Cricket 1894

JUNE 7, 1894 P IC K E T g A WEEKLY BECOBP OF THE GAME. 183 CRICKET AND THE EM P IR E : A| PARALLEL . B y E. B. Y. C hristian . Historians have invented many theoiies to account for the greatness and prosperity of this realm, but none of them have rightly guessed the secret. They lave prated of Magna Charta and Reform Bills, of trial by ju»y and our glorious constitution ; but, with a pedant’s short sightelness, they hive over­ looked cricket, ihe true tecret of Eng’and’s greatness. Even our own generation has not Jully real'sed the truth. We are less confi­ dent of tlie virtues of twelve men in a box, the right of asylum, and our other insular idiosyncraeies; we have realised that strictly we h»ve no constitution, and regard with modified enthusiasm our system of govern­ ment; but we have been still content t >think (f cricket as a mere gamp. Yet the great truth is plain; it is written large for him who runs to iead. It is to cricket that we owe the vast extent of our territory, the empire on which the sun never sets. Consider tbe fact?. For centuries we had made a p jther with our int rnal and domestic affairs, and our progress differed not greatly from that of other lands. We had meddled from time to time with indifferent success in foreign affairs, but (from the loss of France) .remained till the middle of the 18th century with only one foreign possetsion worth naming Cricket as yet wai not. Then cricket arose and for a hundred and fifty years has grown and flourished wond ously. And in that poor century and a half, stirred by the great impulse of the glorious game, we have created colonies and dependencies with a population of two hundred and fifty millions, have hoisted the Union Jack in four continents, and painted the map of the -world red. Sir J. R. Seely thinks we did this in a tit of absence of mind. 'Jhe truth is that we were unconscious not of our motive, but of >ts impulse. Our minds were fi'led with the majestic tradition cf the game, and the expansion of England was inevi able. The first r. corded cricket match was played in 1746 ; one may, perhaps, assume that from 1700 the game had bten pr gressing towards perfection. By 1750, although not perfect, its strength was matured, its influence beginning to be widely Mt. What was the consequence? A f-w years later we won the fight of Plassy, and laid the foundations of our Indian Empire; and we made 1759 the most glorious year in our annals by the victories of Quebec, Quiberon, and Minden. So rapid and so great was the influence of the pame. Doubt'ess the faint beginnings of the Indian Empire had been made before Plassy; so had theie been the first growth of cricket beforeKent met England in Goodman’s Fields. Fiom the time of these two great events, every national triumph has been presaged by some event of importance in the development of the game, or for every national disaster there has been the compensation of a great advance in the sport. In 1775 came the American war, which ended in the loss of the colonies ; but at the same time we ceased to make our wicket of two stumps and a hole in the ground. We added a third stump, and the Old World redressed the balance of the New. In 1789 came the French Revolution, and Europe shook ; but England had made secure her position by fou ding the M.C.C. Yet in England, too, there was warning that the older order was changing. Hambledon played its last match, and Parliament­ ary Reform began to be talked of. The beginnings of county cricket werj made, and forthwith we won the battle of the Nile. I he second Lord’s ground was establish* d, and its consequences were seen in the fresh triumph of Trafalgar .The third and last Lord’s ground was founded and promptly we reaped frt sh laurels where we ki'led in the Penin­ sula and at Waferloo. The death of Pitt threw the country in mourning, but we made good the national loss by instituting matches between Gentlemen and Players, and found ing clubs at the unive’ sities. Sawdu-t vas introduced on cricket fields, and soon it ap peared at St. Stephen’s, and our government became a government by debate. The cricket world about 1850 was rent by the controversy as to fair bowling; and in the political world the Manchester School be’ came popular, and the policy of snubbing the colonies and cutting them adrift. Happily bo h dangers were averted. Cricket reached its full development, became univer.-allv prac­ tised and universally popular, and as it as­ serted its claims the national spirit rose as in the days of the {.ame’s youth ; and at the same time we have added to our territory in every quarter of the globe, and now no craven dares talk of abandoning any part of cur England beyond the seas. This is the merest outline of a parallel which might be demonstrated in detail. '\ he Duke of Wellington half realised the great truth when he uttered his oft-quoted savii g about Waterloo and the Eton playing fields but his statement lacked precision. If his­ torians will examine minutely the dcings of either the pioneers or the mainguard of our advancing empire, they will find that ciicket and cricket only is the real inspira tion of their deeds. bad y, losing Bean and Mr. Murdoch for only nine runs. Some capital cricket by Messrs. Arlingtoa and Newham addei 49 for the third wicket, end it was mainly to the stand of these two amateurs that the Sussex eleven, who were batting al:o- gether two hours and three quarters, were able to reach the very credita' le to' al of 14 . There v as no chance of anyth rg I ut a dr-»w when Nott3. who were without Gunn, went in. The Sussex capta;n, as the wicket was quite unsu table for lo p, decided to play Parris instead of Humphreys, and th-* former got the first two wickets, those of Att rwell and Flowers. Mess s Ho» itt and Dixon alone eot 20 runs and with the fall of the tenth wicket, for 89, the match ended, leaving Sussex with a lead of 5 1 runs o . the one innings played. Alfred Shaw, as will b* seen, got seven of the ten Notts’ wickets for 34 run3. S u s s e x . Bean, lbw, b Attewell Mr. G H. Arlington, c i nd b Hardstaff Mr. W. L. Murdoch, b Hardstaff ........ y r. W. Newham, c Flowers, b Attewell Mr. C. A. Smith, run out ... .......... Guttridge, lbw, Attewell ......... 16 b ... 16 Parris, c Sharpe, b Attewell ... 11 Killick, c Daft, b *■ardstaff .......... 9 Butt, c Pike,bHaid- staff ... .......... 2 Lowe, b Attewell ... 7 A. Shaw, not ont ... 5 B 3, lb 1, w 1 ... 5 Tot: 1 . 141 Mr. R. ET. Howitt, Shaw Attewell, b Parris . Flowers, b Parris .. Mr. J. A. Dixon, Shaw .............. Barnes, b Shaw Daft, not out Mr. O. W. Wright, Low e..................... SUNNINGD YLE SOHOOL v. FARNBOROUGH P vRK.- Played at Sunningd-ile Schoal ou May 19. H unningdale S ch ool. U. Pige-Leschallas, notout ............... II C. C. Ewart, c G arrard................. 0 W. Hals^elle, not E. W. Hill- Miomson c Clayton, b Adams 15 H. A. Lowry-Corry, b Adams .................1) K.Y. YIuir-MackeDZie, c Carlyor, b Crowe 45 A. S Stranpe.runout 18 L. Y. M. GraLt, b Cardwell................. 6 A. Crawfuid, c and b Adams .................23 R. E. D. Milner atd A. McG. Le Patoural did not bat. Innings dec ared closed. F arnborough P ark . out B 12, w 12 Total . 15 1 E. J. D. Gordon, Muir-Mackenzie ... 1 B. Tanner, b Muic- Vackenzie .......... 1 C. Cardwell, b Muir- Mackenz e .. „.. 6 A. Cariyon, b Muir- Mackeazie .......... 7 T. Crowe, b Muir- Total Mackerzie ......28 £>. Clayton «nd R. Hill did not bat. F. Adam", not out Bon. K. Hooil, b Muir- Mackenzie .......... W. Grrrard, b Muir- Mackenzie .......... W. 8il ero, not out B 5, lb 2, w 4, nb 1 .. 81 MR. T. W. GIRDLESTONk’S XL v. R.M. COLLEGE.—Played at Sunniugdale School on May 12. M r . T. W G irdlestone s XI. P. T. Ricliaidson, b Sextoa ......... 3 O. T. Cooke, b Airey ... 13 A. Daffen, run out ... 31 J. H. Robertp,b Airey 6 Rev. F. Atkiuson, Bt \ ajford.b Lannowe 23 C.C.Clarke, c Greenly, b Sexlon ..........10 S. F. Mott, b Sexton 0 R.M. C o lle g e . First InniDgs. Hon. R. Ward,not out 31 E. W. Piper, c Bay- ford, b csexton 3 W. M. Cooke, c Jones, b Ai ey *2 T. W. Girdlestone, b Airey........................ 0 B 8, lb 1, nb 2 ...11 Total . 136 C. L. K. Campbell, b Atkinson................ E. B. M. Lannowe, b Daffen .......... W. S. Greenly, lbw, b Daffen ................. F. A. Jonep, b Daffen W. E. M. Tyndall, b Daffen ................. E.R.vi. English, c W. Cooke, b Atkinson E H. Bayfcrd, b Atkinson................. 2 R. B. Airey, not out 19 E. E Forbes, lbw, b Daffen ................. 0 E.G.Sexton, b Daffen 0 C. E. Atchison, c W. Cooke, b Atkinson 12 B 1,1b 2 .......... 3 Total 50 Mr. J. ?. Robinson, st IButt, b ?haw ... 0 j Pifee, »>hhaw .......... 9 , Sharpe, b Shaw ... *2 I Hardstaff, c Killick, b shaw .................12 L .......................... 1 Total ..........69 BOWLING ANALYSIS. S u s s e x . O. M. R. W. O. Attewell 40.3 17 50 5I Flowers 8 Hardstaff... 27 651 4|Sharpe . 5 Sharpe bow’ed one wide. N o t t s . O. M. R. « . O. Fhaw ... 39 2434 71Lowe ... 20 Parris ... 18 529 2| M. R. W. 2 21 0 2 11 0 M. R. W. 8 25 1 h E RY B U 1 T . In the 8erond Innings C. L. K. Campbell scored, b W.Cooke 6, Lacnowe (not out) 0, English (not out) 24; b 4, lb 1.-T o ta l, 35. NOT IS v. SUSSEX. H» avy rains at Nottingham on Monday and Tuesday prevented the commencement cf this match at Trent Bridge till yesterday morning. As a consequence, there was hardly any chance of a definite result, and, indeed, the game had just reached the midway stage when stumps wrere finally drawn. Sussex, who went in first, began It may fairly be argued of cricketers in general that greatness is only the result of continuous practice. To some extent the wicket keeper is an exception to the rule. A stumper, like the p< et., and more than one instance occurs in support <f the theory, i* ( ften born, not made. Henry Butt, the Sussex keeper, is a case in point. He did not take to cricket <•t all, as a mat er of fact, until six years ago. Kvin then his initia'ion to the game was ameie accident. A casual visit to the Hastings Recreation ground gave him en opportunity, an I in quite u ca-ual way, of showing a special aptitude for taking the ball. It was this that procur ed him his introduction to the Hastings Club, and through it 1is eventual inclusion in the county eleven How thoroughly he has jus'i- fied the judgment of the cricketer who first spotted his promise as a wicket ke°per the records of Sussex v\ilI show, in 1892, as a reference to thestatistical tables show,he was credited with the dismissal of forty-thiee batsmen in first-cLss matches Last summer the number was incr ased by one. As a balsman, too, he has more than once been of use to Sussex when things have been going badly. His best score so far has been h:s 79 against Notts iu 1891. Last year his highest contribution was 67 against Yorkshire, an innings without, lo quote C r i c k e t of the day, the semblance of a chance. With nny amount of pluck, Buth, as a wicket keeper, has few superiors. In other branches of athletics as well, he has been able to take his own part. As a professional runner he had a good record in his time over short distances. As a footballer, too, he has lately made some­ thing of- a name on the South Coast. At least he holds the Sussex Junior medal which he won in the winter if 1892-3 as a member of the Hastings Athletic team.