Cricket 1898

-.;O A H d / A D “ Toge ther joined ^ m a n ly to il.”— Byron. n o. 4 9 8 . v o l . x v i i . THURSDAY, iSTOYEMBEE 24, 1898. p r i c e an. C H A T S ON T H E C R IC K E T F IE L D . MB. W. TROUP. Pew men can have had such a curious experience of first-class cricket as Mr. Troup, who was so remarkably successful for Gloucestershire last season. He first represented the county when he was a boy; went to India, after playing with a fair amount of success for twoyears, returned after six years, and again played with success until he was invalided, andonce more, after a second visit to India, lasting for four years, came back to England, and became one of the men of the closing year. This, too, despite the fact that his duties asDistrict Superintendent of the North West Provinces Police pre­ vented him from playing except on the rarest occa­ sions. When he was only seventeen years of age he was fortunate enough to be in the Gloucestershire Eleven and to gain his Rugby foot­ ball cap for his county ; after an interval of ten years he has repeated the feat, al­ though when he began to play football this winter, his performances were so un­ promising as to make critics shake their heads. In his first cricket match at home this year he made 180, and in the first home match on the Clifton College Ground h-t also made a hundred, while the first time that he ever played against Essex and Somerset he made hundreds —in each of the matches against Somerset. He came homeonsickleave inJanuary, 1898, and was again unfortunate enough to get malarial fever when he was playing at Scirborough at the end of the season, with the result that he is by no means as strong as he would wish to be. So slowly did Mr. Troup make runs in some of bis matches this year, that an impression has gone abroad that he is by nature a “ barndoor” batsman, In reality, he was born to be a hitter, and while he was in India he “ astonished the natives.” In one of his matches, his side had scored 90 for 9 wickets, but, in partnership with the last man, he put on another hundred runs, of which only five belonged to his partner. But an accident to his hand jnst before he returned toEngland this year necessitated an entire change in his method. He was out shooting in India, when his gun went off by chance and damaged the thumb of his right hand to such an extent that the doctors assured him that he would never be able to play cricket again. For­ tunately, he fell into the hands of Dr. Vaughan Pendred, of Guy’s Hospital, who, after a careful examination of his injured hand, told him that the more he played the better it woidd be for him. “ When I began to play again,” he s«»id, “ I did not feel any pain at all, but before thefirst county match I was practising on the Officer’s Ground at Portsmouth, when I hit hard at an off ball, missed it, and found that I could hit no longer. Up to the end of the Sussex matcb, 1 batted with a rubber band on the hand, and was ingreat pain whenever I made a big stroke. I had naturally to abandon my usual style.” “ How on earth did you manage, with an injured hand, to play an innings last­ ing for nearly nine hours against Notts ? ” “ I don’t quite know. I was tremendously tired at the end of the innings, and was quite unable to field on the next day. Fortunately, the match was played on one of our own grounds, and the spectators were never face­ tious at my expense. The Notts men were also very good about it. When my score was about 150, Gunn came to me, and said, ‘ Play, your own game, Sir, and I hope you make 200.’ He knew that I had never made a hundred in a big match before, and he thought tnat I might get nervous and play wildly when I was getting near the two hundred.” “ No doubt you had to put upwith some chaff fromsome of the crowds ? ” “ Not much. But at Brigh­ ton, when W. G. and I both scored very slowly at the beginning of the innings, the crowd objected rather strongly, but I did not mind, for I could not score any faster, and the Doctor is, of course, imperturbable on such occasions. It gives one a lot of confidence to be in with W. G., for he seems to communicate some of his coolness to his partner. I owe much to his encouragement. In the first three matches this season I did so badly, that MR. W . TROUP. ( From a Ph'.to by Lindon Hatt, 25, Triangle , Clifton , Glos.)