Cricket 1894

APRIL 12, 1894 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 59 CRICKET THEN AND NOW. A F ifty Y ears R etrospect . B y the R e v . W. K . R. B e d fo r d . iii . Burton of oourse is almost a Staffordshire town, furnishing an illustration of one of the most palpable difficulties of county cricket, namely how to classify those players who reside just on a boundary or over the bound­ ary of their proper province. Where you have counties divided by a wide unbridged stream, or where unsurmountable mountain range?, or persistence in the use of a barbarous dialect, keep neighbours from penetrating into one another’s territory, the county demarcation is a reality easy to define, but I have too long teen a resident in a triangular concatenation of shires, not to feel a sympathy with the child in the story who was dis­ appointed that there was no red line between Somersetshire and Devonshire like that which she had worked upon her sampler. The position of the great and important city of Birmingham, for example, eminently disqua’ifies it as a centre of county cricket. The heart of the town is in Warwickshire, but quite two-fifths of the suburbs He in the immediately adjacent counties of Stafford and Worcester. Two of the largest and best clubs supported by Birmingham cricketers have grounds at Smethwick aad.Kings Heath, of which the first is in Staffordshire and the latter in Worcestershire, yet I suppose that their crack players are enrolled in the Warwick­ shire eleven, and not unfairly, as they possibly sleep and certainly work within the city precincts. Notwithstanding, were the county boundary rigidly defined, some of them might be claim d for Staffordshire and some for Worcestershire, or it might even turn out, as it did in a case before a revising barrister last autumn, that one of them when he sought his couch, reposed with his head in one couuty and his heels in another, I hope that it will not be suppo ed that I should be sorry to see high-class cricket find a home in Birmingham, but in matters of more serious import than the cricket fi Id the necessity for a county of which the midland metropolis shall be the absolute centre appears to be supported by a host of consideration*. In the autocratic days of the Edwards and the Henrys, a Royal mandate to that effect would assuredly have gone fortb, and the present congeries of population, extending like the tentacles of an octopus from Warwickshire into the adjoining counties, would have been reduced to a common denomination. It is really more becoming to the dignified position of Birmingham among our great towns, that in matters legal, ecclesiastical, and municipal the city should cease to rank as an appurtenance to Warwickshire only, merely because it is supposed to add to the dignity of some of the suburbs that they are in a different county to the main streets. No great number of years have passed since two visitors to a certain well-known watering place in Wales formed that sort of outdoor intimacy which the air and exercise, and perhaps the idleness, of seaside life do so much to ripen. When they were about to part, and sentiment touched the heart of Corydon and Melibffius alike, C. could not resist a parting expression of hope that they might meet again. “ You’ve never said where you live, but I know it’s in the Midlands, where I live myself.” Well,” quoth M , “ you wouldn’t know the place if I were to tell you—a little out-o’ -the-way corner of Worcestershire, called Balsal ’Eath.” “ Ah,” cried C., “ I wasn’t mistaken, I thought you was a brother Brum, I know your little place in ’Igh Street! ” Let us hark back to the moral of all this. Cricketers will always congregate where it is convenient for them to mfet, as men will for any social and pleasurable purpose, whether it be within their own county or no. So the opening of the Treot Valley railway made in 1850 both Rugby and Lichfield places of cricket rendezvous, the one for Leicestershire and Northamptonshire as well as for War­ wickshire amateurs, the other for men residing within the county boundaries of Derby and of Warwick as well as Stafford­ shire. The two fami ies of Garnetts, for example, resided one within, the other just without the Warwickshire border, yet the Warwickshire house was closer to Lichfield than the residence of the Staffordshire branch. Rugby again enjoyed th 3 servicesof Leicester­ shire and Northamptonshire men like Elrn- hirst and Vernon, as well as of residents in its immediate neighbourhood, Messrs. Caldeco'.t and Buchanan for example, of whom the latter was not then the dangerous slow bowler into which he develop :d later, but a good, fast, straight, round-hand performer, very useful, in a different way, to his side. The first-named gentleman, who resided at Holbrook Grange, close to the town of Rugby, although somewhat stiff in the field, requir­ ing pads and gloves to long-stop in, did much by his judgment and popularity for the success of the Rugby club. He was a retired Indian civilian of much ability and sound sense, and was highly esteemed in other circles than the cricket one—in fact he was at one time an enthus-astic archer, and though he had to give up that sport as well as cricket in consequence of an accident, he continued to the end of his life to act as judge at the Grand National archery gather­ ings with satisfaction to all engaged in them. Dean Hole has brought my name into con- neotion 'with his in reference to a rather flippant repartee, which, for the moment, dis­ concerted him, a result which seldom hap­ pened in a wordy w ar; but in my opinion a more humorous story about him is a political one, how, after having expressed some dis­ approbation of the extreme Protestant views entertained by the lite respected member for North Warwickshire, Charles Newdegate, the latter said, shaking his head in sorrowful protest, “ Caldecott, you must be a Jesuit ” As the friend whose book I have just mentioned observed, when he heard the story, the identical Jesuit who masqueraded as Caldecott must have been a wonderfully clever fellow, for his chief characteristic was outspoken honesty, and he had a decidedly quaint style of humour. I suppose the Wellesbourn Club— celebrated in “ Tom Brown’s Schooldays” —was the premier club of Warwickshire in point of antiquity and standing. The Granville brothers, fine athletic men, and the ex- Kentish champion, Fagge, belonged to it. It derived its support mainly from the south of the county, with an occasional stray Oxford­ shire or Gloucestershire man, as these counties interlace with Warwickshire a good deal. It had, however, a formidable rival in the north part of the county in the Meriden Club, founded in 1829 or ’30, one of its chief members being Sir E trdley Wilmot, who, at the time of his death a few years ago, was the oldest subscrib?r to the M.C.C From him I learned that fortnightly matches were played during the season on the ground (one belonging to the o il archery club, the Wood­ men of Arden), and that a Mr. Fullerton, of IThrybergh, who was at that time resident , near, was a good slow bowler. The (fifth) Earl of Aylesford encouraged the club, and contr ibuted venison pasties to their dinners in the Forest Hall. His son, the sixth Earl (well known with IZ .), revived the club about 1856, and the Vice-President, the Rev. J. J. Wedge, wrote an inaugural address to the members in verse, some lines of which may be worth preserving— First, never let our secretary twice ask for money due. Next, let each present memver gain another staunch and true. If or in practice or a match you have agreed to play, Your promise keep, and to the time be piesent on the day. If ia a match eleven your name is not ore found. Don’t feel yourself affroLted, but be upon the ground, To cheer our chosen Champion'', and show that our good fame Is dearer than your selfish pride, and sharing in the game. Whatever says the Umpire, howsoe’er you deem him err, At once to his decision to /, and yield without demur. If “ ou t/’ go out without excuse, cross words, or augry airs; They’ve cut your innings short this time; next time, so serve you thf irs. If you by chance shall miss a catch, or fail to field a ball. Don’t stand in sulky idler ess or feign a slip or fall; But remedy the accident as qaickly as you can ; Pick up the ball and send it in directly, like a man. If e’er ihe C«ptaiu of the Field shall bid you change your place For one you less important deem, don’t feel it a disgrace, But think he has good reason, and remember everywhere The Fielder’s part in cricket is the most important share ; For th o u g h B attiD g is s o u sefu l, an d g o o d b o w lin g p 'r h a p s m o r e still, Yet active, watchful Fielding is the best of Cricket skill. Stop hits, and miss no catches ; let this work well be done, Avoiding ever overthrows, and your game, my lads, is won. In sending up a ba'l ’tis best a moment's time to waste, And take good cire to throw in straight, not hurl in random h«ste; For if the wicket-keeper fails to take it, they may run Notches, how many you know not, instead of only one. When “ in,” and ’tis your partner’s turn his wicket to defend, Watch warily the Bowler’s hand, and soon as he shall send The “ Duke ” or *•Dark,"run half-way up,the may­ be run to meet. But ever, wi th acareful eye, to make a safe retreat. If you hit forward, ’tis for you to judge the run, and call, But this your partner’s duty, if behind you flies the ball. If you’re run out, don’t make a row, and call your comrade names : He pr’aps, may suffer from your fault in course of future games. In all things be good tempered, be courteous, kind, and free, But ever as a gentleman in merry mood should be ; For whatsoe’er his rank in life, each Cricketer may stand A gentleman, in deed -and word, by any in the land. Be every one united! stand true by one another! And let us. Arden Foresters, treat each of us as brother ; Do each his best; and all good luck attend our loved eleven Throughout the season that hag dawned of eighteen fifty-seven ! An exce lent historian who condescended once to print a few not‘ s on cricket in Birmingham claims for that club a very creditable antiquity; its annals, according to him, dating back from 1745, when its members were playing at cricket on the pleasant fields of the suburb?, now coverel with manufactories, while the batt’e of Culloden was being fou ght; but certainly by the period at which I can recal any cricket in Birmingham it was by no means of a formidable character. I went to t ft / u 'tg A * * * b a t. .k is tJ U r C m )\A u hvJK sl 'M