Cricket 1886

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1886. p r ic e 2d. MR. GEORGE KEMP. F o r tu n e can hardly be said to have unduly favoured Shrewsbury School in her distribu­ tion of the honours of the oricket field. On the contrary, as far as our own information goes, the number of old Salopians who have attained a position of any eminence among amateur cricketers has been of the smallest. To the best of our know­ ledge Mr. George Kemp is the only player, of late years at least, of acknowledged repute, who owes his early training in our national game to Shrewsbury School. In his case Salopians, though, have the satisfac­ tion of being able to claim one of the most promising young cricketers of the day. As is the case with the ma­ jority of the amateurs who represent Lancashire at the present time, he is a native of the Palatinate. Born at Rochdale, on June 9th, 1866, he can thus boast the strongest of all qualifications for the County of Lancashire, that of birth. Sent to Shrewsbury Sthool in 1881, it was not long before he gave practical proofs of his aptitude for cricket. The summer of 1882, indeed, found him in the Shrewsbury Eleven, and for a first season his figures were distinctly creditable. Though his best score was one of thirty his bat­ ting was consistently successful, and the averages of the year showed that he had made an aggregate of 196runs in thirteen innings, with three not outs. His first Inter-School match was a success, and in the second in­ nings against Rossall he played in excellent style for his twenty-one not out. Young as he was he had, evi­ dently, in him even then the makings of a fine player, for “ James Lilly­ white’s Annual,” of 1883, in com­ menting on the Shrewsbury Eleven of the previous year describes him as an excellent bat, with very pretty style, adding that there was every probability of his developing into a first-class cricketer. Though not quite so successful during 1883 in run-getting his batting had shown considerable improve­ ment, and in addition he was also of consider­ able assistance to the Shrewsbury Eleven as a bowler, taking in all twenty-two wickets at an average of less than eight runs. Under the Captaincy of F. W.Burbury Shrewsbury School had a fairly prosperous season in 1884. Much of their success was due to the all-round cricket of Mr. Kemp, who was second in the bowling as well as in the batting averages. The great match of the year, that against Rossall, re­ sulted unfavourably for the Salopians, and had it not been for the exceptionally good form shown by Mr. Kemp the reverse would have been a very decisive one. His batting in this match was of a high class, and in proof of this it need onlybe stated that of an aggregate of 166 made by his side from the bat, he was responsible for 98, taking out his bat in the second innings for a brilliant score of 75 not out. His School form of 1884 was quite good enough to lead to the belief that he would make a name at Cambridge in the following year. These expectations were fully realised at the outset, and indeed a more promising debut has rarely been made in University cricket than his exceptionally good innings of a hundred in the Fresnmen’s match. Though his best innings was one of sixty against Mr. A. J. Webbe’s Eleven, he rarely failed to score well, and for a first appearance in the Inter-University match he acquitted himself very well, making twenty-nine and twenty-six in capital stylo. His debut for his County was, to use a favourite phrase of cricket scribes, sensational. His performance for Lancashire against Yorkshire, at Huddersfield, was indeed one of the best of the year. In the second in­ nings he was credited with 109 out of 197 got by Lancashire from the bat, and during his stay of three hours at the wickets he never made a mistake, an extraordinary feat for a young cricketer against such good bowling as that of Yorkshire. This season Mr. Kemp has shown himself to be in consistently good batting form, and, indeed, it may fairly be said that he is to be regarded as the most pro­ mising of the younger order of amateur batsmen. His scoring for Cambridge, though he failed against the Australians, has been consider­ ably above the average, so much so, as will be seen on reference to the statistics which appear in another E art of this paper, that he is at the ead of this year’stables among Cam­ bridge batsmen. His success against Yorkshire bowling has been extra­ ordinary, and it is a remarkable coincidence, as was pointed out in C r ic k e t of June 24, that he should have made upwards of a hundred runs in each of three successive matches against the Yorkshire eleven. As a curiosity, indeed, it may be well to reproduce the result of the seven innings he has as yet played against Yorkshire:— June 15,1885, for Cambridge Univ. ... 13 July 27,1885, for Lancashire 37-109, 146 June 5,1886for Cam. Univ... 4-125, 129 June 21, for Cambridge Univ. 103-21,124 This gives a total of 412 for seven innings, or an average of 58.6. His brilliant batting for the Gentlemen of England against the Australians at the Oval, too, a month ago will not be forgotten. In the first innings he contributed 83 out of 149 while he was in, and his batting all round was worthy of the highest praise. Great things were expected of him in the Inter-University