Cricket 1885

454 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OP. THE GAME. Nov. 26 , lm. CRICKET. B y L obd H arris . From the Contemporary Revieio. Iu a season of comparative repose— repose at any rate compared with the hurly-burly of one marked by the descent upon the cricketing world o f two foreign elevens, if we may use such a word of Australian brothers and American cousins —it may not be amiss to devote a thought to the progress that cricket has made in the last decade and is still making in the estimation of the English people, and to consider whether that progress has been for good or ill to them. Let it be granted that some out-door exercise is good for mind as well as body—and we think we can show that tlie progress has been for good—and indeed, we think we shall not be begging the question if without any extended argument we take that for granted. It is almost, if not quite, an axiom in England that our field sports and pastimes have done much towards teaching those who take part in them first to obey, perhaps eventually to com­ mand, and thereby helping to form those capabilities which go to make a good soldier of either the regular or citizen army. Again, pastimes serve good pur­ pose in causing the young noblemen and gentlemen of England to rub shoulders with those who are lower than themselves in the social scale, but in the republic of the playground are, perhaps, their super­ iors, anil so force upon the minds ol the former a respect.for industry, honesty, sobriety, and any other of the qualities that are necessary to produce an efficient athlete; feelings which but for these remarkable English pastimes might have never been developed, or even if so, would very possibly have been smothered under the weight o f self-importance. Remark­ able then we call them, and justifiably we think ; for must not history take note of them ? And in ancient or modern his­ tory where is there mention of pastimes ? Athletic sports, as understood in England — i.e., running and jumping, and the brutal contests of the arena doubtless receive the notice of the historian; but where is there mention of any pursuits of a character so innocent, one would say so insignificant, if one did not know the attractions they have for many thousands in this and other English-speaking coun­ tries, as football and cricket ? But let us confine our attention to cricket. Can the historian ignore what cricket has done towards bringing to­ gether the mother country and her Aus­ tralian colonies ? We think not, and therefore we think ourselves justified in calling it a remarkable game, perhaps the most remarkable the world has ever seen. This fact at least is worthy o f note, that practical colonial statesmen have not ignored, and do not ignore, that cricket can be a factor in creating amongst Eng­ lishmen an interest in those great off shoots from the mother country. - We are inclined to question whether the excite­ ment in Australia has been greater over the transmission of a body of colonial troops to assist tho mother country in the Soudan than it was over the successes of the first Australian Eleven that visited these shores. The theorist, however, may say, “ I grant you that some outdoor exercise is good and indeed necessary; but is there not a great waste of time over such a game as cricket—time which would be much better spent in the con­ sideration of such economic problems as might lead to solutions having a beneficial result for mankind?” Well, putting aside altogether the difficult problem whether the circulation of capital, and consequent employment o f labour, which does result from |a game so universally pursued as cricket, is or is not of benefit to the com­ munity, we should be inclined to say, “ If the minds of those who take an active part in the game were devoted to nothing else, the answer might be in the affirma­ tive,” But that is not the ease. Let the theorist inquire among his friends, and not seldom will he find that some athletic pursuit has exercised its sway over their earlier days. He will find perhaps that the millionaire, who devotes much of his thought and wealth to the improvement of his estate, and is an enthusiast on the subject of church architecture, was in his University Eleven; that the judge spends his leisure evenings at Lord’s ; that the statesman pulled an oar in his University E igh t; that the rising barrister’s name is celebrated in tennis court annals ; that the philanthropist, who spends his even­ ings with the poor, may occasionally be seen no inconspicuous figure in the foot­ ball field, and that the hardest of hard- worked M.P.s was never beaten in the racquet cou rt; and if he finds that answer to his inquiries, perhaps he will admit that the field of athletics need not necess­ arily, and indeed seldom does, prevent the man who has been able to excel there to excel also in after years in graver pursuits. And, the greater covering the less, he will find this applies also to cricket; for as the young gentleman who has been a distinguished figure in the cricket-field finds the graver duties of life forcing themselves on his attention, he leaves the former for the latter, not with­ out a heartache perhaps, but none the worse a man that the republic of the cricket-field has given him a closer ac­ quaintance with all sorts and condition of men, and with probably a practical know­ ledge of human nature that will serve him in good stead through life, which he might have acquired with difficulty, if at all, in the class-room or the study. So much for the effect of the national game on those who learn it at school, practise it at college, and carry their enthusiasm for it to Lord’s, the Oval, or the country cricket-field. They may be numbered by tens ; but what is its influ­ ence on the hundreds, nay thousands, who practise cricket on the village green, or in the neighbourhood of towns and cities seek in it a relaxation from the many toils imposed by civilization on a suffering humanity? Has cricket done good to these, and is it doing them good ? Now here we have to start with an accom­ plished fact, which is that the English people are laying hold of the game more and more every y ea r; and it would indeed be a serious thing if we had reason to believe that it brought them harm. It always was an essentially English game, supported by country gentlemen, and practised on village greens ; but now that has taken an extended form. The splendidly appointed grounds which are to be found in or near every large town are supported by the sixpences o f the people. Ten years ago most county cricket clubs eked out an uncertain sub­ sistence on the generosity o f one or two patrons ; nowthe more wide-spread inter­ est in the game gives them a more than sufficient income. Where hundreds dawdled up of an afternoon to see a big match, now thousands arrive early on the ground to secure a good place. Shall we ever forget the curious sight presented to the astonished gaze of anyone who chanced to pass round Kennington Oval in August, 1884, on the morning of the great match, England v. Australia. The backs of those standing or sitting in the outermost ring of spectators can be seen from the road that encircles the ground; and that morning it was as if each person had loaned out his back as an advertisement for one of the daily papers. They were being used as preventives against sunstroke, but one was immedi­ ately struck with the anxiety there must have been to secure a coign of vantage to induce the earliest comers to sit in so hot a place. We can remember very well when Manchester cared nothing for cricket; now, if the crack bat of every local club, who manages to get fifty runs indiffer­ ently against moderate bowling, is not tried for the county eleven, the unfortu­ nate committee is besieged with indignant protests, hinting broadly at favouritism, and demanding the dismissal from office of the captain and most of the committee. Now, to some minds, doubtless, there is much that is absurd in all this; why should there be sucli excitement over three sticks and a bit of red leather ? Never mind the why, my theorist—accept it, and accept this too, that it is very much better that the teeming swarms of a city should be interested in something that will take them into the open air, than that they should spend their time in a stuffy taproom, talking maudlin politics over beer and pipes, and losing more than the threepence or sixpence it would cost them to obtain admittance to the cricket-ground over a game of all fours, played with a dog’s-eared pack of cards, or than that they should lounge away their afternoon in the heated alleys of the town. Politics! let them talk politics by all means in proper season ; for Heaven’s sake let them study the science, for in all conscience it is very necessary that tho rulers of a country should understand i t ; but induce them also to come out of tho courts, aud tho alleys, and the slums, into God’s air and sunshine, and they will not be worse politicians one bit; and, if you can get them out in the air, let them go and take part in, or look on at, one of Next Issue December 24.