Cricket 1891

OCT. 29,1891 CEICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. cellent bat and field. His average in the past season was 65 runs per innings, and his bowling record for the same time five runs per wicket too. H e impressed good judges so much by his all-round cricket in Melbourne during his visit with the Queenstown team last season, that strong efforts were made on more than one occasion, to induce him to settle in that City. S id n e y D e a n e , as many will remem­ ber, went to Melbourne in 1890, in the confident expectation that he was to join Boyle as one of the team to visit England, only to find himself supplanted by Burn. He is a good wicket-keeper, and will be an excellent substitute for Blaekham when it is deemed expedient for the latter to have a rest. In addition he is a good bat, having scored heavily for the East Melbourne Club. Nor will it be the least recommendation in his favour that he will be a great acquisition to the team in a social point of view. It is possible, I may add, that on their way home Mr. Cohen and his party may visit the Cape. At all events, I have reason to believe negotiations are in contemplation with a view to the arrange­ ment of a few matches in South Africa on the return journey. C r ic k e t readers will be glad to hear that their and my good friend “ The Old Buffer ” has by this time thoroughly settled down in his new diggings in Manitoba. A long letter under date of October the first, full of interesting information respecting his travels and his life in the Ear West, too, is sufficient evidence that he is as cheery as ever. Butterfield, where he is located, is 25 miles from a town and seven miles from a Post Office, and as the mail only comes in once a week there is a long interval in the receipt of news from England. “ A friend,” P. G. writes, “ drove over last Sunday afternoon and a cricket ball rolled out of the cupboard. Where there is a ball there is generally a bat, and what could three coves under the circumstances do ? We found a fair pitch on a footpath, and although I have not had a bat in hand since July 16, 1883, and although we had neither pads nor gloves, I]stood up to my crease like a man. I should like to see modern cricketers play a match,” he adds, “ on the prairie on awell levelled bit without boundaries— you might get a 20 all along the ground it is so level.” C u r io u s ly enough, on the very day F.G.’s letterwas dated, a young “ Buffer” Baw the light at Butterfield, in the person of a grandson, born',on the birthday of his father, Goddard Gale. At least, the following announcement in the Times of Monday last would seem to be satisfactory evidence of such an event. “ On the 1st October, at Maplehurst, Butterfield, Manitoba, Canada (on the father’s birth­ day), the wife of Goddard Frederick Gale (formerly of Mitcham, Surrey), of a son.” More power to his elbow ! How is this for high ? What a relief it would be if some of our cricket reports could only copy the bright colouring of the artist who did the following picture for the Philadelphia Public Ledger in connection with the first appearance of the English Amateurs in that City on September 26. It was a beautiful sight, this broad field of glistening, velvety turf, with its fine clumps of trees in the background shading and setting off the picturesque buildings that enclosed it, as with a frame, and from all sides the people came pouring in, till one was reminded of that old Olympian field where Alpheus rolled his classio stream, where all Greece was wont to congregate to pay tribute to vigorous manhood and ath­ letic strength, and where Pindar sang the odes of victory. The representative character of the contesting teams added to the interest of the game, as well as to the picturesque variety of the spectators. The grand stand itself was a sight worth looking at. If not filled with the royalty of blood, it was filled with the royalty of beauty. Such a bright mixture of fresh faces, pretty dresses, gay parasols behind the series of brown and white arches, each one framing in its own picture of life and colour! Over to the south of the grand stand were the ooaches—five of them—with their pyramids of beauty on top and their interiors like the Trojan horse, resounding with a mysterious olank as of arms; bnt lunch time proved that it was only the clank of appollinaris bottles. I t will be news to some C r ic k e t readers, at least, that Mr. E. M. Butler is now a master at Harrow School. The traditions of Harrow have been well upheld in his case, for his father, the present Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was not only Captain of the School eleven, but Head Master, as everyone knows, for many years. The theory of heredity is thus forcibly indicated in the person of the son. As an all-round athlete E. M. Butler has a remarkable record. Captain of both the School cricket and football elevens, he also represented Harrow twice successfully in the Public Schools Racquet Competition. Nor did his successes end there. On the con­ trary, he subsequently figured two years in the Cambridge Cricket Eleven, besides representing the University at racquets and tennis. His latest dis­ tinction in the world of sport was in winning the amateur racquet champion­ ship in 1889. Harrow School will be a distinct gainer in every way by the example of its new master. T h e Pall Mall Gazette, in the notices which followed the death of Ireland’s un­ crowned king, relates a story of Mr. Parnell as a cricketer, which is character­ istic of the man. I am under the im­ pression that I gave it myself some time since, in connection with a pamphlet on Irish Cricket. In any case it will bear repetition. An anecdote which has been told ol Mr. Parnell in his cricketing days well illustrates some other sides of the man by showing his readiness to take an advantage, and the native stubbornness and self-will of his char­ acter. “ Before Mr. Parnell entered politics he was pretty well known (wrote •An Ulster Loyalist ’ some years ago) in the province of Leinster in the commendable character of a cricketer. He was captain of the Wicklow eleven, and in those days a very ardent cricketer. We considered him ill-tempered and a little hard in his conduct of that pastime. For example, when the next bat was not up to time, Mr. Parnell, as captain of the fielders, used to claim a wicket. Of course he was within his right in doing so ; but his doing it was anything but relished in a country where the game is never played on the assumption that this rule will be enforced. In order to win a victory he did not hesitate to take ad­ vantage of the strict letter of the law. On one occasion a match was arranged between the W icklow team and an eleven of the Phoenix Club to be played on the ground of the latter in the Phoenix Park. Mr. Parnell’s men, with great trouble and inconvenience, many of them having to take long drives early in the morning, assembled on the ground. A dispute occurred between Mr. Parnell and the captain of the Phoenix team. The Wicklow men wished their own captain to give in and let the match proceed. Mr. Parnell was stubborn, and rather than give up his point marohed his growling eleven back. That must have been a pleasant party so returning without their expeoted day’s amusement; but the captain did not care." In later years Mr. Parnell was to use the Irish party as he used the Wicklow eleven. A r c h ie B ro w n , who played two such fine inniugs for the Sixteen of New York against Lord Hawke’s team in the early part of this month, it will interest C r ic k e t readers on this side of the big drink to know, is a .Scotchman by birth. At the same time, though a native of Scotland, his cricket education was received in England. During the three years (1885- 86-87) he played for Chester, his untiring defence was invaluable, enabling him fre­ quently to carry his bat through the innings. Business took him to America in the fall of 1887, and it required so much of his time that for three years he had no chance of keeping up his cricket. This break, though, did not seriously interfere with his form, as can be judged by his success this year. Though he has done excellent service for the Brooklyn Club, the season’s good work was crowned by his performance at Staten Island against Lord Hawke’s team, when he scored 23 and 72, or 95 without being once out. The Englishmen were so much pleased with his play that one of them presented him with a bat in commemoration of his performance. He has excellent defence and his only defect is a lack of hit due in some measure to his short stature. A s he is by no means an ineffective bowler as well as a fine field, he should be invaluable to New York cricket in the future. C r ic k e t readers generally, Harrow men in particular, will be interested to learn that the Bev. William Law, Yicar of Botherham, was married on the 14th inst., at St. Michael’s Church, St. Alban’s, to Miss Elizabeth Maud Hill, daughter of Mr. J. S. Hill, of Hawkswick, Herts. Billy Law, as all those who have profited by the foundation of John Lyon, Yeoman John, has been for years a striking per­ sonality in Harrow life. After playing for Harrow against Eton for four successive seasons, as well as repre­ senting the School at football, he did good service in the Oxford Cricket Eleven NEXT ISSUE NOVEMBER 26