Cricket 1900

^ 5 3 = j « J — (. j j s j t ■ + — *© f i i # — f[ 1 Y Ov i jm l _________ ------------------------: — >$c"‘ " V / ? £ C O / U J r • I 'h ii_y\ W i• ‘ \ m a t / m u * * ' i il 4 J j L ? C s f A tr ■£ :> !S 8 C ~ 3 — 4 Is! Til @ “ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. no. 5 3 1 . v o l . x j x THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1900. CHATS LON THE CRICKET FIELD. ME. C. K, FRANCIS. It is likely that a good many people— prisoners, policemen, and a large portion of the public—know that Mr. Francis has for some years been one of the Metro­ politan magistrates, and that in the later sixties and early seventies he was one of the well-known cricketers of the day, but everyone does not know that he only gave np the game in 1897. He then, having had no practice at all for a year, played against a strong team of Mote Park, and scored 83 and 11 , the nearest score to his in the first innings being only 30. As there were several well-known players on his side, including Albert Trott, this was a performance of which a veteran might well be proud. In his younger days Mr. Francis was a fast bowler, pure and simple — very simple ; indeed one cynical friend, whose initials were R. D., used often to say his long hops were worth six­ pence a piece—but as time went on he also became a punishing bat, very often getting a lot of runs in good matches. There seems to be a consensus of opinion that as a bowler he was never better than during his last year at school, but there is nothing surprising in this, for he then possessed remarkable skill. He was in the Oxford eleven for four years, during which time he represented Middlesex and the Gentle­ men, until his business at the Bar prevented his being able to spare much time for first-class cricket. He subsequently confined his appearances chiefly to the month of August, when he played in less important matches and a good deal of I Zingari cricket. As a bowler he was very fast and very straight, and he had a favourite short and bumping ball from which it was exceedingly difficult for the batsman to get away. Mr. Francis went to Rugby in 1865, when he was a very little boy. ‘ ‘ I had a brother, also a bowler,” he said, “ in the eleven (F. H. Francis) who took three wickets with successive balls in the match at Lord’s against Charterhouse, the only year in which the two schools met each other in the cricket field. I still have the ball that was given to him to commemorate the occasion. I had also another brother in the Rugby X I. in 1873 and 1874.” In the time that Mr. Francis played it was customary to present a bowler who had done a particularly fine performance with a new presentation ball, suitably (or unsuitably as some may think) in­ scribed with letters of gold. The result is that Mr. Francis still has a great num­ ber of these mementoes in his possession, and but for the fact that when he wanted a ball in a hurry for practice, he was in the habit of taking one of these, he would have had a large collection. Although?!)e was still very young, Mr. Francis got into the eleven in his second year at Rugby, but not until nearly the end of the season. The school had a particularly strong team at this time, including W. Yardley and B. Paunce- fote, two of the best bats ever turned out by Rugby. “ In the following year,” said Mr. Francis, “ I took part in most of the matches. We played Marlborough this season at Rugby and beat them. This was the outcome of a suggestion that the school match should be played alternately at Rugby and Marlborough, instead of at Lord’s ; in 1867 we had played at the Oval; but nevertheless in 1869, when I was captain, the match took place at Lord’s again. Lord’s was then a bowler’s ground, and as I did not trouble very much about batting, I was delighted when I contem­ plated how much assistance my inferior bowling would receive from the natural superiorities of the ground. Thanks to the ground and extreme good luck, I got a hat in the first innings and took all ten wickets in the second, securing seventeen wickets in the match, Marl­ borough only getting about 50 and 30.” “ Did you begin to try to bat when you went to Oxford ? ” “ N o ; I always tried to bat, but often without much success. Pauncefote was captain, and he was always saying to me, ‘ I don’t want you to get any runs; I want you to bowl.’ I '_have reason to remember my matches ^against Cam­ bridge, for in two of them Yardley got