Cricket 1896

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. so. 4 1 3 . v o l. xv. THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1896. p r i c e 2 a. H . CARPEN TER . If there is anything in heredity the names of Hayward and Carpenter ought never to be lost to the cricket world any more than those of Grace, Daft, Lilly- white, or of any of the great players through the ages. Fortunately, the two grand cricketers, who with Tarrant mainly conduced to bring Cambridgeshire, for a time, into the very front of the counties, have both worthy representatives in the cricket of to-day. Young Tom Hay­ ward, of Surrey, as is gene­ rally known, is a son of Dan, and a nephew of the graceful, all - round cricketer whose C h ristia n name he bears. But Bobert Carpenter, the sterling batsman of the later fifties and early sixties is directly represented in the promising young player whom Essex has been able to claim a s its own. Born at Cambridge, on July 12th, 1869, H. Carpenter first threw in his lot with Essex, gome nine or ten years ago. His name, at all events, appears first in the Essex eleven in 1888, by which time he would have completed the probationary period of two years necessary to qualify by residence. His experience of county cricket that year was very small, for he only had one innings. His score of thirty-four in his opening match was as it happened his best record for some time. His next performance of any merit was a well-played 41 against Surrey but that was not until 1890. Eight inn­ ings represented the extent of his batting for Essex in 1889 as in 1890. The experience he had had meanwhile had not been without its good effect. That to some extent the improvement in his average in 1890 was due to the score against Surrey already mentioned may be admitted. Still even then he had begun to attract attention as a player of considerable promise. By this time E^sex had commenced to set its house in order with a view to a higher place in county cricket. The result was perceptible in a considerably extended programme. The season of 1891 gave the Essex eleven a great increase of work, and Carpenter’s record for the year shows twenty-one innings as against eight in 1889 and 1890. That year he did comparatively little and the next score of any real account to his credit was in 1892. Curiously his success was once more against the Surrey bowlers, on whom he performed to the tune of 52 and 24 making 76 for the match. His average had meanwhile increased to over eighteen for twenty-three innings, which was the extent of his cricket for Essex in 1892. Much about the same result attended him in 1893, the year by the way in which he first secured an engagement as ground bowler at Lord. As luck would have it he made an excellent debut for the Mary- lebone Club in the shape of two innings of 34 and 45 against Derby­ shire. This good show, one would have thought, would have given him plenty of opportunities in the more im­ portant matches played by M.C.C. The ground staff at Lords, it is true, is very numerous, and it certainly cannot be laid to the charge of the authorities that they are partial. Anyhow, Carpenter’s appearances in first - class cricket, under the auspices of M.C.C., were very few in 1894 as well as in 1895, amounting to three innings in the former, and only two in the latter year. At the same time he was doing very fairly well for his county. Sixty, not out, against Oxford University, was his best score in 1894, although, perhaps, in point of quality, his really best performances were his 49 against Warwickshire and 35 against Surrey. Increasing confidence was telling its natural tale on his cricket, and last season saw him fairly established as one of the most promising of the'younger order of professional cricketers. The Surrey bowling has singularly been generally to his taste. It was very much so last sea­ son, as may be judged by the fact that he made 143 at the Oval, and 56 at Leyton. But his successes in 189o were not confined to one particular county. On the contrary, he must have scored consistently well throughout the season to be able to obtain, as he did, an aggregate of over a thousand runs in first-class cricket, a record attained by onlytwenty-seven other batsmen. That he was successful against every kind of H. CARPENTER.