Cricket 1888

“ Together* joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. B egistw fdf® T r a S ^ o T 'I 'b r o a i THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 3 , 1 8 8 8 . P R I C E 2 d . M R . P E S T O N J E E D I N S H A W K A N G A . T h e history of cricket fails to furnish an instance more remarkable in its way of enthu­ siasm and genuine interest in our national game than has been supplied by the presence in England, and twice, too, within the last three years of a team strictly com- E osed of native Indian players, •uring the last decade not only have the members of the great Parsee community, but also of other of the races which com bine to form our Indian Em pire, shown them ­ selves to be zealous in their desire to acquire knowledge in the diffi­ cult school of active cricket. Some ten years since, if we remember rightly, negotiations were com ­ m enced with a view to a visit of Parsee cricketers to England, but at that tim e things were hardly ripe enough for the accom plish­ ment o f such an undertaking. Fore­ m ost among those who ventured to predict the possibility of such a trip in the near future was the Captain of the Parsee team who arrived here at the end of M ay last, and have been since testing their mettle with a fair amount of success against some of the principal amateur combinations of the Old Country. And in analysing the performances of the players Mr. Kanga has managed during the last three' months, no analysis would be fair which did not take into account the great difficulties of clim ate against which Eastern cricketers have to contend, a climate which tends to enervate rather than to develop the robust­ ness and physical stamina essential to the attainment of any permanent proficiency in the hard school of cricket, played as it must be to gain prom inence with any degree of earnestness. N or must it be for­ gotten that those who are respon­ sible for the appearance of the Parsee teams in England have had to face other difficulties unknown to the more favoured self-supporting com binations like the Australians in the shape of large expenses and correspondingly small receipts, w ith the result of heavy expenditure which would have deterred many equally keen but less enter­ prising followers of the game. Politically, as well as from the standpoint of cricket alone, the importance of this identification of the native races of our Indian Em pire w ith our own customs cannot be overrated. E very­ thing which begets sym pathy between the com ponent parts of the Imperial regime can­ not fail to be of use in strengthening the ties between the governors and the governed, and if for this reason alone this interchange of visits between cricketers of the Old Country and the outlying parts of the British Em pire cannot fail to be productive of good. It is very gratifying, too, to be able to chronicle a marked improvement in the play of the Parsee team in comparison with that which visited us tw o years ago. Of this there is practical and convincing proof in the results of the second tour. On the whole, indeed, the figures are very far from discreditable, in 3om e cases distinctly good. So far the team have taken part in twenty-three matches, of which five have been won, eight unfinished, and ten lost. Tw o or three of the drawn games, too, were on paper m ost decidedly in favour of the Parsees, so that their record, it will be seen, shows a great advance on that of their predecessors, who really failed to secure a w in in any one of the regular matches of their programm e. In m any cases, m oreover, they have had to face strong elevens, and in m ore than one the team have had the satisfac­ tion of winning, notably at Hastings and last week at Eastbourne, in excellent style after having to play an uphill game throughout. Their latest victory at Eastbourne was one on which they have, indeed, good reason to congratulate them ­ selves. In connection w ith this particular match, Mr. A . F . J. Ford, the old Cambridge and Middlesex cricketer, who was one of the de­ feated side, sends the following voluntary testimonial to the excel­ lent all-round cricket shown by the Parsees :— “ The Gentlemen of E ast­ bourne went in first and scored 302. The Parsees got 168, and, of course, had to follow on, being 134 behind. In their second innings they scored 256, and then got us out for 56, thus winning by 66 runs. It was a really splendid performance on their part, and their success was earned by ‘ rattling ’ good cricket. In the Parsee first innings Bapasola got 58, and his hitting was very clean and hard, his drives going to the boundary (a good long one) at a rare pace. In the second innings Cooper was the hero. H e played a quiet, confident game without the ghost of a chance. He hit all round the wicket in A. 1 style, and his defence was capital. Morenas, also, made a good 40, and the two Kangas showed excellent form in both innings. In fc astbourne’s second innings Pavri and P. D. Kanga (fast underhand) bowled un­ changed, the former taking six, and the latter four wickets for about the same number of runs. Our total was 56, which did not include a single extra, the Parsees fielding up in grand style. T hey got a rare ovation at the finish, and they well-deserved it consider­ ing that they w on the match com fortably after going in against a score of 302.” Mr. P. D . Kanga, whose portrait we give above, is the captain of the team now here. Born in