Cricket 1899

294 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 . J u l y 27, 1899. a very short time I found out what I did when the ball curled, and I also found that I could do it when I wanted, so that I practised until I could get the pitch accurate. I fancy that I could teach anyone how it ia done, but it would be impossible to put it into words even if I were particularly anxious to do so. I may say that the wind makes a lot of difference to me; it is easier to make the ball curl against the wind than with it. At the same time, I can get the curl when there is no wind at all. Men often tell me that I can’t curl the ball at all, and that it is all rubbish to say that I can— I like them to think this. I should imagine that in the future it will be a common thing for bowlers to make the ball curl, for it stands to reason that if one man can do it, others can do it also.” “ Have you found much difference be­ tween the wickets in England and those in Australia ? ” “ I have found that on English wickets a man may be a successful bowler by keeping a good length and trusting to the wicket to do the rest. I am not, of course, speaking of a bowler without break or spin. In England I have never come across a wicket on which we could not get any break at a ll; oh some it was only a very little, but there has always been a break. In Australia, on the other hand, we cannot get a break on a good wicket, so that a man has to resort to various tricks; bowling with a lower action, pitching the ball up, keeping it short— all sorts of experiments; otherwise he stands no chance of getting wickets. In fact, if he hasn’t the ability to bowl a slow ball with the same action as a fast one, he really might as well not bowl at all —that is to say, on good wickets against good batsmen.” “ Do you manage to get much practice in bowling when you are in Australia ? ” “ I generally make it a rule to go down on two afternoons each week—perhaps three at the beginning of the season. I think that in some ways Australians have an advantage over Englishmen in the matter of practice. Englishmen get professionals to bowl to them constantly at the nets, and this must often mean automatic bowling, for a professional has very little chance of trying experiments. In Australia a man bowls because he takes an interest in it, and he is not obliged to do as somebody tells him. Even as a boy his masters at school encourage him to think over what he is doing, and to try something of his own invention. Practically an Australian boy gets no coaching whatever, but this, I think, is a pity. For I believe in coach­ ing for boys to lay a foundation, for any boy with good coaching and plenty of practice can become a fair cricketer, although, unless he is a bom cricketer, he will never be in the first flight. It seems to me that the one essential thing for a boy to learn is to play straight and keep the ball out of his wicket; the rest will come.” “ What was your own experience when you were learning ? ” “ Well, I thought the thing over a good deal when I began to play in my first club team— a junior club. I made up my mind that for the first season I would play the stone-walling gams in order to get a strong defence. I was a stone-waller pure and simple. In the next season I thought that I would now try to score faster, and I found that I could easily do so, without losing what I had learned in the way of defence. Any success which I may have met with since then I put down to my first season of stone-walling. I tried strokes in practice and executed them in a match, but I never try a stroke in a match unless I have made sure in practice that I under­ stand it. It is a bad idea, especially for boys, to try to make strokes in a match which one cannot do in practice. I may say that stone-walling is not my game, and the only reason why I have nearly always made runs very sL wly in England is that things have so happened that it has been forced on me to do so. I greatly prefer to play a free game.” “ Was it long before you began to play in good cricket after you left school ? ” “ When I left school I went in for sail­ ing, chiefly because of the facilities which Sydney offers for this sport, but after trying it for about twelve months I gave it up. There was not enough interest in it to attract me. So I began to play cricket again, joining the Paddington Borough Cricket Club, which was in the First junior rank. From that I went to Senior cricket, playing for Sydney for a year, and then for Carlton, which at that time had Charlie Turner and Alec Ban- nerman among its members. When the Electoral competition was constituted, Carlton was disbanded, and as I was then living at Paddington I joined the cricket club there, and have played for it ever since— that is to say, for the last five years.” “ Paddington is the premier club of Sydney ? ” “ We have been the premier club for the last two years, and in fact had not been beaten during that time until after the present Australian team had sailed for England. But as Trumper and Kelly are in the club it was greatly weakened at the time. I think that the Electorate system is the best that could have been adopted, and it has been the means of bringing out a lot of youngsters who would not otherwise have had a chance of distinguishing themselves. As far as I myself am concerned, I had my chance through the Electorate competition. It happened that I was fortunate, but there were very likely others who were better, with more natural ability, who never had the opportunity of coming to the front. There are plenty of instances of young players with any amount of ability escaping the notice of everybody until some accident brings them forward, and no doubt there are plenty of men to whom the opportunity never comes.” “ When did your own chance come ? ” “ In the match between Fifteen Sydney Colts and Stoddart’s team in 1894. It happened that I made 152 for the Colts. That was also the match in which Trumper came out; he made 60 odd. So they gave me a trial in the next Inter­ colonial, when on a bowler’s wicket I only made five in the first innings and seven in the second. After this I was left out for the next two seasons, and I began to wonder whether I should ever get another chance. But iu the season of 1896 and 1897 I was tried again, and after making a few runs against the Next Fif­ teen of New South Wales I was fortunate enough to get 60 at Adelaide in the second innings when runs were badly wanted, and I was not left out again. A very curious and amusing thing hap­ pened at one of the intercolonial matches. Coningham had to chase a ball which got to the boundary just before him. It hap­ pened that one of the railings had fallen down, so instead of picking up the ball and throwing it to the wicket in the ordinary way, Coningham saw his chance of doing a little batting, and taking up the paling, he tossed up the ball and made a big drive to the wicket-keeper. Of course, the crowd laughed immensely.” W . A. B b it b s w o r t h . NONDESCRIPTS y. U XBRIDGE. — Played Uxbridge on July 22. UXBRIDGB. W.R.Collins,c Francis, b Hutchiuson...........24 F. Horton, b Selfe ... 35 J. C. Uibbert, c and b S e lfe .......................... 12 Lord Hillingdon, c Fradd, b Wade ... 24 Woods.lbw.bHayoraft 62 W . L. Eves, not out...107 F. G. B. Eves did not bat. J. \ j . Crouch, b Wade 1 W . F. Hackman, c Dor nton.b Haycraft 10 JF.Lofthouse.bTradd 88 P. Hortia. not out ... 7 B 15, lb 8, w 1 ... 24 Total (8 wkts.) *344 •Innings declared closed. N on descripts . j . S. Haycraft, not out ............................116 F. j . Potter, b Hack­ man ........................... 5 Haro'd Wade, not out 117 B 24, lb 2, w 1 ...........27 Total (for 1wkt)...265 R. Leigh-Ibbs, L. Hutchinson, H. Francis, A . S. Dornton, F. V . Selfe, J. Greig, S. F. Tradd, and F. C. Wheeler did not bat. FOREST H IL L v. ADDISCOMBE —Played at Perry Hill on Saturday July 22. F obevt H il l . W .M.Bradley,bBrown 9 C.F. Phillips, c Purser, b Brown ...................48 E x tr a s ...................18 H. A. Hooker, not out bu I.B.Batchelor,bPurser 24 C. Moore, b Brown ... 3 W . R. Williams, ' Purser, b Brown ... 10 C. G. Hill, c Brown, b Perrin .................! T. Balkwill, P. Gibbon, E. H. Saberton, and H Petherbridge did not bat. * Innings declared closed* A d dibgom be. Total (6 wkts) *203 P. A llen,b Bradley ... 4 E. Wiltshire,b Bradley 42 S. Purser, b Bradley... 4 A . Wiltshire, c Batch­ elor, b Bradley ... 23 J. H. Purser,b Bradley 0 R.L.Turner,bWilliams 0 F. Perrin, b Bradley... 4 R. Darvill, c Williams, b Batchelor H .Y . Brown,b Bradley B. Darvill, b Bradley E. C. Ascroft, not out E x tr a s ................... 4 4 2 4 39 130 HAMPSTEAD v. GRAN VILLE (Lee).—Played at Hampstead on July 22. G r a n v il lb . W Morris, b Marsden L. R. Havers, b Rob­ inson ..........................53 C. H. Mason, lbw, b Robinson...................51 C. J. M. Godfrey, c Moon, b Stallard ... 4 J.P.Clarkson.bStallard 1 W . S. Pate, b Stallard 0 E.J. Brown, b Stallard 0 H. S. Richardson, c and b Robinson ... 0 J. Rae, b Robinson ... 30 J. R. Hollingsworth, b Marsden ...........10 S. R. Layman, not out 7 B 15, lb 12, w 3 ... 30 Total ...186 A. E. Stoddart, Havers, b Brown H.C. Preaton, b Rich­ ardson A. R. Trimen, c Pate, b Richardson........... E. L. Marsden, c Rich­ ardson, b Pate E. W . H. Beaton, b Richardson H a m pste a d . .. 19 15 T M.Farmiloe,cClark­ son, b B ro w n ...........62 W . R. Moon, not out 22 K. Robinson, b Rich­ ardson ................... 0 N. F. Stallard,b Rich­ ardson ................... 2 B 12, lb 2 ...........14 Total (8 wkts) 198 H. Greig T . W . Mackintosh did not bat.