Cricket 1897

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. N o . 4 4 9 . v o l . X V I . THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1897. p r i c e aa. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. P. H . FO LE Y . The doings of the first-class counties so monopolise the attention of the cricket world that the Minor Counties’ Association is in danger of being overlooked. Never­ theless it is doing an excellent work, and one of these days it may produce a c mnty which is able to take its place with credit among the fortu­ nate teams of to-day. It is well-known that it was chiefly owing to the energy and de­ termination of Mr. Foley that the Minor Counties, instead of abandoning the struggle, when the present scheme of first-class counties left them quite in the cold, suddenly began to bestir themselves, and formed an association which is increasing in power year by year. Mr. Foley was bom in Middlesex, and was at Eton and Oxford. He is a cousin of C. P. Foley, the Middlesex cricketer, and of C. W. Foley, the Cambridge stumper, who is now in busi­ ness at Calcutta. Afterwards he played a lot of local cricket and has had the management of numerom M.C.C. teams. He occasionally plays for Worcestershire, of which county, as well as the Minor Counties’ Association, he is honorary secretary. Worces­ tershire has a lot to thank him for. When Leicestershire, War­ wickshire, Hampshire and Essex were admitted into the ranks of the first - class counties, it was seen that there was, to all intents and pur­ poses, absolutely no chance of getting matches with any of the re­ arranged first-class counties. “ Whether they were powerful or not,” said Mr. Foley, “ they would not be able to play us, and the only thing which was left for us was to arrange matches among ourselves. We did not abandon the idea of being admitted at some future time into the charmed circle, and it is the hope of most of us that such a time will come in the end. We called a meeting in London, to which several delegates came; sub­ sequently, we met again at Birmingham, and sketched out the plan of campaignand settled the rules of the competition as they stand now. There is not asmuch work as there might havebeen, forthe other county secretaries are very good and do all they possibly can to help me in my work.” “ How many counties approved of the new competition ?” “ Twenty-two ; which, seeing that the first-class counties number thirteen, does not leave many who had no ambition at all. Of course, many of the assenting counties were unable to arrange a series of matches, some of them having no teams to speak of as yet, and most of them having very little money. The Association came into existence in 1895, when seven counties, including Durham, competed. Last year, Durham, Norfolk, Bedford­ shire and Staffordshire found that they could not continue to play a series of matches, but their places were taken by Berkshire, Northumberland, North­ amptonshire and Buckinghamshire; so that we were not discouraged.” “ What is the position of affairs this year?” “ No less than ten counties will compete. Oxfordshire has dropped out, Durham and .Norfolk have come in again, while Wiltshire and Glamor­ ganshire appear for the first time. Three counties play ten matches, and the others play eight, so that there will not be much discrepancy as regards numbers. As regards the quality of the matches played, there must, of course, be great differences, and the result will be no test of ability, I am afraid.” “ What do you propose to do in the future? ” “ It was decided at our meeting last December that a committee, consisting of dele­ gates— one from each county — from Berkshire, Durham, Norfolk, Glamorganshire, Northumberland and Devon­ shire, as well as myself, as honorary secretary of the association, should meet in town during the University match, and, if possible, devise a better scheme. There are various suggestions in the air— such as dividing into groups, North and South, or East and West. The question of umpires will probably be submitted to the December meeting this year. At present each county takes its own umpire with it, a custom which is universally recognised as being faulty. The question of expense again comes in here.” “ Do you think that your own county hasa chance of being head of the competition again?” “ I think ithas afair chance, but it isnot MR. P. H . FOLKY. (From a Photo by E. Hawkins C oB righton ).