Cricket 1889

PRICE 2d u Toge ther joined in eric THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1889. MR. E V A N ALCOCK NEPEAN . S h e r b o r n e S c h o o l has had the satisfaction of furnishing more than one cricketer who has done good service subsequently for Oxford University, and come out well, too, in the higher trial of County matches. Mr. W . H. Game, fpr a time identified prominently with Surrey, owing to the calls of.busi­ ness was not, it is to be regretted, for lack of opportunities able to take the place he would certainly have filled had he enjoyed the op­ portunities of continuous practice which fall to cricketers with plenty of leisure. Mr. A. O. Whit­ ing was one of the most prominent members of the Oxford elevens of 1881 and 1882, but he only for a time enjoyed the pleasures of English cricket, and for the last few years has been seen entirely on Colonial grounds. Mr. E. W . Bastard, too, as a slow bowler made a high repu­ tation for Oxford as well as for Somersetshire. Mr. E. A. Nepean is the most recent exemplar of the benefits of Sherborne training in the development of cricket promise. As is the case‘with the majority of players of any ability, he comes of a family some of whose members have attained prominence in the game. Sir Herbert Jenner Fust, infinitely better known to students of cricket lore as Herbert Jenner, who played regularly in the chief matches from 1827 to 1836, and was not only without a rival as a wicket­ keeper, but also one of quite the best amateur players of his time, is his great uncle. A nephew, too, of Mr. A. A.Nepean,who some years ago figured successfully occasionally in the Middlesex Eleven, and the Rev. C. E. Nepean, who in turn showed good all-round cricket for Charter­ house and Oxford,and of late years has taken an active interest in the Councils of Kent cricket, he has had always before him) good ex­ amples encouraging him to main­ tain the family reputation in cricket. Though his associations have been almost, if not entirely, with Middlesex, Mr. E. A. Nepean is a Surrey man by birth. Born at Mitcham on Sept. 13, 1865, he will complete his twenty- third year in a little under three months. As already stated, Sherborne School can claim the credit of his cricket training, and during the three years (1882-83-84) he was in the eleven there his all-round cricket was very much above the average. When a youngster the following summer found him quite the best cricketer of the year. His aggregate for eleven completed innings was 408, and his average of 37 was of the higher value as he had not the advantage of a not out. In bowling, too, he was equally successful, and to show how useful he was, it need only be mentioned that he delivered altogether 685 balls for 345 runs and he used to bowl fast, but being no-balled when playing for a scratch team against the Collegers at Eton, he changed his pace, and as early as 1883 had developed a twist, being described in “ John Lillywhite’s Companion ” as “ a steady bat and a good bowler with a great amount of break either way.” ' Even then at the head of the Sherborne bowling averages 25 wickets, or an average of just under four­ teen runs, considerably the best figures of any Sherborne bowler. Having in the previous autumn matriculated at University College, he was tried in the Freshmen’s match at Oxford at the commencement of May, 1885. Though he was fortunate enough to make 43 and 26, the second highest score for Mr. Bastard’s'feide, he was only moder­ ately successful-in the next trial, getting but ten runs in his two innings for the Sixteen Freshmen against the, F*leyen. Singularly enough he was not.tried as a bowler at all until' quite the end of the second match, and his all-round cricket apparently did not impress the University authorities favour­ ably to judge by the fact that he was not given any further chance. Though both in 1885 and 1886 his bowling was not attended by any great success, as abatsman he scored heavily in the vacation, and in the course of July and August five inn­ ings of over a hundred were regis­ tered to his credit. The Seniors’ match of 1886 found him unsuc­ cessful with both bat and ball, but in College matches he rarely failed to score well, and, as in the previous year, made a lot of runs in the vaca­ tion, the best of several good innings being one of 170 against the Ish- maelites at Seaton. A thoroughly well played 53 (not out) for Mr. Coles’ side in the Seniors’ match of 1887, gave him his first chance in the Oxford Eleven, and fortunately he came off thoroughly well in every fixture of the season, helping Mr. Gresson to ])ut on 110 before a wicket fell against Mr. A. J. Webbe’s eleven the first innings he had. Curiously enough he was not even first change as a bowler for his College until the match between the Etceteras and Perambulators that year, but Mr. Rashleigh found him to be an extraordinary success, and he took seven of the latter’s wickets at a cost of only seventeen runs. The novelty of his delivery and tl e unusual amount of work he got on to the ball were so puzzling to the batsmen for a time that he obtained the best bowling average for Oxford in 1887. At Liverpool he got six wickets in Lanca­ shire’s first inniDgs for only sixteen rung, and the following week at the Oval helped in a great measure to credit the University with a creditable victory over Surrey, getting five of their best batsmen in the second innings for twenty-five runs. Though expensive with the