Cricket 1887

“ Toge ther joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— Byron. Registered\o^Transmission' broad. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1887. PRICE 3d. W A L T E R Q U A IFE . I t may, in sad truth, be written of Sussex cricket just latterly that “ Misfortunes come not as single spies, but in battalions.” Not in any case the most favoured in position, or in the character of its population, the County has been singularly ill-fated and unfortunate in losing, during the last few years, several players who had already done good service for the County, and would, in all probability, have been still more useful members of the eleven had the call of time by the umpire not called them away to other fields. Mr. WilliamBlack­ man, buried on Australian soil, Juniper, most useful of bowlers, both of them taken away just when they were becoming of the greatest use, and now, just lately, Mr. F. M. Lucas, beyond a doubt the best left-handed batsman of the day, the third prominent cricketer whom death has removed from the County eleven. Still, Sussex has never lost heart, and although not particularly successful last year, recent ex­ periences have certainly not been at all discouraging in the matter of likely talent among the rising cricketers at the disposal of the County Club. In Walter Quaife, in particular, Sussex is fortunate in being able to claim one of the most, if not the most promising young batsman professional cricket has introduced for a very long time. Born at Newhaven on April 1, 1864, he also learned his cricket there. The ground at Newhaven is not of the best, and as a consequence he was not able to boast the advantages in the shape of ^ood practice, which tend so materially to develop the natural abilities of young players. Indeed, he had no great opportunity of proving his undoubted capacity until the season of 1884, when he made his first appearance on the County ground at Brighton. According to the synopsis of Sussex County Cricket for 1885, Quaife’s first introduction to the Sussex authorities was in the Colts’ match played on the Brighton f round in the early part of May, 1884. uniper, Bean, and the late Mr. W. Black­ man were the principal bowlers on the side of the Eleven whom the Eighteen Colts had to face on that occasion, and Quaife came out of the trial with distinct credit, getting 19 and 24, the highest aggregate of the Eighteen, in really good style. A week later the young Sussex professional made his debut in the County eleven at Lord’s againstMarylebone Club and Ground, a match memorable to those who played for a most exciting finish, ending in favour of Sussex with only awicket in hand. The victory was only won after a hard fight, and a great share of the honours was due to the plucky batting of the youngster who, unnerved by the dismissal of the usual rungetterson the side for very small scores, played with no small confidence, and was actually the highest contributor in the second innings of Sussex with seventeen Another interval of a week saw Quaife on the Trent Bridge Ground, at Nottingham, opposed to the deadly bowling of Barnes, Flowers, Walter Wright, Attewell, and Alfred Shaw. On even the best of wickets this would have been a formidable combina­ tion for an inexperienced cricketer to face, and it was no wonder that on a pitch entirely in favour of the bowlers, whereon, too, all the old hands failed, that Quaife was unsuccessful. These were, as far as we are aware, his only appearances for Sussex in 1884. Indeed, it was not till the following year he practically be­ came one of the regular members of the County eleven, so that in the short space of three summers he has forced his way into aconspicuous position among the cricketers of Sussex. The Committee of theLewes Priory Club were fortunate enough to secure Quaife’s services on several occasions in 1885 when he was not engaged with the County eleven, and the better practice he got with it naturally helned to improve his play materially. In addition, the tuition he received through the liberality of the Earl of Sheffield from Alfred Shaw proved a great advantage, giving him an increase of confidence, and, at the same time, indirectly improving his position in Sut-sex cricket. In the nine matches, too, in which he represented the County in 1885, he showed, on the whole, distinctly promising cricket. His highest score in an important fixture during that summer was his 38 against Kent at Gravesend, but perhaps his best innings was early in the year against Notts at Nottingham. After heading the home team by 34 runs on the first hands on that occasion, the Sussexmen collapsed altogether when they went in again, and Mr. Ellis and Quaife, who carried out his bat for an exceedingly wrell-got 20, were responsible for 41 of 79 got by the side from the bat. By this time Quaife’s place in the County eleven was fairly secured. He took part, indeed, in ten of the twelve matches played in 1886, and though his highest contribution was one of 46 against Kent, this time at Brighton, he fully justified his position by consistently good batting, having as the result of seventeen completed innings an aggregate of 293, and an average of just over 17 runs. Last summer Quaife showed an extraordinary advance as a batsman. N E X T IS SU E , DECEMBER 29.