Cricket 1898

346 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 18, 1898. fast round-arm for my college at Cam­ bridge during my first year, m y bow ling gradually began to fall off until I could do absolutely nothing. Why it left me I haven’t the slightest idea—there seemed no reason for it at all, for I was quite well and not stale. As I have always, from the time that I began to play cricket, enjoyed bow ling much more than batting, I was very greatly vexed at having to give it up. Bat once, when the Wanderers were playing at Beigate Priory, it suddenly occurred to me that I would try lobs— not that I expected them to meet with any success. I said to myself ‘ If you can’t bow l round you must try to bow l underhand.’ As it happened I was fortunate enough to take five or six wickets, and encouraged by this success I have gone on bow ling lobs ever since.’ ’ “ D a you get as much pleasure in bow ling lobs as you used to do in round arm ? ” “ Pos.-ibly n ot; but, nevertheless, I very greatly enjoy my bow ling nowa­ days. Generally for the Wanderers I manage to take seventy or eighty wickets each season, at an average of from nine to about twelve. I suppose that I was one of the first men to have practically all my field on the one side, but it has lately become quite common to do tbi*, especially with round-arm leg- break bowlers. Humphreys used to have four or five men on the cff-side.” “ No doubt, like other lob bowlers, you have to put up witb chaff from the crowd pretty often ? ” “ I have been chaffed, and I might almost say abused, <n nearly every ground on which I have played. Generally the chaff is good-natured, as when a man who had climbed up into a tree at Ton­ bridge solemnly yelled out: ‘ Now, gen­ tlemen, one ball, one n u t! ’ r, ferring to the cry of the cocoanut men at ftirs. Up at Cbesterfield this year some of the miners, who, for the most part, formed the crowd, were very indignant with me for putting myself on (I was captain), and were not slow to expres sth eir opinions. Iu peremptory tones they called out to m e : ‘ Take off them adjective lo b s !’ But I think that the criticism which delighted me more than any other was tbe remark of a gentleman to me that it wasn’t fair to the other side for me to bowl, since cricket was a progressive game, and to go back forty years was absurd ! ” “ On occaeioi.s you are probably knocked about a good deal, like all lob b o w le is ?” “ I remember a second eleven man in the Lancashire team hitting me three times on to the pavilion at the-Oval in a match when I was p la jin g for the Surrey second. This year, too, at Cihesterfield, G. G. Walker hit me for two sixes off successive balls, but I am happy to say t'oat he was caught off the third. Some­ times a batsman hits the ball back to me in a way which I don’t Lke at all. Ernest Smith cnce nearly killed me, but most; fortunately the ball happened to hit me on the muscle of the arm, doing no dmm fif to speak of. But as far as I was toi.es lLtd it luighthave hit me anywhere, for I never even caught a glimpse of the ball while it was on its way.” Mr. Jephson’s experiences of cricket in the Cambridge XT. were decidedly interesting. In his first year he was played entirely as a bowler, and in batting he was always last on the list. “ But I had most marvellous luck,” he said. “ In one of the matches, in 1890 —it was against Yorkshire—we had to bat five minutes to play out time, and, as the captain did not want to run th eii-k of losing a good man, 1 was sent in first. I managed to keep up my wicket, and kept going on the next morning until lunch, making about 40 runs After this, I went in first against the Australians—it was the year in which Turner and Ferris made such a reputation. B. N. Douglas and I raised the score from thirteen to about a hundred, and for the future I was played $s a batsman. We had a splendid side that year, including Jackson, Woods, Francis Ford, MeGregor, E. C. Streatfeild, A. J. L. Hill, and C. P. Foley. I did next to nothing in the ’Varsity match at Lord’s in either of the three years in which I played, and the odd thing about it was that although I was played for my batting—for I never bowled a ball in the last two years—I was the eleventh man in the 1891 match, and ninth man in 1892.” “ H ow long was it before you began to play for Surrey ? ” “ I first played in 1894 up to the end of the season, when I went away on tour with the Wanderers, as I always do. After that I was left out of the team until the big match of the year at the Oval in 1897— against Yorkshire for Henderson’s benefit. In this I was fortunate enough to make 54. I had previously done pretty well for the Wanderers.” “ Nearly all your club cricket is played for the Wanderers P” “ Yes. I very seldom played for any other club, practically never; and I have not missed one of their tours for years. We always go about the same round— Tonbridge, Canterbury, Hastings, St. Leonard’s, etc. A t Tonbridge, it almost invariably happens that both sides make over 400. One year they went iu first, and made 410 or thereabouts, and we followed with 450 odd. In this match I made 256. I remember a very interesting match in which I was playing for theCrystal Palace against Eastbourne at the Saffrons. Each side made over 400 in the first innings, and in their second innings they had to get 186 in an hour and a-quarter, and they managed to do it. It was a great perform­ ance. Y oung Bush, brother of F. W., Bush, made a hundred in each innings for Eastbourne. Altogether, over a thousand runs were made in the two days of this match for twenty wickets. I should like to say that to Stanley Colman, the captain of the Wanderers’ Club, I consider that I owe a very great deal, for he was inde­ fatigable iu trying to improve my cricket. He is one of the best captains I ever played under. He always keeps cool, and is just as keen in fielding at the end of an innings erf 400 as at the beginning.” One of the oddest experiences which could fall to the lot of any cricketer occurred to Mr. Jephson in the Middlesex match at the Oval. “ I was batting,” he said, “ to Bawlin, and played a ball to third man. I was starting to run, when I found that there was a discussion going on in which I was chiefly concerned. It seems that when I played the ball, a little piece of the bat flew off, passed over my shoulder, and knocked off a bail. The umpire gave me cut, and I have no doubt whatever that the decision was right, although it does not seem quite in accordance with the spiiit of the gnme that such a thing should be. Not that I blame the Middlesex men for appealing ; in county cricket it is necessary to play the game with great strictness.” W . A. B e t t e s w o b t h . C R IC K E T IN I N D I A . BAJKOTE GYMKHANA v. MAJOB ABUD’S TEAM.—This match, in which K. S. Rarjitsinhji took part, was played at Wadhwan at the end of July. M ajor A b u d ’s T eam . First inniDgs. Second innings. Shivshanker, jun., c Bapa- sola, b Banjitsinhji..........23 c Manila!, b Ran- jits-iahji.......... 5 Mulji, lbw, b Ranjitsinhji 9 notout ... ...39 Samatji, b Ranjiteinhji ... 1 c Panthaki, b Ranjiteinhji ... 1 Hemo, b Savdas................ 40 b Savdas ........... 4 Yaj^sinbji, c Manilal, b Ranjiteinhji ................. 9 b Ranjitsinhjt ... 4 Oghad, b Papasola ........ 6 c Panthaki, b Ranjitsinliji ... 1 Strip, b Ranjitsinhji..........10 c Wood, b Ran­ jiteinhji .......... 9 Thakor Saheb, run out ... 0 JaDgli, b Favdas............... 0 Shivshanker, c Wood, b Ranjitsinhji ..............14 Abdul, not out ............... 4not o u t................... 6 Extras ... ............. 12 Extras............ 6 Total ... 75 Total .................127 R a jk o t e G y m k h a n a . Manilal, b Oghad ... 0 Merubha, not out ... 17 Panthaki, run out ... 15 Bhavanisinghji, b Shivohanker .......... 0 Savdas, b Shivshan­ ker ........................ 0 Extras................. 4 Total ..........98 Ranjitsinhji, c Samat, b Hemo .............................................................. 54 Gokalehand, run out 1 Bapasola, b Shiv­ shanker .......... ... 0 Wood, c and b Shiv- phanker ......................................... 4 Ashby, b Oehad... ... 2 Natvarsinghji, b Shiv­ shanker ....................................................... 1 M a jo r A b u d ’ s T e a m . First innings. Second innings. O. R. W. O. R. W. Ranjitsinbji.......... 6 53 6 .......... 6 41 5 Savdas ................. 31 26 2 .......... 25 9 1 Panthaki .......... 18 15 0 .......... 12 5 0 Bapasola .......... 7*4 21 1 ....................... 460 Natvarsinghji ... 7 00 ... ... 5 8 0 R a jk o t e G y m k h a n a . O. R. W.l O. R. W . Shivshanker ..20 415 Hemo ...............20 13 1 Oghad ......... 17-2 40 2 I HAMPSTEAD v. HAMPTON WICK.—Played Hampstead on August 3. H a m pt o n W ic k . H. P. Tucker, b Hale.. 13 F. D. Head, b Hale . J.S Brocklesby.bHale 0 F. L. Head, b Gibbon 2 F. O. Dell, b Hale ... 15 R. F. Sivers, c Potter, b Hale .................24 A.Lidbetter,cThoma8, b Carlin .................It H a m pst e a d . A. Miles, not out... A. Daniel, b Hale ... G. Dunbar, b Hale ... P. F. Knox, runout... Byes ................. at Total , ...117 W . S. Hale, b F. D. H ead........................37 C. K. McDonald, c Knox, b Brocklesby 1 W.T.H.Danby,notout 103 L. E. Thomas. J. Marcus, A. S. Domton, F. N. Wilson, F. Geoghegan, and Carlin did not bat. J.Gibbon,bF.D.Head 129 F. J. Potter, not out.. 4 Byes .................34 Total(3wkts)308