Cricket 1893

“ T o g e t h e r jo i n e d i n c r i c k e t ’ s m a n l y t o i l . ”— Byron • H egistered^foiPTransm issi'onAbroad. T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 6 , 1 8 9 3 . P R I C E 2 d . TH R O U G H C R IC K E T A N A . I.—A CHAMPION “ STUMPER.” A little while ago the thought occurred to us that a tour through those sacred realms which are rendered hallowed by bat and ball might be made interesting to the enlightened readers of C rick et . Travel and research are at all times enticing, but an advance through the enchanting fields of Cricketana has something heroic as well to enhance its value, which the traveller through more prosaic places never meets with. Having, therefore, armed our­ selves cap-d-pie with all the powers of the redoubtable Fourth Estate, we sallied out, a few days ago, on our momentous journey. It is pur­ posed to not only interview the illustrious magnates of glorious Cricketana on their varied recol­ lections of things cricketical, but to hear them dilate, ex-cathedra where possible, on the fermenting ques­ tions of the hour, or on their narrow escapes and adventures ’mid the deadly hail of ball which their abnormal careers may have sub­ jected them to. At times—without attempting what Lord Macaulay alluded to as the absurd dignity of history—we may trend into Cricket of the Olden Time, when the world is said to have wagged very well indeed, and compare the doughty deeds of the past with some of the terrible record breaking habits of the present day. We have opened with a “ pow­ wow ” with a young fellow who is just now much talked of at Lord’s, —the bracing capital of cricket— where he awoke the other morning to find himself in the mighty hands of Fame. Storer, the heroic stumper of the men of Derby, had just been chosen to play for England against The Australians at Trent Bridge in Shrewsbury’s Benefit match The young fellow, who is much taken aback by the prospect of such sudden eminence, bears his blushing honours in a most praise­ worthy manner. He cannot imagine that he deserves such dis­ tinction, but among the connoisseurs at Lord’s we found that he ranks very high indeed as a wicket-keeper, some considering him to be without peer behind the “ sticks.” At any rate, he has stamped his name on the long roll, from historic Kips, in 1746, the first re­ corded member of the race of stumpers, and, though latest, will never be marked as the least. Storer is a typical “ Mid­ lander.” You can tell it afar off, but when you hear that breezy tongue which only charms the ear in the neighbourhood of the Trent, it would be impossible to mistake his locality. To catch this enchanting patois aright you must come across a coterie of Notts or Derby men by themselves, when it may be heard in all its pristine grandeur, but “ a chiel amang them takin’ notes,” imme­ diately transports them into the orthodox STORER. (From a photo by W . W . W inter, Derby). tones of the South. It was so with Storer, but we must allow him to tell his own story, as he did to us in answer to a series of ques­ tions as to his antecedents. “ I was born,” he said, “ at Butterly ” (now you could never pronounce that word as he did, simple as it looks) “ which is about ten miles from Derby, on January 25th, 1868, and. was twenty-five last birthday.” “ Had you any school cricket ? ** “ I went to the Ripley National School in Butterly, but we had no cricket worth men­ tioning.” “ When did you get into first-class cricket ? ” “ I first played as a colt at Derby when I was seventeen. The secretary of the County Club had written to our club at Butterly, and they recommended me. It was a very funny thing. I went to be tried for the Colts as a bat and wicket-keeper, being recommended strongly as the latter, but they forgot to try me until someone in the second inn­ ings said, ‘ Here, this fellow is tried for his wicket-keeping; you’d better let him have a turn,’ So I went on for a little in the second innings. I played for the county at the beginning of the next season, but as a ‘ bat,’ not as a wicket-keeper. I played the next three years on and off for Derbyshire, but not regularly, as I did not do so well in the batting as they expected.” “ When did you begin wicket- keeping for the county, then ? ” “ It was the Bank Holiday match at Leyton with Essex. I wasn’t chosen in this match at all, but Disney, who used to keep wicket for Derby, hurt his hand in a local match on the Saturday, and Mr. Delacombe came for me on the Sunday to Butterly from Derby. It was at a minute’s notice, and I had to drive eleven miles to catch the train. I had a most successful match, though, at keeping wicket. I caught, I think, seven in the match, standing back on a very bad wicket, and have been keeping wicket ever since.” “ When did you rise even above county cricket ? ” “ Well, I hardly know what you would call above county cricket, but I played for Louis Hall’s ‘ North of England Eleven’ in Scotland last year, and three or four years ago for George Loh- mann’s eleven v. 18 of Middles- borough and District. But my biggest match was playing for the M.C.C. against the Australians a fortnight ago. Nobody is more surprised than I am at coming to the front so suddenly.” “ And your earlier local cricket ? ” “ My first clubs, leaving out boys’ clubs, were the Butterly United and the Derby Midland. Jimmy Disney was the regular wicket-keeper of the Butterly, but when he was playing for the county I used to take his place.” “ How used you to bat ? ” “ Well, I was top average in batting for several seasons. My averages were from 17