Cricket 1886

MARCH 25,1886. CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME. 35 [We are not answerable for the opinions expressed by our Correspondents.] CRICKET NEARLY SIXTY YEARS AGO- To the E ditor of “ C ricket .” S ir ,—I should be glad if you or any of your correspondents would tell us in your columns when pads first came in. The first time I saw them was in the year 1833 or ’34, when I went down with the Kent Eleven under Knatchbull and Herbert Jenner to play Norfolk at Dereham. Fuller Pilch came out of the tent, to my astonishment, with the identical sort of pad that is now worn, up to and above the knee. He made a hole with his heel in the turf, stuck his foot there firmly and defied the leg-bails, which we had to jump and dance to get away from, and which at that time were often pur­ posely driven in at the legs two or three times running and perhaps into the stumps the fourth time, when the ruse had caused un­ steadiness. The case made a great impression upon me, because I actually hit him on the legs once, but my slow ball did not make as much impression through his pads as a flea bite would have done. After Pilch had got about half a hundred runs, Herbert Jenner, the best all-round cricketer of the day, the conductor of our match, and our wicket-keeper, put me on to bowl. I never was a regular bowler, but often got a wicket by a catch or over-reach and stump when put on with slow left-handed rounds after swift underhand cannon balls. The first ball I gave pitched well, the great man was drawn, the ball was missed, went over the shoulder of his bat, and in its parabola itched exactly on the top of the bails and— id not knock them off ! Herbert Jenner threw his hands up in the air, and, with an expression which I need not repeat, rolled the ball back to me, while the umpire looked to the bails and gave them a shake to see if all was right. Pilch’s leg was up, he was actually out of his ground! Of course a child would have stumped him—the best gentleman wicket-keeper in England failed to do this simply because he saw the ball was going to hit ana did hit the wicket. It was truly a dies irce instead of a cretd notanda dies for me. Think, O ye young aspirants, how you would feel if put on to bowl and you were to stick up and bowl out the great Grace first ball, and after he had got his eye well in from 50 runs ! And feel for me in my first great blank in life, carried on to the lowest depths of sorrow by what occurred afterwards. The next ball Pilch hit for six, the third ball for four, the fourth he meant to have sent for six but he missed it altogether, and it hit him on his unmoved padded leg, and I had not even the satisfaction of feeling that at least I had given him a stinger. I was never put on again that day. I believe old Herbert Jenner (Fust, as he is now, he took that additional name some years ago), is still in the land of the living. Though an octogenarian, I think he has not forgotten this incident. How we did without pads I can’t think, be­ cause the pace of Browne, and Cookesley (one of the Eton Masters, and swiftest bowiers of the day), and afterwards of Kirwan (noted fast bowler of Eton Eleven a few years later) was tremendous, and no doubt we did get cut over, the ground not always being, as now, like a billiard table. Perhaps the spin of the balls at this time is more dangerous and makes a more severewound. Thornton, who notoriously plays without pads, might be consulted on this point. I have discussed the matter with some of the notorieties of the day, whom I have the pleasure of knowing—Lytteltons, Studds, Steel and Bligh—and they think the bowling could not have been so swift. You have given an account of Browne in your columns, which, from my recollection, I fully endorse. I re­ member that it was said of him that he bowled through a coat and killed a dog at Brighton. There are many Septuagenarians who remem­ ber the first round professional at Cambridge, introduced in my time, ’33, Redgate, of Not­ tingham. I should like to know what they say of his pace. To my idea it was like a ball from a catapult. Many more will remember Alfred Mynn and his peculiar action and delivery. I think I can mention one fact in proof of the pace with which the balls were driven by his giant arm. In 1834 when I played against the Players, I was put as extra man, very deep, to cover long- slip if the ball was hit, and to cover long-stop and guard the Pavilion if the ball was missed, and so I was kept at it all the match, and have the pace fully impressed upon my memory. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, S eptuagenarian . Eton Eleven, 1830-1-2. Cambridge, 1833-4-5. Gentlemenv.Players, 1834. To the E ditor of “ C ricket .” Sm,—I read “ Septuagenarian’s ” letter, and instead of answering his questions I want to ask him one to test a theory of my own, which is that A. Mynn (Kent) and Sam Redgate (Nottingham) as far as I can glean and remember were the first two of the round-arm bowlers who delivered the ball at a great pace with the arm straight out and the hand level with the shoulder. I did not see them till 1837. Mynn came out in 1831-2, and was very erratic if the ground was soft and would not hold him, as I heard, but he got very straight when I saw him. Redgate did not come out till after Mynn—he played in the Commemoration Match, 1837. Old Lilly’, whose arm had been broken, delivered the ball like a man carrying a brick in his hand and turning it over and laying it. Hillyer’s run was like a man shuffling along quick in slippers, and his delivery was a trifle low, with his hand below the shoulder and his arm somewhat bent, and very often his balls did not rise more than half-stump high, but he wore a man’s heart out pegging away at the leg-stump, and it was the quick sharp break after the ball pitched that made the danger. Cobbett’s was very simple to look at and he had an elegant and easy delivery and a great break. Alfred Shaw, talking over the comparative excellence in bowling in eras far apart, if it had been possible to produce the men just as they were, said, as I thought most fairly, on my remarking to him that it would be conceit on his part if he tried to run counter to the general opinion that at his best he was never surpassed in excellence as regards the almost certainty of pitching a ball just where he pleased, “ my opinion is that if I have the talent of putting a ball on the spot I want to as near as maybe, from all I hear and read the chances are that Lillywhite, Cobbett, and Hillyer had the same talent, for that talent covers the whole science of bowling, and these men could never have made the record they did unless they had been very first-rate and certain.” I wish the “ Septuagenarian,” who agrees with me that old Clarke’s delivery was like a man throwing a quoit, if lie saw him at Lord’s 1835-36, when a Winchester boy, and in Gentlemen v. Players, would give his opinion o.nAlfred Louth’s bowling. Lord Bessborough and Mr. R. Broughton’s opinion is very favour­ able to his excellence. Tom Adams of Kent, now alive and well and hale and hearty at Gravesend, has as good and lively a memory as any one I know. Yours etc., T he O ld B uffer . P.S.—In my last letter of course “ Pocketer ” ought to read “ Rocketer.” A PROTEST. To the E ditor . of “ C ricket .” S ir , —Can you find room for a p r ^ s t against the action of the Nottinghamshire executive in inducing Frank Shacklook to desert his native county Derbyshire, and play for the champion county. I hear that it wa* only under great pressure that Shacklock con­ sented. It is particularly hard on Derbyshire, just as they are beginning to make headway among the counties, that they should have their best bowler taken away from them, in a manner which irresistibly suggeststhe Biblical parable of Nathan concerning the poor man whose one ewe lamb was stolen by his rich neighbour. This action comes with the less grace from the Notts executive, in that they have always paraded the fact that the county eleven was composed of entirely native talent. I have heard Nottinghamshire men, by the dozen I might almost say, point the finger of scorn (in their language) at Lancashire, whose recipe for a county eleven these Notts men would say is “ first, to find a good player. If he is a Lancashire man, well and good. If he be not, make him a Lancashire man.” Are Nottinghamshire going to pursue this policy ? Yours faithfully, A D erbyshire M an . NOTTS COUNTY CLUB. R evised L ist of F ixtures . April 2G. Nottingham, Colts’ Match April 30. Sheffield, Notts Colts v. Yorkshire Colts May 17. Nottingham, Notts v. Australians. May 31. Brighton, Notts v. Sussex June 3. Nottingham, Notts v. Lancashire June 14. Nottingham, Notts v. Surrey June 17. Lord’s, Notts v. Middlesex June 21. Nottingham, Players of England v. Australians June 24. Maidstone, Notts v. Kent June 28. Moreton-in-Marsh, Notts v. Gloucester­ shire. July 1. Nottingham, Notts v. Yorkshire July 8. Nottingham, Notts v. Australians July 22. Nottingham, Notts v. Sussex July 29. Nottingham, Notts v. Gloucester Aug. 2. Oval, Notts v. Surrey Aug. 5. Manchester, Notts v. Lancashire Aug. 9. Sheffield, Notts v. Yorkshire Aug. 19. Nottingham, Notts v. Middlesex Aug. 26. Nottingham, Notts v. Kent ESSEX COUNTY CLUB. May 10. Leyton, Essex Gentlemen v. Players May 14. Leyton, Essex Eleven v. Twenty-two May 31. Leyton, Essex v. Surrey June 7. Leyton, Essex Club and Ground v. the Parsees . June 10. Oval, Essex v. Surrey June 14. Leyton, Essex v. Herts Juno 18. Shoebury, Essex Gentlemen v. Shoc- bury Garrison June 30. Leyton, Essex Club and Ground v. Upton Park Club and Ground July 2. Leyton, Essex v. Norfolk July 8. Colchester, Essex Club and Ground v. Colchester Club and Ground July 12. Derby, Essex v. Derbyshire July 15. Manchester, Essex v. Lancashire July 21. Woodford, Essex Club and Ground v. Woodford Club and Ground Aug. 2. Leyton, Essex v. M.C.C. and Ground Aug. 4. Norwich, Essex v. Norfolk Aug. 9. Leyton, Essex v. Derbyshire Aug. 13. Bishops Stortford, Essex v. Herts Aug. 28. Leyton, Essex v. Staffordshire Aug. 23. Leyton, Past and Present of Cambridge University v. Australians Aug. 30. Leyton, Essex v. Lancashire T he C ricket F ield . By Rev. James Pycroft The Standard Work on the Game. Cheap edition, just out, cloth bound, price 2s. 6d., post free. 2s. 9d. Contains -.—Origin of the Game of Cricket; The General Character of Cricket; The Hamble- don Club and the Old Players; Cricket generally established as a National Game by the end of the Last Century; First Twenty Years of the Present Century; A Dark Chapter in the History of Cricket; The Surrey—its History; The Zingari— their Origin, Battaiogia, or the Science and Art of Batting; Hints against Slow Bowling; A Chapter on Bowling; Hints on Fielding; The Gentlemen and Players Matches to end of 1883—*, W right and C o . (Cricket Press), 41, St. Andrew’s Hill, Doctors’ Commons, London, E.C. Next Issue April 15-