Cricket 1894

12 CRICKET; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JAN. 55, 1894 THE COUNTRY UMPIRE. B y VIATOR. Many years ago, we should be a'raid to say how many, the exigencies of business took us towards the end of the summer to a small out-of-the-way village in Loamshire. The night of our arrival the squire of the place, whose guest we were, gave a dinner party, at which were present several cricketers who had Iaken part in a match against the local club that aft-rnoon. We found ourselves next to a mild and inoffensive parson, with whom; as ths evening progressed, we procesdel to dis­ course on cricket generally, a subject on which we had much in common, and on umpires in particular. We were getting on amicably enough, when we were joined in our conversation by our opposite neighbour, one of tbe opposing eleven, who had been handsomely defeated by the local talent, and who was himself—we make no doubt—some­ what sore at the reverse. “ Sir,” exclaimed this worthy, addressing himself to my friend, “ coun' ry umpires are a mass of hypocrisy and small baer!” Years have elapse 1 since we heard this astounding statement, but we never can forget the snort of disgust with which the reverend gentleman received this censure of his pet parishioner. Our host adroitly turned the conversation, or a pitched batt'e must have ensu d. We heard after­ wards that the gentleman in question had been given out lbw and had been much dissatisfied with the decision. Many a hearty laugh have we had by ourselves since, as we recalled the above incilent, but sweeping as the assertion was, the country umpire of the past was indeed a wonderful person, who had, however, to be seen to be appreciated, and who to the present generation is p-obably an absolute stranger. Such a one we remember in our youth, whose image is— and ever will be—indelibly impressed oa our memory. Eubicund of countenance, portly—we had almost said obese of stature—he used to com? waddling on to the ground some half hour after the time appointed for the commencement of the match, attended by a small crowd of admiring satellites, in whose eyes he appeared a species o ' demi-god. Arrived on the ground, he pro- ceeJel to partake of what in his own verna­ cular he termed a “ drain,1 a process which involved his immersion in various pewter tankards, from each of which he emerged if possible more rubicund than before. This done, he would condescend to take his place at the wickets, extracting, with other articles, from his capacious flap- covered breeches pocket four pieces of wood (it was before the days of five ball overs), with which to assist laimself in calling “ over." The other articles included percussion caps, snares, cartridges, all stolen—he was poacher-general-in-waiting to the whole county— and sundry other paraphernalia too numerous to mention. We often used to amuse ourselves with speculating as to the terrible consequences likely to ensue if a well-directed, straight drive were to ignite one of the aforesaid caps, for he was far too fat to get out of the ball’s way. How he ever contrived to give a correct decision we never could conceive. His eyesight, never of the best, had deteriorated considerably under the influence of his potations. He was stone deaf in one ear, and never could have heard a snick if it blew the least. But there he stood, and for aught we know to the contrary still stands, a monument of rustic ingenuity and resource. It is only fair to add that his deci-ions were frequently called in question. Since the time of which we w rite,'ast charges have taken place in the status and qualifications of the country umpire. The age which tolerated such a man as we have described has given way to one far more precise and particular in its choice. The education—might it not be fairly termed the over-education ?—of the people, which has produced the strikes, the anarchism, the socialists, and the other countless difficulties of this fin-de siecle period, has not been without its effect on the position and efficiency of the umpire. He is no longer the wholly illiterate person we were accus­ tomed to meet with before, indeed we are prone to think he often is a little too knowing, and we trust that Mr. Acland, or his suc­ cessor in the Education Department, will not advance his training any further, or he will become too exorbitant in his demands Apropos of this advance of education, an incident which occurred once, a few years back, to a friend of ours, may not be out of place. The regular official of a w'ell-known touring club had not turnei up, a n ! it became incumbent on our friend as manager to secure the services of someone else in the town. He was referred to the local barber as most likely to supply him with a good one, and he accordingly went next morning to make enquiries. He found the shop, entered, and stated what he wanted. The barber looked at him for some time, scratched his head and what was left of his hair, and final y replied: “ Umpire, zur, what be that ? Be ’un a sart o’ bat wi’ flutter wings ? ” The good man had in the early stages of his board school training learnt the word vampire, and th!s was the result. But, as we have said, all this is changed for tbe better. Incidents like this would now be impossible. Besides the improvement in education, other causes have combined together to this end. Fo: every club that existed in the ’50’s there are in this year of grace 300 ; each one of these must have its professional, sometimes two, the demand is almost in excess of the supply, and the shrewd north country lads soon found out that it was better to earn their two pound a week all the summer months, with the various perquisites attaching to the post of umpire and ground man, than to serve in the factories mines, or other forms of northern industry, besides which they were able to follow their own trade in the winter, and as often as not retire into an athletic warehouse when their prime of life was passed. With this competi­ tion of course came hand-in-hand an improve­ ment in the quality of ths article produced, and the country umpire of the present day is, to his prototype of the past, as the electric light to the tallow candle. Exceptions, no doubt, there may be, but the average country umpire may be trusted at any rate to know the majority of the rules, he is punctual in his appointments, sober in dress, appearance, and habits, and his decisions, though not invariably strictly impartial, nor received with universal approbation, can in the main be depended on. It is a curious fact in this connection that it is nearly always the country umpire who is called upon to adjudicate on knotty points which arise in the course of the game, un­ provided for by the existing laws. This is perhaps natural, as most of such points occur in second-class cricket, and owing to the vagaries of the players themselves, and are not therefore likely to come for judgment before an umpire in first-class matches. Two or three instances of recent date occur to us as we write. Last year, a certain well- known University cricketer, who shall be nameless, went with a team to play against a sma’ l village not 100 miles from Beigate. His opponents lost tbe toss, and he went in first to withstand the furious onslaught of a local left-hand bowler, terrific in proportions, and entirely patriotic in his sentiments. As he himself put it, he came to win “ by fome means or other ” ; in this case, as tbe sequel will show, decidedly “ other.” He delivered the first over to our hero s partner, who received the first ball well in tbe centre of tbe left hip, and was considerably hurt thereby. The second delivery did ditto. The third hit him in a more dangerous place still, and as he lay writhing on the ground, the University cricketer went down the wickets to rend, r him what assis'ance lay in his power, asfited by the wicket-keep r, who had dropped his g’oves and thrown the ball in the direction of third man. While the wounded man was being atten led to the bowler secured the ball and ran our hero out, incredible as it may appear. Now here was a knotty point for the country umpire: by the laws of tbe game he was probably “ out,” though the definition as to when the ball is dead is so loose that even this may be doubted ; by t ' e tpirit of the game and all the rules of the game he was “ not out.” The umpire iu qu‘ stion, officiating too for his own side, g ■vo him “ out,” and who shall blame him ? Personally, on the principle that the umpire is the so'e judge of fair and unfair play, we should have given him “ in." The second case which occurs to us wa3 even more curious, and of this latter we were ourselves eyewitnesses. Two rears ago, in a match played at Mr. Arthur W ood’s, on his magnificent ground at Newbold Bevel, Mr. C. E. Horner of Surrey fame was bowling to a left-handed batsman, who, whatever the length of the ball, invariably jumped in to meet it, and in so doing, obscured the whole of the three stumps from the umpire at the bowler’s end. The ball in question just grazed the off-stump and removed the off-bail, but the batsman appealed to the umpire at Mr. Ho-ner’s end, who gave him “ in ” on the ground that owing to tbe batsman’s peculiar antics he could not see the wickets, and there­ fore gave him the benefit of the doubt. On this, the wicket-keeper appealed for stumping ; the batsman had unquestionably been o:it of his ground, and the bail had come off. The other umpire, however, sa:d that in his opinion he was bowl-d, and therefore he could not give him out “ stumped,” that whatever his colleague might say to the cm - trary, he knew he had been bowled, and moreover, this being so, he could not give him out “ stumped,” as no stump had been pulled out and the other bail was still on. Here then was a dilemma ; he could not deal with tbe question of his being “ bowled,” that having been already answered in the negative, and to this day we are in doubt as to wbat the correct solution was. Tbe point was submitted afterwards to several of the best judges of the game, and their op:nions all differed, so our humble friend may at least be excused for being unable to crack the nut. The last of the “ hard cases,” as Vanity Fair has it, occurred in a match in which we took part in the north of Ireland. We were with a reading party in the long vacation, and the scene was a small town not a great way from Bandalstown, in tbe neiglabourhood of Antrim. The surroundings were primitive, and the pitch a recently-mown hajfield. We were a scratch lot, and to complete our eleven la d b en obliged to enlist the services of our coach, a gentleman better known in the lecture room than on the cricket field. We went in first, and in a very short space of time seven wickets had fallen to the attack of a fast underhand bowler, who on this occasion, at