Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. n o . 43 0 . v o l . x v . THUKSDAY, AUGUST 6 , 1 8 9 6 . f b i c e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. PRINCE CHRISTIAN VICTOR. If it had not been that one of the best wicket-keepers of modern times, Mr. H. Philipson, was at Oxford during the time that Prince Christian Victor was in residence at Magdalen College, the Prince would undoubtedly have gained his “ blue,” for he was a wicket-keeper of very great promise, and was, in addition, a batsman who only wanted to play regularly in good cricket to become first- class. He was captain of the Wellington College eleven and of the Royal Military College eleven at Sandhurst, to which he went after leaving Oxford; and if circumstances had permitted, hemight easily have become a great cricketer. But his duties as an officer called him away to India, and, moreover, he had to give up wicket-keeping, so that he was obliged to content him­ self with playing Army and club cricket, in which he has met with very great succets. He has scored a large number of hundreds, his highest inn­ ings being 230 in a house match at Wellington. It will be remembered that he accompanied the Expedition to Ashanti last year, and although it was not his for­ tune to see any fighting, he showed by his coolness and presence of mind that he is an officer who may be relied on in times of danger. In­ deed, he has been several times on active service in India, being mentioned in despatches, and having the frontier medal and two clasps. He did not greatly care for football, but, nevertheless, he was one of the famous T.M.F.’s— Terrible Magdalen Forwards—as they were christened by Mr. Percy Simpson, the Oxford Blue, and as he is very strongly built, he was able to render good service to his side,i Itwasinl890that Prince ChristianVictor went with his regiment to India, where he made alot of runs, and managed the Murree C.C., up in the hills, near R w a l Pindi. “ Our cricket ground at Murree,” he said, “ was on the top of a hill, and when a hit to the boundary was made, the ball used to go several hundred feet down the ‘ Khud’ as it is called; so in order not to stop the game, eich umpire had an PiilNOE CHRISTIAN VICTjR. From a Photograph ly^Messrs. Bassano, London. extra ball in his pocket, and as soon as one was hit away, we used to go on with another, while a coolie fetched the one that we had been playing with. Our cricket there was some of the pleasantest I have ever played. Poor Farmer, who has just died in Egypt, up the Nile, was one of our side, and a very good player he was too.” In his first year in India, in 1893, the Prince had an average of 68, while he four times made over a hundi'ed. His best innings was 205. “ At tha*; time.” he said, “ it wasgenerally thought, that nobody had ever scored 200 in India, and so, as soon as I had made just over this number, I got out purposely, in order to win the c a (, h , I was not tired, and could have gone on very easily. Afterwards, we found out that an innings of 217 had previously been played in India, which was disappoint­ ing. I believe, however, that both scores have been beaten since then. In 1892 I did not play at all, for I was at a place where there was no cricket. In 1894 I came home.” “ When vou began to play again in England, did you find, like most other cricketers who have been in India, that you had apparently lost your game ? ” “ Yes. I could not under­ stand it at all — I never seemed able to do right, and as far as I remember, I only once made more than 70. The light seemed different—in India it is so very bright. But last year I was all right again, and made a great many runs, chiefly for my club, the Green Jackets, at Winchester, and also at Dover. I haven’t made a duck since about the middle of 1894, though I must have played 50 or 60 innings.” “ You did not get a chance of playing cricket while you were in Ashanti ? ” “ No. We were going to get up a match at Coomassie, but after a good deal of talk about it, we came to the con­ clusion that we might as well abandon any idea of playing, chiefly because we had no bats, and, what was of still more importance, no ball.” “ Had you played much before you went to Wellington ? ” “ I began when I was quite a child. At Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, we had