Cricket 1887

Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1887. p r ic e ad. “ Together joined in cricket’s man ly toil.”— By ron . MR. A L E X A N D E R G IL L E S P IE . T h o u g h success has not as yet attended their efforts, the visit of the team representing the Gentlemen of Canada to England this summer cannot fail to be gratifying to C r ic k e t readers generally, if only as an indication of the hold our national game has secured in all parts of the world. In this case, too, there is particular reason for gratification, inasmuch as not one member of the party, of which Mr. Gillespie is one of the bright particular stars, now here can claim England as the land of his birth. Several of them it is true learned the rudiments of the game on this side of the Atlantic, and more than one, too, would have passed, and, indeed,did pass, a satisfactory examination in cricket before English or Scotch professors. At the same time it is satisfactory to feel that the team, whose play metropolitan critics will have the opportunity of witnessing at Lord’s on Mon­ day, are natives of the Dominion, indigenous to the soil of the country they have come over here to represent. The trip only furnishes another proof, if any, indeed, were wanted, of the cos­ mopolitan character of cricket, and whatever may be the result from a financial point of view, it is certain that Mr. G. G. S. Lindsey, the Honorary Secretary of the Toronto Cricket Club, who we may add, not only organised and carried out all the preliminary arrangements of the tour, but is now here personally conducting the party, and his comrades will have no reason to complain of any lack of warmth in their recep­ tion by English Cricketers. The early part of next week, as we have already said, will see the Canadian Team in London, and therefore we have considered that this will be the most appropriate time for presenting C b ic k e t readers with a portrait, an excellent reproduction, too, of the photograph furnished, of one of the foremost representatives of Canadian Cricket. Mr. Alexander Gillespie was born at Hamilton, in the province of Ontario, Canada, on the 16th July, 1861. He has, therefore, only recently completed his twenty-fifth year—indeed, he spent his birthday in Dublin in appropriate fashion for a cricketer, actively engaged in opposition to the Gentlemen of Ireland, the first opponents the Canadians had to meet during their tour. The Dominion, too, can claim all the credit of Mr. Gillespie’s education as well as of his birth. His firstlessons in the game were received during his stay at the Upper Canada College, Toronto, an institution which, bv the way, has played an important part in the cricket training of everal of the foremost players of Canada. During the early part of his eonnection with the Upper Canada Collepe, he was known mostly as a batsman, and his steady play was of great use to the School eleven at all times. Going in first his wicket was a very difficult one, and as hewatched the ballvery carefully he was rarely dismissed without a fair score. It was not until the last year of his school career that he took to bowling, but soon showed him­ self to be a proficient in this department, too, and he proved singularly successful with the ball as well as the bat. After leaving school his reputation as a bowler increased rapidly, and in 1879 he did good service on more than one occasion against the powerful combination of Eng­ lish professionals brought to Canada by Richard Daft. He was successful, too, as a bowler against the team of Irish Gentle­ men when they visited Canada, in one match in particular, where­ in he took six wickets at a cost of twenty-four runs. In 1881 he was in excellent batting as well as bowling form, and it was in this year that he made his highest score, one of 117 for Hamilton against Toronto. The season of 1881, too, found him for the first time one of the team to represent Canada againstAmerica in the International match, a contest in which he has taken part regularly up to the present time. Though his all-round cricket has generally been of use, his best performances as a bowler have been during the last three years, and, indeed, to his bowling and that of his fellow Hamil­ tonian, R. B. Ferrie, the Canadian cricketers have been mostly in­ debted for their three successive victories in these International matches. Mr. Gillespie’s figures in the three contests have been, indeed, so much above the average that we feel justified in repro­ ducing them here— 1884—9wickets for 69 runs. 1885—9wickets for 43runs. 1886—5wickets for 43runs. On his Canadian form it was con­ fidently expected that he would show to advantage here as an all-round cricketer. As a bowler he has not as yet done much, but in batting he began the tour well, and his first three scores (28, 54 and 30, all against the Gentlemen of Dublin) prove effectually that he can get runs against capable amateur bowlers. Mr. Gillespie bowls medium pace round arm, and at times gets a lot of spin on to the ball. He varies his pitch and pace well, and when the wicket helps him, is at times very puzzling.