Cricket 1884

5 0 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. A p r il 17 ,1884. sary to treat here. A t the time of his death he was president of the Marylebone Club, and one of his last acts, we believe, was to nominate the Earl of Winterton as his succes- ®01' the presidential chair. He had been seriously ill for some weeks in London, but the fact of his removal to the seat of his brother, the second Earl of Verulam, at ^St. Albans, gave hopes of recovery, which were unhappily not ful­ filled. The last number of this paper con­ tained a hopeful announcement of his con­ dition, but the improvement was not con­ tinued, and he died on Monday, the 7th inst., in his brother’s house at Gorhambury Park. No kinder friend to cricketers of every kind has ever lived. Altogether un­ pretentious, he did good without ostentation, and, of our own knowledge, many a pro- essional has had reason to be grateful to him for substantia] assistance rendered at a time when help wa3 most needed. To cricketers of every class, without distinc­ tion, he was the same—equally helpful, considerate and kind. He took an active interest in the success of this paper from its institution, and the management of C ricket has had reason to be grateful to him for much valued and spontaneous assistance. Indeed it will not be considered a breach of confidence to state in evidence of the hearty interest he took in everything appertaining to the game, that the “ Answers to Corres° pondents” which have appeared in this paper were from the first directly from his pen. Mb. G. F. L. G iles has been elected Hon. Sec. of the South Hants Club in place of Mr. C. T. Penny, who has resigned on receiv­ ing tha appointment of Secretary to the Eoyal Southampton Yacht Club. S tar C lub . —The eighteenth annual meeting of this Club was held on the 3rd inst. The report and financial statement showed affaire to be in a satiefactory state. There were 93 members, COactive and 33 honorary. A list of 51 matches had been arranged for 1884, and a splendid wicket nearly 50 yards square had been re-turfed. The balance-sheet showed that £20G 15s. lid . had been received, £106 17s. 3d. spent;,1 leaving a balance in hand of £39 18s. 8^ The officers for the next twelve months were elected as follows : President, Mr. A, Cohen, M.P. ; Vice-Presidents,Messrs. J. A. Smith, Fredk. Shaw, H. Stone and B. Parker; Hon. Secretary and Captain, Mr. G. W. Largen; Vice-Captains, Messrs. J. Lang­ worthy and J. H. Lacy ; Assistant Secre­ tary, Mr. H. L. Holford ; Tennis Hon. Sec., Mr. W. T. J. Bolt ; Committee, Messrs. T. Bartlett, Girdlestone, Murden, Tyler, Kod- gers, Grover, Dobbs and Pettitt. G ravesend C lub . —The annual general meeting of this Club was held at the New Fal- conHotel,Gravesend,on April 9. Mr.H. Hug- gens, J.P., was in the chair. The financial statement showed that, owing to the except tionally heavy expenses in preparing the ground for county matches, there was a debt of £28 15s. 2d., which it was desired to liquidate. A nett sum of £11017s. lOd. had been paid over to the county after paying the local charges in connection with the several county matches'. The various officers were re-elected as follows:—W. Clinch, cap­ tain ; G. Najlor, sub-captain ; J. Bussell, hon. treasurer; H. Iluggens.jun.,lion, secre­ tary ; and the Bcv. F. F- J. Greenfield and Me-srs. Kemp, J. Iiussell, jun., and A. Boor- man to vacancies on the committee. A sub­ committee was also appointed with a view of leasing or purchasing the ground, A N O V E L CR ICK E T MATCH . July 18 was a memorable'day for the in­ habitants of the little village of K------, inco. Mayo, when a team of cricketers (save the mark!) came over from the neighbouring village of D ------- to contest with them for the honours of cricket. None of those who were present on that occasion could easily forget it; and some, indeed, bear evidence of its having been forcibly, not to say painfully, impressed upon the tablets of their memories. For five or six weeks previous to the day in question the rival teams had been assiduously coached by the interested “ quality” of the neighbourhood, the village of D------ being trained under the eye of the rector of the district, aided by the doctor and three young undergraduates of Alma Mater Cantabrigienisis, who happened to be staying at the D------ Hotel for the purpose of fishing on the local loughs. The champions of K------ were licked into as good cricketing shape as was obtainable with such painfully raw materials by a county magistrate, a schoolmaster, and the parish priest--j listsuch a one asMr. Santley’s famous Father O’Flynn, “ the kindliest cratur in all Donegal.” In this benighted neighbour­ hood, which is 40 miles from the nearest railway station, cricket was a sport totally unknown to the peasantry; but the afore­ mentioned noble pioneers of civilisation had now undertaken to teach the manly game to the simple and unsophisticated peasant of the west; and it was with the estimable object of bringing the people of the various neighbouring districts into closer relation­ ship with each other by introducing the friendly rivalry of cricket among them that our benevolent philanthropists undertook the arduous task of teaching the raw idea how to play cricket. We may judge of the almost hopelessness of the task, for when the stumps and bats arrived, which had been provided through the behefidenfle of the patrons, one of the intelligent denizens of K------ remarked to another equally sharp Paddy, on taking up a bat, “ Well, here’s a mighty ‘ quare’ spade entirely 1” “ Arfah! not at all, ye fule ! Sure it^a a battening block, it is, anyhow!” ! Whil<5 -aiiother re­ marked that it might, perhaps, be as w>:|l to let the old crones have an innings ! How­ ever, notwithstanding numerous absurdities, which arose on each Saturday, the day set apart for practice, the 18th of July, came round with our respective teams wellwrought up to high pressure of excitement, but with a scant and hazy notion of the game as it ought to be played. The ground layabout two miles east of K ------ , and four west of D——. The rival teams were on the spot by noonday. The schoolmaster of K------ went down to keep the “ score, ” while the rector, the priest, the doctor, and the uni-j versity mashers were to be driven down id a wagonette by tbe magistrate about three o’clock, after partaking of luncheon at the house of the latter. K------ won the toss, and two of their doughtiest ones were sent in, The umpire selected was a large-mouthed, helpless-looking lout, who looked about him in a bewildered sort of way. He had doffed a.ii HM rVtgof a sealskin cap he usually wore, and in its place were a couple of respectable- looking “ billycocks ” belonging to the bats­ men who were having their innings, while on his arms liung their coats. “ Pal-ay,” . cried he ; and the game commenced. After a while the batsmsn contrived to strike the ball as it was passing about a yard and a Ihalf to tho right of the wicket. “ That's you, Tim !” shouted the umpire with delight, “ moro power to you !” “ Shut your mouth, you omadhawn! ” requested the bowler politely ; while amid a hubbub of voices and a clapping of hands a run was scored. Soon a wicket went down. The next man came on the scene smiling, in a way that would imply business. The first ball came, and in his excitement he swung his bat round, striking the wickets and sending the bails on a dual flight in the air. “ Out! ” was the cry, and our batsman returned crestfallen to his compeers, who greeted him with ribald jeers and inquired after the amount of his score. Now sharp remarks began to pass between the rival teams, which soon became of a personal character. Meanwhile the game proceeded. After each ball that the batsman missed the rival team would jeer, and when the ball was successfully struck, and a run resulted, the K—-—faction would greet their opponents with derisive yells. Things were begining to look serious. From a friendly meeting, such as it appeared to be in the commencement, it was rapidly becoming a hostilely-inclined mob. The players lost all interest in the game, regarded as a game, but it became a bitter cause for contention, each party cheering on their own men and jeering at their opponents with personal and offensive remarks. The climax was reached when Mike Dogherty and Patsy O’Brien occupied the wickets. They had been in for some little time, and neither had scored a single run, the erratic bowling giving them promise that if they did go out it would be a pure accident. Stung by the taunts and jeers of their oppo­ nents, they tried hard to make a run. At last Mike tipped the ball and began to run. Patsy was staring vacantly about him, not expecting any running, and waiting for tho next “ over.” “ Bun, you omadhawn,” roared Mike. “ Bun, ye fule,” yelled the onlookers. Pat awoke from his reverie and rushed blindly for the opposite wicket, but alihost instantly came into violent collision with Mike. “ Holy turf! and o’ tbe road, you ruffian !” yelled poor Mike. Alas ! too late, the ball was thrown in, and Mike was run ou t; then tbe ball was thrown to the other end, and Pat also was “ bailed.” Then the row began. Were they both out or not—was Mike out and not Patsy, or both, or not, or what ? The umpire was deferentially appealed to amidst the uproar. “ Faith, how should I know ?” replied he, with a tremendous grin, “ one of thim’s out,surely !” “ Its not me,any way,” declared Mike; “ it’s that omadhawn there—he stopped me running.” “ Arrah,now, bad ’cess to ye,” returns P at; “ sure I would not be running only for you ; I am not going out, any way.” The uproar was tremendous. Mike defiantly wielded his bat, and offered to lay out Pat with it. Tbe stumps were drawn; the onlookers, anticipating some “ divarshun,” rushed to the scene with their sticks, and soon a 1 shindy ” was in full swing. It was useless to stay the liot, and at the risk of one’s own precious pate. But suddenly shouts were heard from the adja­ cent road, and the wagonette was seen rapidly approaching, containing the patrons of the sport. The belligerents gradually ceased their fighting, out of pure shame. The patronB of tho game quickly approached to the spot, and soon smoothed over the difference of the players. The priest made an eloquent and amusing speech, as did also the magistrate. The bettor nature of the peasantry were appealed to, and this, with a true hearted son of Erin, is seldom in vain. The natural generosity of the Irish character