Cricket 1888

“ Together jo ined in cricket’s m a n ly to il.”— Byron. BegistoedTrtmsnifssiou^Abroad. THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1888. P R IC E 2d. M R . C Y R IL D IG B Y B U X T O N . T he name of the “ Cricket Company” will recall most agreeable recollections to many who remember the pleasant matches which used to take place under the auspices of the fraternity playing under that title some twenty years ago. What delightful gatherings, as much from a social point of view as well from the sterner reality of oricket, those meetings of the old Company under the umbrageous foliage which over­ hang the Pavilion were! How re­ freshing the claret cup which was hospitably furnished and with no sparing hand, how pleasurable the stroll round the Park between the innings, stopping, as one used to do, to watch the antics of the rabbits who sported and gambolled undis­ turbed except for the playful inter­ ference of some of the more youth­ ful blood. The name of Buxton brings back many a memory of jolly day^ on the cricket-field in the old Park atWest Ham, memories of good fellowship and genial com­ pany ; of days which, though long past, will not easily be forgotten. The moving spirits, or, perhaps, it would be more commercially cor­ rect to say the managing directors, of the old “Cricket Company” were the Messrs. Gurney and Edward Buxton, the former of whom at one time resided in the Park. The members of the Buxton family have always been liberal supporters of the game, and the brothers S. G. and E. N. Buxton, wbo shared the responsibilities of the cricket at Upton Park in the brave days of old when the “ Cricket Company ” extended its hospitality to all kinds and conditions of players, were themselves, in addition, not only enthupiastic and keen, but also cricketers of no mean skill. Mr. Edward North Buxton’s ability as a player has been inherited and even developed by his son, the opular cricketer who will this year ave the responsibilities of the direction of the Cambridge University eleven on nis shoulders. Born at Knighton in Wood ford, on the. edge of Epping Forest, of which his father has been one of the verderers for many years, on June 25, 1866, Mr. Buxton attained his majority in the middle of last Bummer. Educated first at Elstree School, which has been the nursery of so many of the foremost amateur players of the day, he passed on to Harrow in the spring of 1879, then well on towards the completion of his thirteenth year. He was three summers there before he made his mark in connection with the School cricket, and his first performance of any note was outside Harrow. His earliest show of any account was in 1881 for the Young Cricketers of South Essex against North Essex, and on that occasion he made sixty runs in the one innings he had—a dis­ play of no small promise for a youngster only fifteen years of age. In the following summer he gained a name as well in Harrow cricket, and his two scores of forty-four and thirty-six aved the way to his attainment of the highest onours open to a School cricketer. His pro­ motion, too, was rapid when he did really get a chance. Though he only got his colours for the Harrow Eleven in May, 1883, he was fortunate enough to make his mark indelibly at the very first attempt, and his opening score for the School was one of 104 against the Quid Nunes. At Lord’s, too, he was equally lucky, and a reference to the records of the Eton and Harrow match of that year will show that he was the highest scorer in the first innings of the Harrovians with 38 out of a total of 112 from the bat—a very creditable performance for a first appearance in such a trying contest. This promise, too, was fully main­ tained in the following summer, his last, by-the-way, at Harrow. His best innings of the year was one of 80 against Mr. E. E. Bowen’s Eleven at the commencement of the season, but he batted with con­ sistent success throughout, and his average (24.2) was a long way the best of any batsman in the eleven in 1884. The close of his career as a cricketer at Harrow was alto­ gether marked with very gratifying results, indeed, and he had in addi­ tion also the satisfaction of feeling that Mr. A. G. Watson’s Eleven, of which he was the Captain, not only occupied the proud position of being Cock House, but gained the still higher distinction of de­ feating the School Eleven. Up to this summer of 1884, Mr. Buxton had not taken any great pains to acquire proficiency as a bowler, but a chance occurred during the course of the Eton match which, no doubt, encouraged him considerably to fur­ ther efforts in this direction. The only stand during the Eton innings was by Lord George Scott and Mr. H. W . Forster, both of whom were in last year’s Oxford Eleven, and it fell to Mr. Buxton, who was put on as a change, to get rid not only of these two batsmen, but of two more, and at a cost of only 12 runs for the f >ur wickets Entering at Trinity College, CambiiJge, during the winter of 1884, he was, on his public school form, one of the most likely of the new candi lates for a place in the University eleven, in the Fresh­ men’smatch, too, he came out with satisfactory results, making 16 runs and taking five of the eleven wickets in the first innings of Mr. C. W. Wright’s side. In the earlier matches for Cambridge Mr. Buxton was, indeed, more successful as a bowler than as a batsman. Against theGentlemen of England in particular he proved very effective, and in the two inniD gs