Cricket 1897

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. n o . 4 5 8 . v o i.. x v i . THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1897. p r i c e 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. A. B. TANCRED. Unquestionably the best batsman of South Africa, Mr. Tancred, who is a solicitor prac­ tising at Pretoria, was unfortunately unable to come to England with the team of 1895, but this yearhe is on a visit to the mother country. While he was in London he played two or three times for the M.C.C., and satis­ fied good judges that he has only to become accustomed to turf wickets to be an exceedingly diffi­ cult man to dispose of. He learnt his cricket at St. Aidan’s College, Grahamstown, where everything that was possible was done to encourage cricket—the wicket at that time was even of grass, a most unusual thing in South Africa. In his school days, South African cricketers were just as enthusiastic as they are now, but there were not so many of them. Mr. Tancred’s highest score was 226, made in two hours and forty minutes, for the Kimberley Volunteer Rifle Corps against the Diamond Fields’ Horse, He has two or three times made over 150, and frequently over a hundred. On one occasion, in 1896, for Eclectic C.C. v. Union C.C., at Pretoria, he made 132 in the first innings, and 103, not out, in the second, against Brockwell’s bowl­ ing—a feat which seems to have escaped the notice of English cricketers. In the same match, his younger brother, V. M. Tancred, made a hundred. One of his best performances, although his score was only not out 26, out of a total of 42, was for South Africa against the English teim, in 1889, a match in which Briggs was remarkably destructive with the ball. Against this team he had an average of 26, and was presented hy the directors of the African Steamboat Company with a gold watch, as a memento of his fine play, at a time when South African cricketers were making their first appearance against English first-class players. Last season, Mr. Tancred played 20 innings (three times not out), and made 954 runs, with a highest score of 132. His average was therefore 56-12. For the same club, Brockwell played 20 innings (twice not out), made 1,100 runs, with a highest score of 203, not out, having an average of 61*11. These two averages were nearly twice as high as any of the others. In his first match in England—M.C.C. and Ground v. DulwichCollege, Mr. Tancredmade 40, although he hadnot been able to obtain any practice whatever on a turf wicket, except half a dozen balls before play began. “ A good deal of rain had fallen,” he said, “ so that the wicket was sticky, and I recognised that it was much more difficult than a bad MB. A. B. TANCRED. ( From a Photo by Duffas Bros,, Johannesburg'', matting wicket in South Africa. A good deal to my surprise, I made 40. This was for the M.C.C. and Ground against Dulwich C.C. When I first played at Lord’s, against Derbyshire, I found a wicket which, although it was in favour of the bowlers, was dry. I noticed that Hancock got a lot of work on the ball, but Davidson did not do as much as I expected from what I had been told about him. Altogether I did not find the wicket easy, and the constant opening and shutting of a door in the pavilion, to allow people to pass through, put me off considerably.” ‘ ‘ What has most impressed you as regards cricket in England ? ” “ There is no style peculiar to batsmen or bowlers; everyone has his own individual style. I was greatly impressed by the judg­ ment with which the field is always placed, the apparently untiring nature of the bowlers even on the hottest day, and by the fact that there seems to be a limitless number of good batsmen. This is a very great contrast to what is seen in South Africa, where the total population is hut small, and where so few men have leisure enough to go in for the game as it is done in England.” ‘ ‘ Are you a believer in the wisdomof getting professionals to go to South Africa to act as coaches ? ” ‘ ‘ I think that the system has done a lot of good, and that it will continue to do good. It creates a tremendous interest among the youngsters. The effect has been very noticeable in Pretoria since Brockwell went there first, for whereas the boys did not care about the game in the least, they are now as keen as possible, and, of course, a lot depends on whether the rising generation takes to the game or not. Cricket has made surprising strides in South Africa since pro­ fessionals began to go out there, and even Johannesburg, which has done without coaching, is waking up to the need of it. The Western Province has done a very great deal for the game, and during last season it engaged no less than five professionals.” “ What was the first club for which you played? ” “ As a youngster, after leaving school, I joined the Port Elizabeth club, and was put into the eleven on one or two occasions as a fast round arm bowler. Nowadays, I have changed tomedium overhand, and I am considered to be a fair change bowler.” “ When did you begin to come out as a hat ?” “ It was in 1884, when I was playing for the Eclectic C. C., at Kimberley—a club which from 1884 to 1891 had a wonderful record ; in fact, the eleven would have stood