Cricket 1892

“ Toge ther joined in cricket’ s m an ly to il. 5 ’— Byron . Registerea^or<Tran8nUBsiOT?Abtoaa. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892. PRIOE 2d. MR. GEORGE F I T Z -H A RD IN G E BERK E L E Y . T he Irish pride themselves on the possession of characteristics which the average English­ man cannot be said to have. We Englishmen also highly esteem our own peculiar traits. That there is a considerable difference between the two races cannot be open to doubt, and this may perhaps account for the fact that our national game has never taken root in the “ Emerald Isle ” to any­ thing like the extent that it has in England, or even in Scotland. Whilst Ireland is able to place teams in the field to meet the sister countries at both codes of football, any of the first - class English counties would be strong enough to defeat the cream of the talent of the “ distressful country.” Still, Ireland has produced not a few cricketers who would, with reasonable opportunities, have made their mark in the best com­ pany. And certainly it can claim an excellent all-round player of the present day as one of her sons. The subject of the present sketch, George Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley, was born in Dublin on January 29, 1870. At an early age he showed an aptitude for the use of the bat and ball. As a prepara­ tion for life at a public school, he was sent to Mr. Bullock’sestablish­ ment (now non-existent) at West- gate-on-Sea. Young Berkeley got his first real cricket here, and though sorely tried by an edict to the effect that he was not to bowl with his right hand, constant practice soon enabled him, natur­ ally right-handed though he was, to acquire ease and skill with a sinistral delivery. At the early age of thirteen he went to Welling­ ton College, and did so well in the matches played by the juniors that he was awarded his “ cap ” in 1886 after a trial in the first team. In the very same year, G. J. V. Weigall, who is batting so well at Cambridge this season, gained a place in the Wellington Eleven. Mr. Berkeley fully justified his selection, for although he failed utterly with the bat he came out at the top of the bowling averages at the end of the season with twenty-four wickets at a cost of 18.15 runs each. Charterhouse was the only school met by Wellington that year, and Mr. Berkeley’ s bowling was an important factor in the brilliant victory achieved by his side. Six of the Carthusian wickets fell to his arm at a cost of 36 runs in the first innings. The following year was not a successful one for Wellington. Mr. Berkeley again headed the bowling averages, and on the hard wickets of the Jubilee year took twice the number of wickets secured by any other bowler—thirty-four at a cost of 15.27 runs each. He surprised everybody, too, by batting in promising style on more than one occasion, and brought his average up from a figure on the wrong side of the decimal point to 9.2. By continual and careful practice he still further improved his batting in 1888, in which year he usually went in first with the captain. Wellington had a better record at the end of 1888 than in the previous year, and how much was due to Mr. Berkeley may be judged from the fact that he took more wickets than all the other members of the team together. He dismissed ten batsmen in the Haileybury match, which was won by Wellington with plenty to spare. Two other performances of his are also worthy of mention—six wickets for 15 runs v. Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and eight for 44 v. the Kensington Park Club. His figures at the end of the season were:—Batting, 14.4 for fifteen innings; bowling, 10.5 for sixty- three wickets. Great was the joy of the Wellingtonians when it was found that his services would be available for another year. This, the last, very fittingly was Mr. Berke­ ley’s best season, and Wellington, thanks to his all-round cricket and the batting of the two Mordaunts, had a most successful time, winning seven out of the ten matches played, including the two school fixtures — v. Charterhouse and Haileybury. In fact, it was dis­ tinctly the best year Wellington has ever had. Mr. Berkeley was rightly regarded as one of the best all-round public school cricketers of the year. His batting average was 17.5, and he took forty-seven wickets at a cost of 8.1 runs each The Haileybury boys again found his bowling very difficult to deal with, and seven batsmen were out to his bowling in the first innings for 36 runs. In the Charterhouse match, too, he was successful, and secured five wickets at a small cost. When he went up to Keble College, Oxford, in October, 1889, Mr. Berkeley was regarded as a certainty for the University Eleven, a surmise which eventually turned out to be correct. Though he met with little success in the Fresh­ men’s match of 1890, for the Next Sixteen v. The Eleven he took four wickets for 27 runs. This ensured him a further trial, and he was given a place in the first of the foreign matches—v. The Austra­ lians. The colonials found his deliveries little to their liking, and he dismissed Lyons, Mur­ doch, S. P. Jones, Burn, Tur­ ner, Gregory, Blackham, and Charlton at a cost of 70 runs, besides scoring 21 in Oxford’s first innings. Against the Gen­ tlemen of England, in the very next match,he took six wickets at a cost of 12 runs each, and scored 15 and 8, a performance which gained for him his “ blue.” Unfortunately for Oxford, he was prevented fiom participating in the next few fixtures, and his absence was keenly felt. In the great match of the season, at Lord’s, he took five Cambridge wickets (three of them clean bowled) for 58 runs. The issue of the statistics for the season showed of what great value his bowling had been. His twenty-nine wickets cost 15.17 runs each, while the average of all the other regular Oxford