Cricket 1885

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 80. VOL. IV . Registered (or Transmission A broad. THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1885. PRICE 2d- W IL L IA M EY TON RO LLER . W estm inster has of late years played only an unimportant part in Public School Cricket. The records of the game fail to show even one name, familiar in connection with matches at Vincent Square, in the list of those representing either of the two Univer­ sities during the last decade. “ ’Tis true, ’tis pity, and pity 'tis, ’tis true.” Since the days of Oliver, the Lanes, Winter, Ashley Walker, and Bray, Westminster cricket, whatever the causes, has not flourished as it should. While other schools, certainly less known, and with hardly such oppor­ tunities, have been rearing players capable of taking a foremost place among the amateurs of the day, the ancient foundation of St. Peter’s College has done little or nothing to increase the supply; Mr. W. E. Boiler is, as far as we know, the only old Westminster boy who occupies at all a prominent position in first class cricket at the present time. He was born at Clapham Common on Feb. 1, 1858, and as he has resided there all his life his credentials to represent Surrey are unmistakeable. Educated at West­ minster, he secured a place in the School eleven of 1873 when he was in his sixteenth year. His first appearance in a fixture of any importance was in the annual match against Charterhouse, and on this occasion—memorable from tbe fact that W. S. Bawson, who sub­ sequently attained celebrity as a foot­ ball player, had a hand in the dismissal of all the ten wickets in the first innings of Charterhouse—Westminster won by an innings and seventeen runs. Though Mr. Boiler’s contribution in this match was only eleven he played good cricket throughout the season, and his batting average was the best of the year. His bowling figures, which showed fourteen wickets at an average of less than thirteen runs, too, were creditable, and he was all-round rightly accounted as a very promising youngster. Unfortunately a long interval occurred during which his cricket was to a certain extent lost. For the next three years he hardly played at all, and when he went up to Caius College, Cambridge, after this break in his cricket education it is hardlyji surprise that he was not very fortunate, though it must be added that for a long period he was disabled by a broken leg, from the effects of which he was slow in recovering. On leaving Cambridge he played for the Upper Tooting Club regularly, and was at times very successful with both bat and ball. That sterling and popular club, the Incogniti, of which Mr. Boiler is a leading member, had also a great deal to do with the development of his latent talent, as it has done with many others whi have figured and still figure prominently in county cricket, notably Messrs. Brune, Winter, Howell, the Shuters, the Leeses, Pontifex, Boss, Lindsay, Trollope, the Thorntons, Bobertson, Stanley Scott, and Horner, with many more. No club has, indeed, in contending against other strong clubs, diffused the game for over twenty years more thoroughly than the Incogs., and it is by this means—the frequent opportunities of match play­ ing—that its members have been so well grafted in the science of the game. Mr. Boiler’s connection with Upper Tooting was from the first a successful one, and the best of many good per­ formances with the bat was his 253 bo' out against Beckenham in 1880. The excellence of his all-round cricket about this time brought him promi­ nently before the notice of the Surrey authorities, and in the following season he became a member of the County eleven. His first appearance—against Kent, at Maidstone, on July 25, 1881— was a lucky one, and his two scores of 15 and 25 were go» in suuh promising style that he figured in all the remain­ ing fixtures of the year. Though he did not prove very effective as a bowler, he rarely failed to make runs, and one of his innings, against Yorkshire at the Oval, was of exceptional merit. Better hitting, indeed, than he showed on this occasion had not been seen on the Surrey ground during the season, and in his score of 52—out of 71 while he was in—wer6 two big smites, one into the Pavilion, the other to the front of the tavern. Unfortunately for Sur­ rey, at the commencement of the fol­ lowing season, when he had already proved of great ass stance as a change bowler, Mr. Boiler sprained his side severely, and though he reappeared later in the year he was, despite the good cricket he showed more than once, notably in both matches against Lancashire, seen under great disadvantages. The summer of 1883, however, found him Next issue of Cricket Feb. 26-