Cricket 1900

“ Together joined In Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. no. 5 3 2 . vol. xix, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1900. price ad. A CHAT ABOUT EDMUND [PEATE. It was only a very short time ago that one of Yorkshire’s most famous cricketers ■—William Bates—died, when he was far from being old. He has now been followed by an even more famous cricketer. For although Peate had not the all­ round ability of Bates, he was so success­ ful with the ball as more than to balance the supe­ riority of the latter with the bat. Peate had a short but most brilliant career. He was universally regarded as being by far the best left-hand slow bowler of his time, and there were manywho thought that he was more deadly than any of his contemporaries, fast or slow, left or right- hand. In his manner of running up to the wicket he was not graceful; indeed, one might almost say that he was clumsy. But the moment that he was about to deliver the ball his action became a thing of beauty. Whether it was on account of his very low trajectory, or of some subtlevariationinlength and pace which escaped attention, he was able to pitch up the ball further than almost any other bowler before or since. Even to men who were born hitters he often gave half-volleys with impunity, whether the wicket was good or bad. It was, perhaps, fortunate for him that the seasons during which he played were generally more or less wet, for although on a perfect wicket he required a vast amount of watching, it was on a sticky wicket that his immense superiority to most bowlers was shewn. The ball seemed to stand on end, or to break off suddenly without losing any of its pace, so that it was extremely difficult to follow its course. In addition to the ordinary leg- break of a left-hand bowler, he could bowl a ball which came ever so slightly with his arm; and this was one of his most effective weapons, for the curl or work was j ust sufficient to beat the bat. Like a good many other men, who think that what is really their weakest point is their strongest, he was very proud of a ball which broke considerably from the off. It is true that “ once in a blue m oon” this ball met with success, for the simple reason that it was such a safe four that EDMUND PEATE. (From a Photo by Messrs. Hawkins <k Co., Brighton.) now and then a batsman was too eager to see it at the boundary, but in the ordinary course of things it was a fou r; there was no pitch about it, and the change of action was so exceedingly patent to the batsman, however little he might have been looking for such a ball. Peate would have been even greater as a bowler if he had possessed the equa­ nimity of Alfred Shaw or Jim Lillywhite. As long as he was played in an orthodox manner, even if he were a good deal hit about, and as long as catches were not missed off him two or three times, he was calm and collected, but letabatsman begin to pull him, or make sudden excursions to meet the ball, which ought in reason to be waited for, and Peate generally became excited, with the result that he gave a lot of loose balls. A wise captain invariably took him off for a good rest when things showed any signs of going badly with him. Once he was bowling in a Yorkshire match to a man who went out to meet the ball, which he just turned into the wicket - keeper’ s hands. The wicket-keeper, forgetting everything else in the certainty that he had made an unmistakable catch, tossed up the ball and shouted, “ How’s th a t?” Peate frantically shouting at the same time. The umpire said, “ Not out.” Meanwhile, the batsman, who had in­ stinctively felt that he might at least save himself from being stumped, had stepped back to his wicket, and by the time that the ball was again in the wicket-keeper’ s hands, he was placidly standing in his ground with an air of unutterable innocence. When Peate had sufficiently re­ covered from his astonish­ ment at the umpire’s decision to realise that the batsman might have been stumped, he was the most disgusted man on the field—always except­ ing the wicket-keeper. Peate’s action was so little laboured that he could bowl for hours if necessary, and he might have lasted for years longer as a first-class cricketer if it had not been for his failing eyesight. Even when he was in his prime he was accustomed to wear spectacles when off the field, and often while a match was in progress in some town where the crowds were not large he could be seen strolling about the