Cricket 1897

146 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME, M ay 20, 1897. easy to guess what will happen this year. A t any rate, we hope to go on improving, under the good captaincy of H . K . Foster. Two or three good bats, masters at Malvern College, are eligible to play for us— Toppin, W. Greenstock, and W. W. Lowe, the Cambridge fast bowler. They may, perhaps, help us occasionally. Then we have W. L. Foster, who is in the Artillery at Aldershot, R. E . Foster and G. Bromley-Martin, both of whom have a fair chanc3 of getting into the Varsity team. G. H . Simpson, of Cambridge, also belongs to us, but is going out to Africa with the football team, and so will not be able to play. We have made a new ground, and are trying to get a new pavilion. At present we do not aspire to be admitted among the first- class counties, but that is the object which we keep in view. We have a useful lot of young professionals, and there are several good men qualifying for us— young pro­ fessionals whom we have imported.” “ But do the minor counties also go iu for importations ?” “ We don’t take professionals away from other counties, but we get on trial a lot of young fellows, for whom there is no room at home, and keep the best, which is _a very different thing from importation as it is ofteu understood. Now, some of our own men, who are promising, have been tempted to go away to vaiijus local clubs in the north, but I am glad to say that they have remained loyal to us.” “ Do you approve of the league system, so common in the midlands and the north ? ” “ I am often taken to task because 1 believe in their use very strongly if properly supervised and managed, which, in my view, should be undertaken, and the umpires appointed, by the County Committee. In an ideal league there should, in my opinion, be no pro­ fessionals or amateurs allowed who are not qualified, or about to qualify for the county in which the league has its being. The clubs in Worcestershire are very good about letting men oft', and on the whole, I am sure that our leagues have improved local cricket and cricket grounds in every way.” “ Are you satisfied with your present system of deciding the position which each county holds ” “ No. But there are several difficulties in the way of arranging an entirely satis­ factory scheme. As things are at present, it by no means follows that the county which comes out first is the best; it is, for instance, not essential that each county should play each other county, and a match against any county which assented to the scheme, though it need not neces­ sarily be competing, counts iu the competition. From this it follows that if a powerful county chose to play four or five very weak opponents and not play the strong ones, it might easily come out first. Not that I mean to pay for a moment that such a thing is likely tj be done; but while it can be done, it is evident that the scheme is not perfect.” “ Why cannot all the counties play each other ?” “ One of the reasons is that distance has to be considered; and some of the counties, like Durham, can’t get certain teams to play them because of the long journeys which would be entailed. Then of course, money considerations have to be reckoned with; the most important factor of all in determining the number of matches.” In the year before last Mr. Foley took a very strong team of amateurs, under the name of Gentlemen of Worcestershire, to Holland, and played four matches, of which one was lost, one drawn, aud two won. In explanation of the defeat, Mr. Foley said :— “ We did not expect to be beaten, of course, and took matters too easily at first, but some of the Dutchmen batted exceedingly well. One of them, Feith, made 108 against us, aud I believe he was the first Dutchman to make a hundred— certainly the first to make it against an English team. As was only natural, the rest of the Dutch eleven were dtlighted with his performance; they embraced him, and, iu the conti­ nental way, kissed him. Another Dutch­ man, Yan Manen, made 68 in very good form. In the second innings they had to make 45 to win, and I succeeded in bowliug eight of them with lobs before they did it. I remember bowling, in another match, one of the Dutchmen a s l)W f u l l pitch at his elbow. He was so surprised— not having met this sort of ball before— that he stooped, aud the ball passed over his back and took his leg stump. In our team we had H . K . Foster C. J. Buruup. P. H . Litham, and G. H . Simpson. Farranis went with us as umpiie.” “ Do you know how the Dutchmen learned their cricket ? ” “ They seem to have principally taught themselves, although they had one old professional, Bentley, from Torquay, for one season. I have sent them Tom Atte­ well this year for a month, so that no doubt they will greatly improve, for they are very quick to pick up hints. When we went over there we were surprised at the materials which they had to play with, materials which on a village green in England would have been treated with scorn. After Feith had made his hundred I presented him with a bat whijh had not been used— I bought it just before gjing over there— anl it was very interesting to see the way in which the players crowded round to see it. To them it was something really wonderful. It was interesting to see the way in which they mended their bats. One, of which the blade was split, was covered at the bottom with a sheath of saddle leather fastened on with copper rivets; another, split at the bottom, was tied round wilh packing cord, after a long nail had been driven in.” “ Did they use English terms iu con­ nection with the game or have they invented their own ?” “ They used English terms; iu fact they all talked English. They have certain things to learn in placing the field and running between the wickets, but they wouldsoonput this right with alittlemore practice against Englishmen. They have to play on matting because the grass is so wiry. In one of our matches a Dutch- man, who was running after the ball, caught his foot iu the long grass and went over and over like a rabbit. It was indescribably funny, but, apparently from previous experience, he went over very gracefully and without hurting himself ; it was just as well that it wasn’t one of us, for we might have been injured. There were not many spectators at the matches, but there were long accounts in the Dutch papers. One of these days I am going to get them translated, for I am verycurious to seewhat the reporters made of it. I may say that the Dutchmen had two pretty good left-hand bowlers, Post- huma and Van der Berg, who had taught themselves. Another very keen cricketer was Dr. Gorter. whom we thought at first to be a medical man ; but he was aprofes­ sor of something. I believe hewas one of the originators of the game in Holland.” During the visit of Mr. Foley’sEnglish team to Holland, there was an Exhibition at Amsterdam, entitled “Old Amsterdam.” One evening, the team, accompanied by its Dutch opponents, went in state to see the show, and while there met with a surprise. “ We had been watching a performance,” said Mr. Foley, “ and when it came to an end, we, to our great surprise, saw the bandsmen leave their places and approach us. They formed up in front of us and played ‘God save the Queen.’ They told us that this was done by order of the Director. I therefore felt it my duty to seek out the Director and thank him for the honour he had done to our country. He replied that he had been so well treated by the lo rd Mayor when he was in London, that he was proud to have an opportunityofreturning thecompliment!’’ W. A. B e tte sw o e th . PRESCOT r DIMSD U.H’S v. GL,YN\ MCLLS, AND CO.— Played abCatford Bridge on M*y 11and 12. G ly n , M ills , an d C o . J. 8. Hn“, b Hills ... 14 Byes ........ 9 Total (9wnts.)*116 W. Sedgfield, b Hills 29 V. R.Case,cRowledge, b Ledger.............. 48 W. Lagdon, b Hills .. 0 C. H. Batty, not out 16 T. S. Nash, G. N. Pinks, H. Love, A B. Knott, S. Brown, and E. Powne did not bat. * Innings declaredclosed. P rk sco . t D im s d a le ’ 8. W. H. Coppinger, L'i'don. b Piuk^ ... 17 F. J. Vaughan, bPinks 35 E. L. Horae, b Hoe ... 1 L. G. Ilsley, notout .. 6 W. Rowledge, L. H. Brewitt H. E. Harris, G. Brown, H. J. Anwyl, and C. Ledger did not bat. F. E. Hills, not out ... 1 B 3, lb 1, wb 1... 5 Total (3wkts.) 65 LLOYD’3 REGISTER v. MITCHAM.—Played at Honor Oak on May 15. L lo yd ’ s R e g is t e r . Redman, b Henty Hill, b Freeman .. Boxall, c Harwood, b Levell . Dy*‘r, c Freeman, L svell................. Carey, b Patching . Bralley, b Nash .. . Wood,b Nash ... . Bradshaw, b Henty... Flower, c Patching, b Nash..................... Alexander, b Nash ... Martin, not out........ Extras ........ Total M i rCHAM. A. R. Harwood, b Bradley ............. . 6 Freemtn, b Bradley ... 0 G. W. Harwood, b Carey..................... 0 Bance, b Carey ....... 0 Nash, c Martin, b Bradley ...............25 Henty, b Bradley Levell, b Bradley Adams, b Carey... Vinen, b Wood ... Patching, not out Total ... !4 0 11 a