Cricket 1892

90 CBICKET: A WEEKLY EE COED OP THE GAME. APRIL 28, 1892 gained such a creditable victory over Harrow in the final were both among the leading School cricketers of 1891. Though H .K . Foster had much the better average, his brother W . L . was well up, standing fourth in the list of Malvern batsmen last year. The former’s figures, although eclipsed by the exceptionally fine record of P. H . Latham, were very much above the ordinary standard. In eight completed innings he scored 425 runs for an average of 53. E. L ea n e y , who made a very favourable impression as understudy to Wood in wicket-keeping with Mr. W . W . Read’s combination in South Africa, report has it, will play for Kent this summer. He has received honourable mention from more than one member of the team, and those I have seen generally speak highly of his capacity. Rumour, too, is busy with one more of the lesser lights of Mr. Read’s party. It is said that Barton, who did good service on occasions for Kent, will play this -season for Hampshire, in which County he was born. CRICKET NOTCHES. B y the R ev . R . S. H olmes . A c o r r espo n d en t asks this question—“ Could you select a third representative team without Gunn and Shrewsbury in it ? ” My answer is—I could, but I certainly should not. The Colts’ matches are over. It is now thirty years since Notts first started the ball for the season in this fashion, and it has been their Easter “ Anuual ” up to date, though in 1863 the same match was also played at the end of the season. It looks as if this par­ ticular match had had a lot to do with Notts’ supremacy in cricket, and so criticism savours of presumption. As, however, the lace County seems to have temporarily come to the end of her succession bf great cricketers, it may be open to question whether the form and date of this match might not be changed with advantage. Surrey have tried various experiments. Time was, when the Surrey Colts met the youngsters both from Kent and Sussex; and in this way, in one season (1862) they unearthed the famous “ Surrey Boys,” Jupp and Tom Humphrey. Seven years later the County was divided, and the Colts of the East met the Colts of the W est: and Richard Humphrey proved the “ find.” To day the Surrey Colts play several matches with Village and otctr Clubs, such as Mitcham, the birthplace of the Humphreys. In theory, I incline to the Colts of one County contest­ ing against the Colts of another County ; aid so I am glad to see the officials of Yorkshire and Notts have once more arranged this fix­ ture for the present season. Such matches are County matches iu miniature, and are productive of much keener enthusiasm on the part of the Colts than can be provoked when twenty-two of them meet their own County XI. on a semi-winterly Easter Mon­ day. Why should not all the leading Counties try and find room on their list of fixtures for similar inter-County Colts’ matches ? I hope, in the best interest? of the game, that both Yorkshire and Notts have several coming batsmen and bowlers, especially the former, who have been dead out of luck for many years. What with accidents, death, and other agencies that shall be nameless, Yorkshire has been unfortunate above all other Counties. But ought there to be any dearth of good cricketers in a County of such dimensions? The County executive has recently been extended, Leeds and Bradford sharing honours with Sheffield. W ill that alteration mend matters ? We shall see. I can remember when Sheffield alone had the rare honour of furnishing the entire county team, and Yorkshire seldom, if ever, stood higher in the cricketing world than then. For, as a rule, the villages, and not the large populous towrns produce the ablest cricketers. There was a period when Lascelles Hall, just outside Huddersfield, was more famous as a cricketing centre than all the big towns together in the West Riding. Look at Notts. It is one of the smallest of English counties, and, with the exception of the county town, has not a decent-pized town within its borders, yet no county has been so prolific in front-rank cricketers. Nearly every other county, in addition to hundreds of clubs all over England, are indebted to Notts for their prowess with bat and ball. And yet Notts can boast of only one big bowler to-day, viz., Attewell. It’s the first time within my memory they were so badly off. More than once they have had a plethora of bowlers, good enough, all of them, for representative matches. Take 1865 and the years imme­ diately before and after I Then, Grundy, Wootton, Alfred and I. C. Shaw, Jack­ son, and Tinley played together time after time. And they were all bowlers, and little eke. Not one of Ihem was worth his place for batting. Yet Notts never stood higher. If their own scores were not prodigious, those of their opponents were even less imposing. It is the recollection of this which is respon­ sible for cne fixed article in my cricket creed, and it may be thus summarized—“ No team can have too much bowling : it may have too little. If the bowling be all right, all else will follow.” Why is it that cricket seems indigenous to certain Counties, and not to others ? Of Notts I have said enough. But what of other counties ? Bedfordshire, for instance, has sent forth only one well-known cricketer— oor Pilling; Suffolk, only John Jackson, who elped to make Notts famous thirty years ago ; Norfolk, only the immortal Fuller Pilch, whose name bulks so big in Kent’s palmiest days; Bucks, only Tom Hearne, the ever­ green veteran at Lord’s ; and Durham, only Barratt. whose left-hand gave Surrey a much- needed lift. I cannot solve this problem. I know that these counties are largely agricul­ tural, whilst Notts is more particularly manufacturing, and that the weavers, who work mostly at home, are their own masters, and, if so disposed, can put in some hours daily at cricket. But, when Hampshire stood head and shoulders above the other Counties the players in the old Hambledon Club mostly followed the plough. So the solution is not there. Perhaps that versatile genius, Mr. Andrew Lang, could lend me a helping hand here. One moro “ notch,” and off my own b a t: though, when the season begins in real earnest, these notches will largely register the cuts and drives from other bats. There was a match at Kingston last week ; interesting to me, not by reason of a memor­ able bit of bowling, but because two famous cricket names figured on the side of the eleven: the one being Carpenter, the other Hayward. Now, Carpenter we know as the son of old Bob Carpenter: is Hayward a son of the famous Tom Hayward ?* I should much like to know. Whether he is or no, the conjunc­ tion of these familiar names is full of interest to myself and many others, and memory goes off gleaning in the far-away past. Notch No. 1.—Hayward and Carpenter, Cambridgeshire’s greatest sons, contempora- * He is a son of Dan Hayward, and consequently a nephew of Carpenter’s mat e —Editor. [ ries of Daft, were possibly the finest pair of batsmen any county ever boasted at one and the same time. Jupp and Tom Humphrey, both of Surrey, ran them hard. So do Shrewsbury and Gunn to-day. But the latter, superlative as their skill is, are too much alike in point of style, to be called the equals of Hayward and Carpenter. Hayward was showy and brilliant, playing forward, Carpenter was, as his appearance to-day will indicate, quiet and steady, and he played back. So they made a capital contrast. Not that Carpenter belonged to the Barlow school: he could and did hit terrifically when occasion offered. He was the very first bats­ man to land a ball out of the Oval when the wickets were pitched in the centre of the ground. That happened in the Gentlemen v. Players match in 1860. How often has it been done since ? Pooley did it once, but I forget the match. Whilst I saw W. H. Game spank Spofforth to square-leg over the palings when Surrey met the first Australian team in 1878. And Jupp, like Carpenter, could hit, though he was more of the Stone­ wall order. He had one characteristic stroke I have never seen noted. A ball well up on the off-side he would come down on just as it touched the ground, and away it bounded over point’s head at a terrific speed. It used to remind me of I. D. Walker’s late “ p at” — not a cut—he seemed only to tap the ball on the top and with a perfectly horizontal bat, and off it went as if shot out of a cannon. Notch No. 2.—How few great cricketers have there been whose father or sons attained to equal pre-eminence. Carpenter’s son, afore­ mentioned, gave me this “ notch.” Both “ W, G.” and Daft have cricketing sons, but none of them first-class. The Lilly whites are a notable exception; both father and sons were distinguished either with ball or bat. Cricket often runs through an entire family in the same generation—witness the Walkers, Graces, Steels, Studds, and many others,— but rarely in successive generations. In the case of the Hearnes there is this peculiarity— Of the older generation Tom Hearne alone stands out very conspicuous, but his son, now pavilion clerk at Lord’ s, has but little special cricket ability. Tom’s brother, George, shorter by some inches than Tom, was never above second-class form : he had three sons, all well- known in recent Kent cricket. Then Tom had another brother, whose name I have never heard, a cypher in the cricket world; and yet his son, the able young Middlesex bowler, is certainly the greatest bowler that has yet appeared in the Hearne family. It is all very funny. Notch No. 3—The ups and downs of Counties. Hayward and Carpenter were Cambridgeshire men, and thirty years ago Cambridgeshiie knew no masters in cricket, and yet how short-lived their glory. As long as Hayward and Carpenter, along with Tarrant (whose real surname was Wood, Tarrant being only one of his Christian names), little John Smith (the finest “ leg ” I ever saw, and who literally “ covered” the whole of the south side of Lord’s by his mar­ vellous running), the present worthy Secretary of M.C.C., and certain others—as long as these men kept their cricket, Cambridge­ shire was a name to conjure with, but no longer. When they retired, cricket immediately died in the County, and for years there has been no Cambridgeshire C.C. They are making efforts just now to re-form the Club. But will it ever be its old self again ? Nobody knows. One family made Gloucestershire cricket. I hope *•W .G.” will play for at least ten years yet. Some few years since he told me he hoped to figure in first-class cricket till he was fifty. It looks more than probable. What of the future of the Western County after then ? But there is no law regulating these ups and dowrns, else I would venture on prophecy. For the present, I can only express a devout wish that cricket will never perish or even wane in any of our leading Counties,