Cricket 1895

370 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A - g . 29, 1S95. one or two vacancies in the first team, or if not, in the second. Thus you remember Hayward came to the front in ’ 93, Street and Smith in ’94, and Holland this year; not to speak of Ayres, Henderson, and Baldwin, who have also found places in the first team. Then there is the second team, for which any professional might be glad to play, and which, as you know, has not been beaten since 1892, when Bedfordshire beat us at Luton.’ * “ Do you find that lads of superior educa­ tion come forward as candidates for employ­ ment ? ” “ Of course, education is more general now than in former days ; but allowing for this I think the lads are of abetttr social class. Some of them are clerks out of work who find themselves glad to take a p'easant and respectable employment. I should never counsel a young fellow in good employment, in the city to throw it up to follow cricket as a profession. Still, sometimes a man who is a good cricketer is out of a berth and is glad to come to us, and of course if he is a really good man we are glad enough to have him ” ‘ ‘ Do you employ the seasoned bowlers to give the recruits their practice?” “ No, generally speaking not. It does not do to break a boy’ s heart by putting him to but against a bowler who will knock his wicket down every few balls, nor to allow him to bowl for any length of time against a batsman far too good for him. A modicum of success is necessary for success. So he plays h :s way up. W e go out with them and try to correct any faults of style and so forth, and by watching the first class men they soon learn to copy them. W e have now several young batsmen quite outside the second eleven who have a really capital style, and one or two bowlers who are certainly very good indeed. The chief helps to the young players are the ground and the examples of the first-class professionals. If a lad will not profit by a leally first class ground and the constant S'ght of good cricket, j ou can be quite certain there is not much cricket in him.” “ And how do these lads compare, say with Public School cricket elevens?” “ How should you think ? You think they would not make much show against say one of the leading Public Schools? W ell, the other day at Richmond, what was in fact the Surrey third eleven, the youngsters outside the second, met a team of Public School boys. It was a good team too, there were Dowson and Maw, of Harrow ; Harke, Graves, and Fraser, of H>*iloybury; Chessall, who has an average of 32 for Epsom ; Forbes, of Sedbergh, a very good wicket-keeper, Wilson, Parkes, and Barker, of Uppingham, and Hawkins and Crawford, of Whitgift, the last named in my opinion the best school boy cricketer in the country. As you will see, these were a very good eleven, though by chance all are qualified to represent Surrey. But our lads somewhat to the surprise of many people beat them, and I think I am justifitd in believing our boys to be as good as the best Public School boys. Indeed I am free to confess that I think Public School cricket as a general rule to be rather over­ rated.” “ You give them plenty of matches against good suburban clubs ? ” “ Yes ; we play a good many strong clubs, ranging in strength from Mitcham, perhaps the strongest, to Whitgift School, ordinarily weak, but this year with a eouple of very good men. When a lad distinguishes himself in these matches he is sure to be given a place when a vacancy chances to occur in the second team, so that we are always ready with good men to put in when occasion requires. Of course, we want to keep our good men as long as we can and as long as they keep up their form, but accidents happen and the years will not stand still, so that in process of time the lads will all, if they are good enough, get a thorough trial.” “ And who do you consider the best young players you have now ? ” “ I should hardly like to say. They are all good lads and promising one way or another. One very good man is Hayes, on whom we have had our eye since 1892. You have seen him play ? Then of course you know what a good man he is. In our match against Northantshemade thetop score of 134in really first-class style. In that game we had five wickets down for 23, and then scored over 300, so you see there is batting strength all through the team. He is a very fiir bowler and good field.” “ There are other men of similar worth a 1 so, you say ? ” “ Yes, Lees is a most promising bowler with a fine action and a good deal of break both ways. Braund is a beautiful batsman and a splendid field at short slip. I have the highest opinion of him. Speaking of fielding, I may mention that in my opinion the con­ tinued success of the Surrey second team is in great part due to the very good all-round fielding. Three or four matches I can remember which were won entirely by good work in the field. One catch at Manchester, and another at Northampton were marvellous pieces of play. No doubt the youth of the players has had something to do with the brilliancy of the fielding. Men do not get more lithe as they get older. But in such men as Read, Abel, Lohmann, and others of the first team, our youngsters have had capital models.” “ So that in all departments of the game you have capable understudies if age or accident deprives Surrey of her present representatives? ” “ Certainly. Watts is the wicket-keeper of our second, and a very good man. The men just outside the first, as at present con­ stituted, have their public performances to vouch for them, and I need not say more of them. But amongst the men, besides those mentioned, I may, perhaps, justly speak of Keene, Thompson, and Nice, all three good bowlers and fielders, and the two latter are, in addition, good bats. “ What steps, then, do you advise young­ sters to take to improve their play ? and at what age should they commence cricket ? ’ ’ “ As soon as they can handle a bat, and not a full-sized one. They should get the 5-oz. ball now in use at several of the schools, preparatory for the big public schools - I think Elstree and others—and they should, perhaps, have the wicket twenty yards apart instead of the regulated distance, and they should practice catching and fielding with the left and right hand equally, so as to be able to catch and field well with either. Then they should watch the best cricket they can get to see. If they can, let them come up to Lord’s or the Oval when practice is going on at the nets and closely observe the methods of the best batsmen and bowlers. Imitation will do more for them than any amount of verbal instruction. They should play on the best ground that can be had. Nothing does so much as a bad ground to encourage faulty play. On a good ground they must improve naturally.” Mr. Grabum was here greeted by a fine, strapping yoimg fellow who came in to make arrangements for a couple of days’ holiday at Hastings, and the cordiali;y between the cricket instructor and the young professional was certainly most pleasant to witness; and afl I said farewell, it was impossible to be un­ impressed with the methods adopted by the Surrey club for recruiting the ranks of their paid players, and with the suitability to the management of the j uniors which character­ ises the subject of this interview. Like many other good judges of the game, of which, by the way, Mr. Grabum is no mean exponent, having made many good scores for the second eleven and for Surrey club and ground, he comes from Yorkshire, but owes his position at the Oval simply to the perspicacity of the late Mr. F. Burbidge and his connection with cricket in Thames Ditton and the neighbour­ hood. He is a Reptonian, and his old school will be remembered as the nursery of many fine cricketers, but of few who have worked harder for, or done more for the game, or who will, in the ordinary course of events, be more useful or more appreciated as season after season brings changes and chances into the path of Surrey cricket. BLACKHEATH v. ELTHAM.-Played at Rectory Field on August 24. E ltham . A. S.Johnston,bHub­ bard .....................13 Haywood, b Hubbard 2 J. C. Wood, lbw, b Du Boulay ...............56 F. Pitt, c Robson, b Du Boulay ........ 36 R. C. Pitt, b Hubbard 7 Dr. Mitchell, b Du Boulay ...............20 J. L. Spicer, b Wilson 13 E. French, b Prosser... 8 J. E. Money, not out... 11 G. W. Mitchell, bWil­ son ..................... 0 B 11, lb 8, nb 2 ... 21 Total ...187 B lackheath . D. Mercer, b Dr. Mitchell .............. 35 C. E. Wilson, not out 39 P.A.Robson,cFrench, bPitt..................... 0 J. A. E. Hickson, c French, b G. W. Mitchell ...............12 B 15, w 1 ........ 16 Total (3wkts) 102 W. O. Hubbard, G. R. Hutchinson, A. Adam, A Du Boulay, W. H. Prosser, Rev. H. H. Welford, and M. Christopherson did not bat. ADDI8COMBE v. SPENCER.—Played at Addis­ combe on August 24. S pencer . B. Cox, b Perrin ... 6 H. W. Wheeler, cPer­ rin, b Peck ........ 36 T. J. Wheeler, b Per­ rin ..................... 0 L. Wood, b Perrin ... 10 S. W. Hedges, c andb Perrin ...............50 J. C. Larkin, b Peck 24 E. E. Elkington, c E. Wiltshire, b Peck .. 5 W. H. Weekes, not out 13 G. Sturgeon, not out 0 Extras.............. 11 Total (7wkts)*155 •Innings declared closed. A ddiscombe . P. Allen, c Lister, b T. Wheeler............... 0 T. F. Perrin, b T. Wheeler .............. 0 E. Wiltshire, bHedges 12 E. Peck, not out ... 24 R. Martyr, b Hedges 4 H. G. R oberts, b Hedges .............. 2 F. W. Straker, b T. Wheeler ............... 1 J. H. Purser, c Terry, b H. W. Wheeler ... 3t H. A. Serres, not out 0 Extras............... 9 Total (7wkts) 86 A. Wiltshire and C. Gillespie did not bat. NORTHBROOK v. HORNSEY.—Played at Lee on August 24. H ornsby . H. Collet, c Higham, b H. Goodall........ 6 S. L. Clarke, c Roe­ buck, b Higham .. 9 A. E. Turberville, b Higham .............. 32 B. A. Clarke, c D., b H. Goodall ........ 4 B. F. Fumiss, b Roe­ buck .....................65 C. D. Ross, b Roebuck 0 F. O. Tubby, c Willis, b Higham............... 6 E.P.Nichols,bHigham, 24 R. E. Manning, c P. •Goodall, b Higham 9 E. Flower, b Higham 9 J. Murray-Giblet, not out ....................... 12 B 6, lb 6 ........ 12 Total ...188 N orthbrook . P. Goodall, b B. A. Clarke .............. 0 A. H. Smith, b B. A. Clarke ............... 7 C. Higham, b Collet... 40 H. H. Willis, b B. A. Clarke .............. 0 J. W. Knowles, C. Disney Roebuck, H. N. Smith, and C. Kelly did not bat. C. O. Springthorpe, b B. A. Clarke ... . H. Goodall, not out. D. Goodall, not out . B 2, nb 1 ... . Total ... . 15 21 1 3