Cricket 1892

APRIL 21, 1892 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 67 TH E KINGS OF CRICKET. U nd er the above title Richard Daft is giving to the public his recollections of the players, with whom he was been associated during his career as a cricketer. The first instalment of the reminiscences, which are in course of issue in serial form preparatory to collective publication, under the supervision of Mr. Andrew Lang, appeared in the Athletic News of the 11th inst. Daft began to play first-class cricket in 1857, and was intimately acquainted with all the leading cricketers in the sixties and early part of seventies. His recollections of the giants of a past age cannot fail to be particularly in­ teresting, giving, as they do, authentic details of the personalities of the men who made cricket history some thirty years back. This is Daft’s picture of old Clarke, the founder o f the All England Eleven. I was very well acquainted with old Clarke, who for years kept the Trent Bridge Inn and ground. He was, as most people know, captain and secretary of tho famous All- England Eleven, before George Parr succeeded to both these offices. Clarke played until he was quite an old man, and as he had only one eye (the sight of the other having been destroyed at fives), George Parr used to say that in his latter days he played not by sight but by sound. The old man was very queer tempered in these days, too (as I have since found to be the case with most of us cricketers as we grow older), and was consequently a considerable trial to the patience of many of the younger members of his elevens. With amateur cricketers, particularly if they were not of the first-class, he had no great sympathy, to judge by the following incident. George Parr told me there was once a young amateur played with Clarke for the first time whom he mortally offended. This gentleman before the game began, asked the veteran where he should field. “ Can you catch ? asked Clarke. The amateur having replied that he could, was ordered into the long field, where he shortly had a high catch hit to him from Clarke’ s slow bowling, and which he had the misfortune to drop. The old man looked “ unutterable things ’ at him, but said never a word. On Clarke’s side taking the field in the second innings this gentleman again asked where he shoulc. go. “ O h !” said old Clarke, “ walk about where you like; there’ll be plenty of balls flying about presently, and I daresay you will manage to hold some of ’em.” Clarke’s great ability as a bowler familiar to every student of cricket history. And Daft’s picture causes him to stand out in bold relief with all his peculiarities of style true to life. Clarke’s delivery was a peculiar one. He came up to the crease with the usual “ trot which nearly all slow underhand bowlers adopt, but instead of delivering the ball from the neight of, or below the hip, he at the last moment bent back his elbow, bringing the ball almost under his right armpit, and delivered the ball thus from as great a height as it was possible to attain, and still to be underhand. He was by this delivery able to make the ball pet up higher and quicker from the pitch than lie would have done if he had delivered it in the same way as other lob bowlers do. I have often heard old cricketers say that they have received many balls from Clarke which got up quite “ nasty ” from the pitch, with a lot of screw on them. He seldom bowled two balls alike, and could vary his pace and pitch in a wonderful manner. He was able to detect the weak points of a bats­ man quicker perhaps than any bowler that ever lived. sorted to, and Mynn was afterwards quite sound again. A . He played in his younger days a great deal of single wicket, at which he was never de­ feated. A strict disciplinarian himself, he was averse to any change even in the order of his going in. The veteran would always insist on going in in one particular place—two wickets down, I think it was—but in a match in which George Parr was captain instead of himself, he was put down several places lower on the list. However, when his usual turn came he stepped out padded and gloved, and the bats­ man who was next to go in arriving at the wicket at the same time was obliged to return to the pavilion, But as years went on the old gentleman dropped down to the last place of all, and being run out once by the batsman at the other end (old Tom Box), when it came to the second innings he put on his pads to go in first , swearing he would never again go in within ten of the fool who had run Him out in the previous innings. Of Fuller Pilch Dafc is only able to speak at second-hand, as he never saw him except at practice, and then after he had given up cricket. I never saw Fuller Pilch, of Kent, the greatest batsman of his time, play m a match, but I remember seeing him have some practice once at Canterbury when I played there, and being much struck wilh the gracefulness of his forward play. He stood umpire on this occasion, I recollect. Pilch was a good looking, good-tempered man, to judge from appearances. He was quite of the “ gentleman farmer ” stamp. He was tall, over six feet in height, and although not bulky, still he was a man of strong and muscular build. He had in his day, as every­ one knows, a great reputation both for his run-getting powers and for the beauty of his style. He was always spoken of in the high­ est possible terms by everyone who knew him both as a cricketer and as a man. W ith “ The Lion of Kent,” as Alfred Mynn was called, he was intimately acquainted. To his social qualities as well as to his exceptional ability and grace as a crickcter Daft does full justice, as the following will show. Alfred Mynn, another Kentish man, I knew intimately and played with him several times. For a cricketer he was by far the biggest man I ever saw. He stood well over six feet, and must have weighed, at the time I knew him, twenty-three or twenty-four stones ; nor was there anything clumsy or awkward in any of his movements, which were, on the contrarys stately and dignified at all times. He was a fine batter against fast bowling, but was not so good against slow. He was a first-rate fast round-arm bowler, and his delivery was a treat to witness. He walked a few paces up to the wicket and delivered the ball like a flash of lightning, seemingly without an effort. Mr. Mynn was one of the kindest-hearted men I ever met, and was as gentle in his manners as he was strong in ptrson. I have often felt glad that I was not born ten years later than I was, for in that case I should not have had the pleasure of knowing one of tha most famous cricketers and good-hearted fellows of his own or any other generation. He was once terribly punished on one of his legs during one of his largest innings, but stood up for several hours at the wicket, making a great many runs before he would retire ; but he was compelled to do so at last, when his leg was found to be dreadfully injured. He was confined to his bed for a long period, and it was thought his surgeon would be obliged to take his leg off, but happily this extreme measure was not re- THE COLTS* The match was GLOUCESTERSHIRE MATCH. The absence of Dr. W. G. Grace and Woof deprived this match, played on the County Ground on Monday and Tuesday, of a good deal of its interest. Still, with Mr. Ferris, Roberts, Murch and Mr. Brown, the bowling was good enough to test the batting of the Colts. In this department A. N. Langdon was the most successful. He scored well each time, making 37 and 33 by free cricket. The bowling did not present any noteworthy feature. On the side of the eleven, some promising form was shown^by the young players Atfield and Cowley, drawn. The C olts . First Innings. E. St. J. Branch, c Town­ send, b Ferris................. 0 c J. Holbrook, c Brown, b Roberts ........................ 2 C. H. Martin, b Ferris ... 0 W. M. Hemingway, b Roberts ........................ 0 E. Henry, b Ferris ..........18 W. D. Palmer, b Roberts G D. James, b Roberts ... 10 F. E. Cane, c Ferris, b Roberts ............................12 A. Wiles, c Brow®, b Roberts ........................... 20 W. S. Bailey, c Atfield, b Murch.................................. 11 W. Coombes, b Brown ... 10 W. Doolan, run out .......... 4 F. Townsend, jun., Brown, b Murch ... J. H. Mills, c Board, Murch........................ Second Innings. sub., b Ferris 19 b E. M. Grace ... 5 c and b E. M. Grace .......... 4 b Roberts..........12 c E. M. Grace, b Roberts.......... 0 b Roberts.......... 6 run out .......... 0 b R oterts.......... bFeiris .......... c sub-, b Ferris b Roberts.......... 7 c sub., b Ferris 2 0 c Townsend, Ferris ... A. J. Mantle, run out ... C. R. Berry, c W. G.Grace, jun., b Murch................. A. N. Langdon (capt.), c De Winton, b Murch ... C. Townsend, run out F. Toogood, st Winton, b E. M. Grace ................. A. Keevil, b E. M. Grace... A. Btuckey, b E. M. Grace S. Fry, not out ................. H. H. Jackson, run out ... Extras ................. 2G st sub., b Ferris 0 run out not out 96 , 9 2 b Roberts... 4 0 0 0 4 Extras . T o ta l.................182 G lo u c este r sh ir e . Total ...ICO E.M. Grace, c Martin, b F ry ........................ 3 Atfield, b Palmer ... 23 Cowlev, b Cane......... 29 S. de Winton, b Cane 4 F.Townsend.c Brjant b D oolan .................28 H. W. Brown, b Mantle .................26 J. J. Ferris, not out... 10 Total Murch, c Palmer, b Toogood ................. 0 BOWLING ANALYSIS. T h e C olts . W. G. Grace, jun., c Langdon, b Too­ good........................ Robert®, b C. Town- eend........................ Board, c Coombes, b C. Townsend ... B 2, lb 4, nb 1 ... ..143 First Innings. O. M. R. W. Ferris........... 28 15 4« 8 Roberts ... 30 10 Murch.......50 7 Brown ... 11 4 Cowley E. M. Grace 0 8.3 3 62 32 2) 14 Jackson . Berry Fry ... . Coombes Cane... , Palmer . O. . 6 . 5 . 10 . 7 . 10 6 6 ......... 5 ......... 1 0 3 .......... Atfield.......... W.G.Grace,jr. G loucestersh ire . M. R. W. 4 6 0 3 3 0 1 22 1 4 6 0 0 29 2 10 1 Becond Innings. O. M. R. W. ... 21 12 20 6 . 22 12 . 5 1 30 11 6 4 3 O. Doolan Holbrook 7 1 Toogoo d 7 1 Mantle ... 8 3 C. Town­ send ... 1.3 0 M. R. 2 22 0 Palmer bowled a no-ball. 2 2 CRICKETERS.—Prizes value ^100 offered for competition during 1892. Special Score Forms 2d. per dozen.—Geo. G. Bussey & Co., Peckham Rye. Winners published weekly in C ricket .—Advt.