Cricket 1896

178 CRICKET: A WEEKLY' KECOilD OF THE GAME. J une 4, lfcs'jG. came to him, malting sure of the catch. I immediately said ‘ Not out; ’ and when a gentleman who was playing asked me how I could give a man out and then reverse the decision, 1 said that I did it under ‘ the rule of fair,’ to which, of course, no one objected, for they all played cricket for the love of the game. In umpiring one often has curious experiences.” “ Can you remember any others?” “ Once when the Rev. R. T. Thornton was batting, he ran out a long way, as he often did, to meet Mr. Roller’s bowling. Mr. Roller suddenly stopped and threw the ball at the wicket. I no-balled him, and when he asked why I had done so, I said it was for throwing. But he said, ‘ I didn’t intend to bowl. Suppose I had thrown him out. What then ? ’ I said, ‘ I don’t know—ask the umpire at the other end.’ In another match, Mr. W . B.Pattisson played a ball into his pad and got it out with the handle of his bat, in spite of the attentions of the wicket keeper. I was asked, ‘ How was that for obstructing the field? ’ but I said, ‘ Not out, because he has only used legitimate means to get rid of the ball.’ Once when I was bowling the batsman was wearing a hat with long streamers. In making a stroke he knocked off one of the bails with the streamers, and I, of course, appealed. The umpire gave him out, hit wicket, but the batsman didn’t like it ” “ When did you first begin to learn how to look after cricket grounds ? ’ ’ “ My first experience was at the Oval, under old George Street, brother of Jim, and uncle to the Street who is now in the Surrey eleven. He was a splendid ground man, and all that I really know I learned from him. There is a good deal to learn in managing a ground, and every ground has to be treated in a different way if you want to make the best of it.” ‘ ‘ What are the chief difficulties you have to contend with in getting the Oval into good order ? ” “ We very rarely get the ground at all dry during the winter, and it is very difficult to work it. This season, after the mild winter, there was a tremendous lot of top growth, which left the bottom plant weaker than it ought to be. It has bee a a very anxious season, but so far the wickets have, I am thankful to say, been very good. The worst of it is, that at the time of the year when one could put the big roller on with advantage, it is impossible to do so because the horses’ feet would sink in despite their coverings. I often wish that some electrician would invent a way of applying electricity to heavy rollers, and it seems to me that it would not be very difficult to do this. Three or four years ago, when there was an outcry about our wickets, I don’t think they were as bad as was supposed, for a lot of runs were made on them. But there had been no rain until June, and the turf, which had been relaid, did not grow well together. Moreover, we had taken out nine inches of the old soil, and the new soil did not at once settle down. Of course, things happen now and then which make a groundman’s life a misery to him for the time being. In the Notts Bank Holiday match in 1889 play was stopped by a thunderstorm. I had gone to the Players’ room for a few minutes, when I was hurriedly called out to find that two men had managed to elude all the police, and were pulling up the stumps. You can imagine my state of mind when I saw this. Fortunately, it turned out that their proceedings were only the result of a bet that they would pull up the stumps, and no harm was done to the pitch. There were about 40,000 people on the ground, and there was a good deal of excite­ ment.” “ What system do you follow in your treatment of the ground?” “ In a dry season it is watered all over every night, and last year we had to do this almost without ceasing. There were two gangs who worked right through the night in turns from six to six. As for the wickets they are always flooded, by using the hose without a spreader; if they are watered with the spreader you may miss spots, and then the result is fatal. But we never water or prepare wickets w'hen the sun is strong. I think that no greater mistake is possible than to water in the middle of a hot day. In dry weather I think that a wicket prepared, say for a Monday, should not be watered later than the previous Friday night, when there should be a thorough soaking. Great care is sometimes wanted in arranging as to how much rolling it should have, for it is possible to give a wicket too much rolling. In dry weather after a good rolling with the heavy roller it is as well to use a light roller, just to keep the ground smooth and free of wormcasts; otherwise there is a chance that the wicket may break up. “ What other things are there to be done ? ” “ There is always something to be done— repairing, practice wickets to be looked after, re-laying parts of the ground, where owing to water underneath the turf has got out of level. Then there is the necessity of keeping the ground free from weeds. As far as I can make out, on most country grounds they leave weeding (if they weed at all) until the autumn, by which time the weeds have had all the summer for growth and for seeding. This of course means that the ground is filled with a nice crop of weeds the next year. My plan is to go for them directly they shew in the spring, so that they have no chance of living to seed. I always carry an oyster knife about, and whenever I bee a weed I take it up at once. In the autumn there is top dressing to be done. For some years we have used, for the centre of the ground, marl from Radcliffe, in Nottinghamshire, and this has proved a very great success. After it has been sifted very fine, it is mixed in the proportion of one bushel of marl to three of well bifted loam. This mixture is put over the ground with very great care, so as just to make a covering. When this is washed in, another dressing is put down, and still another after this. The effect is that the top is prevented from breaking and crumbling, and there are no dusty wickets. In the spring we use Carter’s special manure, which has done a great deal of good.” “ Can you give any advice to ground men in country districts ? ” “ I don’t like to offer advice at all. But I have often noticed that in country places they leavethe rolling and preparing the wicket until the evening, when the roller has been out in a broiling sun ; the result is that the ground is all broken up. And I don’ t think that the wickets should ever be rolled after the sun has once got on them. In many small clubs the groundmen don’t .get a fair chance of making good wickets. They are dismissed as soon as the cricket season ends; in fact, often on the very day follow­ ing the last match. The result is that the ground is never thoroughly repaired after the season’s wear ; no manure or dressing is put on. Then in the spring the groundman is taken on again about a week before the season begins, and is expected to get the ground in good order for the first match in ten days or so. Take a season like this for instance. With a winter’ s growth of about six inches of grass, and a mowing machine stored away without being repaired, and what chance has a man ?^ I think that if more clubs or their members would give the man a small wage during the winter, so that he could bush harrow, repair, and roll, they would not regret their expenditure. Very many clubs do this already, and besides the improvement in their ground, they have the pleasure of knowing that their ground man, unlike so many others, has not been out of work all the winter.’’ “ You are a believer in a light roller ? ” “ I think a light roller may often be used with very great advantage in preparing wickets. After the Middlesex match at the Oval two years ago, when Mr. R. S. Lucas and Jim Phillips made their great stand for the eighth wicket, Jim had a talk with me about the way wickets were prepared in Australia. He said that one important thing was that they used a roller about 2 feet 6 inches wide, about 2 feet high, and weighing about 2 tons. ‘ This,’ he said, ‘ you can always move about easily, and you can turn it about and get all the bumps down ’ I was proud of my wicket in this match, and said so,buthetoldmethatthough it wasa pretty good wicket for England, they could go one better in Australia. Then I told him that if he would guarantee us the same weather as they had in Australia, I would guarantee the same sort of wickets. However, I thought a good deal over this talk with Jim, and the upshot was that the committee allowed me to fill with concrete a hand roller which we already had. This made it about a ton in weight, and I find it almost perfect for preparing wickets. I have made all our wickets with it this season, and if you look at the scores made on them, I don’t think you will find the results bad. The ground men have christened this roller the “ Dumpling,” and one day, after they had been at work with it a long time, I was amused to see that in their messroom they had written up the following notice, signed with their names : ‘ D u m p l in g R e c o r d 6^ hours.” ‘ ‘ How many wickets do you have to make in a season? ” “ Well, this year at the Oval there are thirteen county matches: Gentlemen v. Players, Oxford University, six club and ground matches, three Australian matches, and eight or nine second eleven matches. Besides this, there are eight or nine colts matches, and very often as soon as a county match has ended on a Saturday two club matches begin. Then there are at least a dozen extra matches which are not on the card. The Surrey Second Eleven is so good now that the players naturally like to have the wicket as near the centre of the ground as possible, and it is difficult to work the wickets in. We start in the early matches at the sides, and gradually work towards the middle. This sometimes gives rise to curious remarks ; for example, a short time ago I heard two gentlemen talk­ ing about the wicket, and one of them said that he could not understand why I should go from one extreme end of the ground to the other in making wickets forsuccessive matches. And no doubt, unless the reason for so doing is known, it must appear odd sometimes.” “ Do you do any work on the ground on Sundays ? ” ‘ ‘ Oi course we do. I have at different times been asked by three clergymen—all cricketers, one of them a bishop - about Sunday work, and they all said that, as cricket was the national game, they did not see any harm in it. Besides, you couldn’t possibly let*the wickets alone all the day.” W. A. B e t t e s w o r t h .