Cricket 1900

THE FINEST B4T THE WORLD PRODUCES 4 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME J an . 25, U00 BUSSEY’S CO UJ M J OtM E m 09 J J W £ CO s J W W » Q 3 L U S C O X) J±f s “ h _ CO m n «** CO CO W 09 * <» T C O £ C O ° od cm S3 Acd s O S BUSSEY’S AT TH E SIGN OF TH E W ICKE T . B y F . S. A sh le y -C oopkr . CRICKET, 1742-1751. I n t r o d u c t io n . The complete history of cricket has yet to be written. Mr. Arthur Havgarth in his most valuable work, Cricket Scores and Biographies, has little to say about the game before the middle of last cen­ tury. We have, it is true, the full score of a Kent v. England match played in the Artillery Ground, London, on June 18, 1744, but after that we come across no more cricket scores until 1772. That the game was a popular one, and was frequently played between these two years goes without saying, but, un­ fortunately, the enthusiasts of those fir- distant days did not consider the scores worthy of preservation, and, 'on that account, the performances of numberless unknown heroes will for ever remain unrecorded. Still, however great may be the regret, it is impossible to deny that there is after all a certain indefinable charm in the incompleteness concerning the early history of the game. Had details of all early matches been preserved and collected, enthusiasts would have been denied the pleasure of hunting through old papers, manuscripts, maga­ zines, etc., hoping thereby to unearth something of interest dealing with the game when in its inrancy, and it is more than probable that several irrepressible individuals would have endeavoured to compare, by means of statistics, the doings of John Frame, Bichard Newland, David Harris, John Small and others with those of many of the crack players of to-day, to the advantage (as is generally the case in such comparisons) of the modern players. Such being the case, those of us who believe that the old players possessed that amount of genius which would make them excellent players in any age have much to be thankful for. Viscere fortes ante Agamemnona, and there were giants before Wilfrid Rhodes and K. S. Ranjit- singhji. Although from time to time extracts from old newspapers have been reproduced in Cricket and elsewhere, no history of the game as it was played in the middle of last century has yet been written. It is in order to remedy (in a measure) this shortcoming that the following particulars, relating to a time when the game was to a very great extent rudimentary, are published. In the early part of the eighteenth century the game of cricket was a popular one in Surrey, Kent and Sussex. The Earl of Bessborough tells us that Lord Frederick Beauclerck maintained that the game originally struck root in Berkshire, where, however, in his time, play was poor.* That Berkshire furnished some good players, who took part in many of the best matches of the day, will be seen later. The centre of the world of cricket, however, was undoubtedly London. For many years prior to the formation of the * Harrow School and Its Surrou dings, by P. M. Thornton. London, 1885. Hambledon Club the London Club had existed and been recognised as the principal club in the kingdom. Amongst the members of the club were many noblemen, including the Prince of Wales, who appears to have been a very great lover and pa'ron of the game. In 1744 the members met at the Artillery Ground and drew up the laws of the game, and very interesting the laws are for they throw much light on the game at a period when little about it was known. Thus the statement that Hambledon was the “ Cradle of Cricket ” goes for nothing. For a great number of years the London Club held the same place amongst cri .keters that the Marylebone Club did in after years, and before Lord’s existed the Artillery Ground was the Mecca of Cricket. It would bs interesting to see a match played now as it would have been a hundred and fifty years ago. Players used to wear jockey-caps and knee-breeches, and, in many cases, silk shirts and stockings, with silver-buckled shoes. Toe over consisted of four balls, which was the case as recently as 18S8. Two stumps, twenty-two inches high and six inches apart, surmounted by a bail, constituted the wicket. The follow- on was unknown, runs were “ notched” on a stick, the bat was curved at the end like a hockey-stick, and the creases were cut in the turf, not painted as now.* Wides and no-balls were not put down as such in the score until 1827 and 1830 respectively, being formerly included amongst ttie byes. Tne bowling was generally fast and all along the ground, whilst, owing to the shape of the bat, cutting was an unknown art. There was no liw for lost-ball until 1809, and no rule for leg-before-wicket was found necessary until some of the Hamble- donians were shabby enough to play with their legs instead of their bats. But, however many changes have bsen made in the laws governing the game, the law on one point has always remained the same: the distance between the wickets has ever been tweuty-two yards, as many yards that is as there are players in a match. The word “ hands” was fre­ quently used instead of “ innings,” and sometimes to denote “ batsmen,” e.g., an account of the match on Bromley Common, May 16th, 1743. stated, “ It being near eight o ’ clock, and Lord Mountford having six of his hands to go in, it was agreed to leave off, etc.” A writer, in the reign of George the Second, defined cricket as, “ An athletic game kept up in the southern and western parts of England, and is sometimes practised by individuals of the highest rank. It is performed by a person who, with a clumsy wooden bat, defends a wicket raised of two slender sticks with one across, which is attacked by another * The late Rev. Charles Wordsworth (Bishop of St. Andrew’s), who was in the Harrow eleven in 1821, 1822,1823, 1824 and 1825, could remember the time when the creases were cut. before chalk was used. (Badminton Cricket, 3rd Ed., 1889, p. 12.) M r W . G. Grace states that for about one year, when he first appeared at Lord’s, the creases were not chalked out, but were actually cut out of the turf one inch deep, and about one in h wide. (W .G . Cricketiny Re­ miniscences and Ptrso al Recollections , London, 1899, p. 22 .)