Cricket 1889

AUG. 22, 1889. CBICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 349 attend King’s College, some time before he went into residence at Cambridge. It was my good fortune to be liis comrade in many a hard fight on the cricket-field in Essex, for which he playedby residence before he threw in his fortunes with the county of his birth, as well as at football, in which he was also a proficient in his early days. Living close to, and seeing much of his family, I saw for some time, perhaps, asmuch of old“Bos’ ”as any one, and memory recalls many happy days spent with him in his rooms during the four years he was at Cambridge. T hough the changing scenes of life drew us, latterly, into different spheres, and prevented us seeing much of each other, I am proud to think that our friendship never changed, and an accident enabled me to learn of his whereabouts after he had left England for some time. I had, as I have already said, numerous opportunities of testing “ Bos’ ” character in his youth, and was able to appre­ ciate, in bis case, how true it is that the boy is father to the man. I sawhim, of course, subsequently during his connec­ tion with Kent, but speak of him chiefly from apersonal andintimate experience of an earlier period of his career. A true friend in every way, cheery always, never downhearted, but always confident and hopeful under the most trying cir­ cumstances, I shall always remember him as, to my mind, the ideal of a sportsman, the best type of an athlete. F ob the last ten years he had lived in America, but he paid a flyingvisit toEng­ land, if Iremember rightly, twoyears ago, turning up at the annual meeting of the County Secretaries to the great delight of his many friends there. “ Bos ” belonged to the order of general utility as an athlete. With a keen eye and intense love of sport he was bound to be good at any and everything. He represented Cambridge in putting the weight, as well as the broad jump, and I saw him win one of the University handicaps—I fancy it was one of 120 yards in 1868—under very amusing circumstances. As I have already said, until an injury stopped his career as a footballer, he was good atthat game. At cricket, as many will remem­ ber, he was verymuch above the average. A medium pace bowler, with plenty of judgment, he was at times very success­ ful, while as a bat, if he hit often in his ownpeculiar style,andfrequentlyblooming high, he hit at the [same time blooming hard. In the field, full of life he never flagged, andas a specimen of an unselfish cricketer playing always for his side without the smallest thought of self I have never seen his superior. became purser of the steamer “ Muriel,” and it was in that capacity that be met his death. The “Muriel,” afterdischarging her cargo at Trinidad, was taking in tierces of sugar when the derrick, or orane, gave way and fell on the deck, striking Mr. Absolom and Mr. J. A. Dupont, Superintendent in . the West Indies of the Quebec Line of Steamers. The latter died almost immediately, but his fellow sufferer lingered for three days in intense pain, but in full possession of his faculties. Mr. Absolom, in June last, completed his forty-third year. I t may interest CRiCKET-readers in Surrey and Lancashire, particularly, to know that of the thirty-two matches which have been played since the two Counties first met in 1866, Lancashire has won seventeen, and Surrey ton, the other fivo having been undecided. Lancashire has won both matches of the season four times—to wit, in 1873, 1880, 1881, and 1889, while, to the best of my belief, Surrey has never been successful twice in any one year. In 1867 both the fixtures resulted in drawn games. It is singular, too, that latterly, while Sirrrey has been quite in the front, from 1886 to 1888 inclusive, though the first match was won very easily, the return in each case ended disastrously for Surrey. In 1886 theywon at the Oval by nine wickets, and lost at Liverpool by an innings and 27 runs. In the first match in 1887, at Manchester, a decisive victory, by an innings and 134 runs, restedwith Surrey, who lost at the Oval by 147. And lastly, in 1888, though they beat Lancashire by an innings and 25 runs at Manchester, and started well at the Oval with a total of 294, they lost the second match by nine wickets. I may add that from 1871 to 1879 inclusive, the two Counties only met one year, in 1873. T he following extract from the St. James’s Gazette on theprobable selection for the Governorship of Bombay will be read with interest by cricketers. The Government have still several pieoes of patronage to distribute. To say nothing of minor appointments, there are the governor­ ships of Bombay and Mauritius, which will have to be filled within the next few months. For Bombay, a politician will most certainly be selected, and rumour isbusy with the names of several likely aspirants for the office. The chief favourites (the London correspondent of the Yorkshire Post says) are Mr. Raikes and Lord Harris, and it is, doubtful which of the two is most likely to be appointed. Mr. Raikes has the advantage of wider experience and higher official status, but it is not quite certain that he would care to relinquish his present position even for Bombay and 10,000 a year. On the other hand, Lord Harris is likely te be willing to accept a governorship in India, with ■which country his family is connected by strong ties, and he may have been disappointed when Lord Connemara was sent to Madras instead of himself. list of his scores, it will be seen that up to Saturday last he had made no less than 2,040 runs for thirty-three completed innings. May 1—Wanstead Park v. F. [1st Inns. 6 May's XI. [2nd Inns. 6 May 4—Wanstead Park v. Woodford Wells 66* May 11—Esher y. Broadwater 51 May 18—Esher v. Elstree Masters 0 May 25—Esher v. Free Foresters 55 May 31—Essex v. M.C.C. 103 June 8—Chelmsford v. Braintree 63 JunelO, 11—Esher v. Horsham 164* June 15—Esher v. Sutton 142 June 17,18—Essex v.,Derbyshire [1st Inns. 36 [‘2nd Inns. 22 June 23—Esher v. Bickley Park 26 June 25—Essex Hunt v. Beechwood 0 June 29—Great Baddow v. Ingatestone 25 July6—A.P.Lucas's XI. v. Chelmsford 69 July 8, 9—Gentlemen v. Players [1st Inns. 3 [2ndInns. 17 July 13—Esher v. Bickley Park 110* July 17—Chelmsford v. Ilford [1st Inns. 57 [■2nd Inns. 45* July 18,19—Essex v. Leicestershire 45 July 20—Esher v. Surbiton 116 July 22, 23—A. Anderson’s XI. [1st Inns. 8 v. Marlow • [2ndlnns. 92 July 26—Groat Baddow v. Colchestcr [1st Inns. 1 Garrison [2nd Inns. 34 July 27—Great Baddow v. Whitham 6 July 29,30—Uppingham Eovers v. Gent’emen of Yorkshire 27 August 1, 2—Uppingham Eovers v. Hudders­ field 179 August 2, 3—UppinghamRovers v. Bradford 96 August 5, 6—Uppingham Rovers [1st Inns. 16 v. United Services [2nd Inns. 54 August 7,8—Uppingham Roversv. Horsham 75 August 9,10—Uppingham Rovers v. East­ bourne (Saffrons) 124 August 12,13—Essex v. Surrey [1st Inns. 81 [2nd Inns. 14 AuguBt 17—Brentwood v. Charlton Park 66* * Signifies not out. From the above figures it will bo found that Mr. Lucas has got into three figures as many as seven times this season. His highest innings has been his 129 for the Uppingham Rovers against Huddersfield, on the first of this month. His average up to Saturday was 61.27. A peculiar incident occurred in a match between C. Lake’s Eleven and Faversham, played at Faversham on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. A. C. Gibson, bowling for the former, got W. P. Carpmael caught at slip with a no­ ball, two balls later he took the same bats­ man’s middle stump out with another no­ ball, and thenbowledhim with agoodball. My informant adds that it was a most amusing incident to witness, and I can thoroughly believe it. Whether the bats­ man who was the sufferer will be ■inclined to recognise the humour of the situation is another matter. T he news of the sad accident on July 27, which caused the death of Mr. C. A. Absolom, or “Bossolom,” subsequently ab­ breviated to “ Bos,” as he was familiarly called by his friends, will have caused sincere regret to hundreds of C ricket - readers, who will still retain pleasantly vivid recollections of the cheery cricketer who with bare head defied the hottest sun while working like a Trojan, either at the wickets or in the field, in the interest of Kent cricket. M y acquaintance with “ Bos ” ex­ tended over a quarter of a century, com­ mencing in the sixties, when he used to N o t long since he was doing good ser­ vice as a cricketer for the Staten Island Club, and it is only a month ago that I heard all about him from Mr. C. J. Wil­ son, who was Captain of that Club for many years. Subsequently, though, he CHIEF FIXTURES FOR NEXT WEEK. T h u rs d a y , A u g u s t 22.—Kenniugton Oval, Surrey v. Kent; Brighton, Sussex v. Yorks; Chelten- ham, Gloucestershire v. Middlesex (Chelten­ ham Week); Hereford, Herefordshire v. Rad­ norshire; Leicester, Leicestershire v. Essex; Manchester, Lancashire v. Notts.