Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. wo. 429. v o l . x v . T H U E S D A Y , J U L Y 3 0 , 1 8 9 6 . p b i c b 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. GEORGE LOHMANN. Two or three years ago, Maurice Read, when asked by an interviewer on what sort of a wicket Lohmann (who was then absent in South Africa) would be most missed by Surrey, re­ plied “ I should say a sticky one, although that may seem strange. But the fact is that Lohmann is extraordi­ nary on a sticky wicket, and when a few runs turn the scale, a bowler like him makes all the difference. He never bowls for his average, and often when, on good wickets, we could not get men out, he has said to me ‘ Look out, I ’m not going to bowl at the sticks n ow ; ’ and then he would send in any­ thing in order to get men to hit.” By the side of this testimony, from one who, from his position in the long field, had been obliged for years to very carefully study Lohmann’s bowl­ ing, may be placed that of one of the Surrey bowler’s oldest oppo­ nents — Mr. Stanley Scott. “ He seems to me to be more fertile of resource than any man I ever played against. . . After being hit, he will smile and give you another to hit. Often he used to say to me ‘ When are you going to have another hit f ’ al­ though he knew as well as I did that it entirely depended on him. He knew one’s favourite ball, and one had it lots of times—gener­ ally once too often.” In the remarks of these two famous players maybe found the key to the vast success which Lohmann has enjoyedforyears—he bowls for hisside and never for his average, and he knows the right ball to give. His great skill with the ball has somewhat overshadowed his skill as a batsman, but it must not be forgotten that even if he had never taken a wicket for Surrey in the course of his long career, he would have deserved a place in the team through all these years GEOROE LOIIMAXS From a Photo by Brown and Gradidge , Andovei for his batting and fielding1 a!on’ . In fielding, he is unsurpassed. Truly, it may be said that of all the famous men who have played for Surrey, none has been more deserving of a splendid benefit than Lohmann, whose great performances are so many that a book might be written about them. Lohmann is one of those men tz whom curious and interesting experiences seem to come as a matter of course. Perhaps the most curious—it may almost be described as heart-breaking—experience that he ever met with occurred when he was playing in a village match in Lancashire. “ We played Lanca­ shire,” he said, “ at Manchester in 1888—a very wet summer—and the match was finished in one day. I received several telegrams asking me to play on the Satur­ day at Dunkenfield in a very keen local match, and inquiring what were my terms; and as I was by no means anxious to play, I asked what I thought were absolutely prohibitive terms, name­ ly, £10. The terms were accepted, and I went. I changed in a tiny pav­ ilion, and went out to field, as we had lost the toss. I had to begin the bowling. My first ball was hit straight out of the ground for six, and in a short time 60 went up with no wicket down. I suggested to the local captain that he had better take me off, but he said that if he took me off the spectators, who kept pouring into the ground, would want their money back, and would see that they got it, too. So I continued to bowl. By and bye, I had got one wicket for 92, and the score was about 190. Then the captain took me off, but I had to go on again, and took another wicket. In the end, I had two wickets for about 120 runs. Our side went in. I thought to myself, ‘ Now, you really must do