Cricket 1890

APRIL 17, 1890. CRICKET: A WEEKLY EECORD OF THE GAME. 51 SOME EASTER MEMORIES. Some very interesting notes on early cricket in the days of the old Hambledon Club are embodied in an article from the pen of Canon Benham, which appears in the Newbery House Magazine of this month. Through the courtesy of Messrs. Griffith, Farran and Co., the publishers, we are able to reproduce them :— M y native village was w ithin a walk of Hambledon, the head-quarters of the first great cricket-club of England. And we were not bad players ourselves. W e had, and still have, a public cricket-field, and the first match used to be played on G ood Friday. In very m any places now this is altered to Easter Monday, a great improvement. That old Hambledon club. There was a club so named in m y youth, sim ply because every village with any claim to civilization had one th en ; but the famous Hambledon club broke up in 1825. Hambledon is a curiously out-of-the-w ay village, with a glorious church, among the South Downs and Bere Forest. You have to get out of the latitude of everywhere, and lose yourself among the sloping downs before you can find it. The famous club was established in the m iddle of the eighteenth century. Close by is Broadhalfpenny Down (w hy so called I have no] idea), and on it the matches were played. One relic of the old club still remains. There is a weather-beateD, lonely inn on the Down, comm only called “ Broad- halfpenny H ut,” but its correct name, as you learn when you com e close enough to see the sign, is the “ Bat and Ball.” That lonely inn was once as important in its way as the P avilion at L ord’s is now. The Ilam bledon players, as old pictures show them, had a uniform comprising knee breeches, buckled shoes, and a velvet cap. They reached their zenith between 1786 and 1791, and several times defeated All England. The club declined towards the beginning of the present century, and was finally dissolved in 1825. I knew m any old men who remembered its ancient gloiies, and loved to talk of them. Am ong them was one who had been one of the crack bowlers, amazingly swift and straight, underhand I need not sav. He was known by the sobriquet of “ Old Latch,” because of a strange idiosyncrasy. Cottages were once opened from the outside by a string passing through a hoie and lifting the latch. Our friend could never resist the temptation of cutting the string, and so of shutting people out of their own houses. Dr. Johnson was not more assiduous in touching the posts than Old Latch in his special act of m ischief. The old long-stop used to tell a story of him self and L ord Frederick Beauclerk, a player as renowned in his day as “ W .G .” is now. He had com e all the way from Midland England to B roadhalf­ penny, at the request of the Duke of Dorset, to play on the side of England. Such a journey was a much m ore, formidable business then than it is now, but the occasion was a great one. M ighty was the excitement among the spectators when the great batsman walked to the wicket, third man in. He had seen that the long-stop was a good way back, and before receiving his first ball he went up and whispered to the other batsman. The long-stop in a moment divined the secret. H e was saying, “ If the ball goes past me, start at once for a bye, as I w ill.” It did go past; the long-stop, without a m om ent’s hesitation, instead of returning the ball to the wicket-keeper, hurled it back to the bowler. The latter handled it, and Lord Frederick was then and there run out. Before returning to the tent he went to the long-stop, and half laughing, half disgusted, exclaim ed : “ T h ere! I have had two days’ coach journey to get here, and shall have tw o back, and all for that.” One of the old Hambledon players had a big screen on which he had pasted all the scores of matches played by the club. I once told Frederick Lillywhite of him , when he was gathering together his great list of cricket scores, and he went off at once to Hambledon. I know not whether he suc­ ceeded in getting them from him . B ut I was rem inded of him a very few years ago, when receiving the hospitality of a certain worthy Church dignitary—I don’t know w h y I need suppress his name—A rchdeacon Harrison. That very pleasant old man had a nephew, who was reckoned the “ lion-hitter ” of Kent, and he had indoctrinated his uncle w ith a love of crick et; and I found m y bedroom walls covered with cricket scores. It is said that during the Canterbury cricket week, the worthy A rchdeacon’s pony chaise stood waiting at the door. T he news would com e down to the Archdeacon in his study busy with the Fathers, “ Mr. Charles just a goin’ in, sir,” and down went the pen, and away went the Archdeacon in tim e to see the nephew’s performance. I could fill this whole m agazine w ith cricket stories, but must return to m y native village. A fter the crioket season had been inaugurated on Good Friday, it was kept up vigorously till the end of the summer. There was always play on Sunday evenings. The young men used to take their bats and stumps to church, and deposit them in the belfry till afternoon service was over, after w hich the adjournm ent to the field took place. I know a good m any decent people who will say, “ A nd a very good thing to o .” W ell, this I think I may fairly say : They were dressed in their best, and very natty and respectable they looked in their whice frocks and beaver hats, with their sweethearts to look on. It was a gala evening when the weather was warm and bright, and they were on their good behaviour, and I do not rem ember any riotous behaviour of drunkenness arising out of it all, any more than I have seen in the Champs E lysees on a Sunday evening ; but I am decidedly in favour of the E nglish quiet Sunday all the same. In the next village the old parson used to stand in his field, which adjoined the cricket meadow, and look on with interest, pipe in m outh. Many of m y readers probably have heard the story of that most genial, if somewhat eccentric, A rch­ deacon down in the W est, now a hale and lively old man of eighty-five or thereabouts, who went away for a Sunday, having entrusted his parish to a neighbour. W hen he came back, his friend reported “ Capital congregation, and very well-behaved, but I am very sorry to tell you that after church they ail went off to cricket.” “ Of course they did,” was the reply, “ and if I had been here I should have gone with them .” A r th u r F l e e t , of A rnold (Notts), has been engaged by the Hamilton (Canada) Club for this summer. S outh Melbourne scored 700 against St. Kilda at Melbourne in a m atch begun on Feb. 22 and extending over two following Satur­ days. Trott was responsible for 162, Graham (a young player), 161 not out. T h e E clectic Club scored 480 against Eighteen of the Arabs and W oodhouse at Kimberley on March 1 and 8. Brockw ell, the young Surrey player (79), and J. Coghlan put on 170, the latter and R utherfoord 156. J. J. L yons and W . F . Giffen, playing for N orwood against North Adelaide at Adelaide on March 8, got 173 wanted by form er to win without the loss of a w icket; Lyons in an hour and twenty minutes got 107, in which were one six,one five, and sixteen fours. Giffen made 65. To T h e D e a f .— A Person cured of Deafness and noises in the head of 23 years’ standing by a simple remedy, will send a description of it F r e e to any Person who applies to N ich olson Bedford Square, London, w C — A d v t . C r ic k e t e r s .— B e st G oods b e ar t h is M a r k ,— Advt. N EW SOUTH W A L E S v. SOUTH A U S T R A L IA . ( Continued fro m page 35, M arch 27•) The first match between these Colonies, begun at Sydney on Feb. 14, ended on the 18th in an easy victory for New South Wales with nine wickets to spare. A t the close of the second day, after follow ing on 85 to the bad, South Australia had made 59 for the loss of one batsman (Reedman). Lyons was then not out 44, and this number he raised to 63 before he was caught. E xcept G. Giffen, who made 32, none of the other batsmen did much, and the innings closed for 148. This left New South W ales with 84 to win, and these were got for the loss of Jones’ wicket. Moses was missed four times, tw ice from easy chances. N e w S o u th W a l e s . First Innings. H. Donnan,, st M‘Kenzie, b Giffen 51 S. Deane, not out ... 23 J. J. Ferris, c Jarvis, b Reedman .......... 2 P. Charlton, c Hal­ dane,b Reedman... 3 Extras ..........18 Total ...240 A. C. Bannerman, b Jarvis ....................21 S. P. Jones, c andb Jarvis .................68 H. Moses, c and b Jarvis ....................10 W. L. Murdoch, c Tardif, b Jarvis ... 13 T. W. Garrett, c M‘Kenzie,bGiffen... 5 S. Gregory, b Giffen... 25 W. Richardson, b Reedman.......... ... 1 In the Second Innings S. P. Jones, c Jarvis, b Giffen 1, A. Bannerman (not out) 28; Moses (not out) 30 ; extras, 7—Total, 66. S outh A ustralia . First Innings. Second Innings. W. F. Giffen, c Moses, b C harlton........................ 0 run out ..........14 J. J. LyoDs, b Richardson 19 c Moses,b Charl­ ton .................63 G.Giffen.cDeane.bGarrett 52 c and b Ferris... 32 H............................................L. Haldane, b Richard­ son ............................... 4 c Ferris,b Charl­ ton ................. 2 H. Blinman, b Richardson 0 c Ferris,b Charl­ ton ................. 8 J. Tardif,bRichardson ... 6 c Murdoch, b Charlton ... 0 A. Hill, c and b Ferris ... 1 not out .......... 0 D. Ballans, c Murdoch, b Garrett ........................15 c Moses, b Charlton ... 0 J. M’Kenzie, run out.............23 b Charlton ... 5 J. Reedman, not out..........24 c Moses, b Char.ton..........15 F. Jarvis, c Gregory, b Garrett ........................ 7 b Ferris .......... 3 E xtra s........................ 4 Extras.......... 6 Total ... ... ...155 Total ...148 BOWLING ANALYSIS. N ew S outh W ales . First Innings. Second O. M.It. W. O. Reedman ...27.410 47 3 .......... 6 G. Giffen ...4712 110 3 .......... 23 Jarvis ........... 28 7 65 4 .......... 8 M’Kenzie 11 S outh A u s t r a l ia . First Innings. O. M. R. W. Ferris Charlton Richardson G arrett... . , 13 1 11 1 . 18 4 28.211 41 3 Second O. . ... 15 . ... 23 . ... 8 ... 19 Innings. M. R. W. 1 10 0 9 27 1 3 7 0 4 15 0 Innings. M. R. W. 0 22 2 4 44 7 2 17 0 5 48 0 0 11 0 Donnan 3 Ferris delivered one no-ball. H E R T S CLUB . F ix t u r e s f o r 1890. July 14,15—Kennington Oval, y. Surrey 2nd XI. July 25, 26—Hertford, v. Northants. August 6, 7—Norwich, v. Norfolk. August 8,9—Lord’s, v. M.C.C. and Ground. August 11,12—Newcastle, v. .Northumberland. August 13,14—Sunderland, v. Durham. August 15,16—Northampton, v. Northants. August 2 ), 21—Hitchin, v. Northumberland. August 22, 23—Bishop’s Stortford, v. Norfolk. B r o c k w e l l , Mills, and Firkin, the three English professionals who have been w intering in South A frica, left Cape Tow n in the “ H awardeo Castle ” on March 26 for E ngland,