Cricket 1892

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil. 5 ’— Byron, N o. 318- V O L . X I, Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1892. PRICE 2d, CRICKET NOTCHES. A CHAT WITH AN OLD CRICKETER. B y t h e K e v . R. S. H o lm e s , And how few of the old School are living to-day. To talk with a man who had spent many anhour with old William Lambert, and played in many a match with Lillywhite and Clarke, Fuller Pilch and Alfred Mynn, and who proved him­ self worthy to be ranked with the greatest of them, was an event eagerly anticipated, and the memory of it will be fragrant for many a year. It happened in [this wise. As boys— Cockneys—my cricket hero was a Surre.yite, my younger brother’s hero hailed'from Notts. Neither of us then did more than worship at a distance. Mine I had not seen for nearly 30 years, blit he was often in one’s thoughts not­ withstanding. So when, in his “ Kings of Cricket ”—which, I see, Mr. Arrowsmith is announcing for the coming Spring, and is a book more to my taste than perhaps any treatise on cricket published since Denison’s “ Sketches of the Players”— Richard Daft quite recently wrote as follows about the said hero of my boy­ hood, the old enthusiasm revived, and I made up my mind to go and see him once more in the flesh. These are Daft’s words, and as the words of such a veteran and master, and withal hailing from a County—Notts— Surrey’s chief rivals up to date, they are well worth reading:— “ Surrey had at this time (1858) an eleven stronger, I believe, than anyCounty ever possessed before or since. They had the finest wicket-keeper the world ever knew—Lockyer, who was also a very good bat, and could bowl if required ; H. H. Stephenson, a grand bowler, and equally fine batsman ; Mr. C. G. Lane, one of the best amateur bats I ever saw ; Mr. F. P. Miller, another; Mortlock, a splendid player; Julius Ctesar, one of the most dangerous batters in the country ; Mr. F. Burbidge, a fine bat and field; George Griffith, perhaps the hardest hit­ ter in England, and several more. “ There was one player I have yet to mention, who was, in my opinion.the best of the lot- I mean Caffyn. If Surrey ever possessed a finer player than he, I never saw him. If during the whole of my career, I have admired one man’s play more than another, it has been that of Caffyn. As a batsman, he was without doubt one of the most brilliant that ever lived. It was quite a treat to have to field against him and see him play. His hitting all-round was magnificent; his cutting, I think, nobody has ever equalled. He was besides one of the best bowlers in England, and was an excellent field.” So, being in London a fortnight since, I booked at King’s Cross, and after an hour’s run, was landed in the quiet, sleepy town of Hertford, having given ample notice of this intended visit. It was a matter of no difficulty to find out the man I wanted. Just out of curiosity I en­ quired of sundry persons. The same answer was returned by them all—- “ Caffyn, the old cricketer, you mean?” Added ► my last informant—“ then I’ll just take you to his shop; but I hope you’ll find him at home, but his place was shut up three hours ago.” He was at home ; if he had not been, I should have been at home in his hair­ dresser’s shop, for on opposite walls there hung the three delightful groups of the first English team to America in 1859, and those to Australia in 1861 and 1868. And better still, there stood my man ; scarcely changed at all from the Caffyn I saw last in 1863, and as he looks in the American group—as lithe, upright, straight of back and keen of eye as then, and as dapper, electrical, and full of nervous energy; and when, in the course of a three hours’ chat, he illustrated one or two wrist strokes •by the aid of a walking stick, I forgot all about the immediate surroundings, and was a boy again at the Oval, and Caffyn. was making the >*welkin ring ” with those old, brilliant late cuts one never has seen since. . And his talk was unceasing about the old days, and his. memory so accurate that, spite of many, ups and downs, old Father Time cannot have dealt very hardly by him. Here are just a few scraps only: my eye lighted on a harp, or what I judged to be a harp, for it had its holland jacket on :— “ A h ! Yes, we were a family of musicians and cricketers; cricket and music were born in us. My favourite instruments were the cornet and the harp, and right good service has that harp done me, when things were none too bright ; it has been a ‘ friend in need,’ and that’s why I like to have it near m when at work. I had an uncle Walter, who played for Surrey before the County Club was started,, and he was one of the best stumpers going. Not so good as old Tom Lockyer ; there never was his equal. Blackham may be the best the youngsters of to.-day have seen. I have seen him too, and long before they did ; but Tom could give him and anybody else a long start; he was a wonder, could do any­ thing but stump to his own bowling. Daft says the same, does he ? I didn’t know that before, but I am right glad to hear it, for there isn’t a cricketer living who knows more, or has seen more, of the game than Daft. I am at my old trade, you see ; both my father and uncle were in it, and in the old shop down at Eeigate, where I was born, old Lambert— he who was the first to score two centuries in a first-class match, in 1817 or thereabouts—would often come and talk cricket when I was a young lad, and told us what a grand bat Beldham was, and David Harris as good with the ball, until I was fired with an ambition to become, if I could, as great as either of them with both bat and ball. I meant to succeed; ard when I finished my first cricket engagement in 1849, with Captain Alexander at the Auberies near Sudbury, and had saved a bit of money, I went to Paris for a winter, in order to learn more of my trade. I thought it would do my cricket good; and it did. For hairdressing is mostly done by the hand and wrist, and thus my wrists were always flexible—they are