Cricket 1899

“ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toll.”— Byron. wo. 5 2 7 . v o l . x v i i i . THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2 6 , 1899. p r i o b sa. A CHAT ABOUT MR. C. J. POSTHUMA. Cricketers in Holland have to contend with such enormous difficulties that the perseverance and pluck shewn by about 400 young Dutchmen during the last fifteen years in trying to introduce the English national game into their country cannot be too greatlypraised. On grounds which are gene­ rally very soft and very rough, almost too bad for cricket, without the neces­ sary support from their parents, who do not under­ stand the game, and do not maketheleasteffort to under­ stand it, because they cannot see anything in it; without the much-wanted English coaches, they, in the eighties, laid themselves out to play cricket by the light of the informationwhich they could obtain in English hand­ books, and teaching each other as well as possible. Those who were boys in 1880 are nowadays men, often with great influence in society, but it is to be regretted that most of them have left their places to youngsters, and that only a few of them are still playing, or give their moral support to the game. Never­ theless, some of the veterans still do what they can to keep up the game until younger cricketers, ingreater numbers, can take the work from their hands with a better chance of success. Amongst these veterans—if indeed they can be called veterans—one meets with men, who do such good work with bat or ball, that they would be worthy of a place in English elevens which have a name to keep up. First among them stands Mr. Posthuma, who is undoubtedly the best all-round man that our neighbours on the other side of the North Sea possess. Bom at Harlingen on January 11,1868, Mr. Posthuma is the youngest son of a highly distinguished Frisian family. When he was still a child, his family removed to Haarlem, and there, at about fourteen years of age, he started his cricket career. Since then, he has always been in the front rank. The higher the standard of play in Holland became, the more his all-round play improved. Although he is a good bat, his bowling ought to be mentioned first,for in this he keeps all his rivals at a long distance. The English teams which every year play a series of matches in Holland all pronounce him to be a wonderful bowler, and accentuate their remarks by pointing to the batting averages which they take home! Mr. Posthumabowls left-hand medium, generally round the wicket. He is tall and strong, and keeps a capital length even when bowling all the day, and combines his natural leg-break with a good pace. He can, moreover, make the ball break from the off about as much as any man. His off-ball is somewhat slow, and, to quote a man who has seen it, “ it pitches a yard and more outside the off-stump, and suddenly comes back a good deal faster, and then— well—hit a six off it if you can ! ” At the beginning of his career Mr. Posthuma only bowled underhand, round arm being then unknown inHolland. It was onAugust 7th, 1884, that the Haarlem “ Rood en Wit ” C.C., play­ ing its first match against an English side, viz., the Tonbridge Rovers (fromTon­ bridge School), who were making a trip in Holland, got its first lesson in over­ handbowling. Mr. Posthuma took it well to heart, prac­ tised the new delivery, and succeeded so well, that two years later (when he was eighteenyearsold), onAugust 2nd, 1886, he captured seven wickets of the London Dal­ ston Albert C.C. for 43 runs, which, as one of theEnglish­ men said, “ Ain’t bad for a youngster.” It would be decidedly interesting to see him bowling on a good Eng­ lish wicket, backed up by thoroughly good fielding, and as fielding is the weak point in Dutch cricket, it is possible that he would meet with a still greater measure of success as a bowler, than in his own country. Some other performances of his against English elevens which have played in Holland may find a place here :— 1894 v. Cheshire Mystics, six wickets for 21. 1895 v. Ivanhoe C.C., seven wickets for 6 and seven wickets for 21. MR. O. J. POSTHUMA. (From a Photo by P. Clausing, Jun ., Haarlem , Kuisweg 45.)