Cricket 1892

JAN. 28, 1892 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME; 9 famous Notts professional, was at one time a chorister in the church of which Mr. Stonehouse was vicar. B y the death of Mr. Walter Norman Powys, sometime a prominent member of the Cambridge University eleven, is removed one who, early in the seventies, was in the first flight of fast bowlers. After being educated privately, Mr. Powys entered Pembroke College, Cam­ bridge, and played for Cambridge v. Oxford in 1871-72-74, as well as for the Gentlemen against the Players in ’72. His left-handed delivery was of the utmost assistance to the University, and in his three matches at Lord’s he secured twenty-four Dark Blue wickets for the small cost of 153 runs. His pace was at times terrific, and though never success­ ful with the bat, he could hit very hard on occasions. After leaving Cambridge, Mr. Powys was qualified to play for Hampshire by residence, but did very little in this direction. He was only forty-two years of age at the time o f his death. A c o r r e s p o n d e n t signing himself “ Tich and Turn ” writes as follows in the Daily News of January 11th anent the paper in Blackwood's Magazine for January, alluded to by me last m on th :— With reference to your recent remarks upon the 1 Blackwood ’ ’ article on cricket, I am able to corroborate what is said as to the swiftness of Brown as a bowler. My father, who died a few years since at an advanced age, was resident at Hambledon, the birth­ place of cricket, and often told me about Brown as the fastest bowler against whom he had ever played. My father remembered one or two cases in which he had injured bats­ men. He always spoke of him as Brown of Emsworth (not Brighton). With regard to Mr. Marcon, I have recently read in a local magazine a paragraph by his nephew, who resides near here, who states it as a fact known to himself, that on one occasion a man’s leg at Oxford was broken by a ball from his uncle. I am of opinion, however, that though there may have been “ giants in those days,” that there have been equally fast bowlers in more recent times, but owing to great improvement in cricket grounds, and the protection afforded by pads and gloves, pace in bowling has become a far less important factor in the game, and is, in fact, not much noticed, save in combination with higher and more important qualities. T he account of the first match between Harrow and Winchester at Lord’s, in 1825, has just lately been invested with particular interest to those who are con­ cerned with Harrow and its traditions from the fact that, since its publication, one of the greatest of Harrovians has just gone to his rest, to the grief of the whole community. The establishment of the Harrow and Winchester matches was, I may say in parenthesis to those who do not know the facts, due to the two brothers, Charles and Christopher Words­ worth, who were the captains of the Harrow and Winchester elevens at the time, and who both subsequently gained the highest honours in the church, the former as Bishop of St. Andrew’s, the latter as Bishop of Lincoln. It is from the former’s “ Annals o f My Early L ife,” recently issued, that I reproduce the following incidents o f the match of 1825, in which the Cardinal figured : “ That match was memorable because the names of two brothers were to be seen placarded in the printed bills, opposite each others, at the head of their respective elevens, both being C. Wordsworth—1C, ’ in the one case standing for Charles, and in the other for Christopher. In the latter case, however, Christopher was not actually captain, nor was he one of their best batsmen, though excellent in the field; but his name was placed at the top as being senior in the Sohool. At the same time it must be added that he was very successful—much more successful than his brother Charles, the Harrow captain, who had to bowl against him. The truth is, he quite understood my bowling, which happened that day to be at its worst, and he cut it about very unmercifully 1 But what pleased him most, and what he always liked to tell of when the events of that game were recalled to mind in his later years, was that it had been his good fortune to “ catch out Henry Manning,” who in that year formed one of the Harrow eleven.” To this passage the Bishop appends two notes. In the first he records with pardon­ able pride that, in spite of his failure at Lord's, he had made nearly double the runs o f any other player that year at Harrow. I n the second he points out that his brother’s recollection of catching out Manning is not borne out by the printed score of the match. S ome three or four years ago, being desirous o f obtaining xeliable particulars of the early Harrow matches from some o f the chief actors, I took occasion to write to the Cardinal, as well as to his school contemporary the Bishop o f St. Andrews. In each case the answer was courteous as well as sympathetic, show­ ing that the chord struck by an allusion to their Harrow days brought with it joyful recollections. Just at this time, too, it will be perhaps of special interest if I reproduce the Cardinal’s communica­ tion in facsimile as below. C r ic k e t was fittingly and fully re­ presented in the marriage o f Mr. E . A. Nepean to Miss Maud Beid, at South Kensington, a fortnight a?o. O f the bridegroom’s pedigree there is o f course nothing to be said which is not familiar A RCHB I S HOP ' S HO U S E , W E S T M I N S T E R , SW f -LV H- O c - _ / ' c V ^ y / S s ^ l 6 NEXT ISSUE FEBRUARY 25