Cricket 1898

“ Together joined in Cricket’ s manly toil.” — Byron. wo. 476. v o i. x v ii. THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1898. p r ic e 2 a. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. ME. F. E. LACEY. For years Mr. Lacey has been one of the mainstays of ttie Hampshire Eleven, and when it was announced that he had been elected secretary of the M.C.C. in place of Mr. Henry Perkins, the news must have come as a blow to cricketers in his county. If he had been able to play with regularity throughout the season it is exceedingly probable that he would have stood even higher in the cricket temple of fame than he does now, for when he is well set he is one of the finest bats in the world. Undoubtedly his best performance was his 211 and 94, not out, for Hampshire v. Kent at Southampton. But his highest score was 323, not out, for Hampshire v. Norfolk. A t Sherborne School, where he made a very great reputation, he was well coached by Green, a Leicestershire professional, and after an innings of 79 for Gentlemen of Hampshire against Gentlemen of Sussex, and an abundance of hundreds in smaller matches, it was soon seen b y the county authorities that they had got hold of a man who was almost certain to be of the utmost use to them. Only at Cambridge were his merits unrecognised until it was almost too late. Mr. Lacey is an all-round athlete. At Cambridge he received his Blue for Asso­ ciation, and was a member of his College Fifteen at Rugby football. He possesses a rare variety of “ p o ts” for fives, swimming, and running, being par­ ticularly good over hurdles. With reference to golf which he plays during the winter, he says: “ I f you have got your style at cricket quite fixed I think that golf actually improves your game, because of its tendency to loosen one’s joints, and at the same time to make one steady. But it is my firm belief that, from the point of view of a cricketer, there is the greatest danger that a boy who plays golf when his style at cricket is undeveloped, w ill never be of much use as a batsman.” A t Cambridge Mr. Lacey did not succeed in attracting the favourable attention of the cricket authorities until his last year, notwithstanding that he was continually making large scores for his college (Caius), and doing well for his ] county. For one season his average for ! Caius was 85. and for the next 75; but even an innings of 275. against Clare passed without notice. H e went to the University with such a fine schoolboy record that a trial in the Freshmen’s match was inevitable. “ Iu this,” said Mr. Lacey, “ my share was respectable— a few wickets in each innings, and between 20 and 30 runs. But I did not get a trial again until the Seniors’ match in the follow ing year, in which I did fairly well. Until the third year I was not really tried. Then I played for the first eleven against the next sixteen, and was run out in the first innings by a man who was also trying for his Blue. It was a lamentable thing to happen for both of us; he was, of course, exceed­ ingly sorry about his mistake.” “ H ow did you come to get your Blue at last ? ” “ I ’m afraid that it never would have come to me if it had not been for the Hampshire match against Sussex, in which my scores were 150 and 50 not out, while about 13 or 14 wickets fell to me during the game. It was only a short time before the ’Varsity match. I was asked to play at the Oval, and as I was in form, and also in the way of fortune, I made runs in both innings—top score (28) in the first, on a difficult wicket. In the next match, against the M .C.C. at Lord’s, the captain gave me my Blue.” “ What happened to you in the ’Yarsity match ? ” “ In the first innings I had to go in five minutes before the time for drawing stumps— when the light was exception­ ally bad—and just when I thought I was all right for the follow ing morning a fine one-handed catch on the slips dis­ posed of my chances of distinguishing myself. In the second innings we were not called upon to do much. I stayed in a long time, carrying my bat for 39, and, much to my relief, making the winning hit. We won by seven wickets. There was a curious incident in the Oxford first innings, one of the most curious I have ever seen, though it was quite easy to understand. One of the batsmen came in apparently very nervous. He was at the pavilion end. The first ball that was bowled to him he snicked. His partner called, and he ran as hard as he'could, but in his excitement he turned [round and ran towards the pavilion ! I forget whether he made any runs after he_awoke to the situation.” A t schcol Mr. Lacey began as a member of the thirteenth eleven, the lowest of all, and gradually worked his way up until elevens as numbers were abolished, and house elevens took their place. “ It was a source of great pleasure to me,” he said, “ when E. W . Wallington, the cap­ tain of the school, afterwards in the Oxford X I ., told me that he thought I was sufficiently far advanced as a cricketer to give up fagging. There was a very keen contest among the different houses, and I first came into notice by making a good score or two for my house (W ood’s) against teams which included swell members of the eleven.” ‘ 1H ow long were you in the sohoolX I ?’ ’ “ Three years. In the last year I was lucky enough to make six hundreds, one of them against the county of Dorset. I thought in those days that this innings was a great feat, but time has con­ siderably altered m y opinions about this. The best known men who were in the eleven with me were E . W . Bastard, the Oxford Blue, and Crosby, who still plays for Durham. W . H . Game was before my time, and E. A. Nepean after it. From school I went straight to Cambridge.” “ Shall you play much cricket this year ? ” , “•I don’t suppose I shall ever play cricket again, or first-class cricket at any rate. Never since I left Cambridge have I been able to play regularly, and I have always felt this to be a great drawback to me when I have had to meet first-class bowling. I take it that, as in other games, much of one’s skill at cricket is of a mechanical nature—you arrive at a certain pitch of excellence, or mediocrity as the case may be, and if you can keep in good practice you make your strokes without thinking about them, because you keep your mechanism in good order. When one without much practice comes to play against men who have been in the best of condition for months, one is undoubtedly handicapped, and I think that I have been greatly favoured by fortune in being able to make any scores of consequence.”