Cricket 1886

Together joined in cricket’s man ly toil.”— Byron. Registered°or^TransmlSfeii Xbroad. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1886. PR ICE 2d. W IL L IA M C H A T T E R TO N . D erbyshire cricket, during the last few years, can hardly be said to have been unduly favoured in the matter of good luck. On the contrary, in more than one important respect, Fortune has certainly frowned, rather than smiled on those who have had to bear the heavy responsibility of carrying on the County Club in the face of no small difficulties. The play of the eleven, it might be argued on the other hand, has had something to do with one of the most important drawbacks, the com­ paratively small support given by the general public. Such an assertion can hardly be disputed. Just lately, though, the outlook as far as the cricket of the County goes has improved considerably, The authorities have wisely discarded more than one old player, whose best day had passed, and place has been given to younger men. During the last two or three seasons more than one good youngster, able, too, to boast the invalu­ able qualification of birth, has come to the front and done good service with every hance of further development. In the young professional, whose por­ trait we give herewith, Derbyshire can boast one of the most promising all­ round cricketers of the day. BOrn at Birch Yale on Dec. 27,1861, Chatterton can, too, boast the best credential for a County player,birthright. When eleven years old he migrated to Hyde, in Cheshire, where he resides at the present time. His earliest appearance on the cricket field was in connection with the Flowery Field Club, at Hyde, and, indeed, he was only thirteen years of age when he first did duty for that club. Christ’s College, Finchley, pro­ vided him with his opening engagement. The summer of 1880 found him estab­ lished as professional to that institution, and there for three years he remained, acquitting himself with marked credit. The offer of a position as one of the ground bowlers attached to the Derby­ shire ground in 1883, naturally caused the severance of his connection with Christ’sCollege. The cricket he had shown in the three matches in which he took part for the County in the previous year, indeed, fully justified the executive in the expectation that Ohatterton would develope into a cricketer considerably above the average. The return match with Lancashire played at Derby on June 26, 1882, was his first introduction to County cricket. His forte evidently then was thought to be bowling, for he was put on to bowl first to Barlow and Mr. Hornby, the latter of whom punished him rather heavily. “ Run out ” was the record of his first innings for Derbyshire, and altogether his opening match credited him with thirteen runs, against which may be set off his delivery of nine overs at a cost of twenty-four runs without a wicket. Though not particularly successful on his first trial his form was, however, good enough to impress the executive of the County Club very favourably, and he took part in the two re­ maining fixtures of the season with marked credit. The expectations created by his earliest performance were confirmed by a capital score of forty-two, not out, against Sussex, which was in turn followed by a very creditable score of fifteen against Yorkshire in the final contest of the year. The following summer saw Chatterton’s position in the County eleven secure. Going in first, generally, he raiely failed to acquit himself with credit, though only one of his scores was out of the ordinary. His best performance was again against the weak bowling of Sussex, and, indeed, his second innings of sixty-one at Brighton, at the critical point of the game, con­ tributed in no small degree to the highly creditable because quite unex­ pected victory of Derbyshire. In addi­ tion his bowling was on several occa­ sions very effective. In both matches with Yorkshire he did really good service, taking in all eleven wickets at an average cost of eleven-and-a-half runs. Though on the whole less suc­ cessful in 1884, at the close of the sea­ son he was batting in excellent form. Two of his innings, in particular, 42 not out against Kent at Gravesend, and 49 against Surrey at the Oval, were worthy of special praise. Again, too, his bowling was of no small service, and, altogether, during the season in twelve matches, he delivered 295 overs, taking twenty-four wickets for an average of just under nineteen runs. Last season Chatterton’s batting showed a consider­ able improvement, entitling him to bo considered one of the best professional batsmen of the year. With ball as well as bat he was of the greatest value. Throughout the summer his batting was of a very high order, and he rarely failed to credit himself with a good score. In all he participated in twenty completed innings for Derbyshire and with signal success, claiming an aggre­ gate of 557, or an average of close on twenty-eight runs. His highest score was his seventy, not out, against Cheshire ; but against every kind of bowling he acquitted himself creditably as a glance at his doings will show. In the first match with Surrey he was credited with eighteen and twenty-five not out, and in the return at the Oval his play was of distinct merit, his second score of sixty, not out, in par­ ticular being a really excellent display of batting. His sixty-two and eleven, not out, against Yorkshire at Derby, too, contributed in a very great measure to the fine show made by the Derbyshire eleven in that match, which would in all probability, with a slight exten­ sion of time resulted in a glorious victory for his side. Finishing the season in excellent Next Issue April 15*