Cricket 1889

M R . H Y L T O N P H IL IP S O N . So far, Northumberland has not been fortu­ nate enough to attain a vary high position in the world of County Cricket. That it has produced manv good players, who would under more favourable auspices have succeeded in creating a more general interest in Northum­ berland cricket, may at the same time be fairly urged. To develop the game to any great extent requires a combination of circum­ stances, all more or less a matter of good fortune. A central position, a certainty of public support, which, after all, is not to be secured until the public has been in a measure educated to comprehend the niceties of the sport, and a general interest which in most cases is only engendered by success, these are among the most im ­ portant requirements which go towards the development of a County Club. Though, as we have already said, Northumberland cricket has not up to the present time attracted more than local interest, there are, it is gratifying to be able to add, signs that those who are entrusted with its manage­ ment are alive to the responsibility entailed on them by the increasing enterprise shown by the directo­ rates of County clubs generally. Under the guidance, and with the influence of such a keen cricketer as the captain of the Oxford Univer­ sity eleven, too, there ought to be no reason to doubt that Northum­ berland will improve its status in County cricket materially in the near future. Born at Tynemouth, on June 8, 1866, Mr. Hylton Philip- son is a Northumbrian by every right. Unfortunately, we have not been able to procure any particu­ lars of his career before he entered Eton College, and our information consequently does not extend to a date earlier "than the summer of 1884. His name, indeed, does not figure in the records of the Eton Eleven before that year, when the Etonians were led for the second season in succession by Mr. R. J. Lucas. Though not generally successful, Eton in 1884 could boast the possession of several cricketers who have since attained fame in a higher sphere, among them Lord George Scott and Mr. H. W . Forster of Oxford, Messrs. F. Thomas and H. J. Mordaunt of Cam­ bridge University. Though in such good company, Mr. Philipson took his own part, and in addition to his undoubted promise as a wicket-keeper, he proved himself to be one of the best batsmen, being third on the list, with an excellent average of over 22 runs. Though not his highest score, his best performance was undoubtedly in the Winchester match, and his plucky batting in the commencement of Eton’s second innings tended in a very great measure to turn what seemed likely to be a defeat into a comparatively easy victory. The two Winchester bowlers, Swavne and Nicholls, had dismissed Eton when they first batted for a small total of 54, and when the£ went in a second time, the latter were 30 runs to the bad. As it was, a total of 133 seemed a hard task at the finish, but Mr. Philipson’s well got score of 44 at the outset wore out the Winchester bowling, and in the end Eton were able to pull through with half their wickets to spare. On his form of 1885, Mr. Philipson was quite in the front rank of Public School cricketers. His nerve in the more important fixtures of the season stood Eton in good stead, and his average of 32, much the best for the school, showed how invaluable he was to the eleven. Against Winchester as well as Harrow, he was particularly successful. At Lord’s he was the principal contributor with scores of 53 and 27, but the Wykehamist bowlers found his a still more difficult wicket to get. His hitting in the Winchester match of that year was brilliant indeed, as he went in [first, and of the 214 runs got when he was out, he had made 141, in which there were no less than 20 fours. Great things were hoped of him for the Oxford season of 1886, but, unfortunately, ill health prevented him playing at all during that summer. It was feared that his absence from the cricket field might be permanent, but happily this was not the case. The com­ mencement of the season of 1887, indeed, found him participating in the Seniors’ Matcb at Oxford and with success, his 44 for Mr. Coles' Eleven being the second best on the side. A wicket-keeper was then much wanted, and Mr. Philipson’s place in the eleven was practically assured. Though as a batsman only moderately successful, he helped to make the Oxford season memorable by a brilliant perform­ ance in the match with Middlesex at Chiswick Park. The circum­ stances of his remarkable partner­ ship with Mr. K. J. Key on that occasion will still be well remem­ bered. He joined the Surrey amateur when the total was 104 for six wiokets and was the first to leave, but not until the telegraph showed 444. While he had been in no less than 340 runs had been added and he still retains with Mr. Key the distinc tion of the largest number of runs made for a ticket in first-class matches. As a display of batting, too, his 150 was one of very high merit. He was in altogether 3| hours, and, with the exception of two chances, one to Burton at short slip when he had made 24, the in cricket ’s man l y toil B y ro n . THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1889. p r i c e 2d No. 204. VOL. VIII. Registered for Transmission Abroad.