Cricket 1899

J u l y 13, 1899. C R IC K E T : A W E E K L Y R E C O R D O F T H E G A M E 263 BUSSEY’S m o < Q O Q O ca W & m 6 3 521 s § Ihi I i'1" i CD C D BUSSEY’S CO LU J 0 fa fa & CO J vJ w & vCO s J w 1 CO £ 2 | i - S ua ja s _ c o CO CO CVJ « 8 CO CO W co s ' t> & 3 M u f a _ CM 0 9 I CO g, £ 2 i q_l s a sS s A T T H E S IG N OF T H E W I C K E T . B y F. 8. A sh le y -C ooper . Of the matches played between Eton and Harrow, the scores of which have been preserved, Harrow have won thirty, Eton twenty-eight, and fifteen have remained unfinished. The first recorded match was played on Lord’s old ground (situated where Dorset Square now is) on August 2, 1805, and the next not until the end of July, 1818. The sides, however, met several times between the two dates, and a few games had also been played before 1805, but unfortu­ nately all the scores are lost. Of the former Harrow elevens all that is known is that Richardson, afterwards Mr. Justice Richard­ son, was captain of the eleven in 1782. In the year 1688 one of the extras of an Eton schoolboy’s bill was a “ ram and bat, 9d.” Cricket at Eton was so popular in the middle of last century that in 1751 the college was strong enough to throw down the gauntlet to the Gentlemen of England. On the Eton side were the Earl of Sandwich, the Duke of Kingston, Lord Howe, Captain Draper and Mr. Silk, the two last-mentioned being the bowlers. The Gentlemen of England were led by the Earl of March. A ll the players were dressed in “ silk jackets, trousers, velvet caps, &c.” It was said that nearly £20,000 depended on the results of these matches, which were played for £1,500, the winner of two games out of three to be entitled to the stakes. To return, however, to matches between Eton and Harrow. The contest in 1805 is noteworthy not only because it is the first recorded between the two sides but because Lord Byron, afterwards the famous poet, is found assisting Harrow. This contest is repudiated altogether by the Harrovians as a bonEi-fide match between the two schools, it being only a “ pick-up” between Lord Byron, of Harrow, and J. Kaye, of Eton. Several played on both sides who were not in the eleven. Lord Byron, although he was fond of the game, certainly was never in the Harrow eleven. An interesting fact in connection with the match, and one not mentioned by Mr. Pardon in his “ Public School Matches,” is that E. Stanley, who played for Harrow, was only thirteen years of age. The match resulted in a win for Eton by an innings and two runs. The victorious Etonians, it is said, after the match, addressed the following epigram to their vanquished opponents :— Adventurous boys of Harrow School, Of cricket you’ ve no knowledge; You play not cricket, but the fool, W ith men of Eton College. Lord Byron, on behalf of Harrow School, sent the following reply:— Y e Eton -wags, to play the fool Is not the boast o f Harrow School; W hat wonder then at our defeat, Folly like yours could ne’er be beat. In 1898, JohD. Murray (London) published “ Byron’s Letters,” edited by R. E. Prothero. In one of the letters- Lord Byron refers to the match as follows:—“ We have played theEton, and were most confoundedly beat; however, it was some comfort to me that I got eleven notches in the first innings, and seven the second, which was more than any of our side, except Brockman and Ipswich, could contrive to hit. After the match we dined together, and were extremely friendly; not a tingle discordant word was uttered by either party. To be sure, we were most of us rather drunk, and went together to the Haymarket, where we kicked up a row..................... How I got home after the play God knows.” From the above it will be seen that Lord Byron states that his scores were eleven and seven, but according to the score of the match he only made seven and two. There appears to be some doubt regarding the longest partnership ever made in India for the first wicket. According to a recent number of the Madras Times, the rccord is 165 by E. Newland and Sreenivasa Kau for Mysore Province v. Bangalore Gymkhana last October in Bangalore. In September, 1889, however, C. Luard and Commander Carpenter made 255 for the first wicket of Poona v. Old Cheltonians, at Poona, whilst last November W . Brockwell and K. M. Mistri obtained 252 without the loss of a wicket in the second innings of Patiala v. Visitors and Parsees. Whilst dealing with India records may I ask whether anyone can kindly inform me howmany runs K. M. Mistri and K. S. Banjitsinhji added whilst together last November for Patiala against IJmballa ? According to one paper, the number was over 450. * The two Gentlemen v. Players matches have practically monopolized the attention of the cricketing public during the past week, despite the fact that nowadays the mat^h has lost some of its charm. There was a time when men worked hard and thought it an honour to be chosen to participate in the match, but times have changed and chief interest now centres in the fight for the county championship, with the result that cricketers often prefer playing for their county to representing the Gentlemen or the Players. I do not intend making this an opportunity to praise old-time cricket at the expense of modern cricket, but it must be stated that many of the old matches between North and South, Gentlemen and Players, All-England Eleven v. United All-England Eleven, &c., &c., were quite as enjoyable, and produced as much good keen cricket as any of the county championships matches to-day. The match at the Oval will long be remembered on account of Abel’s record score for the Players and the huge total for which their innings closed. Hayward’s success with the bat, both at the Oval and Lord’s, recalls to mind some of Mr. W . G. Grace’s triumphs in the seventies. At the present time the Surrey player is in wonderful form, his recent scores being 77, 75, 21, 40 not out, 84, 92, 134 not out, and 77. In the Oval match Young made a wonderfully successful first appearance for the Players, scoring 81 and obtaining seven wickets in the two innings of the Gentlemen. Only three persons, it may be stated, have scored more runs in their first innings played in this match—Mr. C. L. Townsend (96) at the Oval in 1896, Mr. F. M. Lucas (89; at Lord’s in 1885, and Mr. F. H. B. Champain (82) at the Oval in 1897. Young’s 81 is therefore a record for the Players, but at the Oval in 1895 Marlow scored 27 in his first innings and 100 in the second. Mr. Fry’s century at Lord’s was a very fine innings, marred, however, by an easy chance when the batsman had scored fifty - six. It was a great disappointment for all to see “ W . G.” run out when so near his century, for the old gentleman had batted really well and seemed set for another hun­ dred. Still, it was a marvellous performance for a man within a week of his fifty-first birthday to score 78 against the best profes­ sional bowling of England. There was some rather curious scoring in the Sussex v. Yorkshire match, at Harrogate, last week. For Yorkshire, Denton claimed 54 runs out of a total of 63 obtained whilst at the wicket, and for Sussex, Fry and Smith at one time added 116 runs to the score in an hour, of which number Fry made no less than