Cricket 1898

394 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME S ept . 8, 1898. whidh of the bowlers that I have met is the most difficult to take, but I should say that Tom Richardson is on the whole the fastest; he keeps up his pace for such a lon g time.” “ Have you learned much from other wicket-keepers ? ” “ Certainly. I don’t suppose that any wicket-keeper, who has played in first- class cricket, has been entirely self-taught. B y watching other men you learn many things— the easiest positions to take, the best way to hold the hands, and lots of other things. I used to watch Blackham very carefully; his easy attitude and neatness struck n e very forcibly. I am sorry to say that I never saw Pilling keep wicket, but I am told that he was won­ derfully good. I am inclined to think that there have been changes in wicket- keeping during recent years, just as in batting and bow ling. The wickets nowa­ days are so good and the ball comes so straight that there are nothing like so many chances of catching or stumping as there used to be when I first began to play. A t that time the batsman fre­ quently just missed the ball and, over­ balancing himself, gave a chance of stumping; nowadays he meets it in the middle of the bat. I am certain that this is due to the excellence of the wickets.” “ Are you often deceived by a bowler’s variation of pace ? ” “ No. A wicket-keeper becomes so accustomed to watch every motion of the hand of a bowler that he can almost tell to a certainty when he gets his arm up what sort of a ball is coming. I should think it must be very seldom indeed that any wicket-keeper who plays in good cricket is deceived in the pace of a ball, unless he has never seen the bowler before.” As a rule the hands of a wicket­ keeper who has much work to do are battered about to such an extent that the most hard-hearted individual who looks upon them cannot but experience a feeling of sympathy. But no one, looking at the hands of Lilley, would ever guess that a wicket-keeper was before him. This immunity from broken fingers is partly due to skill, partly to the way in which the hands are held, and partly to good fortune. It is not often that Lilley has met with a severe acci­ dent. “ Perhaps the worst that I have ever had,” he said, “ occurred at Canter­ bury three years ago, when the joint of my thumb was badly damaged. But nine days afterwards I put the thumb in starch paste and kept wicket again without suffering any inconvenience.” “ Y ou speak of starch paste. How would that be of use ? ” “ It keeps the finger or thumb quite stiff so that you cannot move it if you want to do so, and although there is always the risk that you may get a blow on it, you can at least use the hand without much discomfort. M y method is to cover the whole finger with a thin layer of wadding. I then cover a bandage with a thick paste made of starch, to which is added a little plaster of Paris, and wrap the bandage round the finger several times. The paste becomes stiff and you can use the hand easily. There is the danger of which I spoke, but a wicket-keeper has, of course, to take Buch risks.” “ D o you agree with those who think that a wicket-keeper, from his oppor­ tunities of studying the bow ling, ought of necessity to be a good bat ? ” “ I am inclined to think that there is very little in the idea, and that the reason why a wicket-keeper is often a good bat is that he has plenty of con­ fidence. This is, no doubt, partly caused by his having to face the bow ling from nearly the same spot as the batsman; but, I fancy it is chiefly due to the fact that lie has no temptation to be nervous—if he gets runs it is very satisfactory both to him and his side ; if he does not, he is still a wicket-keeper. Consequently, he does not feel that if he makes a few small scores he is certain to be left out of the team, and the result is that he, as a rule, makes runs pretty regularly.” “ Were you well known iu local cricket before you played for the county ? ” “ N o ; I had never played in anything but fourth-rate cricket. Sbilton, the Warwickshire bowler, was engaged as h. coach to the boys at Cadbury’s where I was engaged. We had no wicket-keeper, and Shilton, who had heard that I occasionally took the gloves, asked me to see what I could do. I suppose that I only kept wicket about half a dozen times while he was there, but he suggested to the Warwickshire committee that they should give me a trial in a club and ground match. I came off fairly well, catching three men and making ten runs. Shortly after this—it was in 1887— Warwickshire had to play the Australians, and, to my very great surprise, I was asked to keep wicket. The Australians made about 350 runs, and, as luck would have it, I managed to make two catches and stumped a man, and only let seven byes. 8 ince that time I have played regularly for the county.” There are days when although a wicket-keeper feels perfectly well and perfectly fit, everything seems to go just a little wrong. “ Nothing seems to come your way,” said Lilley, “ the ball hits you just on the side of tie hand, and you seem quite out of it. And yet after some such days as this, when I feel that I must have appeared to be an awful duffer, I have found that other people have thought I was iu about the same form as usual. But the fact is that, in the long run, if a wicket-keeper is regular in his habits, and in pretty good health, he does not vary much.” W . A. B e t t e s w o r t h . STREATHAM v. BECKENHAM .—Played at Streatham on Septem ber 3. B eckenham . H. E. B aber, not out 5 W . R . Stratton, st K err, b S co tt............ 0 B 9, lo 1, w 5 ... 16 C. O. Cooper, c Free­ m an, b M iller............................... ...........................................135 B. S M athews, cK err, b H ooper................................................................................ . ..52 B.D. Pannon, c Jones, b Scott ....................132 T otal (5wkts)*353 E. H. Sim pson,cbark- worth, b L eaf..............................................................................14 C. M . B aker, F D. Browne, A . A . B aker, P . C. B aker and Dr. M . E. Favri did n<«t bat. •Innings declared closed. S tbeatham . H. S. B arkw orth,b A . B aker..............................33 N. M iller, lbw , b A. B aker..............................81 H . H . Scott, not out. E. H L eaf, b C. B aker 6 S. L loyd-Jones,notout 14 B 16, lb 4, w l ... 21 T otal (3 wkts) 225 C. S. Cow, D. 0 . K err, J . F . Hooper, V. Feeney, E. P . Pulbrook and A . Freem an did not bat. CLAPTON v. PADDINGTON.—P layed a t Clapton on September 3. P addington . C.H um phreys.bBoyton 2 W . M ills, not out ... 0 B 9, lb 4 ............13 W .W ard , c Genders, b Boyton ..................... 82 W .W arsop, c Genders, b Bishop ..................... 11 R . W ard, b Boyton ... 69 T otal (4 wkts) 202 G. Puckle, not out .. 25 D ebenham, W reford and H art did not bat. C lapton . H Boyton. c Bates, b W reford .................... F. A. Boys, b H uish ... H .H ugill.c Debenham, b W reford..................... F. A . Bishop, c H um ­ phreys, b H uish W . H . N olloth, not out D ouglas, Ju n ., b W . W ard ..................... 0 S. Genders, not out ... 5 B 5, lb 2, w 1, nb 1 9 T otal (5 wkts) 64 J . L . T ate, J . A. D ouglas, E. E lkington and Dr L adell did not bat. CLAPTON v. PADDINGTON.—P layed a t Paddiog- ton on September 3. C lapton . J . Attenborough, not out .................................102 A. E. Boys, c and b Puddefoot ... 0 A. w .R e n a ls,b L e a... 28 A. Dodson, b H ouse... 13 C. Brown, b Bodden . 1 R . H. W albancke, b Bodden ....................... 0 M . Van Boolen and (j. Abbott did not bat. A . J . D yke, b H ouse... 4 W . Cooper, not out ... 12 J.L .Jen k in s, b Pudde- foot ...............................42 Byes ..................... 7 T otal (7 wktf-) 209 J.Puddefoot,b Jenkins C. Bodden, c D yke, b Jenkins ..................... 7 Lea,cJenkins,b Cooper 12 H arding, b Jenkins ... 0 House, b D yke ............ 0 Jeffrey, b Jenkins ... 0 Gauthrop, lbw, b Je n ­ kins .............................. 1 P addington . 8m ith, not out ... P arkin, b D yne ... K endall, b Dyke Gauthrop, jun., out .................... B 12, l b l ... 2 3 0 0 13 T otal (9 wkts) 46 C R IC K E T I N IN D I A . JH A LAW AD v REST OF K A T B IA W A R .—Played a t R aj cote on A ugust 5 and 6. J halawad . F irst innings. Second innings. Shivshanker (jr.), c R an jit­ sinhji, b Bapasola ............. 0 c Bapasola, b Billim oria ... 18 M u lji, lbw , b S h iv la l..........28 b B illim oria ... 13 Sam atji, lbw ,b B illim o iia... 20 lbw , b R an jit­ sin h ji ............ 1 Y ajesingbji, c B illim oria, b R anjitsinh ji ....................33 ru n o u t..................... 7 Hemo. b B iilim oria ............ 0 low , b Billim oria 7 Ogbad, run out ..................... 0 lbw , b R an jit­ sin h ji ............ 2 Strip, c Billim oria, b R an­ jitsin h ji ............................... 0 b R an jitsin b ji ... 0 Nag K havad, not out..........14 b Savoas ............ 7 M ajor Abud, b B illim oria... 2 b fcillimoria ... 0 B alu, c B illim oria, b R an­ jitsin h ji .............................. 0 b B illim oria ... 18 Thakore Saheb, b R anjit- s in h ji........................... ... 1 n o to u t.................... 2 Shivshanker (sr.). c M ajor A shby, b R anjitein hji ... 2 c B illim oiia, b B a n jit'in h ji ... 2 E x tra s.............................. 9 E xtras............ 2 Total ...109 R est of K athiaw ae . T otal............79 F irst innings. Shivlal, c Oghad, b B alu ... 7 hanjiteinhji, b Shivshanker 31 Bapasola, b B a lu ..................... 0 Billim oria, b B alu ........... 0 Wood, b B alu ..................... 3 M ajor Ashby, run o u t.. .. 0 Bharucha, not out ............ 6 Souter, b Shivshanker ... 1 K incaid, b Shivshanker 2 Gokalchai d, b bhiv.^hanker 0 M anilal, !• B alu ..................... 9 bavdas. b B alu ..................... 0 E x tras... ..................... 5 Total ...................64 Second innings. b B a lu ..................... c and b Balu c H* mo, b Balu. ru n o u t................... b B a lu ..................... b B a lu ..................... c Thakore Saheb, b ShiVf hanker b B a lu ..................... lbw , b Falu c Oghad, b Balu b B a lu ..................... not out..................... E x tr a s ............ T otal.......... 117