Cricket 1893

u Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.’’— Byron • Registered*Ior^rrtm8mtsa^n Abroad. THURSDAY, .FEBRUARY 23, 1893 PR IOE 2d. CRICKET NOTCHES, ' CR ICKET, F IF T Y YEARS AGO. B y the E e v . E . S. H olm es . My last Christmas budget included a delightfully long letter from the “ Old Buffer,” and a copy of Wisden’s Alman­ ack for 1893. Between them they are responsible for this “ Notch.” Wisden has now been running for thirty seasons, and though it gets bulkier year by year, and is irreproachable in point of quality —better than ever, indeed—the price remains unchanged. Wisden, No. 1, numbered 112 pages, Wisden, No. 30, 376 pages, the original cost of both being a modest shilling. How it is done, no­ body but the proprietor knows. When Fred Lillywhite published his Guide, any increase in its size necessitated a rise in price. Thus he apologises in the preface to the 186‘2 issue for the charge of one shilling and three pence because the work had increased tol04 pages; and when the next year it had swollen to 128 pages, the cost was one shilling and six­ pence. And he was cute enough to number the advertisement pages at the end. These Guides of his appeared first in 1849, and there were 23 issues in all. What before that? Fifty years ago there were no Annuals. Indeed, since Bentley published his scores in 1823, no attempt had been made to pre­ serve in book form a record of matches played. But in 1841 a change came about, and like all great changes it was tbe work of one man. Denison’s “ Cricketers’ Companion” first saw the light in that year; it was published “ by Authority and under the patronage of the Marylebone Club; ’’ at least those words stand at the head of the title page of the “ second edition ” of the 1844 Companion, and they are found also on the three “ Companions ” that followed in 1845, 1846, and 1847. Whilst the nature of the work is thus further described year by year, “ containing the scores of all grand and principal matches of Cricket played at Lord's and other grounds in the ensuing season—with, by special authority, the Laws of Cricket as altered June 3,1844.” In the issues of 1846 and 1847 this da;e reads thus, “ June 2, 1845.” The price was, “ in cloth two shillings, and one shilling and sixpence in a wrapper.” The “ Second Edition ” of 1844, however, cost half-a-crown and two shillings. It lasted four years : each issue contained an introduction, which, after the first issue, was mostly devoted to critical remarks on the chief matches of the season ; then followed the full scores with bowling analyses appended where necessary ; then tables of averages, list of contents, and sundry interesting advertisements. The Companion varied but little in the nature of the contents, and not very much in bulk; thus, 1844, first edition contained IV, 54 pp ; second edition, IV., 62 p p ; 1845, X II., 133 p p ; 1846, XV., 100 pp ; 1847, XX I., 106 pp. Now, as I happen to be the fortunate possessor of every Annual that has ever been published, and as a complete set of “ Denison ” must be very scarce indeed, it occurred to me that many students of cricket to-day might be glad to have a look into these old guides, which, though not to be compared with their modern successors, possess a charm and freshness even at this distance, and also a quaint­ ness of expression not to be found in the more scholarly Wisden and Lilly - white. But who was “ W.Denison, Esq.?" for in this modest way does the author describe himself on each title page. He was a cricketer, but not of much account. True, he played for the Gentlemen of England, and once with his slow round- arm ball captured Felix, the finest left- handed batsman of his day and the well- known author of “ Felix on the Bat.” Not nearly as good a bowler as he thought himself, whilst as a batsman he was even less conspicuous. It was tauntingly said of him that he could not know much about the game because he obtained so few runs. Denison thus meets the charge:— “ The dislocation of an elbow (met with at cricket) and an impaired vision—arising not merely from surgical operations, for I have had eleven on one eye, but an average of bed of not quite fou r hours pe night for 26 years, are somewhat calcu- lated to spoil a man’s sight for batting.” True enough : but why not tell us also that a great cricketer is not necessarily a skilful writer on cricket, and vice versa ? But if only a moderate performer with bat and ball, Denison was an old hand at reporting. In 1845 he had completed 25 years as a member of the press for most of the morning papers, both in the gallery of the House of Commons, and in the reporters’ tent on all cricket grounds. He may fairly be called the pioneer of cricket reporting for the “ dailies.” No man ever did better service to the game. It was as a reporter, I take it, that he figures in the two best cricket pictures ever produced—in the historic Sussex v. Kent picture of 1846, the third figure from the right-hand margin, just behind William Ward’s chair; and again in Felix’s splendid picture of the “ Eleven of England” in 1847, where he is placed fifth from the left-hand margin, with legs wide apart, and holding some MS. papers. And did he not in 1846 publish his “ Sketches of the Players,” still one of the best cricket books extant ? Over and above this, Denison was one of the prime movers in the formation of the Surrey Club in 1845, having, with others, induced the president of the old Mont­ pelier Club to take over Kennington Oval—then a market garden—and con­ vert it into a cricket ground worthy of a County “ who could do that which no other county has ever been able to achieve, viz., give two of its players to All England, and then walk off victors.” Surrey cricketers scarcely need to be reminded that Denison was the first hon. sec. of the Surrey Club until 1847, being succeeded by Mr. John Burrup, who, along with his brother William, faithfully served old Surrey in that capacity up to 1872. But it’s with the cricket of those far­ away days that we are most concerned, There was plenty of it, though not nearly as much as we have to day ; quite enough, so some of us think. And downright good cricket too—never much, if any, better before or since. And many a burning