Cricket 1887

18 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. FEB. 24, 1887. year against Kent, commenced on June 16, 1884. The match was one of exceptionally high scoring, and in the three days, as many as 1,122 runs were totalled for the loss of thirty-seven wickets. Mr. Lacey’s display on this occasion was in every way an extra­ ordinary one, and as at Brighton in 1882 he fairly won the game for his side. His 211 out of an aggregate of 414 in the first hands was the highest score of the county, and this season he followed up with a fine second innings of 92 not otit. Out of 552 made by Hampshire from the bat, he contributed no less than 303 for once out, and as Hampshire only won with three wickets to spare, Mr. Lacey’s share of the success can be understood. Though during the last two years he has acted as captain of the Hampshire Eleven, the county has not been able to claim his services as often as could be wished. Not quite so fortunate in 1885, he still played good cricket throughout, and one innings of his against Derbyshire, at Southampton, where he went in first and carried out his bat for 61 out of 135, was particularly noteworthy. Last year his best performances were both against Herts. The Hertfordshire bowlers, indeed, felt the full force of his hitting, for in each case he punished them to the tune of three figures, scoring 185 in the first and 131 in the return match. With better opportunities Mr. Lacey would, we feel sure, have taken a very high position among cricketers. As it is, the brief sketch we have given of the most notable features of his career will prove his great ability as a batsman. With height and strength on his side he has great physical advantages, and as he plays a good upright game he makes full use of his inches. He plays, too, in excellent style, and when set nits all round with remarkable freedom. He bowls slow pace round-arm. and as his delivery is high is very often useful as a change, In addition he is a capital field. Mr. Lacey is now reading at the Inner Temple for the Bar. Our portrait is from a photograph by Haw­ kins & Co., of 108, King’s Road, Brighton. T H E F IR S T IN T E R -U N I V E R S IT Y M ATCH . D o u b t s have been frequently expressed as to whether the Oxford and Cambridge match of 1829 was really the first between the two "Universities. Anxious to con­ sult the best authorities on the question, we ventured to ask the opinion of the present Bishop of St. Andrew’s, the Bight Beverend Charles Wordsworth, D.D., who has been, and rightly, regarded as the father not only of the Inter- University Cricket Match, but also of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Bace. Charles Wordsworth was in fact the originator of the one and the other; and the following letter, which he was kind enough to send in reply to our inquiry, can not fail to be read with the greatest interest by Oxford and Cambridge men. In contributing his opinions on the sub­ ject of the effect of training for the Boat Bace, to Mr. J. E. Morgan’s book, “ Uni­ versity Oars,” in May, 1869, the Bishop stated that though then in his sixty- third year, he was still able to play at cricket with his sons, and that in the previous years he had rowed with them a dista nce of eight miles as stroke of a four-oar. And although eighteen more years have rolled by since then, it is evident that Dr. Wordsworth still retains all the active sympathy with and interest in cricket which marked his early days. It was said of Bishop Ken that “ he was a worthy prelate and an excellent player at football.” It will equally be said of the Bishop of St. Andrew’s that he was not only a distinguished prelate but a good athlete and a prominent member of the order of muscular Christianity. B is h o p s h a l l , S t . A n d r e w ’ s . January 18th, 1887. M y D e a r S ir , I have much pleasure in complying with your request. There can be no question that the match of 1827 (sixty years ago), was the bona fide beginning of the Inter-University Cricket Matches. I am not sure about the day (and it is possible that the state­ ment which you quote from Bell's L ife may be correct, though I do not remember any postponement), but in all other respects I can speak with certainty, hav­ ing been the principal person concerned in getting up the match, as my home was at Cambridge (my father being Master of Trinity), and I knew personally almost all the Cambridge Eleven, having played against them, or with them, during the four years I was in the Harrow Eleven (1822-25, against Eton in each of those four years, and against Winchester in 1825, being in both cases the first regular annual matches between Public Schools); while I myself was an Oxford man, and one of the three managers (Treasurers, we called them—there was no President) of the principal, indeed,the only realplaying club in those days at Oxford, called the Magdalen, of which in an article in this month’s “ Blackwood’s Magazine,” I am said to have been the founder;—not quite correctly, as the original founder was, I believe, the Bev, H. Jenkins, Fellow of Magdalen—but I was a sort of Second Founder, being chiefly instru­ mental in turning it into a club for the whole University instead of for a single college. Your record of that first match (1827) is quite correct. It was unfinished in consequence of bad weather. But Ox­ ford was fairly in the way to win it hol­ low. You may observe that I was sin­ gularly fortunate as a bowler, taking seven wickets in the one innings. But it was as a batsman that I was generally more suc­ cessful (except in great matches, when I was always very nervous), so much so that in the following year at Oxford, 1828, my average was higher than any other, being no less than 41, as can be testified by the Bev. B. Payne, still living, who told me in 1863 that such was the fact (as he himself had calculated the averages from the match books), and that he stood third. I mention that circumstance, not I hope vaingloriously, but because it bears upon what I have now to tell about the second Inter-University match, in 1829, in which my batting powers appear at the lowest, with a couple of duck’s eggs after my name! The facts are these, and they are so peculiar, not to say unparal­ lelled, that they deserve to be recorded, In that year—the year of the first Inter- University Boat Bace—I was invited (though not one of a college eight, being too much of a cricketer to row regularly when cricket and rowing were both car­ ried on in the same summer term) to make one of our Oxford crew. I did not like to refuse, though this involved giving up cricket for that year, and I offered to withdraw my name from the Eleven; but I was pressed not to do so, and, conse­ quently, when the Inter-University match came on, upon Friday—you say June 8, but was it not June 12 ?—I was obliged to make my appearance, though I had not taken a bat in hand before during that season ; and what was worse, I was suffering from an imposthume (a pos­ teriori, the result of stricter diet in train­ ing for the boat) which I never had before or since, and which troubled me so that I could scarcely stand upright when I went to the wicket. However, though I got no runs, I contrived to bowl out two and to catch out two of our opponents. The unparallelled part of the matter was that the Boat Bace came off on Wednesday at Henley, and the Cricket match on Friday at Oxford in the same weeTc, and we Oxonians were victorious in both. The published “ Becord of the Univer­ sity Boat Bace, 1829-80 ” was not quite correct in regard to some of these latter details in its first edition, 4to. p. 69 and p. 113, but I believe they have been set right in its second edition. I am, My dear sir, Yours faithfully, CHABLES WORDSWOBTH, Bp. of St. Andrews S tar C ricket and L awn T e n n is C l u b .— The Annual Dinner of this flourishing Club was held at the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge, on Wednesday, 9th February, when more than 50 members and friends sat down to an excellent repast. Mr. J. Morgan Howard, Q .C ., M.P., occupied the chair, supported by the famous Surrey Amateur, Mr. W. W, Bead, and other influential gentlemen. After the loyal toasts had been duly honored, the Surrey County Club, coupled with the name of W. W. Read, who wasmost enthusias­ tically received, met with the most hearty reception. Mr. C. W. Lawder, the Hon. Sec., in reply to the toast of the Star Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club, proposed by the Chairman, alluded to the doings of the Club in 1886, stating that there were no less than 140 mem­ bers enrolled on the books, and that 56matches had been arranged for the coming season, including one with the Surrey Club and Ground. Mention was also made of the regretted retirment of Mr. G. W- Largen the late Hon. Sec., who for 19 years had faithfully served the Club. The Chairman afterwards on behalf of the members presented Mr. Largen with a handsome gold watch suitably inscribed, the gift being feelingly acknowledged by that gentleman. Prizes were also handed to Mr. G. Harrison for 1st batting with an average of 32, Mr. T. King for 2nd batting and 2nd bowling, Mr. F. Lett for 1st bowling, and Mr. F. Grover for 1st bowling in second eleven. The proceedings w#re enlivened by some excellent singing by Messrs, Turner, Glazier,Wigg,Baker,Mayfield, Clayton, Hooke and Schultz, and aneffectiverecitationby Mr. J. A. Smith. The company broke up at mid­ night after spending a most enjoyable evening. Next Issue March 31