Cricket 1898

CRICKET-: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. - J u l y 7, 1898. vary my pace, chiefly, I think, through care­ fully watching Lockwood and Sharpe. Lock­ wood was also good enough to show me how to make tho ball hreak. I remember that the spectators at matches used to call us the ‘ Bengal Tigers,’ because our coats were striped with black and yellow. Wo all immensely enjoyed our tour in England in 1888. "We were treated with great hospitality by the different counties and clubs which we played, and we shall never forget thekindnesses shown to us by Mr. Alcock, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Ash (the honorary secretary of the Richmond Cricket Club), and Mr. Baker (the honorary secretary of the Scarborough Cricket Club).” “ Are there any good umpires among the Parsis?” ............................. ................ .. “ I ’m afraid that umpiring is not our strongest point, but umpires are improA^ng. But even in England your umpires—at least in club matches—are not always perfect. I re­ member playing -at Bournemouth in a match when a batsman persisted in backing up so far that I had to tell him that he ought to be careful. As he took no notice of my advice, I felt constrained to put his wicket down on the next occasion that he was out of his ground before I had delivered the ball. The umpire at first said the man was not out, but I produced a copy of the rules of the game, whioh convinced him at once.” “ The moral tone of Parsi cricket seems to have greatly improved since its early days? ” “ Yes, I can give you an instance of that. About fifteen years ago, in a match (a Parsi cricket club v. a regimental team), a Parsi batsmen went in, but did not score. He was a good batsman. Six of the best men on his side were out for about 30 runs; so this bats­ men put on a different dress, and tied a handkerchief round his head to escape being identified by his opponents, and went in to bat again. He made a big score and won the match for his club. But he was put to great shame when it was found out that he had played this trick. What cricketer of the present time would ever dream of doing such a thing ? ” When we were beaten by Lord Hawke’s team the crowd was so paralysed by the result (for as we had won the first match they expected us to win the second), that very little applause was given to the Englishmen. I could see that Lord Hawke felt this very much, but he could not have felt it more than I did. The newspapers were very severe the next morning on the crowd and on us for such unsportsman­ like behaviour, but as far as the team was concerned this was unmerited. I do not think that such a thing could happen again; but the crowd had not at that time been educated up to taking defeat in a philo­ sophical manner. Parsi cricket owes much to Mr. P. D. Kanga, the able and good tempered captain of the team which visited England in 1888. He has sacrificed time and money for the good of Parsi cricket, and the present prominence enjoyed by Parsis in India is largely due to his exertions. Other great supporters of our cricket are Mr. J. M. Patel, Mr. A. Patel, Mr. Tata, and Mr. Chichgar.” “ When did you first come out as a bowler ? ” “ In 1885. At that time I was very strong, and bowled at a tremendous pace, blindly blinging the ball at the wickets, though it nearly always went quite straight. I used to play for my club against the Hindoos, who wore no boots, and used no leg guards or gloves. 1 am sorry to say that they often had to go home with crushed toes and fingers. They never liked to play against me after that time, although this experipnce had the effect of inducing them never to play without protection for their feet, and hands, and legs.” “ What should you consider the best thing you have ever done in the way of bowling ? ” “ It was in 1890, for Parsis v. Secundrabund team, which was captained by Major Poore, who is now playing for Hampshire. In the first innings, the Parsis scored 63 runs, and our opponents 60. I had taken three wickets for two runs, bowling eight maidens out of ten overs. In the second innings of our opponents a draw seamed to be inevitable. They had five wickets in band and had about 80 runs to make and only twelve minutes left for play. I took four wickets in four con­ secutive balls, the fifth wicket being taken by another bowler, and the Parsis won only two minutes before time. Secundrabund were so confident of making a draw, that the bats­ men went off to play lawn tennis. They had to run down to the wickets in great flurry and excitment. At this period, the excitement amongst the spectators was beyond bounds. [As a member of the second Parsi team that visited England in 1888, I stood first in the bowling averages, my record being 170 wickets for 11*113 runs apiece, the number of balls|delivered being more than five thousand.] The Parsi cricket ground is a very pretty sight when a big match is in progress. No charge is made for admission, so that the crowd, representing all sorts of nationalities— English, Parsis, Hindoos, Mohammedans, etc., many of them in their bright-coloured native dress—is about ten deep. Each side, at its own expanse, pitches its own tents and shamianas—a kind of covering of coloured cloths stitched over upright posts. The ground itself is about twice as big as Lord’s, but we play only on one side of it.” “ Did you begin to play when you were very young ? ” “ At the age of thirteen I played for my school at Naosari, a suburb of Bombay, where I was born. I was fortunate enough to be at the school when cricket was introduced as an entirely new game. When I was sixteen I joined one of the chief Parsi clubs in Bombay—the Baronet C.C.—and there I learned to play cricket seriously. In my early days I had an experience which I am not likely to forget. My grandfather, who was of orthodox views, did not at all like the idea of my playing cricket, which was a great innovation in India at that time. Accordingly he put my bat into the fire. I said nothing, but stole quietly away to the timber yard of my uncle, a contractor. There I found a big log of wood which seemed suit­ able for my purpose, and I gave it to a carpenter, with instructions to make a bat out of it. The value of the whole log was ten times greater than the piece which eventually appeared in the shape of a bat, so that my uncle, who did not quite understand my enthusiasm, took good care to express his feelings by giving me a severe beating. While I was at school I had a bat presented to me for the highest score (32 runs) in the prize match played at Naosari. I was then a cricketer of the barndoor type.” “ You have always been fond of giving young players a chance ? ” “ When I was on the committee for selecting the teams I liked to bring out colts whenever I could, a policy which was not always approved of by my colleagues; although they usually yielded to my sugges­ tions. I was especially lucky in my selections, for every time a colt was tried he came off successfully at the first trial, and I am glad to say that those very colts now enjoy a leading place in the Parsi team. Only last year, on my return to Bombay, I wanted to give a chance to a bowler named Bharucha who had been left out of the team for six years or so. I saw him at the nets and formed a high opinion of his bowling, feeling sure that he had lost none of his cunning with the ball. Nearly all the members of the committee and the majority of Parsi cricketers were against his inclusion, but I persisted and put him into the team at my own risk. He bowled so well that the public were quite surprised and began then to speak highly of my “ judgment.” He bowled 24 overs, 16 maidens, and took five wickets for 12 runs, for the Parsis against the Presidency team.” W . A. B e tte s w o r t h . SHREWSBURY SCHOOL v. R03SALL SCHOOL. —Played at Rossall on June 22. R ossall S chool . First innings. L. Y. Harper, c C. Swiss, b Alexander........................27 D. J. C. Glass, run out ... 5 F. B. Roberts, run out ... 6 S. Fletcher, b Humphrys ... 6 H. W. Carrington, c Skelton, b Cooke ........................ 0 N. Kendal, c Swiss, b Alexander........................ 2 R. C. Fennell, c Forman, b Cooke............................... 1 L. H. Draper, b Humphrys 8 W.Armistead.b Humphrys 33 R. D. Beadle, b Alexander 1 A. Draper, not out .......... 0 Extras ................. 0 Second innings. b Humphrys c S k e lto n , Alexander b Bowring ... b Bowring ... not out.......... 5 9 , 0 . 37 b Bowring.......... 0 c Richter, b Bow­ ring ................. 6 c Humphryp, Cooke b Goldie notout... ... b Humphrys Extras... b ... 15 ... 17 ... 0 ... 4 ... 6 Total ...69 Total (9wkts) 106 S hrewsbury S chool . C. W . Alexander, c Beadle, b L. Draper 0 A. B. Leather, c Glass, b A. Draper ..........20 C. C. H. Swiss, c Kendal, b L. Draper 40 R. M. Druce, b Car­ rington .................21 A. 8. Forman, c Harper, b L. Draper 1 F. H. Humphrys, b L. Draper .................81 F. H. Bowring, b Fletcher .......... E. G. Skelton, b Draper .......... A. S. Goldie, b Draper .......... A. Richter, b Fletcher .......... H. Cooke, not out Extras ... Total ... ... 17 A. ... 6 A. ... 10 S. ... 0 ... 9 ...161 BURY AND WEST SUFFOLK v. INCOGNITI.— Played at Bury on June 27 and 28. B ury and W est S uffolk . W . N. C. Burrell, b Flem ing................. 4 A. R. Buxton, c and b Fleming ..........10 A. M. Groom, c Cob­ bold, b Berners ... 6 H. W. Claughton, b Fleming ................. 0 Byes .......... ... 7 Capt. R. N. Dewing, b Fleming ................. 9 E. Pritchett, b Cob­ bold ........................14 H. Richmond, not out 42 Hon. M. G. Tolle- mache. c Lake, b Cobbold ................. 4 P. T. Francis, b Cob­ bold ...................... 1 G. A. Foljambe, lbw, Total ..........105 b Fleming................ R. J. Burrell, b Cob­ bold ........................ Second innings :—Capt. R. N. Dewing, c Berners, b Fleming, 35; H. Richmond, c sub., b Lake, 10; Hon. M. G. Tollemache, not out 5; G. A. Folijambe, b Cobbold, 12; A. R. Buxton, c Ingall, b Cobbold, 70. Total (4 wickets), 132. I ncogniti . P. F. Hadow, c and b Foljambe.................15 A. G. Archer, b Tolle­ mache........................ 0 J. A. Berners, c Bux­ ton. b Tollemache... 15 W. E. Bri8towe. c Pritchett, b Tolle­ mache ...................... 1 Capt. F. Fleming, b Foljambe................ 56 Capt. E. P. Prest, c R. Burrell, b Buxton 9 T A. L. Ingall, b Fol- j ambe ................. A. Toomey, not out... Graham - Thompson, run out .......... ... A. Spencer-Cobbold, c Buxton, b Tolle­ mache ................. E. W. Lake, c Prit- chctt, b Tollemache Byes ................. Total ...115