Cricket 1893

860 CEICKETs A WEEKLY BECOED OP THE GAMEC AUG. 24, 1893 w as n oth in g to detract fro m a very fine perfor­ m ance. A ttew ell’s 59 w as also a very deserving display o f batting. H is in nings lasted tw o hours and ten m inu tes, and there w as on ly on e m istake w hen he had m ade 39. M iddlesex, w ho entered on their secon d innings after lu n ch eon on F riday in a m in oritv o f 67, fared very bad ly fo r a tim e, losing fo u r or the best b atsm en fo r 50 runs. T he determ ined hitting o f F ord , how ever, changed the aspect o f th e gam e m aterially, and his part­ nership w ith R aw lin in creased th e score b y 126 runs in an hour and fifty-five m inutes. A lthough m issed tw ice, the am ateur’s 86 w as an exceptionally good exh ibition o f resolu te hitting, quite w orthy o f his b est records. W ith F ord ’s dism issal play w as over fo r F riday, and as th e score was then 184 fo r five w ickets, M iddlesex w ere 117 on w ith h a ’f the side to fall. O n Saturday m orning R aw lin, w hose w atch fu l crick et had been o f the greatest value, w as soon out. M cG regor, how ever, again pu nished the N otts’ bow lin g severely, and as H aym an and H enery also len t u seful assistance, the result w as, after all, a creditable to ta l o f 319. M cG regor w as on ly at th e w ickets an h ou r and a quarter for his 52, the ou tco m e o f vigorou s and ju d iciou s hittin g. N otts w ere left w ith a difficult task fo r the fou rth innings, w anting 253 to w in w ith three-quarters left fo r play. A s the w icket had w orn con sid erably th e ch a n ces w ere all again st them , and as it w as, excep t S hrew sbury, w ho w as in an hour and tw en ty m inu tes fo r his 31, n o on e m ade a very lon g stay. H earne bow led w ith rem ark able success, and he fairly w on the m a tch fo r his side. In N otts’ secon d in nings he dism issed eight o f the ten batsm en at a cost of less th an seven runs apiece. A ltogether, he had th e excellent record o f fifteen w ickets in the m atch fo r 154 runs. M id d l e s e x . F irst Innings. S econd Innings. M r. A . E . Stoddart, b M ee 0 c H ardy, b A tte- w ell ............39 M r. A . J. W eb be, cShrew s- bury, b M ee .................50 b A ttew ell............. 7 Mr. C. P. F oley, b M ee ... 1 cSherw in, b M ee 0 M r. T .C .O ’B rien,bF low ers 21 c A ttew ell, b F low ers ... 12 R aw lin, c Jones, b M ee ... 19 c D ixon, b A tte­ w ell ............42 Mr. F . G . J .F ord .c Shrew s­ bury, b M ee .................. 0 b D ixon ..............86 Mr. G . M ’GregO”, c D ixon, b D a ft .................................... 51 c D i x o n , b F low ers .. 52 Mr. II. S. L u ca s, st Sher­ w in, b M ee........................ 15 b A tte w e ll............ 2 Mr. H . B .H aym an,not ou t 9 c Sherw in, b H ardy ............27 Mr. P. J. T. H enery, b M ee 0 b D a ft......................33 J. T . H earne, c A ttew ell, b D a ft ... ........................... 7 n ot ou t ................ 5 B 9, lb 2 ............................11 B 9, lb 5 ... 14 T ota l ...................184 T o ta l . 319 N o t t s . F irst Innings. S econ d Innings. M r. J. A .D ixon ,cM ’G regor, b H e a r n e .............................133 st M ’G regor, b H earne ....... 9 Shrew sbury, c O’B rien, b R aw lin ...................... 1 c S toddart, b H e a rn e ........ 31 G unn, c Stoddart, b H ea m e ...................... 7 c S toddart, b B e a rn e .......... 8 B arnes, c Stoddart, b H earne ...................11 c S toddart, b H e a rn e .......... 1 F low ers, c M ’G regor, b S toddart .............................10 b H earne ............ 5 H . B . D aft, c O ’Brien, b H earne ............................. 14 lbw , b H earne .. 12 M r. A . O. Jones, b H ea m e 0 c O ’B rien, b H e a tn e .......... 5 A ttew ell,'c L u cas,bH earn e 59 c O V rien , b S todd art ... 5 H ardy, n ot ou t .................12 b S todd art ... 6 M ee, c R aw lin,b H earne... 0 c R a w l i n , b H e a m c .......... 4 Sherw in, b R aw lin ............ 0 n ot ou t ............ 0 B 2, w 2 ............................. 4 B ..................... 6 T ota l .....................251 T ota l .. 92 B O W L IN G A N A L Y S IS . M id d l e s e x . F irst Innings. S econd Innings. O. M . R . W . O. M . R . W . M ee ............ 27 8 51 7 ............. 32 5 111 1 A ttew ell ... 20 5 46 0 ............. 49 20 72 4 B a rd y ............ 12 3 29 0 ............. 10 4 21 1 F lo w e rs ........... 15 7 27 1 ............. 14 2 41 2 D a ft ............ 19 3 20 2 ............. 9 1 29 1 B a m es 9 0 27 0 D ixon 2 0 4 1 N o t t s . F irst Innings. S econ d Innings. O. M . R . W . O. M . R . W . H e a rn e ............ 49 99 99 7 ............. 28 10 55 8 R a w lin .......... 38.4 15 63 2 ............. 20 9 26 0 S toddart ... 15 5 31 1 .................... 7.2 552 F ord ............ 8 0 28 0 L u ca s ............ 2 0 14 0 W e b b e ............ 7 4 12 0 F ord and W eb be each bow led a w ide. REMINISCENCES OF CRICKET. B y RICHARD DAFT. P r a c t ic a l J okes . I have always found cricketers have amongst them a great number of practical jokers, and have myself been a victim to some of their pranks on more than one occasion. The greatest practical joker I ever heard of was Sam Parr, the elder brother of George. Many of his tricks have I heard described by his contemporaries, some of which I have recorded elsewhere. He once played off a cruel joke on Billy Hillyer, of Kent, who was, before he left off cricket, a great sufferer from gout in the feet. Once when playing in an All England match, Sam Parr cut a branch from a gooseberry bush and put it in poor Billy’s bed, just at the foot. Sam told several of the members of the team what he had done, and of course several of them escorted Billy to bed to see the fun. Billy was some time before he undressed. He then got into bed and sat up conversing with his friends before finally lying down for sleep. At length he lay downflat,all at onoe thrusting his poor feet down into the gooseberry bush with a jerk. Those in the room, I have heard declare, never saw any cricket ball bounce from the ground half as quickly as poor Billy did from the bed when he felt the thorns in his feet. When he had partly recovered from the shock the old chap was almost frantic with rage. He stamped and swore, and feeling pretty sure who had played him the trick, went to the door of Sam Parr’s bedroom, who had taken the precaution to lock him­ self in, and [threatening the occupant of the room that he would kill him dead the follow­ ing day, betook himself to his own apartment for the rest of the night. He had by no means recovered his temper on the following morning, and his manner towards Sam Parr when they met on the cricket field was so alarming that the latter, I have been told, was so afraid of the means of revenge that Billy might take that he took a solemn oath that he knew nothing of the affair whatever. Sam and some friends once nearly got into trouble for playing a triok on a gentleman who resided in Radcliffe. Sam and his friends on this occasion placed a tin pan on the roof of the gentleman's house in the dead of night, and having ingeniously fastened a long cord to it in some way, drew it back­ wards and forwards on the tiles, oausing it to make a horrible noise. The appearance of the owner of the house with a gun at his bed­ room window caused the jokers to take to their heels, and, as they did so they heard him call out, “ I can see you, Mr. B ------you in the white waistcoat.” The Mr. B ------alluded to was not one of the party, and was the quietest and most harmless fellow imaginable, but as he and the gentleman upon whom the trick had been played were not on friendly terms, and as poor B------nearly always wore a white waistcoat, he was, perhaps, not unnaturally suspected. A summons was taken out against him the next morning, and as he had, unfortunately been seen out late on the previous night, appearances looked very black against him So there was nothing for it but for Sam and his friends to make a full confession of their pranks, to render an abject apology to the gentleman'on whom the trick had been played, and to make poor old B ------ a handsome present by way of compensation. I once remember a trick being played on a cricketer at Leicester. I myself at the time had taken an All England Team there, and being dis­ appointed in a player at the last moment, was compelled to fill his place up with a man from Nottingham, who was only a very moderate player, but who was always telling people what a shame it was that he was not played for his county, and that he was a far better man than many regular members of the Notts team. While our match was being played at Leicester one of the players wrote out a sham telegram to the aspirant to county honours, requesting him to play in the next county match, and signed by the assistant-secretary for the county. This was placed in an old telegraph envelope, from which the original address had been erased, and delivered to the “ county ” player by a boy on the ground. When opened, the receiver was delighted beyond measure. The fact that no suspicion arose in his mind on seeing that the message was written on a white form instead of a pink one, proved that this was, in all probability, the first tele­ graphic message he had recaived in his life. The player who had written the telegram out was most demonstrative in his congratulations to his poor victim, with whom, I believe, he shared a large bottle of champagne at lunch in honor of his friend’ s promotion. How the affair was discovered I never heard, but I do know that it put a stop to the boasting of the would-be county player, and his complaints against the want of judgment of the executive ceased from that period., once and for ever. I have a vivid recollection of some practical jokes played by members of our oricket team when we were on a week’s tour in the North of England not many years ago. We were playing two three-day matches at two large towns in the north, and at the close of each day proceeded to a little seaside place some miles distant, where we made our head-quarters. Several young men of our eleven were very fond of playing off practical jokes on their friends in the hotel where we stayed. One player found when he retired to rest one night, that the furniture of his bedroom had been piled up on the top of his bed. Another had his wash-hand jug filled with live crabs. Another found a stone slatue in his bed which had been carried there from its pedestal on the landing. Another had an egg placed inside the toe of his boot, and so on. I confess that I laughed heartily enough on hearing of these exploits, but soon had cause to do the opposite, The gentleman in whose boot the egg had been placed, it appears, had found out by some means who had played him the trick. Three’ players, he discovered, had had a hand in it. So, in revenge, he got a quantity of pepper with which he thickly sprinkled the pillows and sheets of the beds in which, as he supposed, these three gentlemen reposed ; but as it happened he made a mistake in the three numbers of the rooms. The beds of the three practical jokers remained undis­ turbed, and those of three perfectly innocent persons, and the senior members of the team too, Mr. William Wright’s, my own, and some­ one elses*, received the pepper. I was greatly enraged when I found what had been done when I retired to rest, and without attempt­ ing to make my bed all right again, removed my luggage to another room. We had to get up early the next morning in order to catch a train to the place where our match was played, and I had given particular orders to the “ Boots ” as to the time I was to be called. The boots, being unacquainted with my change of room, was unable to find where I was located next morning, and the conse­ quence was I overslept myself and missed my train ! I was unable to get away for some hours and did not arrive on the cricket ground till several wickets were down, and had to go in to bat immediately. I gave my young friends a pretty severe lecture on practical joking while I was changing my things. They seemed very penitent, and no doubt hoped I should get a good score to put me in a good temper again. Unfortunately, 1 was caught out first ball, so my lecture was continued on my return to the pavilion, and it was not till after my second innings, in which I scored largely, that I was able to laugh at the hoax of which I had been the innocent victim. C b io k e t C h a t f o e 1892.—(E ig h th Y ear of Issue), enlarged and im proved edition , p ost free 7 id C ontaining in a ddition to P ortra its and Bibgraphies, G ron p s o f Cricket, and C ricket A necdotes and O ddities. T o be had at the O ffice o f this p a p et, o f all Booksellers, or W . H. Sm ith A Bona stalls.