Cricket 1894

290 (□B ICKER A W EEKLY BECORD OF THE ©AM®3 AUG 2, 1894 >lligations. Had I seen Ihe paragraph in oroof foi m, it would certainly have been mocked out. I had in my mind only such lewspapers as came under my notice in the ar North, and though the reference in their ^asewas accurate enough, it was ungenerous, vhilst it was wholly inapplicable to the daily writers for the English press. I knew that hey would not omit the Evans and Steel lowling incident of 1879. Thn’e are writers vhom I know well, whose knowledge of ; icket hi-tory is quite encyelopoedic in ils ulre-s, and as faultlessly accurate as well, jiicket repor ing has been raised by them t> . fine art, th ou gh it ha3 to be don e so hur- iedly. I 1 ave often m arvelled that their ■ ork is so w ell don e in th e absence, for the ni st part, o f book s o f refiren ee to which liters in th eir ow n study h a v e easy access. [ have twenty volumes of the Held, begin- ling with the year 1857, and the difference ictwetn the cricket reports of that time anl >:ir own is astonishingly great. We h a l a capital match a LLeeds, and the a'ge crosds each day proved that W .G.’s is still the name to conjure with. What a eceptio i he ^ot ou his first vi-it to the 9eadingl<-y enclosure ; and his success in the first hinds provoked a i amount of snthusiasm for wh'ch on i was scarcely repare 1 in these parts. E.M . informed me hat his last lisit to Leeds was in 1863, ivhtn he played on tbe Boyal Park for Parr's All England Eleven against twenty-two of Leeds. Sure enough here is the match in “ Scores aud Biographies,” on September 1C, 17, and 18, and his score3 were 26 and 34 (not out). That was before most of our present-day cricketers were born! W.G.’s bat seemed as wide as ever, and in his first innings Hunter had not more thau a couple of balls to tike. The off-ball theory does not pay when W .G. is batting: anyhow, few of them were bowled to him, and everyone that was got its due. I fancied that occasionally he indulged in a healthy pull, not only of short balls, but even half volleys on the off— E.M .’s gieat stroke throughout his career, and which Walter Bead has brought to some­ thing like perfection. Would that men like Gunn would take a leaf out of W .G .’ s book, and not deliberately plant their leg in front of the stumps to an off breaking ball. Hoff delightfully Shaw tricked Gunn at Brighton, just as F. S. Jacksm did in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s the other day, and as I once saw Lohmann dismiss him- Serve him right, for it isn’t cricket. And he was out lbw against Gloucestershire last Thursday. Theofte :er the better,until the day dawns when a law shall be enacted that any ball, pitched on or off the wicket, if it would hit the stumps, sha'l be fatal to any bat-man who by accident or design plays it with either or bota legs standing in front of any stump. Gloucestershire deserved to beat Yorkshire, and 1 devoutly wish they had. So would yoHi worthy reader, if, not being a Yorkshiremaft it were your lot to live in the county of many acres. (Should Yorkshire be Champion County again this j ear, I shall have to seek pastures new. Imagine yourself at Leeds las' week, after luncheon ou the Tuesday, when nine Yorkshire wickets actually fell fo r 11 runs ithe other eight were scored before luncheon), every reason save one was discovered fo* the break-down; rarely have I heard so muon eloqu°nce as was expended in abuse of wicket. At last I ventured to say vei'J mildly, 1 Bad cricket! ” and not having on » bullet-proof under-waistcoat, I deemed 1 advisable to shift my position. One hear, no more of the wicket when Hirst aU, Hunter by sound and plucky batting ch a n g e the 19 into 61 before tbe last wicket fe ; Here’s a fair sample of Yorkshire modest)'^ said a man to me respecting W.G. * second, “ I hope, as ice say in YorksIt' ’ are falling fast before a tricky bowler, at whose end umpire has been standing, and who has therefore h a l ample opportunities of studying all the moves of said bowler. Well, I should lik i to know, was umpire a member of the Club and Ground in question ? Was he chosen to piny before the match b gan? Or chosen just because the in-side had not its full complement of players ? In smaller matches it is no uncommon thing for the players to take turns at umpiring. I wish the writer would give his full name and address, and also the title of the match, which he says was played on a county ground. I feel that no alteration in the list of players selected when the match begins should ever bea llow el. In my juigm entit would have constituted a breach of honour had A. C Mac- Laren substituted Oakley for his brother at Taun'on last week, a fte r Lancashire had closed f n ir innings. At lea-t, the consent of the Somersetshire captain ought first to have been obtained. Sharp practices ought io be unknown in so glorious a sp >rt as cricket. My unknown correspondent will not allow the “ Jupp ” matter to d rop ; but as he finds “ on consideration that the.e are only elev en better Surre/ batsin n than Jupp,” instead of tw en ty as he insisted a few days e irlie", I am hopeful there m a 7 be a further approximation to harmony of sen'iment between U3. I go all the way with him in his indignant protest against the tend ncy of modern cricketers t> depreciate the giants of old. Fancy such a heresy as this being uttered in Ihe Pavilion at Lord’s : “ Bithurst was a second-raie bowler, Mynn bowled fast underhand, o il Lillywhite I ad r.o It’s a pity the “ Old Buffer ” did not over­ hear such nonsens?. But it’ s a fair sample of the talk on all cricket fields. H a vel ever m niioned this ? Some years ago I was at a m iteh in wl ich i ’eito was bowling; and sat n u t to an individual who either could not, or would not, hold his stupid tongue. At la-t he said to me, “ Did you ever see Tarrant bowl ? ’ “ Yes, often.” “ Because Peate’s bowling is so like what his was, that Peate might be poor Tarrant once more in the flesh.” I thought it time to move off. Silence is the most effectual snub not seldom. I wish this correspondent would favour me with his name, for one would dear'y love to shake hands with a man who has seen “ all the Gentlemen v. Players’ matches at Lord’s since 1842. When I went on the ground for the first time in that year, (Felix (88) and Mynn (46) were batting to the bowling of Lillywhite and Redgate.” Few cricket enthusiasts could make a similar boast. And that reminds me of a famous club— tbe Incogniti. It was slarted in 1861; since then it has published yearly full scores, etc., of all i's matches. More than that, its present hono ary lecretary has not only served on the committee, but has been an active player, from that year until n ow ; at least, so I have just gathered from a hurried perusal of tte records which have just been added to my cricket shelves. I know of no other club, county or private, that can c mpare with the Incogniti in this respect. Last week I bought the “ Laws of Cricket,” as approved by t ie Marylebone Club, and appeared in Bell's Life in London, June 15, 1828. They were published at Bipon, where there used to be a lot of cricket played; indeed Bipon and Darnall used to ha the cricket centres of Yorkshire : Sheffield was unknown cricketally before 1&29. Now, I am not going to discuss or compare present and past laws. But I should b9 very grateful if some old cricketer would explain this law. It is No. 15 in the code of 1828. It follows on No. 14. The latter reads thus: “ In the event of a change of bowling, no more than two balls shall be M E. J. A. DIXON (NOTTS CAPTAIN). F ro m a p lioto by H a w kin s & Co., B righton. allowed in practice.” That is clear-enough. But what does No. 15 m em —“ The bo ler who takes the tw > balls shall be obliged to bowl four balls.” i can at once read several meanings in the?e words, but how were they actually understood by the cricketers of that day ? I must refer later oa to other matters sug- g -sted by recent letters. May I hei e express my sincere regi'et for the refercr.ee in last week’s “ Notches” to cricket reporter.-1, which may, I fear, have given pain to certain gentlemen to whom we are all under immense W , FLOW ERS (NOTTS). F r o m a p h to by H a w k in s d: Co , B rig h ton . These blocks w ere kindly len', by the “ St. JameB’ Budget.”