Cricket 1900

“ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toll.”— Byron. uro. E 4 5 . v o l . x i x . TH U R S D A Y , JULY 5, 1900. A CHAT ABOUT MR. R. E. POSTER. The youngest of three famous brothers, Mr. R. E. Foster, the Oxford captain of 1900, is one of the few University bits- men of modern times who, while still in residence, have gained a great reputa­ tion outside the matches played by their own team. Nowadays most men who do well for their University are found wanting when they come to play in other first- class matches. But Mr. Foster is a really great batsman, and is not oppressed by the serious business of county cricket any more than he is by the reputa­ tions of anv bowlers, Austra­ lian or English. Indeed, when one thiuks of him in connection with Oxford, one thinks of other great Oxford batsmen, such as Mr. R. A. H. Mitchell and Mr. L. C. H . Palairet— there have not been so very many great Oxford batsmen during the last thirty years, although many, like Mr. C. B. Pry, have become famous after their ’Varsity career was over. Mr. Foster is one of those batsmenwhom every cricketer of whatever stage of ability likes to see at work; he is, every inch of him, an athlete, and whether he is playing at cricket or football or rackets, or any other game, he is full of “ go,” and the sort of man who is never beaten through carelessness. It is a joy to watch him at the wicket, and when his turn comes to bat there is not a spectator or player on the field who does not look with pleasurable anticipation on what is to follow. For even bowlers and fieldsmen are braced up when a man of Mr. Foster’s type has to be opposed, and there is never any fear that they will relapse into a listless kind of play while he remains in. It is cricket seen under its very best and most attrac­ tive aspect. The very firmness with which Mr. Foster takes up his stand, and the way in which the bat seems instantly to become a part of the batsman instead of being a mere wooden implement which has to be put in a blockhole, would give a spectator who had never seen him a feeling that this man was capable of great things, unless he was one of those MR. B. E. FOSTER. {from a Photo by Hawkins & Co., Brighton.) curiosities occasionally met with, who have the most graceful of styles without a particle of skill. He is an ideal player for a match at Lord’s between the Universities, for the extreme nervousness which damns the chances of so many fine players in this match is never shown by him at any stage of the game, however critical it may be. If the bowler gives him a ball which would be too good for him in a club match, it will beat him at Lord’s ; if not he will make runs as he would in any other match. And he will not make themwith a deliberationwhich irritates friends and foes alike; rather he will make them at a good pace, whatever may be the bowling or however difficult. If need be he will play a fiercely aggressive innings, but at ordinary times he is content to score every possible point which may be gained without risk. But he does not wait for something to turn up ; on the contrary, the bat meets the ball—the centre of the bat— and often it is only by brilliant fielding that an opposing side can keep down the runs to a normal rate even when the bowling is accurate and skilful in the extreme. It might easily be contended that a man like Mr. Foster has to play better bowling than his partner at the other wicket, for he is a batsman of the kind who inevitably puts a bowler on his mettle; it would never do to become careless when he has to receive the ball. The consequence is that, as has already been pointed out, when he is batting one sees the very best cricket possible —batting, bowling, and field­ ing alike As Mr. Foster was born in April, 1878, he has the world of cricket at his feet, and as time goes on he is certain to improve vastly. He went to Oxford straight from Malvern