Cricket 1887

“ Toge ther joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— Byron. BegiBtCTea^o^TraMm^asiTnAbroad. THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1887. PR ICE 2d. the public, he had been for some years well known as a good all-round cricketer in the populous distnot of which Leeds is the centre. In 1880, while engaged with the Saddleworth Club, he showed no mean form as a batsman; indeed, during that year he had a very respectable average of 49 for his club. Some of his scores for Saddleworth were particularly noteworthy, and among the best of several good performances with the bat were his 84 against Stalybridge, and 111 (not out) against Ashton-under-Lyne. As a bowler, too, he enjoyed a high reputation. It is not possible, nor would it be of any great interest, to reproduce his chief doings with the ball in local matches. One of his best records, though, will well bear reproduc­ tion. As a proof of his utility as a bowler long before he became associated with County cricket, we need only point to his success against Armley and District in 1882, when he was credited with five wickets for no runs. His first appearance in the Yorkshire eleven was at Sheffield against Surrey just twelve months ago. The match, begun on June 28th, ended on this very day last year, and Wade, who opened the first innings with Hall, had to be content with fifteen runs as the result of his two efforts. Though on that occasion he was not allowed to bowl a ball, the next match, against Notts at Nottingham, proved that the Yorkshire Captain might have given him a trial against Surrey with advantage. He was not re­ quired as it happened in the first innings against Notts, but in the second his off-break puzzled the Nottingham batsmen altogether, and he did a fine performance, taking five wickets, those of Scotton, Gunn, Selby, Mr. H. B. Daft and Sherwin, at a cost of only thirty runs. Though against Lancashire Wade was not successful as a bowler, his next appearance, against the Australians at Sheffield, at least, gave rise to one of the most extraordinary incidents of the year. In the first innings he had bowled six overs at a cost of twenty- three runs, and his services were not again utilised as a bowler until quite the close of the game. This time he only delivered twelve balls, but the last four represented as sensational an ov'.r as was sent down during the summer. H. J. H. Scott, the Australian Captain, was the batsman, and he made history with four fine consecutive hits, a six, a foui, and two sixes, finishing the match in most remarkable fashion with twenty-two runs from the last four balls. In the next fix­ ture between Yorkshire and the Australians, this time at Hudders­ field, Mr. Hawke did not deem it advisable to try him as a bowler, and indeed, with the exception of the match against Gloucestershire, at Sheffield, he was absent from the Yorkshire eleven for several fixtures. His re-appearance, though, against Middlesex at Bradford was a most success­ ful one with bat and ball. Middlesex went in first, but though represented by a strong batting side were dismissed for a small total SAUL WADE . T h o u g h there has not been, perhaps, quite the same certainty about the batting of the Yorkshire eleven during the last season or two, Yorkshire cricket has on the whole been up to'the best standard ever since the organi­ sation of a county club to concentrate the widely scattered resources of the largest of all our shires. In many respects the Yorkshire executive has been singularly fortunate in the development of its cricket. It has had in the first place a vast area from which to select its players, an almost illimitable field of selec­ tion in fact. It has had, too, in the possession of so many big and populous towns a number of train­ ing grounds which have enabled it to recruit its forces from time to time without any of the difficulty experienced by counties whose only advantages are of a strictly agri­ cultural character. Yet on the other hand the very fertility of its resources has at times been not without its drawbacks to those who have had the management of York­ shire cricket. The number of good players the Committee have had at their disposal for the selec­ tion of the County eleven has en­ tailed great responsibilities, and at the same time necessitated a con­ siderable amount of care and judg­ ment. With so many young and promising players it has not always been an easy task to give a per­ manent place to the best cricketers. More than one of those who have tried and failed as the most likely youngsters often do, when an oppor­ tunity has been given to them by theYorkshire management, have subsequently proved themselves, with the better chances other shires less favoured in the number of players have been able to give them, to be useful additions to County elevens. Saul Wade, at the present time one of the most useful all-round cricketers in the Yorkshire team, did not, if we remember rightly, make his mark like many have done, on his first trial, though fortunate enough to come off at the second time of asking. Born at Farsley, on February 8, 1858, Wade is every inch a York- shireman. Though it was not until last summer thathe came at all prominently before