Cricket 1899

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toll.”— Byron. w o. 5 2 8 . voi. x v i i i . THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1 8 9 9 . p r i c e sa. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. THE REV. T. GREATOREX. It is very seldom that a boy at school shows greater promise than did Mr. Greatorex when he was at Harrow. He seemed marked out to become one of the men in the very front rank of cricketers, and there is not much doubt that he would have played up to the reputation which he had gained if he hadbeen able to devote his whole time to the game. But, after temporarily losing his form, he found when he was or­ dained that his duties pre­ vented him from playing regularly. In the month after the Eton and Harrow match in 1883, in which he had played two scientific and valuable innings of 37 not out and 40 not out, practi­ cally saving his side from defeat, he was chosen to play for Middlesex, and made a most promising debut. Against Notts, with Alfred Shawand Flowers, he played excellent cricket for 15, while againstYorkshire, with Peate, Harrison, Tom Em­ mett, and Bates, as bowlers, he scored 48 not out in astyle which stampedhimat once as aplayer of the first class. In after years his duties preven­ tedhimfromplayingregular­ ly, though he still continued to appear in the Middlesex team on occasions. He has been for some years closely connected with the work of his old school mission in Latimer Road, and is now also a minor canonat West­ minster Abbey. With reference to his play at Harrow, Mr. Greatorex said: “ I was chosen en­ tirely for batting, although at that time I used to bowl a little, as well as keep wicket. But it was very seldom that I ■went on to bowl in a match. In my first year, to the best of my recollection, my highest score was 48, at Lord’s, against Eton—but I was missed six or seven times in the course of the innings, and I believe that Bainbridge managed to miss me twice at the wicket. He used to keep wicket then for Eton, and very well too. In my second year we had a tremendous storm during the Eton match, and when it was over we had to bat against the bowling of the Hon. A. E. Parker almost in darkness. He was very fast, and we could do nothing against him as awhole. It happened that I had to some extent got my eye in when he went on to bowl, and was able by good fortune to carry my bat, but it was terrible work for the men who came in one after theother with scarcely any interval. Parker took eight wickets for about 37, and I believe that all of them fell to him for fifteen runs after the darkness came on. I remember that of our first three men one made 22 and the other 38, and that our total was only 120.” “ You afterwards went to Cam­ bridge ? ” “ Yes, but I did not get my Blue. In fact, I did not get back my school form until the tour of the Harrow Wanderers in 1891, when I managed to make over five hundred runs in a fortnight. At the University I played as a Freshman in all the matches except that against Oxford, but, unfortunately for me, D. G. Spiro made 40 playing for the M.C.C. against his University at Lord’s, and I was left out. I was not altogether fortunate that year, for I split a finger in the first day’s practice of the season, and did not have a bat in my hand until the Freshmen’s match, and this hampered me for some time. In the following year I played in the Seniors’ and the first two trial matches, but the Freshmen were very good that year, including George Kemp and Cyril Buxton, and I was quite out of form as well. In my first year at Cambridge I met with my chief and almost my only success as a bowler. It was in the Yorkshire match. Yorkshire had made five hundred, or thereabouts, for seven wickets, when J. E. K. Studd said that I might have a try with the ball. To my delight I took the next three wickets for five runs, but at the same time my pleasure was to some extent mixed with the thought that, perhaps, the tail might have had orders to get out quickly.” Mr. Greatorex considers that he owes his cricket very largely to the Hon. Robert Grimston and Lord Bessborough. “ More particularly,” he said, “ to Bob Grimston, who took agreat deal of trouble over me. When I was at Harrow he had me during the Easter holidays in London