Cricket 1899

O c t. 26, 1899. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 449 to slip past the keeper and longstop, and make the latter bustle “ to save the two runs,” which seems to have been the stiffest task the old Hambledonians ever anticipated when “ seeking.” That a stroke so made bequeathed its name upon the fielder appointed to prevent it appears likely from this passage in Nyren’s “ Instructions” :—“ The long stop . . is required to cover many slips from the bat, both to the leg and the off-side.” At the time of Nyren’s writing (1833), two men were usually placed on the off­ side behind wicket, namely, the long and short (now-a-days we might have dubbed them deep and close ) slips. Then a third man became necessary, and the derivation of his title seems pretty obvious. To illustrate these remarks on fielding positions, I attach a chart which I have constructed from a comparison of Nyren’s letterpress and the frontispiece, appar­ ently produced under his direction. THE FIELDSMEN, AS PLACED BY NYREN, I’OR ORDINARY BOWLING. # 1 6 # # 2 I__ I it * 4 m ii • m 5 m 9 m T he D esignations - 1. The Long Stop 2. The Wicket-keeper "V 8. The Bowler I The ( 4. The Point of the Bat V Short 5. The Middle Wicket IFieldsmen 6. The Short Slip J 7. The Long Slip 8. The Long Field to cover the Middle Wicket and Point of the Bat 9. The Long Field Straight Off On-Side { 10. The Long Field Straight On Fieldsmen > 11. The Long Field to the Hip * Batsmen + Umpires In that excellent hand-book on cricket, from the “ Encyclopaedia of Sport,” prepared by Mr. W. J. Ford himself, a half-volley is defined as “ a ball which is met by the bat the instant after it leaves the ground.” As Cassell defines, “ Volley in tennis and other ball games : A return of the ball before it touches the ground.” This derivation ought also to qualify for the obvious class. This expression, per­ haps, leaked out of the tennis court at Lord’s. It is derived from the French voice, a flight; and that from the Latin volo, to fly. Further back still, the words volley, polo, bowl, ball, pill, pellet, and bullet probably had a common original. Break seems to offer no greater obstacle. Mr. Ford’s book defines it as “ a change of direction taken by the ball after touch­ ing the ground.” In ordinary English, too, the word is commonly used to signify a deflection (as breaking in, out, off, through, up, down, etc.), or an interrup­ tion of some continuity as a storm, the morning, or the sea breaks, and a fast, a journey, or a slumber is broken. Bye is an old-fashioned way of writing by quickly. This little preposition stands for beside or beyond, as when a ball gets by the batsman, wicket, and keeper. Under such circumstances, if a run accrued, our ancestors showed good sense in choosing no more extraordinary name for it. Maybe they added the efor conscience sake. Grease is a tougher customer. Most authorities include it with crease—a fold or ridge, in having an unknown Celtic derivation. Skeat suggests a connection with the Breton kriz, a wrinkle. For my own part 1 am satisfied with an origin nearer home. The crease, there is little doubt, was for many yearsmarked simply by a line scratched or scraped in the ground. Now cratch is an obsolete form of the word scratch, having, indeed, a better title to authenticity than its sur­ vivor. It comes from the Middle English cracchen, and is represented in other Teutonic tongues by the Swedish kratsa, Danish kradse, Dutch krassen, and Ger­ man kratzen. In anold English ‘ ‘ Babees Book ” of the 15th century, occurs the delicate injunction: 11 Cratche ne picke thee nought,” The word scratch has a frequent occur­ rence in sports—witness, starting from scratch, coming up to the scratch, scratch crews (scraped together at random), etc., and crease is no more remote from the Dutch form of the word than scratch. (For the added s, compare creak, screak, shriek ;quash, squash, etc.) , Mr. Ford’s final quip on “ drawing stumps” shall also be treated seriously, because thereby hangs a moral. The word draw, like cratch, is purely English; it comes from the Gothic dragan, with the same meaning, and has a more obvious equivalent in drag. The scriptural text, “ And they drew out the staves,” —I. Kings, viii. 8. precisely exemplifies its value, and might provide excellent matter for a sermon in September. But draw has another significance nowadays in ciicket, and some of your readers may be surprised to hear that drawn games were not so dubbed from being unduly dragged out (like this letter), but because in the olden times, when every important match was played for money, if the game were undecided stakes were drawn. Before putting away my dictionaries, I cannot avoid mentioning a comical- looking definition in one of them: “ Break your speotacles : A vulgar name for a plant . . . the centaurea cyanus. ’ Every cricketer ought to find a place in his garden for a flower with so auspicious a name—however vulgar. I am, yours, October 9th, 1899. H. P.-T. BIG HITS. To the Editor of C ricket. “ At the Sign of the Wicket,” in issue of August 10th, p. 328, in his list of big hits omits Bonnor’s in England v. Aus­ tralia, 1884, last match. It was high over club house, etc. J. H. B u r n h a m . Peterboro’, Canada, August 26th. [We do not think the ball was hit out of the ground .— E d .] HAMPSTEAD. Matches played, 53; won, 23; lost, 13: drawn, 17. Buns scored for Club 9,866 for the loss of 441 wickets = 22'37 per wicket; against, 8,801 for the loss of 487 wickets — 18*07 per wicket. BATTING AVERAGES. Not less than ten innings— No. Times Most of not Total in an inns. out. runs. inns. Aver. A. E. Stoddart.......... 17 ... 4 ...1363 ... 163 ...104*84 W . S. Hale.................. 17 ... 1 ... 610 ... 105 ... 38-12 W . B. Moon ........... 16 ... 7 ... 342 ... 59 ... 38 00 T. M. Farmiloe......... 24 ... 5 ... 596 ... 130*... 31-36 H. C. Preston ........... 13 ... 3 ... 285 ... 101*... 28'5 E. L. Marsden........... 25 ... 2 ... 623 ... 96 ... 27 08 T. S. Wheater ........... 10 ... 2 ... 178 ... 56 ... 22 25 W . T. C. H. Danby... 11 ... 0 .. 203 ... 46 ... 18-45 J. C. Q. Besch........... 15 ... 2 ... 239 ... 53 .. 18'38 J. C. Toller........... ... 30 ... 3 ... 417 ... 66 ... 15'44 L. E. Thomas ........... 12 ... 1 ... 168 ... 30 ... 15-27 L. Holland.................. 17 ... 4 ... 184 ... 44 ... 14-15 A. J. Loach.................. 10 ... 0 ... 140 ... 44 ... 14 00 H. C. McNeill ........... 25 ... 2 ... 318 ... 85 ... 13 82 8. S. Pawling .......... 11 ... 1 ... U 7 ... 43 .. 11 7 A. A. Carter ........... 14 ... 1 ... 149 ... 32 ... 11-46 B. Leigh Ibbs ...........10 ... 2 ... 88 ... 18 ... 11-00 Not less than five innings— H. B. Hayman........... 9 ... 0 ... 418... 190 ... 46'44 F. B. D. Munro.......... 5 ... 0 ... 192 ... 65 ... 38 4 F. J. Potter.................. 6 .. 3 ... 87 ... 57*... 29-00 S. M. Knight .......... 6 ... 0 ... 161 ... 75 ... 26*83 H. Woodall.................. 9 ... 1 ... 188 ... 44 .. 23-5 E. W .H . Heaton ... 5 ... 2 ...65... 39* 21-66 W . F. Hancock.......... 6 ... 0 ... 108 ... 38 ... 18-00 H. Greig ................... 8 ... 1 ... 123 ... 42 ... 17-57 C. D. D. McMillin ... 7 ... 1 ... 106 ... 39* 17-44 F. Bow ley................... 6 ... 0 ... 95 ... 65 ... 15'83 B. A. Hill .................. 6 ... 0 ... 93 ... 40 ... ]5'5 G. L. Jeffery ........... 8 ... 2 ...92... 30... 15 33 F. W . Orr .................. 5 ... 0 ... 76 ... 26 .. 15 2 A. E. Trimen ........... 9 ... 0 ... 137 ... 34 15 22 D. Macgregor ........... 5 ... 0 ... 67 ... 31 . 13-4 H. F. Whinney........... 7 ... 1 ... 76 ... 21 ... 12-66 A. J. East ................... 7 ... 0 ... 61 ... 33 ... 8’71 B. E. Figgis ........... 7 ... 0 ... 56 ... 35 ... 8 00 G. Crosdale..................... 8 ... 2 ... 45... 1 5 ... 7-5 T. W . Mackintosh . . . 7 . 2 . . 27 ... 14 ... 5-4 A. B. Osmond .............. 6 ... 1 ... 21 ... 10 !!! 4*2 The following batted in four innings : C. K. Mac­ donald, average 16-25; F. R. Spofforth, 14 5 : H . R. Hebert, 12 00; A. S. Dornton, 10 5; E. A. Cox, 10-25; C. Nuding, 10; S. T. Fradd, 7 00; H. G. Price- Williams, 1*33. In three innings : E. R. Watson, average 28'0L ; H. Wilson, 27*00 ; A. Eiloart, 12*00 ; G. A. 8. Hickson, 8*00; Ali Mahomed, 4*00; F. V. Selfe, 4 00; K. Robinson, 3*00 ; D. Hughes-Morgan, 2 66. In two innings: Gregor MacGregor, average 30*5 • B. Aylwin, 11*00; J. C. B. Dickson, 10 00; A. Coote, 9 5; L. Hutchinson, 7*00; J. Greig, 6 00; 8. H. Baker, 5*5; G. R. Toller, 4*00; R. R. Cruise, 2*00; H. T. Tewson, 2*00; F. 8. Young, 0; E. T. F. S. Harvey, 0. In one innings: Capt. C. Black, 21; H. Westoby 17 ; J. R. Cocke, 9; A. C. O’Bryen, 6 ; C. C. T. Doll’ 5; B. Foster, 4; Lieut. J. A. Fitzgibbon, 2; N. f ! Stallard, 2; T. Wilkinson, 2; A. McAfee, 1 ; E. S* Johnson, 1; J. T. Ash, 0 ; E. Beid, 0; R. V. Tumham, 0. CENTURIES FOR THE CLUB. A .E . Stoddart, v. West Herts Club and Ground, August 16, at Hampstead .......................... 103 A. E. Stoddart, v. SouthHampstead, August 7 , at Hampstead ................... .......................... 154 A. E. Stoddart, v. London and Westminster Bank, August 12. at Hampstead.................. 130 A.E.Stoddart, v. Gnats, July 11, at Hampstead 126* A.E.Stoddart, v. Ealing, May 27. at Hampstead 123 A. E. Stoddart, v. U. C. S. Old Boys, June 8, at Hampstead......................................................... jqq *