Cricket 1897

“ Together joined in Cricket’ s manly toil.” — Byron. ■so. 4 4 3 . v o l . x -v i. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1897. p r i c e 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. M r . H. V. L. STANTON. Like many'other men^who have begun their career as members of the legal pro­ fession, Mr. Stanton, after writing in a more or less desultory way while he was articled, devotedj . himself entirely to journalism as soon as he had become a full-fledged solicitor. For the last fifteen years he has been known to a multitude of cricketers as “ Wanderer ” of the Sportsman, and it has not been a little due to his energy that cricket is nowadays so carefully reported in almost every newspaper of the least authoiity. He has attended first-class matches on every English ground where first- class cricket is played, with the exception of those of Southampton and Halifax. Since the beginning of the “ eighties ” he has been a member of, the Middlesex County 0 .0 . Mr. Stanton has accompanied the Australians on all their toiirs, with the exception of^'those of 1878 and 1880, find has very seldom missed one of their matches. “ I am generally about the first to meet the Australians,” he said, “ and the last to see them off. My colleagues often chaff me upon being, what they call, the ‘ Banquet, funeral, and seeing-off mem­ ber.* Last year I had an amusing experience at Dover when I went to meet Mr. Musgrove. He had wired to me to say that he was coming over land, and that he would probably reach Eng­ land on Sunday. I had never seen a photograph of him, and had not the remotest idea of what he looked like, or whether he was tall or short, clean shaven or bearded. The puzzle was to find him among the mass of pas­ sengers. Happily, a pier official had a letter for him, and by the kindness of the pier master I was allowed to go with this official on the stage and stand at the the name, and I had found the Australian manager, with the result that an inter­ view with him appeared next day in the Sportsman, almost before anyone knew that our visitor had arrived in England.” “ Don’t you get tired of the tours ? ” “ Not at all. On the contrary, there is always plenty of interest in them, and also plenty of incident. I remember, in the days when there was no telegraph at Edgbaston, an exciting ride that I had to the Cannon Street Post Office in Birming­ ham. We had chartered dog­ carts to take us to the post office after the match was over, but we knew well enough that it would be a race in order to catch the evening ‘ specials.’ When we got away there was just time and no more, so that when the seat of our dog-cart (I had the pleasure of the back position to myself) began to slip, and ever to slip more, we dared not spare the time to stop and fix it. So, half in and half out of the trap, I clung on somehow or other, and I flatter myself that I clung as well as anyman would have done. An unfeeling friend of mine in front was highly amused, and no doubt I should have been amused if I had seen him in the same entertaining situa­ tion. We arrived at the post office in time to get our ‘ copy ’ off.” “ Are there any important grounds nowadays without telesrraph offices ? ” “ Southampton, Leicester, Oxford, and Cambridge, and I am sure that Hampshire has suffered very much in conse­ quence of the want, just as Warwickshire did some years ago. It often means a considerable delay, and it is impossible to always have late reports of the matches. There is very little fault indeed to be found, as a rule, with the Post Office arrangements or with its officials, who are almost invariably very attentive. It is extremely seldom that ‘ copy ’ ever goes wrong, and in fact I only remember one gangway. It was arranged that as each male passenger approached the official should challenge him. The result was a volley of ‘ Musgrove ? Musgrove ? ’ But no one answered to the name. I waited for the next boat, with the result that a passenger, hearing the name called out, gave me the information that he had travelled with Musgrove from N 'pies to Paris, and that the latter MR. H. V. L. STANTOX. Fiom a Photo by R. W. Thomas, 41, Gheapside, London , E.G. had decided to stop in Paris for the day. Monday found me again at Dover, once more listening to the endless ‘ Mus­ grove ? Musgrove ? ’ of the official. Again no one recognised the name, and I waited for the next boat. Unceasingly the name was called out until nearly every­ body had come on shore, when at last a gentleman said ‘ Yes ? ’ when he heard