Cricket 1893

458 OBlGKETg A WEEKLY RECOED O?' i'iffl G A M E . NOV. 30, 1893 OLD TIME CRICKET. Continued from page 449. W i l l i a m H illy e b .— W . Hillyer was born on March 5, 1813; died January 8, 1861. Of this great cricketer Mr. Gale writes— “ William 11illyer, one of the very tfst, bar none, who ever took a ball in hand ; struggled up to the bowling crease like a waiter carrying a lot of hot plates and anxious to set them down ; round-arm bowler, a little be’ow the shoulder, and ‘ death on the wicket.’ Mud, wet, hard ground, or billiard-table ground made no odds to him. He bad a break from off to on when bowling over the wicket, but his spec'a’ity was that the ball pitched on the leg side and cut across. His pace was medium quick. Has bowled both for the fast bowlers of England and the slow. A magnificent short slip, obstinate, clumsy sticker with the bat. A splendid shot at game or at the trap.” ) Jn Gentlemen v. Players, 1846, Hillyer took eleven wickets, Lillywhite three, and Clarke four, whilst Sir F. Bathurst was credited with eight of the Players’ wickets, and A. Mynn ten. Scores, Gentlemen 105-126, Players 85-145. C. G. Taylor, Esq., 23-44, was top s:orer for the former, and Guy, 25-31, for the latter. A sa bowler Hillyer was at about his best at this time. It is said Hillyer’s bowling was so true that he could put a ball on a sixpence, but he always bowled for the wicket-keeper. John H fa th .-- J. H eath was born in the vicinity of the Westminster Boad, in the year 1807, died 1878. He was of middle stature, rather stout, and of a very happy and lively disposition. As a batsman he was one of the*most effective and showy in the county of Surrey. H e was a certain bat, and generally made good scores, except when the eccentricity of his habits did not induce him to exhibit some of his peculiar hits. As a long-stop he was unsurpassed. In 1845 his batting average was over 17 in 13 matches, in 1846 under 13 in 18, and in 1847 23 per innings in seven matches. Heath was an excellent all rouDd cricketer, and one of the mainstays of the Surrey Club. He was a respectable and estimable man in every par­ ticular. He had a perfect knowledge of the game at all points. After giving up play he became an umpire to his old club, etc. He was an excellent whistler, and it has been said the clever drama of “ The W histler” was written with a view to develop the cap­ abilities of this noted siffleur. Chabl-ss H aw kixs — C. Hawkins was born June 20, 1817, died September 9, 1846. Hawkins always batted with his bat over his shoulder, and took guard witbia six inches of his wick* t ; his forte as a batsman was cutting. In the field he looked, what he was, a barber all over, and advertised his shop with his own figure-head, for his hair was curled just like a poodle dog’s. His position as a fieldsman was point, and was one of the best of that day, being very safe. C h a rles Hammond. —C. Hammond was the worthy son of a worthy sire in the cricket world, for his father was a celebrated Sussex player. Hammond was a very fine hitter, and could take any place in the field. He was nearly 5ft. llin . in height, rather slightly b u ilt; an excellent batsman. He generally made good scores, against some of the best bowling, and played in all the principal matches of Sussex. Mr. Pycroft, in speaking of Hammond’s play, says in “ Cricketana,” pp. 24-26— “ John Sparks told us Lord Frederic [Beauclerk] lost all fondness for bowling from the time that Hammond set the example of running in to slow bowling. Hammond once hit a ball so hard that it whizzed dangerously past his lordship's head. Sparks said— •Hammond showed the way to beat it [slow bowling] by stepping in, and slow bowling disappeared.’ Hammond was the great wicket-keeper of former days, but th?n the bowling was often about Clarke’s pace.”— “ The Cricket Field,” p. 278. Isaac H odgson. — I. Hodgson was born at Bradford, Yorkshire, November 15, 1828. He was a light built man, his weight being only 9st. 2!bs., height 5ft. 7in., was a left- handed bowler and aright-handed batsman, and was engaged more than any other professional for Twenty-two against the All England eleven; he was a very artful bowler and on s'ow ground was very difficult to play. He was highly respected in his native town, where he died March 17, 1880. W illia m L illy w h ite . — W . Lillywhite was born at W f stHampnett, near Chichester, Sussex, June 13, 1792 ; died August 21, 1854. Lillywhite was a very little man, being only 5ft. 3Jins. in height, weight lOst. He for some years worked in the Duke of Bichmond’s brickfields. “ The other is Li lywhite—"ctive though thiclr, Who hand'ea a I all as he would do a trick ; By trade a brick-maker—earns three pounds a week well— As a slow-twisting towler he has not his equal.” Olcl Cricketing sc? g. About the year 1823 Lillywhite left the brickfield and was engaged as bowler by tbe Brighton Club. Mr. Pycroft says : “ Old Lillywhite looked about as unlikely a man for a cricketer as you could pick out of a crowd—about five feet and very little over, and about the shape and proportion of a ninepin. Now, we have never had any doubt but that Lillywhite owed his suocess as a bowler to the shortness of his stature.” — “ Cricketana,” p. 116. Be that as it may, Lillywhite and his colleague, Jem Broad- bridge, were the first to bring the present system <f round-arm bowliDg to anything like perfection. Mr. W ills, of Kent, was the introducer of round arm bowling, but the authorities at Lord’s forbade its use on their ground in 1822, and it was not till five years later round-arm bowling became general. Lillywhite’s appearance seems to have been against him, for when BrowD, of Sussex, took the little man to play at Sheffield, the people assembled to witness his arrival by coach would not believe it was the great Lilly. As he, however, won the match for his side by good boilin g, they bccame satis­ fied of his identity. A lf r e d M yn n . —A. M jnn, tbe W. G, Grace of his day. was born January 19; died November 1, 1864. It is impossible to give more than a very brief sketch of Mynn’s cricketing career here, as space is limited, so we will merely give Fuller Pilch’s account of the great man. “ There was,” says Pilch, *•another rare pull we had (the Kent eleven), for it so chanced that there never was a better short slip than Hillyer, or than Alfred M ynn; one hand was good enough for Alfred, for his fist was like a small shoulder of mutton. Lord ! what a man he was when he was about thirty years of age—nearly six feet two, and near upon eighteen stone, all bone and muscle, when he played Dearman in 1838, He was sleeping at Town Mailing, and he called me into his bedroom when he was dressing to play, and was standing with­ out his shirt o d , and he said, ‘ Fuller, do I look fit to play to day? ’ Why, he looked fit to carry a church and a whole congrega­ tion round the town, for he trained for that match as if he was going to fight. That match was made against me, for I had beaten Marsden, the cham pion; but chose to name a man, and named Alfred Mynn. There was a deal of money lost over that match, for they hadn’t seen Alfred much in the North, as he got knocked to pieces at Leicester in 1836, in North v. South, and was laid up all 1837 almost. But Yorkshiremen will back their man. “ Be a man or a mouse, hedge nought” is their motto.” —Mr. Gale, “ The Game of Cricket,” pp. 18-19. W a lt e r P arker Mynn. —W . P. Mynn, brother to the above, was born November 24, 1805, died Oct. 17, 1878, aged 73 years. Walter played his first match at Lord’s on July 8, 1833, for Sixteen Gentlemen of Kent v. Players of England, for several years sub­ sequent to which he was closely identified with Kent cricket. He was a good steady bat and excellent long-stop. “ Mr. Walter Mynn and Hillyer,” says Pilch, “ were two useful ones, though neither of them batted in style, and Walter was very stiff. But those two never knew fear, and if we we~e likely to want a few notches at the finish, I always kept them back to the last; or if wa had a quarter of an hour to time I w ouli put them in and say *Y ou two bide till the clock strikes seven, and don’ t think of the notches.’ Ay, and many a time they’ ve done it, too 1” — Ibid, p. 20. W illia m M a r t i n g e ll. — W . Martingell was born August 20, IS19. He, with Brock­ well, were the first professional bowlers engaged by the Surrey Club. Fuller Pilch enticed Martiogell from Surrey, the county of his birth, to play for Kent, but he after­ wards returned to his first love, for which county he played for some years. He was rather under the middle height, and of rather a tlorid complexion, with a remarkable fall of the under lip. He was a very good bowler, being pretty much on the wicket, with a tolerable pace, but without getting much work on the ball. He was a very steady batsman, and an excellent field. F u lle r F ilc h . — F . Pilch was born in Nor­ folk (another authority says at Horningtoff, Suffolk), March 17, 1803 ; d ifd May 1, 1870. He was by trade a tailor. As in the case of Alfred Mynn, Pilch’s coadjutor, it is impos­ sible to do justice in a short notice to this great batsman, but I tiust the following brief sketch of his career as a cricketer may not be altogether without interest. Pilch played his first great match at Lord’s in 1820 for Norfolk v. M.C C., when Mr. Ward made 278 for the Club. In 1833 Pilch easily defeated Thomas Marsden of Sheffield in two matches for the sing^ wicket championship of England, scoring in the return match 100 runs in his second innings. Shortly after this he left his native county for Kent, taking up his quarteis at Canterbury, and coaching and playing for the County Eleven for m a D y years, but retiring from s ctive service in 1854 For twenty years Fuller Pilch may be said to have been the acknow­ ledged champion cricketer; ten times he scored over 100 runs in a single innings in great matches, and this at a time when “ centuries ” were rare indeed. His average was uniformly high ; he did wonders for Kent, and the Players were never properly represented without him. The chief feature of his batting was his excellent forward play, as he made good use of h ’s reach (he was 6ft. high) to smother the ball at the pitch. He was also often successful with round-hand slows. Few cricketers have ever attained to the universal popularity of Fuller Pilch; always civil, good tempfrcd