Cricket 1887

SEPT. 22, 1887, CR IC K E T : A W E E K L Y RECORD OP THE GAM E . 42g introduced into this country. In appear­ ance Outing resembles Harper and the Century, though the articles and illustra­ tions are all of a sporting nature. It will not be out of season just now, perhaps, to add that Mr. G. 0. Lindsay, the Oxford athlete, who by the way is by no means a bad cricketer, will furnish an article on football for next month’s number. “ P o i n t ,’ ’ the cricket critic of the Adelaide Observer, refers in that paper, of August 13, to the death of an old and liberal supporter of the game in South Australia. The late Mr. Gooden’s sons, to whom reference is made in the following remarks, will be known, by name at least—in particular J. E., the captain of the Norwood Club, who has several times shown to great advantage for South Australia against the English teams—to C b ic k e t readers who have had opportunities of following the doings of Australian players. One of the old school of cricketers passed away during the week in the person of Mr. George Gooden, sen., the father of the well- known players who at different times have occupied foremost positions in the cricket world of South Australia. Mr. Gooden was a man in every sense of the word whom to know was to honour. Xdare say there are numbers of people who remember, as I do, his genial face and tall form upon our grounds in the olden days. Until very recent years he never missed a game of any importance. His usual ractice after he had ceased to play was to rive to a match either with a large basket of fruit or a keg of wine for the thirsty players, and it is needless to say that his offerings were thoroughly appreciated. Oh! for those good old days when cricket was more of an amuse­ ment than it is at present. Mr. Gooden was identified with the old Eastern Suburban and its successor, the present Norwood Clubs, and his connection with them never ceased. He died very suddenly on Monday evening, while sitting at the table reading the newspaper, at the ripe age of 73 years. The deceased gentle­ man was for years aCouncillor of the Norwood and Kensington Corporation, and would have been elected Mayor of the municipality had he acceded to the repeated requests of the residents. His remains were carried to the Payneham Cemetery, when a large number of prominent citizens, the Mayor and Councillors of Norwood and Kensington, and several of the Norwood cricketers paid their last mark of respect. M e . M o r t o n P e t o B e t t s , who has acted as match secretary for the Kent County Club this summer, has just been selected to fill a more important position in the cricket world. He has been chosen to succeed Mr. T. Ratliff, who has re­ signed the secretaryship of the Essex County Club, and, I believe, took office as director of affairs at Leyton yesterday. Mr. Betts at different times played for Middlesex, the County of his birth, as well as for Kent by residence, and for many years past has been actively known in connection with the Bickley Park, Streatham, Incogniti and other leading clubs. He is an Old Harrovian, and, indeed, it may be interesting to some to know that the secretaries of the three County clubs whose headquarters are within the Metropolitan district, Surrey, Middlesex and Essex, to wit, were all educated at the School founded by John Lyon of glorious memory. Mr. Betts is not only a practical as well as popular cricketer, but has had no small experience in cricket manage­ ment, and as he has plenty of energy Essex cricket is not likely to suffer in any way in his hands. On the contrary the executive is to be congratulated on its new appointment, though at the same time one can not but regret that Mr. Katliff has decided to resign the office he has held with credit for the last two years. A copy of the “ Oracle and Public Ad­ vertiser,” a journal published in London, of August 26, 1794, has recently come into my possession. It contains on the front page an announcement of a cricket match of the period, which will not be without interest to the cricketer ofto-day. I give it exactly as it appears on the “ Oracle.1’ CRICKET. A grand match will be played, on Wednesday the 27th of August 1794, in L o r d s Cricket Ground, Mary-le-bonne between the Earl of Winchelsea and Ten of Kent against Eight of the Oldfield Club Berks with Fennex, Harding, and Ray for One Thousand Guineas a side The wickets to be pitched at eleven o clock and the Match played out. P layebs . Kent Oldfield Club Earl of Winchelsea Fennex Hon W. Tufton Harding S. Amhurst Esq Ray Boxall Shackell Ring Winter Hammond Finch Pilcher Lawrence Fielder Trueber Smith Gates Bullin Thompson Goodyear. Monk Admittance Six- pence ordinary at three o clock; coffeetea wines &c NB Cricket Bats and balls sold No dogs admitted. All persons admitted must keep without the Ring. The number of the Oracle, which was published at fourpence - halfpenny, is 18,782. The imprint at the end of the paper will read strangely in the light of the newspapers of to-day. It is as follows: London Printed for J. Bell and sold at the Oracle and Public Advertiser Office British Library in the Strand where Ad­ vertisements L e t t e r s &c will be received and properly attended to Also at Mr. Bell’s Bookseller No 148 opposite Bond Street in Oxford Street at Bell’s Newspaper office corner of Sweetings Alley Royal Exchange ; at Kirks toyshop St Pauls Church Yard ; and at Mr. Dawsons Agent for the Oracle Bath— who receives regularly by Express and dis­ tributes a very considerable number of this Paper on the first day of its Publication. I l e a r n , and from a very good authority, that the Committee of the Marylebone Club have recently decided not to publish anymore volumes of “ Cricket Scores and Biographies ” unless they are issued in an abbreviated form. The compiler, I under­ stand, will never agree to this, so that the result will, in all probability, be the des­ truction of the remainder of the MS. of the work, commencing with the year 1877. It will certainly be a pity if so much valuable material, the labour of years, should be lost to the cricket world. E v e r y o n e will be glad to notice the announcement in the daily papers, unless I am mistaken, of Monday last, that Mr. W. G. Grace’s eldest son has been elected to a scholarship at Clifton College. Tho Grand Old Man has such a host of friends everywhere, that anything which conduces to his own success or of those near and dear to him cannot fail to be of interest to C r i c k e t readers. According to Mr. W. Methven-Brownlee, his biographer, Mr. Grace’s family consists of three boys and one girl, whose names are as under :— William Gilbert, born in London, July 1S7J. Henry Edgar, born in London, July 187G. Bessie, born at Kingwood Hill, May 1878. Charles Butler, bojn at Bristol, March 1862. T h e “ Iberia,” which left Plymouth on Saturday with the two English teams aboard—this word seems to have a moro professional ring than the ordinary expres­ sion on board—passed Sagres at 0 a.m. on Tuesday. By this time the twenty-six cricketers have, it is to be hoped, all got their sea-legs, and become accustomed to what is to many of them, at least, quite a new pitch. It will be interesting to their many friends to know that letters posted to-morrow to the care of the agent of tho Orient line, Mr.W. Stapleton, at Suez, will be delivered, on the arrival of the “ Iberia,” there. She is due, I may add, at Naples on Saturday. PROFESSIONAL CRICKETERS. P r o m the beginning of the game of cricket, in so far as we can judge from the first published records of it in the shape of the scores of about a hundred and forty years ago, and also from the writings of Nyren, who belonged to the Hambledon Club, there were cricketers who were paid to play. Whether matches were played for stakes paid down and handed over to tho victors is a matter on which doctors dis­ agree. We know that W. Beldham was retained by the Marylebone Club when it was first formed, in 1787, and was in their service until he retired in 1821; and that there were professionals who travelled the country in the South of England when re­ quired for important matches. Fifty years after the formation of the Maryle- hone Club, Kent, Sussex, and Notting­ ham were the only three counties which had a regular staff; and any one referring to old scores will find in the pre-railway days that an “ England Eleven ” at Lord’s was mostly drawn from players in those three counties. Most of the profes­ sionals had their trades, or were game­ keepers or sons of small farmers who relied for support more or less on the liberality of their patrons. There were few enclosed grounds, and consequently no gate-money to defray expenses. With­ in the last five-and-twenty or thirty years —owing to railway facilities, shorter hours of work, Saturday half-holidays and other causes — people have had more opportunities of taking their pleasure; and in London and great cities during the summer thousands of all classes assemble to witness the matches between county N E X T IS SU E , OCTOBER 27.*