Cricket 1898

98 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M at 5, 1898. “ It is often said that you are more likely than other men to be disposed of in the first over of your innings F” ‘ ‘ This may possibly have been true to a certain extent when I first began to play in good cricket, but as I grew older I grew out of that feeling of anxiety to make runs, which is greatly appreciated b y a bowler. In m y younger days it certainly put me much more at my ease if I could make a four very quickly. I well remember hitting a man out of the ground in my first over in the last match on the old Antelope ground at Southamp­ ton. I t set my mind at ease at once, and I played the best innings of my life.” “ What clubs have you chiefly played for f ” “ Generally I have played for I Zingari and the Free Foresters, but I have not taken part in much club cricket, for when I could get away I have played for the county. Still, I have been able to enjoy a good deal of country house cricket, and have often been in O. I. Thornton’s elevens on Saturday afternoons.” Those who have followed the cricket career of Mr. Lacey at all closely must have noticed that of late years, although he has been more successful than ever, he troubles himself far less than formerly to keep the ball “ on the carpet.” “ It may be,” he said, “ that one is not so desperately keen about making runs when one gets older. After all, the game ia to make runs, and if you find you can do this better b y lifting the ball, it is obviously wise not to sacrifice everything to absolute safety. I always thick that old Jim Lillywhite and the Sussex wicket had a great deal to do with the persistency with which I used to keep the ball along the floor. I t was so pleasant to hammer away at him on the off at Brighton, that there was no temptation to lift the ball. I first played for Hamp­ shire in 1880, and my first innings for the county was 70 against Sussex, which gave me much encouragement. In speaking of lifting the ball, 1 am reminded of a small match in which I took part last year, a match which showed particularly plainly what a curious game cricket is. We were playing at St. Cross, Winchester, against an eleven of H .M .S. ‘ Powerful,’ and I went in last with no inten­ tion whatever of making runs. Even if I had been anxious to score, it would have seemed impossible for me to make more than a dozen runs, for the batsman at the other end was very weak indeed. But he escaped in an almost miraculous way time after time for half an hour, during which he had as much of 1he bow ling as fell to my share, and my score was 87, including half a dozen sixesandten fours. Naturally, the bow l­ in g was not of a difficult kind.” As a curicus instance of the unexpected in cricket, Mr. Lacey tells an amusing experience of his at Scarborough, where he was pla jin g for the Gentlemen 8gainst the Players. “ I was fielding at short- slip,” he said, “ and the man who was standing extra-slip had to leave the field, l.ohmaun came out as a substitute. Now, Lohmann was, of course, about the best short-slip in the world, and I was very glad of a chance to give up my position. I asked him to take my place while I went extra-slip, where I felt more comfortable. The very next ball was a gaper to Lohmann at short-slip, and he missed i t ! ” W. A. B e t t e s w o r t h . A U S T R A L I A N C R OW D S A N D TH E A U S T R A L I A N PRE SS . A t a dinner given to the English team after the match against Victoria, Mr. Stoddart again referred to the behaviour of Australian crowds and the attitude of the Press towards his team. He said that he did not intend to refer again to an unpleasant subject, but as some pressmen had treated him unfairly he must say a few' words on the subject of barracking. He had spoken on this subject, and the unfairness of a section of the Australian press, but absolutely in the interests of the game of cricket. He had nothing else to gain. He had lived for nothing else but cricket. Australian crowds had treated English teams very fairly indeed, but a certain section of them, known as the barrackers, were no good to man nor beast. H e had read an article written b y “ M id-on.” He asked them to read it, and cor sider whether it was a fair criticism cn his speech in Sydney. The writer said that he (Mr. Stoddart) made his remarks suffering the bitterness of defeat. Such statements were as mean, contemptible, and bad as they were untrue. He had spoken against the barracking and the unfairness of a section of the press purely in the interests of the game, of Australian and English cricketers, and of the spectators, and he had received numerous letters from spectators congratulating him on the good he had attempted to do in this direction. It was absolutely impossible for a cricketer to do his best when howled at b y sections of the crowd. Therefore, he asked the M.C.C. to sup­ press this barracking, in the interests of the game. As was only to be expected, “ M id-on,” being thus tingled out, wrote a letter ia self-defence. It appeared in the Mel­ bourne Age, and was as follows :— Mr. Stoddart has Complained that I un­ fairly criticised his Sydney speech in ascribing to “ the bitterness of defeat ” his extraordinory statement that “ he and his team had been insulted on every ground upon which they had played in Australia— and he particularly wished it to be under­ stood that he excepted not a single one—had been treated in fact as though they were a lot of prize-fighters instead of a band of sportsmen who had come here to play an honourable game.” My desire to make what appeared, and still appears, to me to be the only possible excuse for such an unjustifiable statement has evidently given offence to the English captain. I can only say that, that much as I regretted the impetuous levelling of such a slander against the Australian public at the time, if those words were not uttered “ in the bitterness of defeat,” then I am still more sorry — for Mr. Stoddart. Collaterally with the worthy captain’ s indignation, it is refreshing to hear Prince Kanjitsinhji extolling the crowds who were said to have singled him out as the object of special insult, and, with characteristic diver­ gence from the opinion of his skipper, ex­ pressing his appreciation of “ the manner in which he has been received on all the grounds he has had the pleasure of playing on in Australia,” and Mr. Druce declaring that “ people were quite mistaken if they thought the team had not had a ripping good time.” I am sorry, but compelled to repeat, that Mr. Stoddart’s ill-advised speech in Sydney was extremely unjust to the people of Austialia. That he has regretted having made such a rash utterance can easily be understood, and as he has only made the one mistake in ten years, and that in extenuating circumstances, I suppose it will only be con­ siderate to treat him as a first offender and let him down lightly. Nevertheless, it must always he legretted that the English captain on his departure from Australia this time will leave a very general impression that he is a better winner than a loser. O B IT U A R Y . ME. THOMAS PADW ICK . B y A. J. G. Cricket readers, and their name is legion, will regret to learn c f the demise of Mr. Thomas Padwick, of Redhill, Surrey, which occurred on Friday last at his residence in Station Road. Deceased had been in failing health for some few months. Mr. Thomas Padwick was a great wicket enthusiast, devoted to Surrey cricket, and I fancy that not even the “ old Buffer,” Mr. Fred Gale, could relate such authentic reminiscences of early Surrey cricket as Mr. Padwick. He was a perfect type of a thorough Englith gentleman, and his house was always open to cricket friends, his reptr- toire of cricket knowledge extending far back into the early days. Mr. Fadwick was a native of Havant, about eight miles from Hambledon, the veiitable cradle of the game. Surrey cricket was his forte, and it was largely due to his energy that William Caffyn was granted a pension by the Surrey executive. Not many years ago he arranged a banquet in honour of Mr. Walter Bead, at Laker’s Hotel, Redhill, which was presided over by the Mayor of Reigate, while subse­ quently Nice, the young Surrey bowler, was discovered and matured by Mr. Padwick. He was an ardent collector of cricket prints and curics, and his collec­ tion of cricket literature is one of the mcst extensive in England. Simple in taste, ever kind and sympathetic, cricket can ill afford to lose such patrols of Mr. Padwick’s class and disposition. P.S.— In vol. ix. of Cricket, p. 458, will be found an able and exhaustive article on “ Old Surrey Cricketers,” the details of which were furnished by Mr. Padwick, while in “ Scores and Biographies,” vol. xiv., p. 96, Mr. Arthur Haygarth p ajs a high compliment to Mr. Padwick’s valu­ able collection of cricketana.