Cricket 1884

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— B y ro n . Registered(or^ransmi8"io*i^Abroftd. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1884.PRICE2 R. S. N E W H A L L . C kicket in America, as those who have watched its growth know well, has been largely indebted to the energy, as well as tho personal influence of one family. The healthy position it occupies now, in spite of the general preference shown by the Americans for their na­ tional game of base ball,is mainly owing, it is more than a mere form of speech to say, to the untiring zeal of the brothers Newhall. Mr. Robert Stuart Newhall, the Cap ain of tbe Philadel­ phian Amateurs who have just com­ pleted their tour in England, was born at Germantown, a suburb of Philadel­ phia, on Sept. 16, 1852, and is the youngest of a large family of cricket­ ers. Twenty-five years ago the name of Newhall was already known in con­ nection with our national game. The Philadelphian Captain’s brother, Wal­ ter, was one of the Twenty.two who played for Philadelphia against George Parr’s All England Eleven, in the autumn of 1859. The brotherhood was thus represented in the first match in America against English players. Since that time no team has ever been con­ sidered representative of the full strength of either Philadelphia or the United States unless it contained at least two members of the family, so that the Newhalls can claim to have figured prominently in a quarter of a century of cricket. George Newhall, another brother, captained the Philadelphia teams from 1868 to 1880. Charles was considered, in his day, the fastest and most effective bowler in the United States ; and, in addition to these two, Daniel, the brother next older than Robert, is, without doubt, the best judge of the game and most competent captain in America. Under these cir­ cumstances, and with such examples, it is hardly strange to find the gentleman, whose portrait we give this week, commencing his cricket career at an early age. He was only sixteen years old, indeed, when he was pro­ moted into the first eleven of the Young America Club, an organisation which had been liveries on a sticky wicket stamped him aa a cricketer of no mean ability. During the two following seasons Mr. Newhall played constantly in club matches ; and, in common with many other Philadelphian cricketers of that day, de­ rived the greatest benefit from the precepts and example of Martin McIntyre, of Not­ tingham, who was during these two years engaged by the members of the Germantown Cricket Club as their coach. Mr. Newhall was not successful against the powerful Eleven of English Amateurs which the late Mr. R. A . Fitzgerald took to America in the autumn of 1872; but two years later he was one of the members of the Phila­ delphian team which beat All Canada and the British Officers’ Eleven at Hali­ fax, Nova Scotia. His two contribu­ tions of 72 against Canada and 29 against the Officers were of the greatest assistance to his side, and, in the first mentioned match, it was mainly through his fine hitting that the Philadelphia Eleven inflicted upon the Canadians a decisive one innings defeat. The next year, 1875, he played in a similar series of matches in Philadelphia; but, between that time and the visit of Gregory’aAus- tralian Eleven, in 1878, he took little part in the matches of his club; and he was chosen to represent his city against the Australians on his form of former years, not on account of any good scores made during that particular season. Under these circumstances his bril­ liantly hit 84 was a very fine perform­ ance indeed, especially when it is re­ membered that the Australian bowlers had the reputation at that time of being the best in the world. The capital stand made in this match by the local eleven, and the fact that they were enabled without odds t ) make an even draw against a first-cLss team, gave a great impetus to cricket in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. New clubs were formed, old ones revived, and the game entered upon a career of prosperity which has continued without a check up to the present day. Mr. Newhall played in the matches of the following year against the Irish Gentlemen's Eleven and Richard founded by his brother Walter, and which had received the assistance of all the other cricketing members of the family. This was in the spring of 1868, and the form showed during the ensuing summer was so promising that he was deemed worthy of a place in the Twenty- two of Philadelphia, which played Edgar Will- sher’s All England Eleven in October of the same year. Although Mr. Newhall only con­ tributed 3 and 0 (each time not out) in this match, nevertheless the sturdy defence whioh he displayed to George Freeman’s lightning de