Cricket 1897

390 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t. 2, 1897. things began to look bad for us, until either he or Mr. Milligin made a mistake in running. When Lord Hawke came in I appealed for a catch off the second b ill that he had, but to my surprise I found that though I had got the b ill in my hands, I had dropped it, which was a serious thing for our side, and it was not much consolation to know that there was hardly a man of us, or for the matter of that of the Yorkshire team, who hadn’t dropped a catch in the course o f' the match. But even worse was to come; for when Bairstow came in for the last wicket he touched the second ball that be had, and though I got it into my hand I dropped it. This was of course a dreadful mistake to make, but most for­ tunately for us Walter Mead, who kept his head all through this trying time, bowled him a slow full pitch, which en­ tirely deceived him iu the pace; and he was lbw, so that we won by one run, and I escaped the hiding which my friend Harry Pickett promised me for missing the catch! There could be no question about the fairness of the lbw decision, for Dick Barlow was the umpire, and he said to me afterwards ‘ I thiuk I should have had to give my own father out for that.’ I believe, too, that Lord Hawke, who was iu at the other end, was quite satisfied that Bairstow was clean out. But it was a good thing for us that Walter Maid never for a moment lost his uerve.” “ Were you always a wicket-ke ‘per ? ” “ I could always keep wicket after a fashion, but I began as a fast bowler. My first matches were played for Lewisham, my native village. Then, for a time, I went to live in Brixtou, and while I was there, my uncle, the head groundman at Leyton, wrote to ask me whether 1 should care to come to him as an under- groundman. While I was at Layton I took to cricket, developing into a fast bowler. One day, after Mr. Green and one or two other gentlemen, as well as Frank Silcock, had been watching me at the nets, Mr. G.-een asked me if I would like to have a trial, and ai I said I didn’ t mind, the committee gave me a chance.’ “ Which was the in itch in which you ha 1 your trial ? ” ‘ ‘ It was against Surrey, at Leyton, at the time when they were champions, and when they used to beat us shamefully. My share in this match was tworuns and no wickets at all. After that, I was put on the ground staff, and during the seison took a lot of wickets in club matches. But at that time Essex h id no fast bowler on the staff, so that as all the members were anxious to get some practice against fast bowling, because they were always meeting it in matches, I was run off my legs, bawling as hard as 1 could for two or three hours at a time. After a time, however, Walter Mead came to Leyton, and I took his place as groundman and bowler at Broxbourne.” “ Was it long before you began to keao wicket ? ” “ Well, after I had been at Broxbourne for a season, I went to Buckhurst Hill for about two or three years. At the beginning of the second season, Mr. Mc- Ewen, the club wicket-keeper, met with an accident, so that I was asked if I would try to keep wicket in his place. From that time my place in the field was always at the wicket, and when the E isex Committee heard that I was doing fairly well, they gave me another trial, this time as a wicket-keeper.” “ What was the match in which you made your dtfbut behind the stumps P” “ It was a g a in s t Surrey, at the Oval, just as it had baen when I was a bowler. Surrey, as usual at that time, made about 400 against us, but I was fortunate enough to only give one extra, and to citch Mr. Shuter off Mr. Kortright. Ever since then I have played for the county, only missing two or three matches, owing to acjidents, once when a ball of Pickett’s got up and hit me in the eye, cutting it open, and twice this yeir, when one of my fingers was very badly hurt.” “ Are you ever put on to bowl nowa­ days ? ” “ I have never been on in a oun ty match, and onlv once for the M.C.O. in a club match. We were playing against the Private Banks at Catford. A gentle­ man who was bitting had made 98, and in my second over he cocked one up rather high to George Hearne—one of the safest of catches—and he dropped it. You should have seen us standing and laughing at each other after this little performance. It was the only chanca I had of taking a wicket, for the Private Banks captain declared just afterwards. Thanks to a very good innings of 79 by George Hearne, on by no maans a clever wicket, we saved the game, and I for­ gave him for missing the citch. There are a lot of men playing in first-class cricket who are not as good as George Hearne is now.” “ Is it your opinion that Essex will be able to keep to the front another year ? ” “ I certainly think so, for we are very strong in bowling, and I think we have three or four of tile best bats in England, who will be likely to improve. Mr. Perrin and Mr. McGahey have, of course, made their names, and I believe that Mr. Fane and Mr. Turner have a great future. Mr. Lucas is a splendid bat, too. What­ ever I have been able to do as a bat iu previous years—I have done thoroughly bidly this year in county matches, al­ though I feel that I ought to be able to make runs—has been from watching Mr. Lucas. I have once or twice been lucky enough to be in with him for a long time, aud it has been an education to me. I like being in with Mr. O<veu, too, and I onca had the pleasure of help­ ing him to make some 60 runs against Yorkshire, when we won by four wickets. I remember that when we wanted three to win Mr. Owen made a hit for which we ran five. Carpenter has had a lot of bad luck this year, but he is a fine bat, aud his 50 agaiust Lmcashire the other day was a great innings. I remember him trying to stop a boundary in one of the Yorkshire matches in the north He went so fast that he could not stop himself when he reached the spectators, and as luck would have it, he came right into three old gentlemen who were sitting together on a form, and the whole lot of them went over, to the great delight of the crowd, one of whom shouted out ‘ That's the way to knock ’em ower, lad.’ ” This year Russell was playing for Mr. H. M. Laaf’s Eleven against Elstree Masters. “ Mr. L. Mortimer was bowl­ ing,” he said, “ when Mr. Ernest Smith, the Yorkshire amateur, came in. The first ball hit the off-stump hard, but the bail got stuck between the middle and off-stumps, one end of it keeping iu its place. We waited a reasonable time to give it a chance of dropping a little fur­ ther, but it was fast. With the very next ball Mr. Mortimer clean bawled Mr. Smith, which was curious, to say the least of it. The boys at the school are very impirtial in their cheering, and I think I ha 1 as much applause when I was out for 50 odd, as Mr. W. N. R:>e when he retired for about the same num­ ber. I was very sorry not to have a chance of seeing young Mr. C. L. A. Smith, who played so well for the Sussex Second Eleven against the Kent Second the other day, make some runs for Brigh­ ton College against the M.C.C. He had very bad luck when we played the College, for Walter Mead bowled him fi-st ball in each innings. But ha has made a lot of good scores this year for the School.” W. A. B ettesw okth . K IR KW A LL v. GRAEM E3H ALL.—Played at Kirkwall o a August 23. K ir k w a l l . J. B. Hatt, c A. S. Graeme,bJ.Ciouston 38 Rev. D. Macdonald, b J. Clouston ........... 1 A . Buchanan, b J. Clouston .................. 2 J. Redfern, c A. 8., b K. Graeme ...........23 R. Cumming, c P., b K. Graeme ........... 6 D. B. Pearce, b K. Graeme ................... 1 S. Pearson, c A. Grae­ me, b J. Clouston .. W . Cowper, b K . Graeme ................... D. Bertram, b K. Graeme ................... W . Sinclair, not out... T. S. Pearce, b J. Clouston................... E x tras.................. Total G r a b m b s h a l l . J. Clouston, c Pearson, b B uchanan ........... 5 C. W . Donald, c and b Buchanan.................. 3 K. Graeme, c Pearson, b Buchanan ........... 9 T. H. Ciouston, b Buchanan.................. 5 P. S. Graeme, c Mac­ donald, b Hatt ... 23 Sir R. Webster, c Pear­ son, b Buchanan ... 7 D. M. Watson, b Buchanan ........... F. Buchanan, c and b H a tt.......................... A. S. Graeme, run out W. Skelton, not out A. M. S. Graeme, b Buchanan ........... E xtras................... Total .......... 6 FOREST HELL (2) v. BRIXTON WANDERERS ^2). Playei at Forest H ill. B r ix t o n W a n d e r e r s . C. W . Phillips, c G. Woodman,bReichert R. J. Harris,bVernon- Smith......................... F. E. Thompson, b Vernon-Saiiih......... W . H. Spragge, b V .- Smith......................... J. Withers, bV.-Smith H. Odell, b Y.-Smith A . Benge, b V.-Sm ith C. C h a m p n e s s , b Reichert .................. A . T. Barber, not out A. Herbert, run o u t... A. N. Other, absent... Extras................... Total ... F o r e st H il l . C. Moore, c Spragge, b Benge ..................27 J. W . Pratt, bOdell... 7 F.Woodman,bPhillips 39 M.Reichert, bWithers 36 H. M. Watmough, b Phillips ...................15 J. G. Trotter, c Her­ bert, b Thompson .. 19 G.Woodman,bWithers 30 C. LeMay, not out V.-Smith, b Withers.. A. Cockell. run out ... E. Taylor, b Phillips.. E xtras.................. Total.........229