Cricket 1900

“ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron, vo. 6 4 2 . vo i. x ix . T H U R S D A Y , J U N E 1 4 , 1 9 0 0 p r i c e ad. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD- M r . W. T. GRABURN. For the past seven or eight years Mr. Graburn has been “ cricket instructor ” to the Surrey County C.C. As a man who has played for years in Surrey club cricket, with great success, he was admir­ ably fitted to keep an eye on promising colts and to be in touch with the secretaries of all the various clubs in the county. It is so im­ portant nowadays for a county to put the very best possible team in the field that the old methods of trusting more or less to hick, which were in practice thirty or forty years ago, had long been abandoned; but Surrey was perhaps the first county to recognise that an im­ mense amount of good might be done by a man who steadily devoted himself to the aim of discovering rising talent. Mr. Graburn chiefly plays for Thames Ditton, and it is no secret that he would be delighted if that beautiful ground should happen to produce another Maurice Read. Speaking of his work as cricket instruc­ tor, Mr. Graburn said, “ I am not the only instructor in the field, for although I believe that Sydney Cros- field, who was for some time instructor to the Lancashire County C.C., has retired, Walter Marshall is still in­ structor at Nottingham. At Trent Bridge they have a magnificent gymnasium, in which they can play cricket all the year—a very great advantage when colts have to be looked after. The great difficulty with young players is to get them to bowl on the excellent wickets of modern days. It is easy enough to teach a man to bat, if he has any ability, but it is quite another thing where bowling is Con­ cerned. It is very trying for a young bowler when he receives no assistance whatever from the ground, and the result is that he generally gets dis­ couraged when he is beginning to show considerable promise. Young cricketers of brilliant promise are often very dis­ appointing; they go through so many phases. Sometimes you think that a young player is going to be first-class at on ce; he suddenly, for no apparent MR. W. T. GRABURN. {From a Photo by Mayall & Co., Kingston-on-Thames. reason, falls off entirely, and if it were not that he sometimes comes on again in a few years one would feel that teaching was a hopeless business.” “ What do you think of the outlook of Surrey in the future ? ” “ I have no doubt that we Bhall be able to keep up a strong eleven, but, of course, we cannot be certain either of winning the county championship or of being always in the running for it. We have plenty of good young batsmen coming on. Of the bowlers one cannot speak with so much certainty; they are always more or less an unknown quantity. We could very nearly play a match between Gen­ tlemen and Players of Surrey now, so many young amateurs have come on lately, and if Dolbey gets into form the amateurs would have quite a strong side. As far as the present season is concerned, I see no reason to fear that we shall not do well. Richardson is still a very useful bowler to have on a side. One is apt to forget that a man cannot always take a couple of hundred wickets in a season, and just as one says that ‘ Ranji ’ is out of form if he doesn’t make a hundred in nearly every innings, so one thinks about Richardson. But the chances are that he will take very nearly a hun­ dred wickets this year, and a bowler who can do that must be a very good man indeed. It is wonderful how well Wood lasts, for bowlers like Richardson and Lock­ wood are by no means easy to take. Stedman is an ex­ cellent understudy to him, and we have one or two very promising colts who seem likely to develop into first- class wicket-keepers.” In 1884 Mr. Graburn was in the Repton School Eleven. ‘ ‘ Lionel Ford (L.B.G.B.) was captain,” he said, “ and others in the team were Francis Ford, A. H. J. Coch­ rane, A. M. Daniel (the famous Association foot­ baller), P. R. Farrant (another well- known Association footballer), and the Hon. C. G. Bruce, who distinguished himself in India afterwards. In Wiaden it was stated that the school eleven that year might be considered stronger than that of any other school. I remember that twice at sohool Ij made exactly 50 runs—a bat was always given for 50 runs