Cricket 1896

Nov. 26, 1896. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 467 THE GAME OF CRICKET. AS SEEN THROUGH THE SPECTACLES OP AN AMERICAN WHO UNDERSTANDS BASEBALL. Attempts have often been made, with more or less success, to describe the game of cricket as it might be understood by a Frenchman or a German, but it is so remarkably unusual to find in print the actual opinions of a foreigner, who avowedly knows nothing of the game, that no apology is needed for inserting in Cricket the following curious article by a writer in the Chicago Times Herald :— “ It is popularly supposed that gold in millionaire quantity is the surest open sesame to English society. A speedier means of becoming a persona grata to the Briton of high and low degree is the mastery of the artless game of cricket. One can hardly appreciate the Cambridge banquet to Prince Ranjitsinhji who has not seen the crowds at Lord’s, where the fashionable world goes for its cricket, and stopped on some common with the multi­ tude to witness some “ scrub ” eleven beating with willows the patient air. This young, lithe, well-appearing Indian prince is to-day scarcely less popular in England than the Prince of Wales him­ self, and excites even more enthusiasm wherever he appears. And all because he has outbatted anybody else at the ladylike sport which the English imagine to be a pre-eminently manly and gentle­ manlike game. “ Nothing, it seems to me, is so hopeful a sign of the self-civilizing possibilities of the British nation as the childlike simplicity of its devotion to this gentle pastime, which hardly may be said to be even sudorific. I have stood by the hour deriving my pleasure not so much from watching the players as from lending an attentive ear to the ecstasy of approba­ tion of those about me. To the unaccus­ tomed, non-English mind the game seems to be admirably adapted to the open-air needs of girls and little boys, and the things that evokethe clamorous enthusiasm of the natives are trivialities for the con­ tempt of the stranger. With a flat bat about as wide as a church door the bats­ man dabs at a ball cast by an overhand toss that is curiously enough termed ‘ bowling,’ and if the blow has urgency enough to get the ball some ten or fifteen yards from the batsman there is that wild and frantic outburst from the populace that one expects from baseball fiends when Casey drives the spheroid through the firmament and half a mile into the next county. A ‘ run,’ you know, con­ sists of a plunge between wickets, but if the batsman has pushed the ball (for it seems too ridiculous to say batted) to the very convenient boundaries the rules of this leisurely game credits the batsman with four runs without putting him to the exertion of traversing the crease. When a run of four of this still-life kind is made it is with the spectators as if a hero in war had conquered a new province, they are so mightily pleased. An Ameri­ can pitcher, keeping his feet within a narrow limit, sends his ball to the batter as if it had been sped from a cannon, so that the man at the bat has to begin striking when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand if he would hit it when it arrives. A bowler, on the contrary, feeis that he cannot give his ball momentum unless he himself takes a run of about fifty feet before giving it a fling, but after it has quitted his hand he might, with reason­ able celerity, overtake and recover the ball before it could reach the batsman. Therefore, one of the very funniest things about cricket is the sprinting of the bowler preparatory to bowling his ball on its deliberate and orderly bouncing course to the batsman.* “ An equally amusing peculiarity is the fact that a batsman may stand all day doing no more than interpose his bat between the ball and the wicket, never hitting the ball with enough force to make a run, and the public will show no abatement of delight. One day when I had watched this sort of thing to weari­ ness I said to the gentleman next to m e; ‘ Just what is the particular excitement now ? ’ He turned a look of mild com­ passion upon me as he answered : ‘ Why, it’s most interesting ! They can’t get him out.’ ‘ I should think not,’ I said, but my friend did not seem to perceive that the remark was other than apologetic. A great deal of stress is laid on the differing merits of various bowlers, but as it does not work to the discredit of a batsman whether he hits or misses a ball, as a run may be made as easily if the ball rolls out of reach by passing the man behind the wicket as if it were knocked a-field, and as it is one of the rare exploits when a bowler knocks down a wicket, it seems to me a bowler’s reputation is built upon a sandier foundation than even that of the batsman. The freedom from exertion, the consciousness that nothing so vulgar as muscle need be looked after, and the chivalric reflection that ladies might with no impropriety engage in cricket are three considerations that greatly endear the game to the English heart. Anyone, therefore, who is eager to enter fully and possessively into English life and society may trouble nothing whatever about other considerations if he will become an expert (as anyone may who will) in batting or bowling at cricket; then may he demand whatever his heart hungereth for and it will descend upon him like a glory, unless he be a Frenchman.” * It would be an interesting study to see the writer of the article standing up to the “ deliberate and orderly bouncing course ” of a ball bowled by Richardson or Jones.— E d . CRICKET IN BRITISH GUIANA. l i .. 77 29 and b BRITISH GUIANA v. JAMAICA.—Played at Georgetown on September 10 and 11. G diana . F. B. Gall Pearce .......... O. Weber, b Byng ... A. G. Bell, e Linton, b Healing.................34 A. Dare,not out......... 4G H.Vyfhuis, b Chandler 0 G. R. Garnett, c Byng, b Chandler ..........11 Extras.................19 B eitish M. K. North, c C. F. Poole, b Healing W. Weber, c E. A. Poole, b Byng... G. C. Learmond, c E. A. Poole,bPearce.. C. H. King, c Healing b Pearce ................ a A. B. Clarke, c E. A. Poole, b Byng......... 50 S. W . Sproston, b Pearce .................13 , 11 T otal ...317 J am aica . First innings. C. F. Poole, b Vyfhuis......... 1 C. H. Burton, c Sproston, b K ing............................... 0 b King... A. M. Byng, b Vyfhuis ... 13 b King... F. L. Pearce, lbw, b Vyfhuis 4 b Vyfhuis S. L. Owen, lbw, b Vyfhuis 4 b King... R. K. Healing, b King ... 13 b Vyfhuis . G. C. Linton, c and b King 11 b King... R. Honiball, c King, b Sproston ........................19 b King... . C. de Cordova, c O. Weber, b Sproston......... ..........13 C. R. Chandler, b Vyfhuis .. 5 Second innings. W. Weber, b Kingi................. 2 E. A. Poole, not out ........ 2 J. A. Mulling.3, b Vyfhuis... 0 Extras...................... 24 Total .............. 109 b Vyfhuis ... c O. Weber, Vyfhuis ... b King......... not out......... Extras ... 0 , 32 6 2 2 4 2 4 11 Total......... 163 BRITISH GUIANA v. JAMAICA (return) .—Played at Georgetown on September 12, 14, and 15. J am aica . First innings. A. M. Byng, c King, b Sproston .....................70 R. K. Healing, b King ... 0 R. Honiball, b K in g ........ 8 C. de Cordova, b King ... 3 F. L. Pearce, b K in g ........ 7 C. F. Poole, b King ...... 12 G. C. Linton, c Garnett, b Vyfhuis ........................ C. H. Burton, c Dare, b Vyfhuis ...................... 0 not out..............11 S. L. Owen, b Vyfhuis ... 2 cNorth,bVyfhuis 10 E. A. Poole, b W . Weber... 5 b King.................. 8 C. R. Chandler, not out ...20 c Sproston,bKing 5 J. A. Mullings, b King ... 8 bK ing.................. 5 Extras.................... 21 Extras ............. 7 Second innings. b Sproston........ b K ing.............. b Vyfhuis ........ b V yfhuis........ lbw, b Sproston.. b King............... 41 0 10 1 22 41 1 c Dare,b Sproston 12 Total .................158 Total .. ..173 B ritish G u ia x a . First innings. G. C. Learmond, c Byng, b Chandler ........................34 M. K. North, b Healing ... 12 O. Weber, b Healing.......... 0 W. Weber, b Chandler ... 0 A. G. Bell, run out ......... 0 A. B. Clarke, b Chandler ... 1 S. W . Sproston, not out ... 74 C.H.King, cHealing,b Byng 4 A. Dare, c Byng,b Chandler 13 G. R. Garnett, b Healing ... 1 F. B. Gall, lbw, b Healing... 0 H. Vyfhuis, c Mullings, b Chandler ........................ 3 Extras........................23 Total ...165 Second innings. c de Cordova, b Chandler......... 12 b Chandler......... b H ealing......... c B u r t o n , b Chandler......... cOwen,bCliandler b Chandler......... c de Cordova, b Byng................. cByng,bChandler b Chandler.......... not out................. lbw, b Healing... not out................. Extras .......... Total.......... PLAISTOW. Matches played, 34; won, 11; lost, 10; drawn, 13. BATTING AVERAGES. No. Times Most of not Total in an inns. out. runs. inns. Aver. W. L. Knowles ... ... 21 ... 3 ... 806 ...206 ... 44 77 E. H. R o ck .......... ... 7 ... 2 .. . 170 ... 48*.. . 34 P. R. Eai’nsliaw ... ... 19 ... 3 .. . 453 ... 78 .. . 28 31 A. E. Earnshaw ... ... 24 ... 7 ... 442 ... 67 ... 26 F. de L. Solbe ... 21 ... 3 ... 463 ... 82*.. . i!5’72 S. A. Smith.......... ... 22 ... 5 ... 111 ... 79 ... 24-17 T. E. Hodgson ... ... 28 ... 8 ... 437 ... 62*... 21*85 R. Stuart .......... ... 19 ... 5 ... 276 ... 62*.. . 19-75 C. Earnshaw ... 17 ... 2 . . 263 ... 72 .. . 17 53 W. Hodgson.......... ... 12 ... 1 .. . 160 ... 42 ... 14-54 A W. Bowley ... 9 ... 3 .. . 83 ... 20 ..., 13 83 L. Dashwood ... 14 ... 1 .. . 170 ... 36 ... 1H-07 P. L. Solbe .......... ... 9 ... 3 ... 73 ... 24*... 12'16 H. Batty Smith ... ... 10 ... 0 .. . 118 ... 40 .. 11-80 K. P. Brown......... ... 17 ... 0 .. . 200 ... 63 .. . 11-76 C. L. Gregory ... 12 ... 4 ... 89 ... 41*.. 11-12 M. Baker .......... ... 6 ... 0 .. . 55 ... 19 .... 9-16 S. C. W yatt......... ... 6 ... 1 .. . 35 ... 14 ..., 7 A. M. W. Woodard ... 7 ... 0 ... . 43 ... 15 ... 6'4 BOWLING AVERAGES. Overs. Mdns. Runs. Wkts. Aver. A. E. Earnshaw.. 485 ..157 .. . 967 ... 84 ... 11-51 W. L. Knowles ... 130 ... 41 .... 309 ... 21 ... 1471 S. A. Smith......... 50 ... 16 ... 145 ... 9 ..., 16-11 T. E. Hodgson ... 227 ... 61 .... 543 ... 32 ... 17-12 R. Stuart ......... 262 ..74 .. 621 ... 36 ... 17-25 C. L. Gregory ... 171 ... 53 .. . 443 ... 25 ... 17-71 L. Dashwood 249 ... 52 .. . 777 ... 42 ... 18-50 P. R. Earnshaw... Ill ... 31 .... 249 ... 8 ... 31-12 F. de L. Solbe ... 28 . .. 1 .. . 122 ... 3 ... 40-66 N E X T ISSUE, THURSDAY , DECEMBER 31.