Cricket 1893

12 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME, JAN. 26, 1893 RULES FOB THE CAPTAIN OF THE SECOND ELEVEN . B y E . B. Y . C. I; It a best not to exercise your rights as captain till you are fully elected. A pre­ mature assertion of authority may counteract the most lavish distribution of sweets. II. If you bowl, you will, of course, go on first and bowl, if possible, all through the innings. The other bowlers may grumble; but it will be their turn when you are in the first eleven. If you are not to bowl why were you made captain ? III. Never expect to satisfy the other fellows with your management. Unless you put all the bowlers on at once, and all the batsmen in first, there will be disoontent. IV . Do not accept the sole responsibility in choosing the eleven. Have a committee of three including yourself and your dearest chum. You will thus have a working majority, can do as you wish, and can answer remonstrances by agreeing to put the matter before the Jorkins Committee. Y . Remember that as captain it i3 your ex­ clusive privilege to call the fellows butter fingers,” and repress any infringement on your prerogative. But if you yourself are not bowling it may be well to substitute occasion­ ally “ well tried, old fellow ” for the abusive epithet. V I. A turn for irony is often useful: but, if your post is elective, you should remember that the laugh is capable of beiDg turned against you. Do not write out your sarcasms and fix them up in the pavilion. V II. If, on the other hand, the captain is appointed by the head-master, it will not be prejudicial if at practice you send him up a ball to hit. He will think better of your play if he scores a few, than if you take his middle stump with your off-break three times run­ ning. V III. If you should bowl a master, it is wise not to receive his explanation of how his attention was diverted, or your bat does not suit him, with the air of incredulity which would be appropriate in the case of anyone else. IX . You will find that an acquaintance with old cricketing authors will not be unserviceable ; e.g., if your point refuses to stand less than 12 or 14yds. from the wicket, because \V. W. Bead and Shrewsbury do not, you may, with effect, remind (or inform) him that Nyren states the proper distance to be 3yards. But be careful that your quotations are not contra­ dicted by any dicta of Dr. Grace’ s ; otherwise Nyren and his savings will be treated with unde served contumely. X. If the other batsman runs you out, you are justified in again quoting from Nyren that “ A man who is essentially stupid will never make a good cricketer.’, XI. Sooner or later there comes to every bats­ man a ball that he finds quite unplayable. It is only a doubtful rider to this proposition that if you keep yourself on bowling long enough you will deliver the ball destined, as Felix says, to “ bring over ” the batsman “ indescribable emotions.” But it is well, in the height of elation at your hundred, to be grateful for the accident that the ball which dismissed you came last instead of first. X II. It is prudent to be on good terms with the captain of the first eleven. You can never tell how soon the second eleven may be too hot for you. But it is not wise to pose too ostentatiously as his equal; he will p obably entertain an absurdly exaggerated estimate of his importance, and feel there is not room for both you and him in one eleven. OVER THE WALL OUT. When the cricket season is with us, and the real game is possible, we discard all imitations of it as a boy of sixteen rejects the toys which amused him in the nursery. The geraniums and calceolarias bloom unshattered and undis­ turbed But when the long winter sets in, and the first sense of bereavement is past, we “ snatch a fearful joy,” or, at least, an imita­ tive one from some adaptation of the game which, in City phrase, is limited and reduced. Garden cricket is the chief of these. When the mistress of the house is away, dining-room cricket may be practised. Even a parlour game with a teetotum has been made tolerable by its appropriation of the true ciicketing terms. No doubt these imitations have but a faint flavour of the original, they are but “ as moonlight unto sunlight, as water unto wine.” You have to make believe very much, like the Marchioness with her orange-peel wine. Yet they do “ something smack, something grow to, they have a kind of taste.” We have seen players madly excited over garden cricket, albeit with a sub-flavour ofcontempt at their amusement. The absence of an umpire (which is essential) lends to the attrac­ tions of the sport, the excitement of an un­ parliamentary debate. The size of the garden and other local circumstances may necessitate some altera­ tions in the rules. The only law of universal application is that the batsman who hits over the wall is out. There are many reasons for this, the chief being the delay caused by diffi­ culty in getting the ball back. Neighbours are generally so curmudgeonly in the matter. They pretend to attach an absurdly exagger­ ated value to the flower on which, they say, the ball fell. They have been known to pretend not to hear your application for the return of your deposit (to use another City term), and even to deliberately refuse it. This is absurd, and would probably expose them to an action of detinue. But the law’s delay being intolerable, lots have to be cast who shall climb the wall and recover the ball by force of arms and speed of legs. On some grounds, or rather gardens, the rule is that the youngest shall go over. This is excellent and avoids disputes, but may be difficult of enforcement. A second rule, general but not universal, is “ on the flower-beds, out.” Another and more popular version is “ breaking the flowers, out,” though this may lead to difference of opinion. If the garden paths are asphalted, they make the best wicket; if gravelled, it will be well to sweep away the stones while the gardener is not looking. Any sort of ball except a cricket ball may be used, but tennis balls, like some tennis players, are too “ bounceable.” A rag ball is best; newspapers tied round with string come undone every over. Overarm bowling is generally forbidden as too apt to make the ball rise. The pitch may be of any length, but if shorter than ten yards a cricket bat should not be used. A tennis racket (borrowed) is a fair substitute, but a hand-made bat,— i.e., any piece of wood roughly narrowed in the handle—will serve. One of the wicker fire screens meant to fix on the back of a chair is excellent, but pertains rather to office-cricket. In that, and on the Stock Exchange, even ledgers have been known to answer. The wftste-paper basket, too, makes an excellent wicket in office- cricket, and the walls supply a natural boundary. In garden cricket it is sometimes difficult to determine the boundaries. It is best not to run out the runs; but if this is done, the fieldsman must not jump over the fiower-beds to field the ball. When the ball is of rag, or paper, the fieldsman can safely take it off the ba t: hence it is usual to rule that point and mid-on must stand at least two yards from the batsman. But even garden cricket is often impossible. The rain descends pitilessly ; it is indoors that you must look for a cricket-substitute,— using the term in the sense in which margar­ ine is a butter-substitute, not in the more general one written “ sub,” except by a secretary, to whom that denotes a subscrip­ tion. If there is a spare room, indoor cricket presents no difficulty, but otherwise, the permission (or absence) of the authorities is necessary. It is well to conciliate them by making a rule that breaking the gas globes or mantel-ornaments is o u t; though, of course, this restricts the batsman a good deal. If even this game is out of the question, there is one more substitute available. This is played on a mat,—cricket on the heartb, it might be called, though that is more descrip­ tive of the critical attitude of elderly specta­ tors of the genuine game. Three matches serve for stumps, and the ivory imitations of bats used as paper-knives are handy for bats. A marble is the best ball. The ball must be shot by the thumb from the crook of the fore­ finger; if rolled or fudged, the batsman shall cry “ no ball.” . . . . . But these imitations are feeble at the best. Y ou throw aside the implements disconso­ lately ; drawing your chair before the fire, you take down an old Lillywhite. Yes, here is the score of the match you saw at Lord’s ; there is the record of the glorious day when your county triumphed at the Oval. The wind moans, the rain splashes ceaselessly without. Cricket seems to belong to another world....................How many more weeks is it to the season ? • * C 0 I ^ E £ F 0 P E N C E > TWO SURREY AMATE0RS. To the Editor of C r ic k e t . Sir,—It is pleasant to read that the Com­ mittee of the Surrey Club have showm their appreciation of Mr Shuter’s services by a handsome present, but some of us members will take it amiss if we are not asked for our individual contributions towards a testi­ monial by and bye. Mr. Shuter’s cricket career has not been an ordinary one, and that our County has been restored to the premiership is due not a little to his continuance of able captainship, his personal contributions to the score sheet, and some feats of brilliant generalship. The obituary article on lamented Fred. Burbidge could not have come from anyone with more right to pen it than the present Secretary of the S C.C.C. No one has ever deserved eulogy for labours on behalf of Surrey Cricket more than has Mr. Burbidge. whose keen yet kindly face we are no more to see watching the play at the Oval. His dis­ tinction han been well pointed out by Mr, Alcock. He served the County long after his own day in the field was over. Many a man “ turns it up ” when his innings is over; —no such selfish sportsman was Mr. Burbidge. Unlike his colleague, I did see him play, but one’s memory of W'hat happened thirty years ago is rather dim, and I could not speak definitely as to his performances. But I have by me half-a-dozen score cards of Oval matches between July ’62 and July ’ 64, in which his name appears, and these may be taken as examples of his achievements. I believe he was “ point,” and these records show that some of the enemy fell at his hands in every match. His scores were, in chronological order : 1, v. Cambridge ; 11 and 47, v. Middlesex ; 5 for Gentlemen v. Players ; 104 v. 13 of Cambridge University; 39 and 27 for Gentlemen v. Players; 13 v. Notts.—Yours truly, S urrey B orn and B red