Cricket 1897

18 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F fb . 25, 1897. admire the Major’s handicaps, whilst having a very low opinion of his match making abilities. “ You seem to have had some interest­ ing experiences in country cricket ? ” “ Country cricket is often very amusing. Years ago I happened to be going through a remote village one Saturday afternoon and saw that a match was just commenc­ ing. One umpire had failed to appear; so they asked me to stand, and I was weak enough to do so. The bowling was not particularly straight, but presently one ball was quite out of reach, so I called ‘ wide.’ The yokel of a bowler was most indignant and yelled out to the scorers, ‘ Nowt a’t soort, it warn’t woide at all. Daant put it daawn.’ I had the curiosity afterwards to look at the scoring book and found the wide not recorded. I once saw two batsmen, in running, colli le in the middle of the wicket, and both came to grief. The wicket was put down, but on getting up each abused the other and gave each other out, disputing about having crossed or not crossed. The game was delayed for some little time until at last the umpire, who had kept very quiet, turned to the bigger and noisier of the batsmen saying, ‘ Look here, my friend, you seem to know most about it, and have had most to say about it. I shall give you out,’ and off he had to go.” “ You call Freeman the most difficult fast bowler you ever played against. Did you come across a slow or medium paced bowler still more difficult ?” “ Yes. Absolutely the most difficult bowler I ever played against was Buttress. I have never seen anybody bowl like him either before or since ; he was what may be called slow medium with a great break both ways—a break which he could effectively disguise. There is a record of him that he once bowled George Parr and Hayward in the same over. This was at Lord’s, and I think in the year 1861. I remember once being at a match at the Oval about 35 years ago, when Surrey were playing Cambridge University, and witnessing the greatest change I ever remember coming over a game. The Surrey eleven were making runs freely (J alius Osesar being one of the batsmen) when three wickets fell in three consecu­ tive balls to Lang, the Cambridge fast bowler, but what was still more extra- ordin iry was that two other wickets fell in ihe next four balls, making a record of five of Surrey’s best bats being out in given balls.” Although he began to play cricket 40 y ars ago, Mr. Wright still makes a point of pl.iyingfor his village team at Wolla- tcn every Saturday afternoon. “ My friend Mr. Bichard D aft” he said, “ who w.is, and still is, one of the most grace­ ful and effective batsmen in England, plays in the same eleven almost every week. The Wollaton team has been known as a very strong one for many years. Among well-known cricketers who lave played for the club are Shrews­ bury, Scotton, E. Mills, Mr. J. A. Dixon, Mr. J. S. Bobinson, Butler Parr (who thinks he can bowl or take any place in the field except ‘ silly ’ point), the late Mr. Arthur Cursham, Mr. C. W. Wright, Mr. A. O. Jones. Mr. Parnham, Mr. G. G. Walker, Mr. W. Marshall, and the three Dafts. Mills, a very good left- hand bowler, who played for both Notts and Surrey, ieamed all his cricket in the village.” “ There seems to be a great deal of interest taken in village matches in Nottinghamshire p” ‘ ‘ A great deal. I remember a country match where cricket feeling ran very high between the two villages, and was still higher after that particular match. The game got very close-towards the finish, and when the last man came in it was a tie. Excitement was at a high pitch all round the ground. No run was scored for a few balls, and then the umpire called a wide. The two batsmen, having lost their heads in looking for the chance of a ‘ notch,’ ran directly the ball passed the wicket-keeper, but the longstop fielded the ball smartly and threw the batsman out. Both sides claimed the match, and the row that followed was something to remember. How they settled it I never heard, though the decision is clear enough to anyone who knows the game.” ‘ ‘ Do you confine your cricket entirely to playing for your village ? ” “ I generally take a team every year on tour in Yorkshire or some other county, and play matches at Malton, Scarborough, Whitby, Darlington, Middlesbrough and other places. In 1887, the Jubilee year, my team played at Middlesbrough against an eleven of Durham and Yorkshire, and more runs were scored in the match than ever previously in Yorkshire. The York­ shire side had to follow on after scoring 362, and lost by six wickets. The total number of runs made in the three days was 1227.” “ How long ago did your connection with the county cricket club begin ? ” “ I have always taken a great interest in the county cricket of Nottinghamshire. I have been one of the trustees of the Trent Bridge Grounds for 17 years, and 1 in 1895 was honoured by being elected President for the year. For the last 1 two or three years, since the death of Captain Oates, I have been honorary ' secretary. I am very happy to say that the position of Notts is improving. The \ only thing we are short of now is a really ’ good fast bowler. We have never found 1 anybody able to fill the place of Fred Morley, who came out about the year ) 1870, or nearly 30 years ago. Somebody once said to poor Morley, when Alfred ■ Shaw and he were sharing the bowling, r ‘ Why don’t you bowl at the other end ? ) It would suit you much better.’ He - replied: ‘ Well, you see Alfred always , looks at the wicket, and then turns to me J and says, “ I ’m going to bowl at this end, i Fred, you can bowl at which end you 7 like !” ’ Morley was one of the finest bowlers I ever saw, being so remarkably - accurate, and at the same time possessing , great pace. He was one of the few men 3 who could repeat a ball. In bowling at the i nets he was very apt to make the ball come with his arm and take the leg stump, and if you asked him to bowl a similar ball again he could do it.” “ Notts has been particularly fortunate in finding accurate bowlers—Attewell and Alfred Shaw for example ? ” “ Yes ! It goes without saying that Alfred Shaw was the most accurate bowler in the world. I believe he never bowled a wide ball in his life; at all events, there is not one recorded any­ where against him. His bowling in first-class matches a year or two ago shows, to my mind, clearly enough that the bowlers of years ago were as good as those of the present day. For, look how helpless modem batsmen were against Shaw, old as he was when he reappeared for a short time. And yet he was bowl­ ing at the same time as Jackson, Will- sher, and the other great bowlers of thirty years ago. As regards batting, if you leave out Banjitsinhji, where is there a finer bat to-day than Richard Daft ? I don’t think that the best amateur bats­ men of the present day are better than B. A. H. Mitchell, C. F. Buller, C. G. Lane and F. P. Miller, and certainly there is now no amateur bowler better than Mr. C. D. Marsham was. In these early days of All England matches against eighteens and twenty-twos, per­ haps the best provincial playerinEngland was Baldwinson, of Harewood, in York­ shire. He was a left-handed bat, and was almost the only man who appeared to hit Clarke (the old slow bowler) all over the ground just as he liked. After one or two vety severe doses old Clarke resolved never to play against a twenty- two again with Baldwinson in it, and took care to have him in his eleven. This player is noticed in that excellent work Pycroft’s ‘ Cricket Field,’ and is described as one of the best bats of the period, from having the rare faculty of playing almost every ball somewhere with the bat, never or seldom letting any ball pass the wicket.” “ Was there any similarity at all be­ tween George Parr’s leg hitting and K. S. Banjitsinhji’s ? ” “ No ! Except that they both seemed to hit the same kind of ball. George Parr’s favourite hit was to square leg. He put his left leg out forward and met the ball with the full swing of the bat as though he were going to drive in the direction of long-on ; the ball went at a great height perfectly square. But if a ball were pitched anywhere clear of the in-stump he hit it like lightning to sharp le g ; it was the same sort of hit as the other, but was not, of course, made with so square a bat. Banjitsinhji’s play on the leg side reminds me more of the late Tom Hayward than anyone else. Hay­ ward, like him, was very quick on his legs, had a splendid figure, and was very graceful in all his movements.” “ It is generally said that the bowling was not as straight then as it is now ? ” “ That is a mistake. There are no straighter or, for the matter of that, better bowlers now than there were thirty or thirty-five years ago. Jackson, Willsher, N E X T ISSUE, THURSDAY , MARCH 25.