Cricket 1895

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1895. p r i c e 2 a. From a Photo by R. H, Lord,'_MarJcet Street, Cambridge. English masters who were ciicketers at the Rajkumar College, at Kathiawar, in India, where I was at school. ‘ ‘ And you took up the game when you came to England ? ” “ Yes, but partly by accident. I was six months in England before I went to Cam­ bridge, and then one day I was pressed into the service as a substitute in one of the K . S. BANJITSINHJI. THE LIGHT BLUE MAN OF COLOUR. If even in this current year of Grace, once more to use the well-worn phrase, for words, like women, are patient of any amount of ill- treatment, one were asked what cricketer he would desire on his side in a match which promised a hard tussle, it might be safely pre­ dicted that one of the names which would first pass through his mind would be that of the subject of th;s sketch. The cricketer has made almost an idol of this gentleman of Oriental pedigree, although the elector has just sent to the rightabout another possessor of a name equally unpronounceable by English tongues. I went in search of Prince Ranjitsinhji early on the morning of the last day’s play in the Middlesex and Sussex match, ere ynt the field was taken. Not finding him in the pavilion. I was about to try elsewhere, when the big figure of “ Jim” Phillips loomed along, and from him I learned that my man was and had been all the morning hatting at the nets, and presently he came across the sward-as the first bell rang. Of course, as lie had to go in ihen, he could only say good morning and promise to tell me what I wanted to know when he got out or when the match was finished. For an hour or so I watched him playing beautiful cricket whilst others were failing before Hearne and Rawlin’s wonder­ fully good howling, and then he was out to a very easy catch at the wicket, one of Rawlin’s seeming to get up very fast and hitting his bat on the edge. Postponing his bath for my con­ venience in the most courteous fashion, he with the very best grace submitted to be questioned. “ I hardly know how to address you, since I don’t know the English of Kumar Shri ? ” “ Oh ! that means Prince. It is a sort of prefix or title, just as you use titles in England.” “ And you are by race a Sikh ? ” “ No,not at all. I am aJareja of Raj-put. The Raj-puts are inhabitants of Rajputana, Trinity College matches. That was in the summer of 1892.” “ But you soon obtainedyour college cap ? ” “ Yes, in the same year, but I did not get my blue for Cambridge that year, though, as you know, I did in the next year, 1893.” “ And you then thought of playing for Sussex? ” “ Yes, I went to Brighton in 1893 chiefly with that view, though I have not been able to play until this year for a first-class English county, as I was not bom in England, and had not lived for two years in any county.” “ Do you intend to continue in England and to play for Sussex ? ” “ Yes, unless family matters should recall me to India. As far as I know I shall be glad to play for four months in the summer for Sussex, hut I do not think 1 shall play later in the year than September.” “ And now, what I want to know' most, what are your views as to the spread of cricket in India ? ’ ’ “ There is absolutely no reason why cricket should not be very popular thi re ; indeed, it is be­ coming so rapidly. It is not at all the fact that the Indian is too lazy to play the game. Constitu­ tionally, he may not be so energetic as the Englishman, but he is quite energetic enough to play cricket, and to excel in it up to a certain point.” “ You do not think that we shall ever find our best eleven beaten hy a visiting team from India?” “ No, not quite that, but I really do think there is a future for the game in my country; indeed, that future is almost becoming the present.” “ But, as to the heat? ” “ The heat is by no means so oppressive as is commonly understood. Omitting two or three hours in the middleof the day, there is no cause to give up play on account of the heat. Of course, as a native of the country, I ammore usedto the climate thana European would ba; but, speaking generally, I should say that the game can be played quite as safely in India as in England, though not perhaps for so long at a stretch.” “ As to the grounds ? ” in Western India.” “ You are, I believe, the son of the ruler of a native protected state ? ’ ’ “ Yes, my father is the Jam of Navanagar. I was born on September 10th, 1872, so that I am nearly twenty-three. “ Did you play cricket in India in your boyhood when at school ? ” “ Yes, but not a very high order. We had