Cricket 1899

342 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 17, 1899. “ You did not play much in first-class cricket for some time after you left Cam­ bridge ? ” “ In 1876 I went to Lancaster, where, against boys’ bowling for the most part, I was able to make stacks of runs. The Sedbergh captain once paid me a compliment after I had several times pulled him right across to the on-boundary, which counted five, instead of hitting him, as I suppose I ought to have done, to the off-boundary, which only counted three. He said that I wasn’t fit to play in any eleven in the world. From Lancaster I went to Marlborough, playing a great deal for the Savernake Forest Club, and often, of course, against boys. I also played at that time for the M.C.C. and Ground in second-class matches, and for the Incogs and Nondescripts.” “ When did you begin to play in first- class cricket ? ” “ I think it was in 1880, but I never played much. I was very proud of get­ ting ‘ W .G .’ out in my first season—clean bowled. It often happened that I was lucky enough to get a man when I met him the first time, but it was very seldom that I ever caught anybody napping twice.” “ You had a very unfortunate season once in county cricket ? ” “ Yes. I made nine runs in sis in­ nings. It was a most unlucky time. In the first innings I drove the ball back in the direction of the bowler, but it struck the other batman’s bat and went straight to mid-off, who ran me out, for I had half started to run when I saw the ball was not fielded. In the second innings ‘ W .G .’ was bowling. I drove a ball between his legs and started to run, not noticing that he had a man fielding just behind him. Again I was run out. In the Yorkshire match I was bowled by a shooter from Allan Hill, and in the next innings was caught in the country for a duck each time— fortunately, it was the only match in which I made a couple of ducks. Then I went to Nottingham. Here a ball just touched the bail and removed it, beating the wicket-keeper, who ran after it to save the byes, and it was not until we were finishing the second run that I discovered that I was bowled out. This was the worst spell of batting that 1 ever had.” “ After that you did not play for some time ? ” “ Not until 1885, when I was tele­ graphed for from Manchester to go to Maidstone, where I made 44 in seventeen minutes and 75 out of 90 in three-quarters of an hour. I remember that Stanley Christopherson afterwards said to me, ‘ I never want to bowl to you again.’ He was to have played at Eastbourne last year, but didn’t turn up. So I sent a message to him by his brother, to say that I supposed he kept away because he had heard that I was playing! I need hardly say that this was a joke.” “ What do you consider the biggest hit you have made ? ” “ It would be difficult to say, because of the impossibility of measuring big hits as a rule. The furthest measured hit of mine went 143 yards 2 inches from wicket to the pitch of the ball. In a match at Eastbourne against the M.C.C. I had orders to hit when Bray was bowling, and sent him over the trees, the ball pitching 60 yards beyond them, but the exact distance could not be measured. I was very much amused during a match at Torquay. When I had hit a ball into a turnip field, I turned to the wicket-keeper and said : ‘ Did you see me put up those partridges ? ’ After the innings was over a man came to me and said: ‘ Did you know that when you made that hit you put up a brace of partridges ? ’ It turned out that the thing had actually happened, incredible as it may seem.” “ Did you play any cricket when you were in New Zealand ? ” “ I was there for three years, and took part in a lot of matches, but made no hun­ dreds, for the bowling was fairly strong. It was while I was there that I took to wicket-keeping. I took it up after deliberate thought, for I felt that I was getting so slow in the field that I should never be asked to play for Middlesex again, whereas they might possibly want a wicket-keeper at some time or other. One day I was asked to play as a wicket­ keeper, but as luck would have it, I was down with rheumatism at the time. In connection with wicket-keeping, I once saw Shacklock hit the wicket twice in the same match without removing the bails. Each time the wicket-keeper appealed for a catch. I remember being stumped, and walking back to my ground with considerable confidence, which, as it hap­ pened, was justified, for the wicket­ keeper, as I well knew, had a habit of taking the ball in front of the wicket, and the umpire, who thoroughly knew the game, had noticed it. On another occasion when a fast bowler was on, the wicket-keeper generally stood back, but as I continually went out of my ground, he came up now and then. After the match was over he said to me : ‘ How is it that you invariably stayed at home when I crept up, and vice versa ? ’ He was considerably surprised when I said: ‘ I could see your shadow ! ’ ” In one of his intermittent appearances for Middlesex, Mr. Ford had been asked to play at the very last moment, and went to lunch in mufti. “ While we were having lunch,” he said, “ W.G. asked Webbe who was the Middlesex eleventh man. Webbe said that they were going to try a new colt, and W .G . was very much amused when he found out that I was the new colt. When I went in E.M . was bowling lobs, and I hit the first two balls from him into the pavilion, but only made about 15 altogether. George Vernon used to say that he never wanted to bat immediately after me again, for in two matches he had had to follow me to save the hat-trick. In one of them he got out first ball. That was the match against Sussex, when Jesse Hide took four wickets with successive balls. We had seven men bustling for specs.— but only one got them. It was such a very bad wicket that when we put Sussex in to make 52 we expected to win, and if one of our bowlers had not given three half-volleys to George Bean we should without much doubt have done so.” Mr. Ford took part in a remarkable match at Portsmouth for the Nondescripts against the United Service. “ The Ser­ vice,” he said, “ made well over 700— Colonel Spens alone scored 386. Their innings came to an end about lunch time on the second day, and they were talking of getting us out twice before the even­ ing, thinking that we should be far too tired after our fielding to do much in the way of batting. But things did not turn out that way. One of our bowlers who wanted to catch a train went in first with me; he made one while I was making 35, and got out. In fifty minutes I had made a hundred, running a good many of them out owing to the lack of boundaries, and then got out on purpose. At ten minutes before the time of draw­ ing stumps we had two men in who had each made 96. One of them was disposed of in tryingto make his hundred. Another man went in to allow the other to get his hundred, and was bowled first ball, and at time we had made 320 for four wickets, although the bowler was the only man who was got rid of in an ordinary way. This match took place just after the famous one at Bickling Green, in which Thornton’s team made 920. I was asked to play f >,r his side but couldn’t get away, which I afterwards regarded as quite a calamity, for I should have liked to take a hand in that innings.” W . A. B ettes WORTH. A FEW NOTES ABOUT MR. W. J. FORD. His first appearance at Lord’s was for Cambridge University v. Oxford Univer­ sity in 1873. He was put into the eleven at the last moment and scored 51 not out and 11. He was a very vigorous hitter, and has hit over the grand stand at Lord’s and out of the Aigburth Ground at Liver­ pool. Thoms tells a tale that W .J. once broke a bat and called for another, whereupon somebody in the ring re­ marked, “ Take him a tree.” In the field he generally stood point. Could bowl slow round-arm. Educated at Repton, he was in the eleven there in 1871 and 1872, being captain the last year. batting averages foe M iddlesex . Matches. Inns. Notout. Highest Total Aver. score, runs. 1879 ... 2 ... 3 ... 0 ... 74 ... 102 ... 34*00 1880 ... 3 ... 6 ... 0 ... 6 ... 9 ... 1’50 1885 ... 1 ... 9 ... 0 ... 75 ... 119 ... 59 50 1894 ... 1 ... 1 ... 0 ... 15 ... 15 ... 15-00 Totals 7 ... 12 ... 0 ... 75 ... 245 ... 20’41 BOWLING AVERAGES FOR M IDDLESEX. Matches. Balls. Runs. Wkts. Aver. 1879 ... 1 ... 84 ... 41 ... 2 ... 20 50 1880 ... 1 ... 20 ... 15 ... 0 ... — Totals 2 ... 104 ... 56 ... 2 ... 28’QO