

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. Regiatered?or Xrin Abroad. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1884. PRICE 2 d. R O B E R T H E N D E R S O N . A m ono the few really capable professionals the Southern Counties have introduced of late years, none has shown more distinct; promise than the youngster whose portrait is given herewith. Few cricketers, indeed, have, under such physical disadvan­ tages, in a first season made their mark so decisively. For, as those who have seen him play need not be reminded, he is one of the, if not the smallest, as we should fancy he is the youngest professional who took part regularly in first-class matches in 1883. Robert Hender­ son was born at Newport, Mon­ mouthshire, on March 30, 1865, so that he is still one month short of his nineteenth birthday. Though he was only eleven years of age when he came to live at Bedding- tou, in Surrey, he had, even then, is is certain, a very good notion of tho game. His first match was for the Beddington Choir Club against ■Wallington College, in 1877, and he acquitted himself with credit, carry­ ing. his bat out in the second innings for an excellent score of 45, in ad­ dition to taking five Wallington wickets for twenty runs. His suc­ cess in his first year was remark­ able, and in 1877 he scored 223 runs in nine completed innings, be­ sides taking sixty wickets for the Beddington Choir Club, a good performance for a youngster only twelve years old. Under the careful tuition of Mr. J. H. Bridges, the Surrey amateur, who has had much to do with the development of his cricket, he soon showed distinct promise in bowling as well as bat­ ting, and in 1879, and two following years, he was extraordinarily suc­ cessful both with bat and ball. An aggregate of 573 runs for twenty- two innings with ten not-outs was the outcojne of his efforts in 1879, and in the following year he was credited with as many as 900 runs for eighteen oompleted innings. In addition during these two seasons he secured in all 114 and 92 wickets, and in 1881 he had a fine average of 60.5 for nineteen innings, besides securing 103 wickets for the Choir. By the time he was sixteen he had fully qualified for the village club at Beddington, but he still continued to play for the Choir, and in 1882 his figures were noteworthy—14 innings, 8 not-outs, for 630 runs, and an average of 105. It was at the commence­ ment of this season that he first became iden­ tified with Surrey crioket, and the style he showed in the trial games at the Oval, as well as later for the Surrey Colts against the Kent Colts at Maidstone, fully justified the belief that he would be of use to the.Couttty. He was not chosen a3 one of the team to represent Surrey in its opening match o£ 1883 at Nottingham, but the succeeding fixture at Leicester found him for the first time in the. County eleven, and since then his position has never been in doubt. He showed excellent cricket in his second match against Derbyshire on the following Monday, and a thoroughly well got Bcore of 39 v. Hants at the Oval at the end of the same week gave another proof of his undoubted ability. It was his all-round cricket, though, against Gloucestershire at the Oval which confirmed his position in the team, and no one who witnessed that match will have forgotten the very fine cricket shown by the two youngsters, Abel and Henderson, in the first innings of Surrey. It was their stand, indeed, which enabled the eleven to save a follow-on, and ulti­ mately to win the match. Hender­ son’s 34 was a capital display of defensivo cricket, but his success with tho ball was even more note­ worthy, and in tho second innings of Gloucestershire in 77 balls he got six wickets (five bowled) at a cost of only 17 runs. Throughout the season he continued to show con­ sistently good cricket, and two of his performances would have reflected credit on cricketerB of established repute. His first show against the better class of Northern bowling was against Lancashire at Manchester, and in the second innings, with Mr. W. W. Bead, he helped to add 174 runs to the Surrey score, This was a great feat for so yor.ng a cricketer, but it was outdone a fortnight later by his show against Yorkshire at Holbeck. The wicket there was almost unplay­ able, but he played the Yorkshire bowling in the second innings with the greatest confidence, and his 41 out of 77 from the bat was a per­ formance of the highest merit, During the Next Tssue of CRICKET will be published Thursday, March 27.