Cricket 1893

838 0RICKET s A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME, AUG. 10, 1893 REMINISCENCES OP CRICKET. B y EICHARD DAFT. E x t r a c t s from an O l d S c r ap B ook . Years ago there resided in Nottinghamshire a gentleman named Yates—a doctor—who was one of the greatest oricketing enthusiasts I ever met in the whole of my career. He was a fair player himself, and played a good deal of club cricket. He was seldom absent from the Trent Bridge Ground on county match days, and used throughout the season to keep a record of all the averages of the members of the county team, and could tell any one of us our exact average at any time to a fraction. When he died, about ten years ago, he left to me as a legacy a large scrap book into which he had been for very many years in the habit of stickiDg cuttings from all the old news­ papers relating to cricket. This book now forms a delightfully interesting volume for any cricketer to look over, be he one of the past or one of the present school. There are other interesting items connected with other subjects than cricket, but by far the greater part of them relates to the national game. It begins with the account of the match, Notts v. Surrey, played June 27, 23 and 29, 1852. Notts batted first and scored 181 runs. The Surrey team making only 71 and 67, they were, of course, easily defeated. The account of the match prefixed to the score is very amusing. I give it here v e r b a t i m “ A stopper has been put on the proud boasting of the men of Surrey by the singular defeat they experienced on Friday last at the close of the match at Kennington Oval. Whether Not­ tingham came up more than usually strong, or whether the Surrey ‘ p ick ’ was done judi­ ciously, is a question that we feel now no dispofcition to discuss. Some aver that the slow bowling of Clarke sent many of the players on whom reliance was placed ‘ to the light about,’ and hence the great turn on the card. Heath and Day were the only men who could play the ‘ Slow ’ Un.’ Nottingham on the first day scored 181 runs, and three of the Surrey wickets were down at the close of Thursday for 18 runs. On Friday the matoh was resumed, but as Surrey only got 71 in their first innings they, in compliance with a wholesome law, followed it, or in other words, ‘ went in again.’ In this essay they only effected 67, so that Nottingham achieved one of the easiest conquests that has fallen to their lot for many a day. Many of the patrons and players of Surrey are not a little chagrined at this defeat, while the lungs of the men of Trent ‘ crow like chanticleer/ We give the score in full, so as to dispense with commentary. Doubtless the cuiiousin cricketing statistics will find something to amuse them if they give the particulars therein contained a second thought.” Then follows the score. On tbe Notts side the names of Clarke, Butler, B. Parr, G. Parr, S. Parr, Guy, and others appear, and on the Surrey side Lockyer, Caffyn, Felix, C«3sar, &c , &c. The next match in the book is the All England Eleven v. Nineteen of Devonshire (with Paxton, R. C. Tinley, and Nixon given). There is a long account of the match, which was played at Teignbridge. The ground, it states, from not having been played on lately, was rather bumpy, “ as the appearance of the letter ‘ C ’ in the score will testify, and the eleven closed their labours for 32 only.” A great change, however, was about to come over it, for in the course of the after­ noon such geese as escaped the day’ s annual sacrifice on the day of St. Michael would have been much better occupants than the dripping and disgusted 33, wno had to retreat in- gloriously to the hospitable doors of the “ Globe,” at Newton, long before the proper time, and while on this subject we must not omit to mention the kind hospitality of the Devonians upon the second day of the match, when venison and game and all the “ delicacies of the season,” washed down with excellent wines and punch, were freely accorded to the strangers in the ball-room at the hotel, more than fifty assembling at the festive board. In describing the match, it states that^Caffyn batted half-an-hour for three runs. He made a splendid cut off Tinley for one “ whioh must have been five with eleven fielders. He aleo made a square-leg hit off Nixon for two, and then received a ‘ ripper’ from Tinley.” Tinley, I should think, would be bowling fast round at this period, as he did at the early part of his career. It was later on when he took to slows, with which he was more successful than he had been with the round-arms. George Parr wanted eight runs to complete his 1,000 for the season when he came in to bat in this match, but was caught out by Captain Fife at the long-stop for three. The next remarks are somewhat curious. “ Wisden joined Mr. Felix, the latter appearing to be quite ‘ at home.’ He made two of his favourite cuts, one from Tinley and one from Nixon on the on-side (!) ” As the match was unfinished at the time of drawing stumps (5.30) on the third day, it was decided that a fourth day’s play should be commenced on the following morning at 11 o’clock in order to bring the match to a conclusion. According to the account in the old newspaper there was a great ball held on the evening of the third day at the “ Globe ” Hotel, and consequently many of the members of the local twenty-two did not arrive on the ground till noon the next day. The match was finished in good time, however, and resulted in an easy victory for the twenty-two. After the match a single wicket match was played between Wisden and Mr. Trant of Torquay. Wisden was unfor­ tunate enough, says the reporter, to “ pull a fine off-ball into his wicket.” Mr. Trant won the game, although “ the precision of Wisden’s bowling was greatly admired by the spec­ tators.” The report of this and other old matches differs considerably from those written of the contests of our own day. One is struck by the number of terms in the old records which are placed in inverted commas, and were evidently at that time looked on as slang expressions—expressions which are now used frequently in writing or speaking of cricket. The report of the match concludes with a hope that the All England will visit Teignbridge next season. Whether they did so or not I have not yet discovered. The handsome manner in which they were treated by their Devonshire friends would probably make them anxious to pay them a second visit. The last time I saw General Marshall at the Oval we had a long talk over old times, and we both came to the conclusion that people did not enjoy cricket as they used to. Certainly one never sees such holiday- making and high jinks as we used to in the old A ll England Days, especially at those matches played in small country towns- The All England match was the topic of conver­ sation months before the event took place. Special committees were formed to get up entertainments in the evenin'-, and when the great day arrived the excitement was often intense. I was talking to a gentleman not long ago who told me that in order to see one of these matches (he was only a boy at the time) he rose at four o’clock in the morning and walked a dozen miles or more to the place. Another old friend, a clergyman, now nearly eighty years of age, was telling me the other day of the first time he saw me play— at Loughborough. He was rector of a small country village in Leicestershire, situated about 15 miles away from Loughborough, and as no carriages were to be had, he and some friends engaged a cart belonging to the village chimney-sweep and made the journey in this vehicle to the match and back. My friend tells me that he was very pleased with my play on this occasion—although I did not make many runs—and told his friends that “ they would hear of that young man again.” I hope to give my readers some further extracts from my old scrap book next week. Send l£d. for A rtistic S how Card o f C r ic k e t w ith p ortraits o f either A rthur S hrew sbury, G eorge L ohm ann, D r. W . G . G race (in fou r b a itin g posi­ tion s), or M r. S. M. J. W ood s. Suitable fo r hang­ ing u p in P avilion s, C lub, and D ressing R oom s. LO N D O N AND C O U N T Y B A N K v. L L O Y D ’S B A N K —P layed at C atford on J u ly 31 and Augu&t 1. L l o y d ’ s . R . F. A. Orr, lbw , b Sargant ..................... 13 H . R . Sw atm an, c B ishop, b S argant 18 A. W . Harpur, c B en t­ ley, b S argant............ 1 M. S. K now les, c Cull, b B is h o p ..................... 2 C. P . Johnston, n ot ou t ..............................16 W . J. K now les, b B ish op ..................... 0 L ondon an d C ounty B a n k . C. T . D on aldson , c an d b Sargant ... 2 H. C. V. D avis, c sub, b B ish op ... 2 M. H ubbard, c P at­ tinson, b B ish op ... 1 E. V ickers, b B ish op 2 B 3, lb 2 ............ 5 T otal ... 62 A. Jack son , b Swat­ m a n ..............................32 P. J. F in lin son , not o u t .............................. 0 B 1, lb 2, w 1 ... 4 S. H. Sargant, b H ar­ pur ............................... 0 T.B ish op, c H ubbard, b H a rp u r..................... 6 F . H . T hirlw aU , b J o h n sto n .....................16 C. E. B lom field, b T ota l H arpur ..................... 9 W . B. P attinson, n ot ou t ..............................36 C. R . T row ell, B. H. K ing, W . B en tley, and C. E C ull did not bat. 1?3 L O N D O N AND - C O U N T Y B A N K v. JO IN T ST O C K BAN K .—P layed at C h a m p ion HiU on A u gu st 2, 3 and 4. L . & C. B . A. Jackson, b H arris 21 C. E. B lom field, lb w , b H a r r is .................................... 8 W . R . P attinson, b C u m in g s.................................... 3 F . J. F inlinson, b M orris ...................................... 38 S. H . Sargent, run ou t ............................................. 9 W . E . B room field and F . H, bat. T. B ishop, ran out... 0 W. B entley, n ot ou t 30 C. S. D ay, b C um ings 0 E . D a C osta R icci, n ot ou t .........................J9 B 11, lb 6 ................17 T otal ...140 T h irlw ell did not W . A. D ubois, B ish op ............ E . L u n n on , B ish op ............ W . F ryer, Sargant ............ A. J. H orn, lbw, Sargant ............ P. G. Reading, Eishop .................. A. M . Hughes, B ish op .................. J. S. B. b H . M. Scam m ell, b .. 8 B isn op ..................... 0 b J. H. C um ings, not ... 4 out .............................. 9 b H. B ray, b B ish op ... 6 ... 16 A. M orris, b B ish op 0 b E . M. H arris, absen t 0 ... 27 B 7, lb 3..................... 10 b — .. 5 T otal ............ 80 LO N D O N A N D C O U N T Y B A N K (2) v . JO IN T ST O C K BAN K (2).— P layed a t C ham pion H ill on A u gu st 2, 3, and 4. L . & 0. B. R.H . K ing,b W righ t... 37 C. E . C ull, b D icksee 0 A. A. Y eom an, b G in n s.............................35 H. W . W alrond, not ou t ............ ... 50 H. F . Oxley, lbw b W right .....................81 C. R. T row ell, n ot ou t ..............................21 B 9, lb 2, w 1............1 T o t a l............186 F. B letcher, H . F. B ass, C. S. F ow ler, S. L. W alker, and S. W en m a n did n ot bat. J. S. B . N. L ew in , c Y eom an, b W a lron d .........ay R. W right, b T row ell 1 H. D icksee, b T row ell 3 H. L . Clarke,b T row ell 1 J. M . Brow nlie, b C ull 3 A . B pierpoint, c Y eo­ m an, b T row ell ... 13 T . W . B arber, b T row ell .................17 G . P agden, o a n d b Oxley ................... J. T h om as, b O xley B. H . Stubbs, b O xley ..................... W. T . G inns, not ou t .............................. B 2, w 1 ..................... T otal , 81 T H A M E S D IT T O N v. CO B H AM .—P la yed G igg’s H ill on A ugust 5. T h am e s D itto n . J. M . R ead, b S. D enly .....................65 W . D eane, b Sted- m a n .............................14 W . T. M ilbourn, c W ilson, b T horpe 38 W . J. R ow both am , b S. D e n ly .....................27 P. J. A rnall, c and b S. D e n ly ..................... W . L . R ob erts, c S. D enly, b T h orp e C. T . .Law less, not out .............................. B 5 ,lb J, w l , n b 1 T o t a l ............167 S. B L aw less, A. T . W ebb, J. C larke, and F. J. M athew s did n o t bat. InniD gs declared cloEed. C o b h am . Rev. E. J. W ilson, b A. W ib ia m son , c A rn all ..................... 11 R ead, b C. L aw less 0 F. Stedm an, c R ead, C. D enly, n ot o u t ... 0 b A r n a ll..................... 1 W. L ifford , c M il­ S. D enly, b A rnall ... 1 bourn, b C. L aw ­ T . T horpe, c W ebb, less .............................. 0 b M athew s ............ 9 C. N ew land, b A r­ W .M artin, c and b C. nall .............................. 0 L a w le s s ..................... 12 G. T airs, c M il­ W . L ee, c Deane, b bourn, b A rn all ... 2 Arnall ..................... 5 B .............................. 4 T otal ............ 45