Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. no. 4 2 1 . v o l . x v . THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 189 6 . p b ic e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. S. APTED. In this season of hard, wickets, when so many teams have been disposed of for hardly any runs, the experience of the superintendent groundman of the Oval, where runs have been freely obtained, will be of great interest to cricketers. Apted played a lot of cricket for clubs before he under­ took his present work, and as a bowler he often met with success. Among his best performances were 5 wickets for 5 runs against West Kent for Shoreham, and 6 for 13 for West Ken­ sington v. I. Zingari; he also helped to dispose of Shooter’s Hill twice for 36 runs, his share of the wickets being 17. He has played for Chislehurst, Bromley, the Borough Hop Club, and Southwark Park, for whom Abel also played frequently in his early days. “ What are your earliest recollections of cricket? ” “ As a youngster I used to longstop at Reigate—not on the present ground but the Heath—to Caffyn when he was practising. There were no nets down there. My greatest treat was to be allowed to bat for a few minutes at the end of the practice. In after years I was in the service of some hop merchants who were great upholders of cricket. During the winter we were allowed to practice in the warehouse, and when I played for the Surrey Colts in 1867, the year in which Dick Humphrey made his first appearance, I had had no other practice except in the warehouse. I believe that my highest score was 98, in a match in which Abel made 97. We were in together, and out within a ball or two of each other. Once when I was playing for the Borough Hop Club in Victoria Park, Jack Hughes, the Hertfordshire professional, was bowling. I was in the long field, and when a hitter came in Jack said to me, ‘ Look out there, Sam, he’11bite.’ He did; but the ball went into a tree, and while I was waiting under it to make a catch, the ball dropped on my mouth and broke three of my teeth. I remember that when Jack came up he said, not seeing the ball anywhere about, that I must have swallowed it.” “ What was your first engagement ? ” “ At Whitehaven, where I stayed for two years—1871 and 1872, I believe. Then I went to Downside College, Bath, in the fol­ lowing year. Sir T. C. O’Brien was a boy at the school while I was there, and I think I put about the first cricket bat he ever had into his hands. He showed great promise, although he was very young, and when he liked to try he was a splendid field. I re­ member a match between Masters and Boys, in which he caught me out magnificently (I was playing for the Masters) with the left- hand in the long field after a long run. After being at Downside College for one year I went to Bickley Park in 1874, and was there until 1888 when I came to the Oval.” “ Did you play for Bickley Park at nil ? ” “ Only once. At that time the club did not play pro­ fessionals at all or against them, but I think this has been altered of late years. There were some very good amateurs in the club, includ­ ing Mr. W . H. Patterson, Mr. A. J. Thornton, Mr. Chinnery, Mr. W. B. Pattis- son, Mr. R. S. Jones, Mr. W . W . Rashleigh, and his cousin, the Rev. W . Rash­ leigh, Mr. J. N. Tonge, and Mr. H. E. Bouch. When I went to Bickley Park, only about 40 yards square was kept mown in the centre of the ground, and the ball was sometimes lost in rabbit holes. I gradually filled these up, and in the end we had about 7 acres of as good playing turf as you could wish to see.” “ No doubt you acted as umpire to the Bickley Park cricket club ? ” “ Yes, and some funny things happened. Once the Band of Brothers were batting against us. The Rev. R. T. Thornton was bowling, when we suddenly heard a buzzing noise over our heads. All at once a swarm of bees came down at the bowler’s end, and settled on the stumps and around them. Of course, Mr. Thornton and the batsman and I fled for our lives. This was all the more odd when you come to think that the Band of Brothers are often called the B.B.’s. On another occasion Mr. Renny Tailyour was batting against us. He hit the ball hard, and it went into the hands of Mr. W. B. Pattisson at the wicket, who called out ‘ How’s that ? ’ Seeing the ball caught, as I thought, I said ‘ Out; ’ but, in making the stroke, Mr. Tailyour fell across the wicket, and, to my surprise, I saw the ball on the ground. Mr. Pattisson, of course, had asked when the ball