Cricket 1895

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. THURSDAY, M AY 9, 1895. A CRICKET TR IP t o PORTUGAL- INTERVIEW WITH ME. TOM WESTRAY, J un . Sometime near the end of last cricket season a few enthusiastic amateurs of the game were lamenting the approaching long hiatus in the sport necessitated by our English winter. bound westward ho ! to the gulf of the rich Caribees ? The Cape was not ripe for a visit, nor was there opportunity for a cricket crusade to the Eastern Ind, the hot and sandy Hong Kong, nor the still more remote and romantic regions where the recently reformed and converted cannibal wields the willow in the coral isles of the Pacific. But our cricketers, who by-the-bye were assembled at a dinner party chez Mr. Westray, the from that to cricket in Portugal, of which one of the principal centres is Oporto. There are but few countries to which the English­ man with the instincts of his race has not reached in pursuit of commerce, of travel, or of sport. And where he goes he takes with him not only love of country, but love of his country’s national game. Play it he will in spite of every difficulty, and cricket para­ phernalia would no doubt find a place in the M R . T . W E S T R A Y ’ S TF.AM IN P O R T U G A L . Like the Macedonian chieftain who sighed for new worlds to conquer, these devotees of a nobler strife found themselves in want of a new field of action. In none of those far­ away lands into which the Saxon has borne his favourite sport, and which had hitherto been visited by a team from the native country, did occasion offer itself for a fresh invasion. Was not Mr. Stoddart on his way to be busy at the Antipodes, and Mr. Lucas well-known shipowner and agent of Africa House, Leadenhall-street, were fated to the inception of a novel idea and amost enjoyable tour. Amongst the guests at Thombrake, Wim­ bledon, were Mr. and Mrs. Roger Coverley, of Oporto, who are intimately connected with the Westray family. The conversation had turned upon Lord Hawke’s tour in America and the pleasant experiences of the team, and outfit of the pioneer in the most unpromising corner of the earth. And thus in Lisbon and in Oporto, where there are fair sprinklings of our countrymen, cricket clubs flourish, and afford not only exercise and pastime to their members, but are also object lessons, let us hope, one day to be heartily btudied and followed by the mentally lively but physically lazy Portugee. From conversation on cricket in Portugal