Cricket 1886

41Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1886. price ad. ALEC HEARNE. T h ir t e e n months ago, in our biography of G. G. .Hearne, we had occasion to remark that that popular professional was one of a third generation of cricketers. The name of Hearne has, as everyone knows, been for years and years honorably and actively identified with our great pastime. George, the father of the three brothers who have of late worked'so zealously in the service of Kent cricket, and Tom Hearne, the veteran player, latterlybestknown in his capacity as head of the ground bowlers at Lord’s, were both sons of a cricketer well-known in Bucking­ hamshire inhis dayas agood all-round .player. Subsequent events caused George Hearne the elder (whohasbeen for several years the custodian of the Private Banks Club, Catford Bridge), like his brother Tom, to associate him­ self with Middlesex cricket. The care of Mr. John "Walker’s prettyground at Southgate,was, asmanyof ourreaders know, for years in his hands, and Mid< dlesex can claim to have given birth to each of his three sons, who have so worthily upheld the family name on the cricket field. Alec Hearne, the youngest of the brothers, like George and Frank, first saw the light in Ealing, a parish where Tom, their uncle, has long resided. Born there on July 22, 1863, he reached his twenty-third birthday last Thursday, the first day of the match between Kent and Surrey, at - *e^enham. At a very early age he commenced to display the skill as a bowler which lias, during the last few years, enabled him to do such excellent service to the Kent eleven. His first perform­ ance of any note was, indeed, when he had just reached his thirteenth birthday. Playing for the Victoria Club against the Sydenham Comet, in 1876, he bowled with remarkable effect, taking seven wickets, four of them with consecutive balls, at a cost of only three runs During the sum­ mers of 1879 and 18&0 ue was chiefly associated with the Mid-Kent Club, and so marked was his success with the ball that in each of theseyears he obtainedthe bestbowling average, getting his wickets at the very small cost of 3.15 in 187C, and 4.11 in 1880. His best performances for tho Mid-Kent Club were, as will be gathered from the figures, in 1879, and on one occasion against theWoolwich Ordnance Stores he got all the nine wickets which fell to the bowler at a cost of only nine runs, the tenth batsman being run out. A subsequent engagement with the Private Banks Club, at Catford Bridge, gave him under the watchful eye of his father improved opportunities for developing his cricket, and on several import­ ant occasions he gave substantial proofs of his ability as a batsman as well as a bowler. In 1882, especially, he proved more than once of great use with the bat, and two of his innings, his 112 against the Royal School of Mines, and his 33 not out against the Marylebone Club and Ground, were very promising displays of batting. Mean\yhile his cricket, it need hardly be said, had been carefully watched by the executive of the Kent County Club, and it was mainly through their influence that he became identified with the Mote Park Club at Maidstone. At the outset of his engagement there he was singularly successful as a bowler, and at the commencement of the summer of 1884 he made his mark effectually for the Mote, taking six wickets of Town Mailing for only 20 runs. Against Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, he was credited with ten wickets for 44 runs, and against the Marylebone Club and Ground was even more successful, taking five wickets for 27 in the first, and six for 14 in the second innings. With a view to provide opportunities for young cricketers of promise, the Kent authorities instituted a series of matches for the second eleven of the county during the summer of 1884, and in these Alec Hearne played a conspicuous part as abowler. Against Tonbridge andDistrict his six wickets were got at a cost of 33 runs, and against Gravesend he did most of tho execution, in the first innings at least, taking eight of the ten wickets for 59 runs. His first appearance in the County Eleven was in the opening match of 1884, against Somersetshire, on May 8 at Taunton. Here though he had not even a trial as a bowler, and his chief share of the work was a . creditable score of 19 not out. The first occasion on which, as far as we can find, he bowled for Kent, was against Yorkshire, at Sheffield on June 2, but he was only moderately successful, his one wicket costing 35 runs. It was not until the latter part of 1884, though, that he fairly secured a place in the Kent eleven. Up to the opening match of the Can­ terbury week he had indeed played rarely, and it was the fixture against the Australians at Canterbury which reallyestablished his reputation. The leading features of that memorable contest will still be vividly remem­ bered. Kent had had all the worst of the firstday’splay,and when the game began on the following morning the Australians were only 33 behind with six wickets to fall. It was Alec Hearne who turned the scale in favour of the County, and, in fact, his bowling just at this point—he took five of the last six wickets of the Australians in 85 balls at a cost of only thirty-six runs—was the first step towards what proved to be a remarkable victory for Kent. A fortnight later he distinguished himself again, this time at Gravesend, and it