Cricket 1894

252 CRICKET? A WEEKLY HEUORD OF THE GAME* JULY 12, 1894 CATCHES I HAVE M ISSED. B y E . B . Y . C H R IS T IA N . “ I'm not a good cover, I freely admit,*’ says the singer of one of Mr. Norman Gale's Cricket Songs , and I may, without injustice to myself, adopt the line. Indeed, the mem­ bers of my club would not confine tbe sug­ gestion of my demerits in the field to cover point. To make a clean breast of the matter, I have missed a good many catches of late years, and, relying on my good nature, they write me down a butter-fingers, without fear of my making a Star Chamber matter of it. It was not always s o ; I had once as sure a pair of hands as any on the Heath. Twenty, even ten year3 ago, now, I did not fear com ­ parison. But of late—well, I have made my confession. Still, I admit that wLen Johnson (who was bowling vilely) used vituperative lan­ guage to me last Saturday fortnight because a ball that went yards over my head reached the boundary. I thought it time to vindicate my character. I have, therefore, gone care­ fully through my notes of recent matches and analysed the causes of my mistakes. For, of course, I don’t drop ca tch e 3 wantonly, or without reason. Once in a while, no doubt, I have unaccountably failed to hold the ball, but generally there was some valid explana­ tion to be given, some plain reason why tbe ball escaped me. No one blames the man who has an August sun full in his eye3 ; or who trips in the long field over the inequalities which exist in rural grounds, or who is baulked by another man running against him. I have ascertained, I say, to w iat causes my misses were due, and this is the result. per cent. Sun in my eyes ............................ 63.183 Tripped by inequalities when run­ ning for the catch ................ 14 763 Tripped owing to lace being undone 1.2*7 Collided with another fieldsman ... 4 Ball carried out of reach by wind ... 2.062 Obstructed by batsman ..........................666 Extreme cold rendering fingers numb 5.684 My fault ......................................... 3.425 I have not thought it necessary to carry the figures beyond three places of decimals. Round numbers are near enough for me. Now this is not a very discreditable record. To be sure, I might have divided the three and a half per cent. I admit as my fault. I might have attribute 1 the proper proportion to natural disgust at mismanage­ ment of the bowling (I am a change bowler myself and understand how the thing should be arranged), to the’derisive and discriminat­ ing cheers of some thoughtless persons, to having my attention distracted bv calls by parsers by, and so forth. But I disdain such excuses. I would naught extenuate, just as I would set down naught (in tbe way of catches) in malice. No, I take the blame that h due to me frankly. And, really, it is not a very discreditable record. I made a copy of the table and handed it to Johnson ten days ago. I thought that was tbe most effective answer to his taunt, the kindest way I could take of reproving him for his remarks on the field. Next evening, tbout 9 o’clock, I strolled out from my cottage and walked across the p»rk to the village. About 9 oclock the special Standard comes in, and you can be sure of meeting half our eleven at the White Horse. When I entered there was some laughing at a joke of Johnson's. I soon found what it w as: Johnson had made what he called a correct version of my table. It was a vile burlesque. This is how it ran :— Catches held .. *. 3’425 per cent. Catches missed owing to sun .. .. .. 5* Catches missed other causes not fieldsman’s fault .. .. .. 10- Catches missed owing to butterfingers .. .. 81*575 This was grossly libellous, and I think the other man felt it. Anyhow we drifted into an argument, and at argument, at any rate, I can hold my own with the rest of our eleven. I reminded them how many years ago at Shalford on a horribly wet day, when the ball was as slippery as a slide, and the ground so bad you could not keep a footing, I brought off a wonderful catch at long on. This I did by the simple artifice of filling my pocke's with sawdust, and keeping my hands in them till the ball was dropping, when I clutched and held it, mud and all. That was (though I say it) a really remarkable effort. Looking back “ through tbe haze .of years,” as our curate puts it in a fine original phrase, I am not sure if it was I, or the other long field, who made i t ; but it is a good many years ago, and, at any rate, I have told the story so often that I have a prescriptive right to that catch. We p in ed in good humour, and Johnson and 1 walked home together. But I little thought then what a signal revenge I should have in our very next match! Yesterday we played the return game against Albury on their ground. Things pointed to an exciting finish when one of the Albury men had to leave the ground ; we wanted about twenty runs and there wai only a quarter of an hour left for play. I had had my innings and offered to take th6 vacant place in the field. One of our own team laughed, but my offer was accepted. It was getting cold, so I kept my 'blazer on, and took my place at long off. Two wickets fell and the last man joined Johnson, who was hitting against time, I had had nothing to do till the last over, when only four were wanted to win. Then Johnson gave a huge lift in my direction. I distinctly heard him chuckle as he saw it going towards me. I ran back fearing I could not get to the ball, but by reaching high and as far back as I could I just got tu it, and touched it, but conld no! hold it. It fell forward and towards my right. I jumped sideways and grabbed it again, shoulder high, and hugged it to my waist, but it slipped again and I thought a good effort had b en wasted. But I heard no sound of falling. Looking quittly down I saw it had lodged in my coat pocket! It was nestling there quite safe, against my pipe. W ith quiet dignity I took it out and held it aloft to show the catch was made Then I walked slowly into the Pavilion. We had lost the match but my character was vindicated. Johnson, indeed, attempted to ar*u> that he was not out, and that under rule 41 he was entitled to five run=», as I had not stopped the ball with “ any part o f” my “ persm .” But we soon laughed that con­ tent on out of court, for by the same reasoning a wicket-keeper stopping the ball with his pads would give five runs to his opponents! N o; Johnson was out. He will never call me butter-fingers again. B r ix t o n W a n d e r e r s . A D D ISC OM B E v. B R IX 'O N W A N D E B E R S .- P layed at A d d iscom b e on July 7. A d d is c o m b e . R. M artyr, b H. Odell 47 a. R. H ulbert, H . E. T h om pson ............38 G . M a r t i n , c Cutler, b T h o m p s o n ............ 3 S. W iltshire, b H. O d e ll............................. 0 C. W iltshire, b H. E. T h om pson ............11 H. B row n , c and b H. E . T h om pson ... 9 F. Seaward, t O dell 2 H. W . Stovold, c H a r r is ,1 h om pson 8 D . M. R oberts, lbw, b T h om pson ............ 1 H. J. Peard, not ou t 12 J. R .C ou lth ard , n ot out .............................. 8 E x tra s...................; 20 F. F in ch , c R oberts, b M a rtin ..................... 1 W . H. Spragge, b S. W iltsh ire.................... 0 R. W . L angley, b G. A. M artin ............14 C. H ogg, b G. A . M artin .................... 0 R . J. H ania, b G. A. M artin ... ... ... 0 H. O dell, absent ... 0 E. G ilbert, b S. W ilt­ shire .............................17 P. Jeffrey, b G . A. M artin ..................... 0 H .G .D i iver.cR oberts, b S. "W iltshire ... 0 H . C utler, b G . A. M artin ..................... 0 H. E . T h om psoD .n ot ou t .............................. 0 E x tr a s ... ............ 1 Total 33 SU N N IN G D A L E SCH O O L v. F A R N BO ROUGH P A R K .—P layed at F arnborough on July 8. S unn ingdale S chool . F irst Innings. E . W . H ill-T h om ­ son, b A d am s ... 3 H. A. L ow ry-C orry, b C row e .................... 3 K. J. M uir - M ac­ kenzie, b C row e ... 1 A. P S trarge, c Car- lyon, b C row s ... 2l M. J. C. S. John­ stone, b Adam s ... 0 H. Pige - L eschallas, b C r o w e .....................20 L . J. M . G rant, b C row e ................... 1 A. M cG . L e Patourel, run ou t ................... 7 R. W. D. M ilner, b C row e ................... 4 J. H . K em p-W elch , n ot ou t ................... 2 A. C rau fard ,b C row e 2 B 3,1b 2, w 6 ... 11 T otal ... 75 In the S econd Innings H ill-T hom son scored, b Crowe 31, L ow ry-C orrv,bC row e9, M uir-M ackenzie, b Carlyon 6, Strange, c and b C row e 11, Joh n ston e (not ou t) 9, Pige-L eechallas, b C row e 0, and G rant (not out) 0 ; b 2, w 8.— T otal, 76. F a r n b o r o u g h P a r k . b W . Garrard, Strange ..................... W. Sillem , b M uir- M ackenzi} ............ T. C row e, c S<range, b M uir - M ackenzie R . T anner, b Strange F. Adam s, c and b M uir M acken z ie A . CarlyoD .b Strange L . Scott, b Strange H .C layton.b Strange H on. F. H ood , c Strange, b M uir- M ack enzie ............ R . B . Hill, c Strange, b M uir-M ackeiizie G. B rooke, not o u t ... B 1, lo 2, nb 2 ... T otal , 25 C L A P T O N v. HONOR O AK .—P layed at C lap ton on July 7. H onor O ak . G. Sm edley, c J. H ughes, D P. W a te re r.....................13 F. F . H arrison, n ot ou t .............................23 B 3, lb 1, n b 1 ... 5 G. H arrison, c D yke, b T ra ffo r d ...................50 £ . C. H ayes, c C hichester, b J. H ughes ....................63 C. H . M ayo, b F. H ughes .................... 8 C. F . Skipw ith, n ot T ota l .............218 ou t ... ........................ 53 T. J. G racey, P. K . C arm ichae1, F. W ilkie, J. Johnson, and H. L . H olford did n ot bat. C l a p t o n . H. E. V . C hichester, not out B 14, lb 1 Total ... 52 , 15 ...115 F. A. B oys, lbw , b W ilkie .................... 7 F.W .H ughes, not ou t 38 P . A . W atercr, st JohnsoD , b G. H a r m o n .................... 0 J. K. H ushes, c and b G. H arrison ........... 3 S. G enders, H . E . T rafford, A. J. D yke, W . J. Cam bridge, H. H . W alban cke, and J. W illia m s did n ot bat. C LAPTON v. IS L IN G T O N A L B IO N .-P la y e d at A lexandra P ark on July 7. I slin gton A l b io n . T otal ...159 R. F. C haldecott, b C. A . C overnton, b T h oiog ood ............ 3 T n orogood ............ 0 H. C ollet, b Canby ... 45 J. H . O xley, lbw , b W . H . Ro>son, b C anby ..................... 4 T borogood ............ 10 G. F. T ripp, b T h o r c- J. G ibbon, b T h orog o o d ............................. 1 good ............................. 50 A. J. W h eeltr, c J.H. R ob son ,b T h oroD ouglas, b Ca».by 19 good ............................. 4 S. H . W illiam s, n ot J. P. W ard , lbw , b ou t .............................. It C anby ..................... 4 B 5, lb 7 ............ 12 C la pto n . T otal ...166 A. F. D um rait, n ot ou t .............................. 1 B ............................. 3 J. H . D ouglas, n ot out ...t ...................10 J. W . M cE w er, re­ tired ............................16 A. S. H att, b C over.- T otal ............40 ton ............................10 G . L . L yon s, W . F. G rant. W . W . T h orog ood , R . C anby. G . R. C rofts, J. A. A bbott, and J. J. W ig- gett did n ot bat.