Cricket 1885

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 81. VOL. IV. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1885. P R IC E 3d JOHN BRIGGS. L uck has nothing to do with the attainment of high honours on the cricket field. Nor will the possession of natural ability alone bring dis­ tinction. Constant practice is indispensable to the continuance of success. A cricketer, like a soldier, has to win the bubble re­ putation, as it were, at the cannon’s mouth. He must work hard, too, should he be ambitious to retain his credit. Physical advantages, at the same time, help materially towards the development of natural abilities. Height and reach are of great service to a batsman, and enable him often to over­ come difficulties which militate against the success of one of lesser stature. It is easy, though, to eite numberless in­ stances of players who have made a high name for themselves without being favoured with any of the bodily aids to success possessed by such cricketers as Mr. W . li. Grace. Perhaps no one has attained prominence with so few helps of nature as the diminutive professional now' figuring so conspicuously with Shaw’s team, in Australia. John Briggs, who stands only 6ft. Sin. high, is in­ deed one of, if not quite, the smallest player figuring regularly in first-class cricket at the present time. Like somany of the professionals who have done good service for Notts, he was born in the vil­ lage of Sutton-in-Ashfield, in that shire. He first saw the light on Oct. 3,1862, and, as he was engaged at Hornsea during the season of 1876, it will be seen that he commenced life as a professional at a very early age. An engagement with the Northern Club of Liverpool, during the summer of 1878, brought him first to the notice of the Lancashire authori­ ties. They were fortunate in being able to take him in hand before he had had a chance of identifying himself with his native shire of Notts, and, indeed, he was only sixteen years of age, when the executive of the Lancashire Club gave him an introduction to first-class cricket. The excellent all-round form he showed in the Colts’ match at Old Trafford, at the commencement of the season of 1879, created a most favourable impression at Manchester, and he was, without hesitation, accorded a place in the Eleven in the opening contest of the year. For so young a cricketer a first trial against such a team as that of Notts was a very severe test, and it was not made any easier by the cold and cheerless weather which prevailed through­ out the three days of the fixture. The wicket was difficult, owing to rain, and the Lancashire batsmen had no light task to play bowlers like Alfred Shaw, Morley, Barnes and Flowers, on a ground which helped the ball. Briggs, though, showed no small confidence for a first appear­ ance under very trying conditions, and he earned the rare distinction of being the highest scorer on the side, with a very well got thirty-six. This performance was an exceptionally good one, and as, in addition to the undoubted capa­ bilities he showed as a bat, he had also the merit of unusual smartness in the field, besides being able to bowl as a change, it required no great knowledge of the game to predict for him a promi­ nent position as a cricketer in the future. The following season of 1880 found him attached to the staff of professionals engaged by the Lanca­ shire Club, at Old Trafford, a con­ nection he has since held greatly to the benefit of the County’s cricket. He was not very success­ ful with the bat in 1880, and, though he bowled on three occa­ sions, his twenty-two overs did not produce a wicket. Still his brilliant fielding was quite enough to justify his retention in the County Eleven, and if his average wa3 only small the number of runs he saved by his energy and dash in the field more than counter­ balanced his comparatively poor show with the bat. His development as a batsman though was evidently a mere matter of time, and the summer of 1881 saw a great improvementin his play the natural consequence of an increase of power. He took part in all tbe fourteen engagements in the Lancashire pro­ gramme of that season, aud generally with success. His highest innings of the year was his 52 against Surrey, at Manchester, but, perhaps, his best per­ formance was in the opening fixtuie against M.C.C. and Ground, at Lord’s. His cool and plucky batting in the second innings, when the game seemed to be all against his side, indeed, practi­ cally decided that match in favour of the County, and it was essentially to his well played score of forty not out that they owed their narrow majority of two wickets. His average for the season of 1881 was close on nineteen runs for twenty completed innings, but he failed to approach this form in the following summtr, Next issue of Cricket March 26-