Cricket 1896

130 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay ] 4, 159(5.. secretary. We began witli about eight members, and now there are over 500. This may seem a large number, but there are four battalions in the 60 ih and four in the Rifle Brigade. The club is under the patronage of Their R .H .’s the Pjince of Wales, Duke of Connaught and Duke of Cambiidge.” “ Where is the club ground ? ” “ Close by the Old St. Cross Hospi a), about a mile from Winchester. It is very picturesque and a splendid ground to make runs on. We have an annual cricket week and entertain the Count generally. The teams which oppose during this week are generally such a? I Zingari, the Free Foresters, the Royal Artillery and the R oyal Eugineers, and the last two days, a match between the Past and Present Membeis is played.” “ And have you played much in other parts of Hampshire F” “ I have played on most of the club grounds I should think. I remember see­ ing iu Hampshire a ball hit up a drainpipe. We had to -compromise matters and call it “ lost ball,” for it would have taken an army of people to get the drain pipe out. I was batting in the Isle of W ight, at Shatililin, against a professional bowlei named Fowler, who gave me a shoot* i which beat me. There was a photo­ grapher on the ground who made a snap­ shot at the moment w hin I was looking down at my bat to see where the hole was through which the ball must have gone. Ia the photograph, which is hung up in t ’le Green Jackets’ pavilion, you can see the ball almost in long-stop’s hands and the wicket broken. It is seldom that such a photograph can be taken.” “ But were instantaneous photographs taken in the days of long-stops ? ” “ This was not in the old days of long- stops, but in country places it is cus­ tomary, even row , to have a long-stop when the wicket keeper is not up to much. Oi.ce at Lord’s in the old days, I saw u ball returned to the wicket-keepei sharply from long-stop before the bail; fell cff. The batsman appealed, but ihe umpire said that he was bow led; nothing else had touched the wicktt, and ibere was absolutely no wind.” “ H ow long were you in Canada ? ” “ I was in Canada for five years, and Nova Scotia for four, between 1868 and 1878, and I always look back with extreme pleasure on those days, for 1 met with the greatest possible kindness, and made many friends. I possess man} souvenirs of my cricket there and in America. Amongst them is a bat about a liuudred years old, which belonged to old Barber, the father of Canadian cricket. I have also, kept b y him, a score-sheet t f a match between the Old Country and Canada, on which the plainest and lmst amusing criticisms are written of even player, and of almost every point of the game. I cannot remember a match which was spoiled by disputes or bad temper. I alwajs e n jo je l matches there, and 1 also enjoyed the matches in the United Slates.” Was that when you took a military . teo m 11n re P” •* Vic ! AVo called ourttlvos the Knickerbockers. W e went by way of Saratoga and up the Hudson. Oar poet wa3 greatly delighted with the beauties of Saratoga, and he made a verse upon it, for which we threatened him all sorts of penalties. It ran as follows, as far as I can remember :— *Ye ci'iclcoters in England, who play at homo at ease, Ye little know the beauties your loving brother sees ; For the belles of Saratoga ye could lay ye down and die, lw ye hut a foot or ankle, or the twinkling , of an eye ! ’ ” 1 Ly did you call yourselves the Knickerbockers ? ” “ After the old Knickerbocker Club in England, which was the Military Cricket Club of former years, and of which I was honorary secretary for some time. Before the New York match, the Knicker­ bockers paraded in their uniform, the <11 club colours—stockings of red and black; white flannel knickerbockers and jackets. The effect produced b y this costume was enhanced by a puggaree on large straw hats. In our uniform we marched down Broadway, to the great delight of a lu g e crowd, who were really very enthusiastic about the match. After paying a visit to a photographer, and imbibing numerous cocktails, we were invited to a cold supper b y the' New York Cricket Club, and much amusement was caused by a sort of auction, in which the captains of the elevens put their opponents up in the way in which betting on horses is done in India. As each man was put up, the opprsing side bid for him with more or less keenness according ts to whether they thought he was likely to make the highest score in the match. For the money was to be pooled, and given to the man who had bought the highest scorer. The competition was, in some cases, very close, and the pool was considerable. There was also a lot of betting on the result of the game. It was the first and last time that I ever played cricket for money— it spoils the game.” “ D o you remember who made the highest score ?” “ Well, I happened to make it myself in the second innings. Just then I was in good form, and played two not-out innings out of three during the tour, viz., 42 and 26 not out and 31. In connection with the New Y ork match, I [remember chat after lunch, when play began, our principal bowler, on whom we relied almost entirely, was missing. W e hunteil about for him, and at last found him com­ fortably seated in an upper room in the pavilion between two New Yorkers drinking champagne out of goblets. We led him off sadly. When put on to bowl lie bowled three wides in succession, and if ter a lamentable over we had to take him off. With the thermometer at 104 in rhe shade, champagne is a little heating. The grounds were not nearly as good in America then as they are now, but the people were very enthusiastic over the game. We were feted everywhere. 1 ‘ What were the grounds like in Canada when you first went there ? ” “ I shall never forget my first sight of a Canadian cricket ground. Ic was in the early spring and before me lay what looked exactly like a ploughed field. I asked in alarm ‘ Is this what you call a cricket ground P’ I was assured that it would be all right in the summer; that the frost was the cause of the furrow s; and that when the roller was put on, it would flatten everything down beautifully. This seemed hard to believe, and I ’ m afraid I was sceptical. Nevertheless, it turned outjthat the frost really does good rather than harm b y opening up the ground, which is covered in summer with a thick crop of grass.” “ Did you play against the Canadian Gentlemen when they visited England on tour ? ” “ Y ts, I played once against them for the United Service, at Portsmouth, in 18S7, and for the Gentlemen of Hamp­ shire at Southampton. We made a lot of runs against them in the first match, but they made a draw of it. Allan made 24 a n l 86 for them, and Henry, G6. For us, Major Bethune scored a hundred, and most of the team got 20 or 30. My own score was 30. I was extremely glad during the visit of the team to Portsmouth, thanks to the local assistance I received from the naval and military authorises and others, to have the opportunity in some small way of repaying the very great kindness which had been shown to me by the Canadians during my residence in North America. On the United Service ground, I have also played against the Parsees and the Philadelphians.” Colonel Wallace has also played cricket in Malta and Calcutta. “ After I returned to England from Calcutta,” he said “ I quite lost my form for a time, and I hardly know of a man whose stay in India has not mined his next season’s cricket in England. There is something about the light which alters a man’s play. [ heard the same thing said by Vernon after his return from a cricket tour in In lia. Cricket at Malta used to be played on the Barrack Parade at Florian on the loose gravel; while I was quartered there, I set to. w oik to make a cement pitch. We cut two trenches at a distance .;f 22 yards and filled them up with soft clay in which the stumps were placed. The crease was marked with burnt cork. After this the batting was exceedingly good, but the outfielding was shockingly b a d ; you were as likely as not to get h . pebble in the eye j ust as you were going to pick up the ball, which sometimes went off at right angles. It was easy to get a seven, all run out, on the Parade ground.” The Colonel was iu the Rugby School eleven, but although he was chosen to play at Lord’s against Marlborough he was unable to take his place in the team owing to family reasons. “ The captain of Rugby at that time was Sandford, now the Archdeacon of Exeter, who was a first-rate wicket-keeper, and especially good at the old fashioned stroke of makiog runs under his leg. He was an excellent bat and a great captain. He set an ex­ ample in fielding which he insist; d on being followed. Iu tact if a buy would not or