Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’ s manly toil.” — Byron. wo. 435. v o l. xv. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1896. p r ic e ad. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. C. J. EADY. It was, perhaps, something in the nature of an experiment to include Mr. Eady in the Australian team, for, living as he does in Tasmania, his opportunities of playing in good cricket have been very few and far between. He had done great things for Tasmania v. Victoria on two occasions, and during the time that he was practising at Melbourne, he shewed conclusively that he was a born cricketer, who only wanted experience to be in the first rank. But it was an open question whether he would be equally good on English wickets. As things turned out, the selection committee were clearly justi­ fied in choosing him as one of the members of the team, and until he had rheumatism, after the Hampshire match (in which he took 4 wickets for 6 runs), he did very well indeed. It was noticeable, too, that he possessed the happy knack of making runs when other men failed. His innings of 42 in the second innings of the M.C.C. will not soon be forgotten. Then again, in the Midland Coun­ ties match he made 42 out of 150, when nearly all the team weie in difficulties, and at Manchester, against Northern Counties, he made 38 under similar circumstances. His bowling, too, was frequently of great service to his side. It is recognised by most cricketers that when he comes over again, he will, in all probability, be about the best all-round man in the team, for the experience which he has gained this season will not be thrown away. Mr. Eady made 187 out of a total of 250 in one of the North v. South matches; this is the highest individual score ever made in them. He also holds the record in Australasia for making a hundred in each innings against Victoria, which, in an important match, has never been done by anybody else in Australasia. It seems almost a pity that with his great height and strength Mr. Eady should generally elect to play a very steady game ; he might be a big hitter without losing his powers of defence. In Tasmania cricket seems to be rather an exotic, and there are only a very few clubs. “ There are three in Hobart,” said Mr. Eady, “ and three in Launces­ ton, which is the smaller town. A few matches are played in country districts, but Tasmania is so hilly that it is difficult to get grounds. They play cricket at Zeeham, where the mines are. The North v. South matches are played at Christmas and Easier ; to all intents .11 I purposes tbe matches are between Hobart (South) and Launceston. All the six clubs in the two towns have turf wickets, but matting is used in the country. I remember once playing at a place called Hamilton, for a mixed team from all the Hobart clubs against a Twenty-two. The council clerk of the village—I suppose you would call him a registrar—was anxious to stand as umpire, aud as nobody objected (for we had gone out simply for the pleasure of the trip, not for serious cricket), he took up his position in triumph. After a little while he began to get tired of watching every ball that was bowled, and what with talking to the field and one thing and another, he found so little time to pay attention to the game that we determined to have some fun with him. A bowler with a big leg break had to take the next over, and we agreed that he was to pitch a certain ball very wide to leg, and that we were all to appeal. When the particular ball came, the batsman made a wild swipe at it, but missed ; so we all yelled out, ‘ How’s that P ’ Atthis precise moment the umpire was cleaning his pipe with his back towards the batsman; in alarm at the shout he hastily turned round and said, ‘ Eh—what’s that ? Was that for a catch ? Oh, well it must be out, or there would’nt have been such a shout’.” “ Do you think that Tas­ manian cricket is at a stand­ still ? ” “ No, I think it is improv­ ing. It is true that there does not seem any possibility of a great increase in the interest taken in the game, but the mere fact of playing Victoria every year does a vast amount of good to us. As a member of the committee I have always tried to get as many foreign teams as possible to visit us, for in that way alone can we hope to improve our cricket. There are a lot of school boys who ought to be coming on so n , MR. C. J. EADY. From a Photograph by R. W. Tnomas, oheapsile, London, E.C.\