Cricket 1895

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. No. 3 8 5 . VOL. X IV . Registered for Transm ission Abroad. THURSDAY, APE IL 25, 1895. PR ICE 2d. CR!CKET_NOTCHES. AN EVENING WITH GEORGE FREEMAN. B y t h e R e v . R. S. H o lm e s . Or, A Cigar in George Freeman’s Sitting- room, as the “ Old Buffer ” would have put it. It was all about cricket; and, given kindred tastes, what talk is so real, so vivid, so enjoyable—I was going to add, so brilliant ? Especially if the individual who can talk, in that he is full of the subject, will talk, and do almost all the talking; his companion contented to whip in every now and then with a pertinent question to start him off on a fresh track. Talking cricket is as good as playing or watching cricket, and a deal better than much of the cricket one sees. “ And it fell on a da y ” in the fall of last year, when a clerical engagement took me to the quiet, well-placed market town of Thirsk, hard by the cathedral city of Ripon—a kindly invitation to spend an hour or two “ after your business hours ” having come to hand a few days before. So, my host being his nearest neighbour, and “ business” being over for the day, we were not long in seeking out the man whom W. G. has described as “ the finest fast bowler I ever played against.” It must have been more than twenty years since I had seen Freeman, but the years have dealt gently with him. Any­ how, on the morning of the same day, whilst walking home, I espied him at a distance of a hundred yards or more, and at once remarked to my host, “ Why, here comes Freeman ! ” Yes, spite of sad losses m his home circle, and a recent sharp attack of bronchitis, which had perhaps reduced his weight a few pounds, there is not much difference in the outer appear­ ance of the man who in our early manhood was one of the heroes of the cricket field tor all too brief an innings. And one is delighted to know that things have prospered with him, beyond the luck of any professional cricketer I nave heard of. But a man cannot afford live in a goodly old house standing in ve ° r ^ acres of land—his own property out of cricket; fortunes are not reaped in that field. The secret of Freeman’s substantial success has been his “ absolute straightforwardness as an auctioneer,” to quote my host’s testimony. “ Cricket may have given him a useful start, but his own ability and integrity are alone responsible for his present enviable position. You won’t repeat what local rumour states to be his income, but you are at liberty to tell this story : at one of our local schools here a favourite question is as follows—If Mr. Freeman sells so many beasts at a commission of four shillings a-head, and so many sheep and pigs at fourpence commission apiece, what will be his profit at the end of the year ? ” A tribute to my friend’s popu­ larity at home,which has recently received additional proof in his election to the dignity of churchwarden. But I must step aside after this imperfect introduction, and let Freeman tell his own story. Of course I had no note book during our interview, but when cricket is the topic I never have had cause to distrust memory. I may add that permission was cheerfully given me to make any use I thought fit of what transpired on the evening of the last Sunday in October when I spent two or three hours in the company of one of the best of good fellows. “ Tell me at the outset something about your own earliest cricket.” “ Well, that isn’t a very long story. I was bom a few miles from here—at Boroughbridge—where I now mount the rostrum every fortnight. Perhaps you will be surprised to hear that cricket does not run in our fam ily; neither my father, brothers, or my boys, care much about it, and none of them have cut a decent figure at it It’s all very well for you to say that nature rested awhile before putting forth a consummate effort to make a cricketer of me, and that after such an exhausting labour she needs time to recruit; it may be so, I can’t say. All I know is that cricket does not seem to be in the Freeman strain. I took to it almost as soon as I could stand ; and, as far back as I can remember, a few boys used to go out wherever we could find a stretch of turf for practice. Many a time have we played by moonlight. Bowling came to me, I could not help being a bowler. My first start in the world was in a solicitor’s office in my native place ; later on I spent two years in a similar office in Leeds. That gave me my chance. Woodhouse Moor was a great cricketing spot in those days; there I joined a club, made a bit of a name as a promising cricketer, with the result that I was recommended as coach to the Grange School, Edinburgh, where I spent a very jolly time, and will presently show you certain photos of the cricket elevens I helped to train there. Getting an appointment at Malton, I came back to Yorkshire, and there it was, whilst en­ gaged in business, that I got an intro­ duction to first-class cricket. “ It was in this way. As you know, those were the palmy days of old George Parr’s All England Eleven, certainly one of the grandest all-round teams ever got together. Yorkshire was especially attractive to them; and, although these matches may not have done much good to the professionals engaged, there can be no doubt that they rendered an immense service to the game all over the country. Some of the tourists may not have taken as much care of themselves as they should, but these matches were very pleasant, though nothing like as serious to us as to our opponents. It was the funniest thing under the sun to see some local celebrity who had been scoring heavily for a village club. We always spotted him by the tablet on his bat, as well as by his self-conscious bearing. I generally gave him a preliminary over of slowish and simple balls just to encourage him, then I would put in one of my fastest, and the chances were that the ball would be past his bat or through his wicket long before he saw it. “ I was asked to play for 22 of Thirsk against the A.E.E. in August, 1865. I didn’t shine as a batsman on that occasion, getting the ‘ spectacles,’ but I had four wickets—clean bowling Tom Hayward and Ned Stephenson. I said that the A.E.E. was a great team just then. In batting there were Daft, Hayward, Parr, Caesar, Anderson, and the two youngsters, Jack Smith and Billy Oscroft; whilst the bowlers were Jackson, Tinley, Tarrant, Willsher, and Wootton. Not that they all played in every match, though they sometimes did. Carpenter, a United All England man, also lent occasional help.