Cricket 1889

A L B E R T W A R D . F e w cricketers have, perhaps, furnished a more frequent top ic for conversation during the season now closing than the young pro­ fessional who has proved himself such an useful all-round cricketer to the L ancashire eleven. H is brilliant batting in the earlier trial matches gave rise to confident anticipa­ tions o f equal success in the better class o f fixtures. H is consistently good sooring, too, for Lancashire when the summer was opening fully justified the belief, warranted by the judgm ent with wh ich he played and the care he exercised in watching the ball, that there was every possi­ b ility o f his developing into a bats­ man o f the highest order o f merit. How fu lly these predictions have been realised there is an abundance o f evidence, in the remarkable record he can adduce as the result o f practically his first year in County cricket, to prove. There are few instances, indeed, o f such re­ markable success as the outcome of a professional's introduction to im ­ portant matches. It is quite possible that there may have been cases of sim ilar fortune, but o f lato years we cannot call to m ind one in which a young player has reached at the end o f a season the highest position in the batting averages o f a leading County, as A . W ard can claim in this year o f Grace 1889. H is ex ­ ceptionally brilliant achievements have brought his name during the past few months so prom inently before the public, that it is hardly necessary to state Ward is a York- Bhireman by birth. Y et such is tho case, as he was born on Nov. 21, 1865, at Waterloo, near Leeds. A t that time Waterloo was a small village comprising on ly some fifty houses and a school, but all that remains are two small cottages, and these represent the survival of the old school, out o f wh ich , in fact, they were made. The village then boasted two rows o f houses, at the ends o f which ran the river Aire, a tributary o f the Yorkshire Ouse, and the A ire and Calder Canal. Leaving Waterloo when he was nine years old, A lbert W ard went to live w ith his parents at Rothwell, a village about two miles distant, and boasting some five or six thousand inhabitants. Passionately fond o f the game as a boy, he jo ined the Junior team, wh ich was allowed to play at the lower end o f the field owned and used by the Rothwell Club* Singularly successful among cricketers o f his own age, at the beginning of 1882 he was asked, being o ly sixteen, to play for Roth - well’s first team against the Sheepsar Leather Works, boasting then one o f the chief cricket combin tion n Leeds. H is first show was satisfactory, for he scored 17 not out, and in such prom is ng form that he was invited to become a regular m ember o f the Rothwell eleven. The en o f his first year found him at t top o f the batting averages. This form , too , he maintained during the two follow ing years, finishing up the season of 1884 with a capital average o f twenty-nine for the Rothwell C lub. By this time, h ving proved his ability, he was naturally anxious for a higher trial, and in 1885 he joined the Hunslet Club, to test his capacity in a better c matches. The professional at Hun was J. Tye , once a member of th County E leven , and as there was n Rothwell, Ward had to walk to H distance o f t o miles and a half, once a week, to get practice. The there, too, were not as level as a bill but still W ard rarely failed to well, a nd he was at the head batting tables with an avera 35 runs an innings. One of best performances was on the house H ill Ground at Hun in 1885, when he scored 85 a Hodgson and S impson’s. Tye in first w ith him on t hat occ and neither is soon likely to f the partnership, wh ich realise 180 runs. A t this time he w addition, by no means unsuc ful as a bow ler, and during summer of 1885 he took, for Rothwell and Hunslet Clubs bined, over 50 wickets at an a cost o f 7 runs. Meanwhile, w almost forgotten to state? he been tried for the Yorkshire but w ithout success, failing to run o n his first trial in 1884. far W ard had been connected school work, and just previo his acceptance o f his first en ment for Lancashire in 1886, acting as assistant master a S im on ’s School, Leeds. He d i though , bat up to his form fo Darwen Club in 1886, and oddly enough, more successfu the ball, taking over seventy w for an average o f 7 runs. He as a batsman, in fact, quite colour that year. Though a unsuccessful for the Yorks Colts, he was still selected a of the eleven to oppose the Colts on W h it Monday, but the same ill-luck, o n ly scoring runs. None the less, the York comm ittee evidently had a f good op in ion o f his capabilitie he represented Yorkshire ag the Yorkshire Gentlemen at Bradf year. Here e showed to better ad w ith a very useful innings of 45, an performance on that occasion led to gagement t play for Yorkshire in f C unty matches—against Middlesex tershire, Sussex and Derbyshire. though, he fail d to justify the exp of t e Yorkshire executive, and he o T cge th er joined in cricket’s m an ly toil.”— B y r o n 0 Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1889. p r i c e 2d .