Cricket 1891

HA'S 28,1891 CEICKET: A WEEKLY EECOED OP THE GAME. 180 the outcome of the several scores, and this furnishes an average of 106-6 for the nine matches. Nor has Cobbold’s success with the bat been lately any less marked. On the contrary, in the last three fixtures of West Wratting Park, he has each time scored over a hundred, as the following will show :— May 19.—v. J. Birkbeck’s Eleven .. 179 May 20.—v. Fitzwilliam Hostel (Cambridge) ......................... 163 May 22.—v, Peterhouse Eleven (Cambridge) ..........................104 A n yth in g emanating from the pen of Mr. Andrew Lang, in the way of cricket literature, commands general respect and attention. Hence his admirably written review of Dr. Grace's book, which, accompanied by a portrait of W.G., appeared in the last issue of the Illustrated London News , is sure to be widely read. Mr. Lang, who awards praise and blame with his usual light­ heartedness, in his cheery way decides that the best contributions to the literature of the game, up to the present, are Nyren’s “ Cricketers’ Tutor” (“ and very much do I desire to know who has got my copy of the first edition I” adds Mr. Lang), Pycroft’s “ Cricket Field,” Mr. A . G. Steel’s chapter on bowling in theJBadminton Library, and of course the book under review. Mr. Lang is quick to notice that George Freeman of York­ shire is “ the Master’s ” favourite bowler; also that the principal omissions in the chapter on “ Cricketers I have met ” are Mr. A. H. Evans, Mr. C. I). Marsham, and the Hon. Edward Lyttelton. In this connexion, the reviewer recalls that it was of the two Lytteltons, Alfred and Edward, that the phrase “ the champagne of cricket,” was first used. “ S u r e ly , ” moralises Mr. Lang, “ surely nobody canhave a more enjoyable past to look back on than Dr. Grace. ‘ The myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and- twenty ’ are all very well—but better still are the laurels of eighteen. In those days W.G. revived the ancient practice of hitting straight overpitched balls into or over the pavilion—1hard, and high, and often.’ ” The conclusion of Mr. Lang’s article is too good to be missed: It is not easy to make a consecutive and orderly article out of Mr. Grace’s goodly collection of anecdotes. They are told in the best, kindliest, and most generous spirit, and the whole book redounds to the honour, not only of W.G-., but of cricket and cricketers all the world over: In a new edition—and I hope there will be many editions—Mr. Arrow- smith should add a good index. You often want “ to hold the eel of science by the tail,” and this work, like a good team, “ has no tail.” May it live, none the less, with the life of a good book, and may W .G. speak, with his pleasant and manly voice, in the ears of boys and men, long after he, is laid By some field-path, where cricketers may pass Along its mazes, And o'er his head the short green English grass, The English daisies. T hough known mostly to fame as a golfer, as well as one of the chief authori­ ties on the practice of that ancient and royal game, Mr. Horace Hutchinson, I need hardly say, has not only been an active cricketer, but in addition found time to wield a facile and withal graceful pen on matters of cricket interest. Not long ago,indeed, I had occasion to refer to his amusing little work “ Cricketing Saws and ^tories,” a harmless and pleasant satire on the foibles and eccentricities of a certain class of cricketers. His latest literary venture has taken the form of a three volume novel with the title of “ Creatures of Circumstance,” pnblished by Messrs. Longman and Co. If only for the fact that the hero is himself a keen cricketer, and that a vein of cricket interest underlies the development of the story, Mr. Hutchinson’s latest literary effort is sure to commend itself to the attention of C k ick et readers. “ Creatures of Circumstance” contains, too, they will be concerned to know, two fancy sketches of familiar scenes, the first of a village match between Little Pipkin and White Cross, the other of the memorable con­ test when M.C.C. and Ground were so utterly and unexpectedly worsted by the First Australian team. T h e festivities accompanying the first of these matches, too, furnish the author with a suitable occasion for the introduction of a cricket song, which is so bright and cheery in its tone that I cannot forbear from reproduction. So here it is, with apologies to Mr. H. i. What Englishman can dare Any pastime to compare With the great and grand old manly game we love ? What sight so sweet to view As a wioket hard and true, And the fieldsmen kept for ever on the move ? Chorus . Bun, run, run, the ball’s a-rolling, Scarcely to the boundary she’ll go ; And the throwing’s getting wild, and the wicket-keeper’s riled, So we’ll try to steal another for the throw. n. ’ Tis a glorious summer day, And the umpire’s calling “ P lay! ” So don’t let’s sit indoors in the dumps, But let’s bat like grand old Grace, And we’ll score the runs apace While the bails sit undisturbed upon the stumps. Chorus. h i . If she pitch a trifle short, ’Tis the very best of sport To cut her clean and crisply to the ropes; If she pitch a trifle far, W on’ t the bowler get a jar If to field her, when we drive her back he hopes ? Chorus. IV. Now whate’er you do, play straight, For a shooter don’t be late, And mind not play too early if she bumps. Don’t get your leg in front, And we’ll give the field a hunt, And be “ not out ” at [the drawing of the stumps. Chorus. T he announcement of the election of Lord Walsingham on Tuesday, to the office of High Steward of Cambridge University, brings forcibly to my mind’s eye a cricketer who flourished in the sixties, and was a contemporary of Vis­ count Cobham, to whose cricket career I made reference last week, at Eton as well as subsequently at Cambridge University. The Hon. Thomas De Grey, who did not succeed to the title of Lord Walsingham until 1870, was one of the Eton Eleven against Harrow at Lord’s in 1860, with the Hon. C. G. Lyt­ telton, now Viscount Cobham, and also a member of the same Cambridge Univer­ sity Elevens in 1863 and 1864. Though they both represented the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord’s in 1863, Lord Walsingham gave up cricket rather early in favour of other pursuits. As an entomologist he has always had a great reputation, and his collection of insects was said to be almost unique. It is, though, as a game shot that he has been best known, and some of his feats in this line have been unprecedented. As a cricketer he was a good all roundplayer, a steady bat, a fine field at cover-point, and a fair medium pace bowler. He took his B.A. degree at Cambridge in 1865, and his M.A. in 1870. He is also a fellow of the Boyal Society. Db.W.G.Geace, who bids fair to acquire as high a reputation for versatility as a writer as he has so long and deservedly enjoyed as a player by reason of his infi­ nite variety, discourses in the Ludgate Monthly for June on the Cricket of the Future. No one who has had any experienceofhis buoyancyand enthusiasm would expect him to deal with such a subject in anything but a confident spirit. I must admit, too, that there is every jus­ tification for his belief, founded on the experience of the last fifty years, that there do not seem likely to be, at least in the near future, any changes in the laws which will materially affect the game. His opinion of the County Cricket Council, too, is in such thorough accord with the views I have systematically expressed during the last few months, that I feel constrained to reproduce them. The County Crioket Council, in my opinion, [he writes] is almost sure to come to life again, and despite all the mud that has been thrown at it, will do useful work. There are minor points to be settled for the good of County Cricket, which the Council alone can do thoroughly and satisfactorily. In the English Illustrated Magazine for June, our mutual friend, and my trusty Gossip, Frederick Gale, alias the “ Old Buffer,” prattles in his own cheery and inimitable style on the several gener­ ations of cricketers who have fretted and fumed their brief hour on the stage, since he made his debut as one of the cricket public, on the occasion of the first match ever played between Kent and Notts, at Town Mailing, in 1837. Accompanied as the text is by appropriate illustrations in portraits of some of the best known cricket personalities of a past age