Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. no. 4 3 4 . v o l . xv. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1896. p b i c e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. HUGH TRUMBLE. During his first two visits to England with Australian teams—in 1890and 1893— Mr. Trumble gainedthe reputation of being a good medium-paced bowler who used his head, a sound bat, and a brilliant field. There was no question of comparing him with the five or six great bowlers whom Australia had produced. But his perfor­ mances this year, despite the fact that the wickets have generally been in favour of batsmen, show conclusively that he has so vastly im­ proved since his last visit, that he must be classed with the great bowlers before him —Messrs. Spofforth, Boyle, Palmer, Turner and Ferris. He has played through the tour with very few rests, nearly always making his presence very plainly felt. He still fields as well as ever at slip, but, though he still bats well, he is a bowler above everything. Like the Uyttle- tons, and Mitchells, and Walkers, the Trumbles are all cricketers. “ I have three brothers,” said Mr. Trumble, “ who are all good cricketers, although my brother Harry, who is now sugar planting iu North Queensland, has given up the game. I think he would have been the best of us at cricket if he had stuck to it ; in fact, we hoped that he was going to be a second Blackham. Another brother, J. W ., who came over here in 1886 with the Australian team, still plays well. Tom is only a youngster—that is to say he is about 22—but he shows great promise; like J. W., he can both bat and bowl. When we were boys, we used to think that the four of us could play any eleven other boys in the village, but no match ever came off. My father used to play in the old days of Victorian cricket. He was a South of Ireland man, but I don’t think any of the family played cricket before him. My mother was a Scotchwoman.” “ How did you develop your style of bowling ? ” “ It came natural [to me. At least, as far as I can remember, I always bowled with exactly the same action when I played for Kew. In my early days I was more fond of batting than bowling, but I think now that I like bowling best. A man has to sacrifice one for the other—Or rather nature seems to do it for him. I prefer to bowl on English wickets, because I can make the ball break about more ; I don’t think I have ever come across a wicket in England cn which I couldn’t turn a ball slightly. In Australia it is different, for they begin preparing a wicket a very long time in advance, and so hard is it when the match begins that you have to resort to all sorts of dodges to shift a good batsman. Jack Blackham, who was in the Melbourne club with me, always took a great interest in me aud gave me many valuable hints in bowling when I first began. If he discovered any weakness in a man’s batting—he was very quick to discover this—he advised me what to do to get him out. In this way I soon picked up a good many ideas. Unfortunately I have found that many young players in Australia now-a- days object to recfiving hints, .i.n(l think that a man who gives them any is trying to show off. I have often given a quiet hint which I thought might be useful, and I have been so plainly shown by the bowler that he thought he knew a good deal more about it than I, that I have let him go on making the same mis­ takes without troubling him further.” It has often been noticed that the Australians during this tour have placod more men on the leg side than is customary in England. “ I have not studied very deeply the question of placing the field,” said Mr. Trumble, “ but we are all ‘ off’ bowlers, and we find that for every Eagli li D a tsm who is string on the off, three cr four are strong on the on. They are, therefore, inclined to pull the ball round. On good wickets I generally have three men on the on side— short leg, mid on, and long field; on dead wickets an extra man — perhaps two extra men, silly mid on and fine leg, to a man like Ranjitsinhji. I think, t o o , that we have a bigger break than Englishmen, and that we go more than they do for the wicket.” “ Where did you learn your cricket ? ” “ It must have been inherited, for I was always very fond of the game, and always had some sort of an idea of play­ ing. I belonged, when I was a youngster,