Cricket 1900

194 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J une 14, 1900. —and I used to be chaffed about this, and told that as soon as I had felt pretty sure of getting the bat I promptly got out on purpose, which was, of course, a libel.” “ What cricket did you play after you left school ? ” “ I played in Yorkshire for the next two years, sometimes for the Yorkshire Gentlemen, but mostly for Scarborough. I always think that Yorkshire club cricket is as good as any club cricket which can be obtained, because one is opposed to such excellent bowling in every match. During this time I acted as captain of the Yorkshire colts in two matches, not because I had established a reputation as a captain, but because I was the only amateur on the side. I fancy that amateurs at that time had rather an objection to playing in colts’ matches, but for my part I always liked to play where I could get the best cricket. And there was no question that when eighteen Colts played the County they had as fine a test as could be wished for, since in the Yorkshire team there were Peate, Peel and Emmett as left- hand bowlers, and Bates, Preston, George Ulyett and G. P. Harrison as well. The match was played on a very slow pitch, and I felt pleased with myself when I managed to stay at the wickets for an hour and made 14 runs.” “ Did you do pretty well in Yorkshire as a batsman ? ” “ I made a fair amount of runs and had an average of 25 for Scarborough. I suppose my best innings w»s 70, against the Harrow Wanderers at York. I am inclined to think that of the many hundreds wl ich were made by men who were fortunate enough to play against the Parsee cricketers’ 1886 team, my score of 142 was the highest—a man at Liverpool made 141 I believe. I remember playing in Yorkshire in a local match on a ground which had been completely soddened by rain. All the players except myself took off their boots and played in their socks, with the result that they got on very well indeed, not slipping at all, although it must have been a little uncomfortable for them as the grass on the outfield was very long and very wet. A friend of mine was plajing in a local match in Yorkshire on Lord Middleton’s estate, near Malton. It was difficult to get umpires, but at last they found a man who did most of the draining on the estate. Carrying out his professional methods on the cricket field, he, when he was asked for guard, put his eye on a level with the top of the stumps and said, ‘ Ploomb thy bat, man,’ and when the man had ‘ ploombed ’ it he gave him guard; after which, waving his arms about to express satisfaction, he walked away. In the same neighbourhood they were short of an umpire in another match, and pressed a young fellow into their service. He objected that he knew nothing about the game, but they gave him instructions and told him that even if he made a mistake his decision would be upheld, and that if he said ‘ out ’ there was no appeal; no one could question his decisions. The parson of the village was batting and making a good many runs—too many in the opinion of the young umpire, who presently,without being asked, shouted out ‘ Out! ’ In amazement, the parson demanded to know what he was out for, to which the umpire replied, ‘ You’ve no right to ask me any questions. I ’ve given my de­ cision, and there’s no appeal.’ What could be done under such circumstances ? The fielding side were unanimously of opinion that, under the circumstances, the decision must be upheld, and the parson had to retire.” “ But surely he could have claimed that an appeal must be made ? ” “ I daresay that someone on the field­ ing side made that all right by asking the umpire how it was. But the same thing is often done in much more important matches, not to say first-class matches. A man who had not done much umpiring often lifts up his hand unconsciously, when in his opinion a catch is made at the wicket for which no one has appealed. But immediately afterwards there is quite a rush of appeals, and the batsman is promptly given out.” Before he came south, Mr. Graburn lived for Feveral years at Scarborough. “ Here I learned a good deal of my cricket,” he said, “ by watching the play in the carnival weeks. I saw C. I. Thornton’s big hit there. It was during a scratch match which had been got up after o::e of the big marches W.is finished, and when Thornton went in, A. G. Steel bowled to see what he could really do in the way of a big hit if he had a fair chance. The ball went right over the houses, and fell into Trafalgar Square. I was talking to A. G. Steel the other day, and he said he thought it was the biggest hit he ever saw. It was always a mystery to me how I Ziogari managed to dispose of the powerful teams which were opposed to them, for they never had much bowling. But I found out after a time that the secret of their success was that they pitched the ball u p ; the other side could not resist the temptation to have a go, and the result was c t'ches iu the long field. I remember W. G. making a tre­ mendous hit in one of these matches to deep square leg. The ball went out of the ground at a tremendous pace, always keeping very low. It was a marvellous hit, and all the more remarkable because it was a bit of a pull.” “ There is generally plenty of big hitting during the Scarborough week ? ” “ Yes. Men at that time of the year have not to think of their averages, for whatever they do makes very little difference. The consequence is that there is a holiday feeling in the air, and they let themselves go. One of the innings, which I well remember was that of Massie, in one of the Australian matches, he scored 50 while Bannerman was making a single, and I believe that when Mas-ie was out the total was 52 for one wicket. This was the match in which Bonnor also played a wonderful innings in partnership with Bannerman. When he went in Bannerman had made about 90; when the match was left drawn Bonnor was not out with about 120, having passed Bannerman’s score by a few runs. He was awonderful manwhen he was really going ; in his innings in the match he made 20 off an over of Lucas’s—two 6 ’s and two 4’s. In defence of Banner­ man’s very slow play, I may say that he was working for a drawn game, as the Australians had much the worst of the match on the first innings, and had to follow on.” W. A. B e t t e s w o b t h . SUTTON T. LONDON CO U N TT.-Played at Sutton on June 6. S u tton . C. Costin, c Seymore, Christian.................... 2 A . R. Dagg, b Grace... 5 J.A.Knight,c Christian, b Grace ................... 2 L. Jackson,cWalker, b G race..........................20 C.P.Eewett, c Seymore, b Christian ...........13 G. H. Hadfield, c and b Grace ................... 9 J.T. Illington, b Grace 29 G. R. Blades, b Grace 0 V.R.Bromage, b Grace 63 R. M. Bell, not out ... 39 J. Bell,c Frith, b Grace 22 E xtras..................15 L ondon C o u n ty . Total ...219 Dr.W.G.Grace, c Had­ field, b J. B ell......... 15 Seymore, b Hadfield ... 0 W . F. L. Frith, b Had­ field .......................... 42 L.Walker, b R. M. Bell 55 F.W.Chri8tian,b J.Bell 3 E.H Lulham c Blades, b J. Bell ................... 0 E. Cox, b Bromage ... S. Webber, c and b R. M. Bell ........... G. Cosens, b Bromage M. Reichardt, not out L. Covell, b Bromage. Extras................ Total 0 1 0 O' 11 ..m Second innings Dr. W . G. Grace, st Jackson, b Illiogton, 65; Seymore, c Blades, b Hewitt, 25; W . F. L. Frith, not out, 13; M. Reichardt, run out, 4 ; extras, 6.—Total (3 wkts.) 113. ARTISTS v. MR. N IG EL P L A Y F A IR ’ S X II.^- Played at V*est Green, Winchfield, on June 4. A rtists . W . Frith, b Williams 13 L C. Nightingale, lbw, b T h orold................. 2 G. Oascoyne, lbw, b W illiams ... ... 29 D. O’ Brien, b R. Tee 32 L Luard, b Williams 21 G. Chowne b Williams 14 A. Mason, b R. Lee .. 3 H on W . James, not out .......................... 24 E A . Abbey, c Thor­ old. b Williams ... 1 F. H. Townsend, c Ruoens, b R. Lee 10 H . H a m p t o n , b W iiitn u ................... 1 A. C. Behrend, c and b Williams B 9, lb 6 Total .. 1 ... 15 ...168 M r . N ig e l P l a y f a ir ’ s X II. — Thoro’d.cGascoyne, 45 b O’Brien W illiams, lbw, b O’Brien .................. 19 — Waggett, lbw, b O’ Brien .................. 3 P. Lee. b O’ Brien ... 52 R. L Lee, b Nightin­ gale .................. 5 M. Williams, b O’Brien .......................... 2 Lloyd, b Nightingale P. hubens, run o u t ... — Birnbaum b O’Brien........................... N. Playfair, c Luird, b N ightingale.......... — Lorrimer, not out A. Bebrend,b O ’Brien B 3, lb 5 ................... Total . ... ...140 MR. EDW ARD BTOTI’ S X I. v. ARTISTS.— Played at Amberley, Sussex, on May 31. M r . E. S tott ’ s X I. First innings. Second innings. H .H .La Thangue, b O’Brien 3 cNightingale, b Swinstead ... 1 A. Dunk, c and bSwinsteid 3 b Swinstead ...3 H. Greaves, b O’Brien ... 4 cNightingale, b Swmstead ... 11 T. Pepper, b O’ B rien........... 1cO ’ Brien,b Swin­ stead ................... 0 A. Drury, b O’ Brien ........... 2 cand b Swinstead 5 V. Wethered, not out........... 8 b Nightingale ...9 W. Shaw, c Haynes, b O Brien ................. . ... 0 c Gascoyne, b Brown ............ 5 J. Lee, c and b Swinstead... 4 b 8winstead ... 6 T. Morris, b O’ B rien........... 0 not out................ 0 Dr. Foot, b O’Brien ... ... 9 b Nightingale ... 0 E. Stott, lbw, b O’ Brien .. 0 b Swinstead ...6 B 2, lb 4, nb 1 ........... 7 E xtras............13 T ota l. H. J. Ford, b Pepper 17 G. Gascoyne, b Lee ... 16 G. H. Swinstead,c and b Dunk ... ... 0 D. O’ Brien, c Morris, b P ep p er..................35 L. D. Luard, c and b Lee .......................... 30 L. C. Nightingale, c and b P epper...........12 41 A r tists . Total F. Brown, b Pepper .. A. S. Haynes, b W et­ hered ................. . ... H. H. Bruce, not out F. Taubman, b Pepper R. Brough, c Stott, b Wethered ... B 2, lb 3 ........... Total ... ;..l