Cricket 1890

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil Byron. BegisteieS foA^r'ansmia^ion^Ui'roacl. THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1890. PRICE 2d; MR. E. MA I T L A N D H AD OW . T he history of Middlesex cricket furnishes more than one notable instance of a brother­ hood whose members have all been singularly adept at the grand old game. No less than six out of seven of the Southgate Walkers, at one time or other, represented the Gentlemen against the Players. Following them have come the Webbes, Arthur and Her­ bert; the Lytteltons, Edward and Alfred; and the Hadows, commenc­ ing with Walter, the Old Oxonian, who helped the Gentlemen in the seventies, and ending with the useful all-round cricketer whose portrait is given on this page. Mr. E. M. Hadow is, in fact, the youngest of six brothers, three of whom, W. H., A. A./and P. F., did good service to Harrow cricket before him. Born on March 13, 1863, at the Priory, Sudbury, like them he is a Mid­ dlesex man by the strongest tie— that of birth. Harrow, too, can claim to have had the monopoly of his early training. Though he went to the School in September, 1876, he had already had three years of educational life in the town at Mr. Hastings’ preparatory establish­ ment. The family aptitude for cricket was not long in showing itself, and his third summer found him well in the running for the Harrow Eleven. Tried in two School matches as a fast bowler, he failed though to secure a place in the team until the following season of 1880, when he got his colours by reason of his all-round promise as a batsman as well as a fast bowler. His consistently good cricket, too, during the year proved that the judgment of the School authorities was not misplaced. His average for eleven innings was over fifteen runs, but, what was of more importance, he showed to particular advantage in the great match of the year. His performance against Eton at Lord’s in 1880 was, indeed, much above the average of a first appearance. In the first innings his 28, not out, tied with that of R. C. Ramsay for the distinction of the highest score, while in the second, in which he was one of the two first batsmen, he had that honour undisputed with a well played 49. Though unsuccessful in a few of the early matches of 1881, in June he rapidly got into form, and in the last trial before Lord’s, against the Old Harrovians, he was again the chief scorer with 64. This was a good augury for his success against Eton, and he fully justified the general expectation by a brilliant display in the second innings. Going in third wicket down with the total at 46, he was fifth out at 189, having made 94 out of 143 obtained during his stay. Harrow won that year by 112 runs, and as Mr. Hadow in the match was responsible for 105 out of 329 from the bat, it will be seen that he played an important part in their victory. This was his last season at Harrow, and he closed his cricket career in brilliant fashion, having the best average (23.4 for eleven innings) in the School eleven. Two years, however, elapsed before Mr. Hadow made his appearance in County cricket. His first match for Middlesex was against Glou­ cestershire at Lord’s on May 28, 1883, the occasion on which Mr. A. P. Lucas also made his debut for that County. Here he was fairly successful with scores of 19 and 29, and his average for the three matches in which he played that year was 13 for seven innings. Owing to a domestic bereavement he was not able to play in 1884 after the beginning of June, but the loss of practice evidently did not affect his batting. On the contrary he had even a better average for his eight matches in 1885, in which his best performances were two excel­ lent scores of 44not out and 56 in the return match with Yorkshire at Sheffield. Owing to a strained side Mr. Hadow was only able to play up to Whitsuntide in 1886, and later on a severe illness, which also prevented him playing in 1887, laid him low, so that his summary for the former year only showed four matches with an average of 19. The summer of 1888, however, found him again a regular member of the Middlesex eleven, and with the most satisfactory results. This has been so far, in fact, his most successful season. As his average for 17 innings was over 18, it will be seen he did well throughout, though his highest scores were 47 not out and 30 against Lancashire, 10 and 40 against Kent, 22 v. Notts, 17 and 23 v. Surrey, all at Lord’s, and 16 and 24 v. Yorkshire at Sheffield. These were in what are termed first-class matches, but his actually best per­ formance was against Derbyshire at Derby, on which occasion he made 92 and 39 not out. In the return match with Gloucestershire at Chel­ tenham, just before lunch on the first day, in running backwards to catch Mr. W. G. Grace at square- leg from ahigh hit, he unfortunately fell against the iron railings of the grand stand. He received a severe injury in the shape of a nasty cut right across the forehead, but stuck to the ball. This prevented him taking any further part in the match, as well as kept him out of the rext fixture at Nottingham. Meanwhile he had bowled occasionally for the County, and in 1888 he got eight wickets, four of them against Kent at Gravesend, at a cost of 24 runs. With one exception Mr. Hadow took part in all the Middlesex matches last year. His average was not quite as good as in 1888, but several times his free cricket was of great use, notably in the Gloucestershire matches, in which he scored 50 at Lord’s and