Cricket 1895

468 CR IC K E T : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME. D e c . 26, 1895. CRICKET NOTCHES. By th e E ev. R. S. H olm es. The m eeting of the C ounty secretaries; the sensible settlem ent o f the unseem ly w rangle betw een the tw o N orthern C oun ties; and the p ledge given in behalf o f each C ounty to release an y player chosen fo r the test m atches in the com ing season : all is as it should be. T he exam i­ nation o f the list o f fixtures for 1896 seems to brid ge over the silly season com pletely, and is the next best th in g to an actual participation as player or spectator in said matches. A very cheery letter has ju st reached m e from Lohm ann, the only p ortion of w h ich I can make pu blic bein g his refer­ ence to the weather in South A frica— “ sim ply perfect, gloriou sly brigh t and su n n y ; everything is satisfactory here, and I am thinking we shall have a very successful tou r.” B y -th e -b y , w h y should n ot this journal, w hich has always been intim ately associated w ith Surrey Cricket, start an independent fu n d in anticipation o f L ohm ann’ s Benefit n ext y e a r? It ou g h t to rank am ong the best on record. A s I m ay not have another opportunity o f referring to it, I shall deem it a plea­ sure to start such a Testim onial w ith a m odest guinea. M y recent reference to the “ T w o -L e g ” question has provoked a deligh tful letter from m y w orth y old friend, Thom s. H is quite-too-appreciative references to this colum n cannot be transposed. Am on g his m any dreams he beholds the daw ning o f the day ‘ ‘ w hen Holmes’ Cricket Encyclo­ paedia m ay b e looked'u pon as the standard w ork on our N ational Game. In reference to the ‘ tu r-leg ’ guard, you r interpre­ tation is the correct one, and there is little dou bt that, as y ou state, I have called ‘ tu r-leg ’ oftener than any other man. N ow I do n o t pretend to be superior to m y colleagues fo r a m om ent— fo r I am no egotist— bu t as a veteran, I can fairly claim to have given m any distinctive appellations to the gam e, w ith a cricket vocabulary that has spread to m ost cricket g ro u n d s; for I have shouted ‘ tw o -le g ’ covers both in E nglan d, Scotland, and W ales, where I have heard it re-echoed b y others, as it is also n ow in Australia b y Jim Phillips, one o f m y pupils, to a certain extent in ju dicial cricket lore. W hilst on the subject, I w ill give a brief dessertation on the guard. The chief blocks, as m ost cricketers know , are the m id d le ; the m iddle inclined to leg ; the t w o -le g ; the leg and part o f m id d le; and the on e-leg. O f these guards, the tw o - le g is the m ost u s e d ; bu t during the past thirty years, the leg guard has becom e m ost popular, and is know n as ‘ Thom s’ g u a rd ,’ I having recomm ended its use to, w hat I term , the fa llin g-over batsman, the hu gger and crow der o f’ the wifeket. B y this block he can m ore soundly put the bat on to the ball, and keep his legs m ore out o f the line o f the w icket. I t is an undoubted fact that m any, and m any o f the very best and m ost effective bats­ m en w ho take the m ost gettin g out, use this block. In the biography o f J . S. Carrick in Cricket, I added a testim ony to the value of the le g guard to him in that marvellous display of his at Chichester — one o f the grandest I ever watched— wherein he w ent in first w icket, stopped there fo r tw o days, and was then not o u t ; which all w ill agree was quite lon g enough to prove what can be done. “ Y e t another instance o f the value of this b lo ck to the ‘ hugger o f the w icket ’ style o f batsman. M y late attached friend, W illiam M ortlock o f Surrey, one o f the best hearted and most genial men, was a pronounced crow der o f the w ick e t; and, after bein g settled l.b.w , was not always ‘ hail fellow w ell m et,’ although B ill w ou ld always apologise and express regret the next m orning fo r w hat he m igh t have said. A fter a certain county match he was particularly a g g ra v a tin g ; so I took the opportunity of plainly telling him that he did n ot know how to play w ith the guard he used (the m iddle stump), and that the sooner he took to the leg stump only, the b e tte r; bu t I added, ‘ first convince yourself that I am r ig h t; g o back to the Oval, stick up five stumps, take leg-gu a rd , and g et Mundie and Bush to bow l to y ou fo r an h ou r.’ This advice he carried out to the very letter, and I had the satisfaction o f seeing him the follow in g w eek at the O val top a century b y a brilliant display o f on and off driving and leg-h ittin g, until he was at last superbly caught at m id -off b y M r. I. D . W alker. Then again look at, and bring to m ind the dou gh ty doings o f-------- -b u t h old hard, cry Over, or I should about half fill the D ecem ber issue o f Cricket w ith anecdotes o f the great batsm en’s per­ form ances w ith ‘ O n e-leg guard.’ ” Thom s need never be afraid that we shall w eary o f his h om ilies; he is one of the very few w h o w rites cricket as fluently as he talks it. B ut why hasn’t he w ritten m ore ? I w ou ld not let W . G. alone until he prom ised to take pen in hand and tell us his story of crick e t; and I shall give Thom s no peace until he consents to follow suit. The m atch he refers to— Surrey v. M iddlesex, 1866— I find that I was present at. M ortlock’ s 106, how ever, pales b y the side o f J . J. Sew ell’s 166 for M iddlesex. D id I ever mention that, sitting, or rather ly in g at fu ll length, in fron t o f me dow n b y the old Surrey bar, was an individual over­ com e b y the weather or b y a famous drink o f those g oo d old days, called “ H atfield.” Sundry lads made a mark o f this person w ith paper pellets and bits o f orange peel. H e was not to be awakened. A t last b y a m ighty on-drive from Sewell’s bat, the ball pitched within a couple o f inches o f his head. That roused him m ost effectually, fo r in a trice he pulled him self together, g o t up, and m ade for the gate, not the bar, a sadder, bu t wiser man. S om ebody in India has sent m e three different issues— O ctober 22 aud 29, aud N ovem ber 12 o f the Nilgiri Neivs —in each o f which “ P arson H olm es” is asked to do som ething or other of pressing im portance to cricketers out yonder. L et m e refer to one query : Is a batsman stumped out or run out if the ball rebound from w icket keeper’s pads and batsman bo out of his ground ? I f his bat had touched the ball he is run out. That is indisputable. But what if his bat has not touched it ? I am n ot perfectly certain. L aw 23 distinctly says that batsman is out “ if . . . the wicket be put dow n b y the w icket keeper w ith theball, or w ith hand or arm w ith ball in hand.” N ow it isw e know n that all our leading umpires fit the case, above referred to, in to this law , but are they righ t in so doin a strictly literal interpretation o f L aw 23 w ou ld exclude those cases in w h ich ball rebounds from stumper’s pads. O r per­ haps the pads are so inseparable from the w icket-keeper— a part and parcel of him self—-that anything done b y them is taken as done b y him . I f so then this law wants re-w ordin g. The chief reason w hy I should fall in w ith the comm on inter­ pretation is, that it credits the bow ler with a w icket, o f which he w ou ld be deprived if the batsm en were ruled run out. O f course whichever w ay w e look at the matter, the batsman is o u t ; though it is o f prime im portance that the laws be so explicit and fu ll as to leave n o doubt as to the righ t verdict to be recorded, especially in a matter of such frequent occurrence as the above-m entioned. I m ay rem ind m y readers that at the beginn ing o f last year, when I thoroughly revised the existing code, I urged the alteration o f the latter part o f this same L aw 23 fo r the sake o f clearness; “ or w ith his hand hold in g ball, or w ith the arm o f the hand that holds b a ll.” A nd ju st because I had after heard it stated that in its present form this law perm its stumper to hold the ball in one hand, and knock off the bails w ith the other. Y e t another C ricket Annual, from Australia. The title, “ The Australian Cricket R ecord, 1894-95.” J. F itzpatrick, - the editor. I f the pu blic w ant it, it w ill appear year b y year, n ot otherwise. I t is time Australia produced another annual. I never could understand, remembering the popularity o f cricket in that C olony, w hy C onw ay’s Annual, which appeared in 1877 and 1878, was abandoned. L ack o f support, doubtless, was the reason. Y e t I have never seen a better piece o f cricket history. B oyle and S cott’s Guide ran fo r five years— 1879 to 1883— and then dropped out. D on ’t Australian cricketer’s read c ric k e t! A re they con­ tented to play i t ! Perhaps h a lf-a -crow n is too stiff a price for a handbook o f 132 pages, how ever g ood and thorough is the w ork put into it. Our own guides are produced at a shilling, and there must be at least three times as much matter in one of them as in this recent Australian record. I wish som ebody w ould induce South A frican cricketers to continue their Annual, and that all such books, no matter where published, should be drafted in scores to our hom e market, where there is a ready sale fo r anything bearin g on cricket. I f you w ant a humorous, farcical, and well illustrated squib, g e t “ The Cricket on the Green,” issued b y Jordeson and C o., o f M iddlesbrough, Y orkshire. I t ’s a capital shillings worth fo r the festival o f Y u le-tide. L e t me wind up with a dream I had NEXT ISSUE, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30th.