Cricket 1897

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly~toiI.”— Byron. n o . 4 5 5 . v o i . x - 9 1 . THURSDAY, JULY 1 , 1 8 9 7 . p r i c e ad . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. R. HENDERSON. The popular little Surrey player, for whose benefit the proceeds of the Yorkshire v. Surrey match this week are to be set apart, has had his vicissitudes, and after playing regularly in the Surrey team for many years, he has had very few opportunities of appearing in first-class cricket, owing entirely to the extraordinary number of good cricketers from whom the committee have had to select their teams of late. But it must not be supposed that Hen­ derson is out of form; on the contrary, he is probably as good as he has ever been, and there is no reason whatever why, like Baldwin for example, he should not be again seen in the XI. as one of its most useful members. It was not until 1894 that he began to appear irregularly for the county, but in the previous year, although his average was only 18, he had played some in­ valuable innings, nearly all on queer wickets. Since that time hehas donewonders in the second eleven, and last year his average was 47. His highest score for the second was 210, not out, against Hertfordshire in 1895. He has always been a most useful man when his side has been in diffi­ culties, and it need hardly be pointed out that such a man’s value is not represented by his average. It only remains to be added that it is not too late in the day to aid in swelling Hender­ son’s subscription list. It has often fallen to the lot of Henderson to have to keep up his wicket at amost critical time, and it is seldom that he has failed at a pinch. One of the most exciting moments he ever went through was at the finish of the Sussex v. Surrey match at Brigh­ ton some years ago. “ We wanted 12runs to win,” he said, “ when the last mp.n came in. Wood had been injured in the previous match, and at the last moment, Harry Adams, the Croydon cricketer, was played in his place. It was a very difficult wicket. I was very anxious that we should win the match, and when Adams came in I begged him to play the game, and wait patiently for opportunities to score. He said that he would play a strictly steady game and leave the scoring to me. Arthur Hide, who had to bowl to him, began with a very fast ball—a perfect beauty which pitched on the off stump and broke on to the leg stump. Adams had a go at it and drove it to square leg for four—a magnificent hit it looked, too. I spoke to him seriously about this rash play, and he seemed to be very penitent, promising to play carefully in the future. The next over was by Mr. C. A. Smith, who was so R. HENDERSON'. (From a Photo by French <b Co ., Wallington.) accurate in his pitch, that it was quite as much as I could do to play every ball safely. Then came Arthur Hide’s turn to Adams. He gave him a really splendid ball, but Adams was quite equal to the occasion, and hit him square for four, repeating the stroke, (and thus winning the match) off the next ball —even a better one than the first. As there were a lot of Surrey people on the ground, who rushed on to the field as soon as the game was over, Adams made a bolt for the pavilion, but they were a hit too quick for him and carried him in in triumph. The first matches in which Henderson played were for the choir at Beddington, in Surrey, and here, for a boy, he established quite a reputation, “ I was first noticed,” he said, “ by Mr. J. H. Bridges, son of the late Canon Bridges, the rector of the parish, who coachedme until he thought I was good enough to come to the Oval. I owe a very great deal to him. At that time I used to play for the choir, and for boys we had a pretty strong team. Once we scored consider­ ably over a team which opposed us. They had arranged to play against Beddington itself, but some mistake was made, and they found us in the field instead of the club team. They were naturally indignant and refused to play against boys, finally suggesting a scratch match. But to this we would not agree, and eventually we played them and won with the greatest ease. I took five or six wickets for about 10 runs.” * ‘ When did you make your first appearance at the Oval? ” “ I think it was in 1882, for Surrey Colts v. Kent Colts. I made 35 and got five wickets. After that I was engaged here. I believe I was selected to play against Nottingham, hut for some reason or other I did not take part in the match, and the first time I played in county cricket wasagainst Leicestershire. I got my place regularly in the team after the Gloucestershire match, in which I was fortunate enough to make a long standwith Abel in the follow on, and to take six wickets for 17 runs.” *1 What did you think of county cricket as compared with club cricket? ” “ Of course I thought it much superior to anything I had played before, chiefly owing to the keenness and the excellence of the bowling. The numerous methods adopted by the bowlers to get the best of you struck me very much. I only made one run in the first match, but made 19 at Derby on a bad wicket—the wickets at Derby have greatly improved of late years.” Henderson was playing m the one-day match against Lancashire at Old Trafford. uWe were unable to play on the first day,”