Cricket 1900

S ept . 13, 1900. CRICKET ; A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 415 days they comprehend are among the happiest of m y life. E ven now, as for­ m erly (were it perm itted me), I could dwell on the particular excellencies of Lord Frederick, David Harris, Tom W alker, Beldham , Robinson, Scott, H am ­ mond, W ells, Sm all, and other first-rate players, w ith all the enthusiasm of a lover’s retrospection. A t a grand match at Stokedown, near Alresford, elected as a substitute for a very indifferent player suddenly taken ill, I, for the first and last time, played against the celebrated for­ midable Harris. In taking my place at the wicket, I almost felt as if taking my ground in a duel with the aforesaid un­ erring Marquis, and my terrors were so much increased by the mock pity and sympathy of H amm ond, Beldham , and others round the wicket, that when this m ighty bowler, this Jupiter tonans, hurled his bolt at me, I shut my eyes in the intensity of m y pai ic, and mechanically gave a random desperate blow , which, to m y utter astonishment, was fol­ lowed b y a cry all over the ring of “ Run, run.” I did run; and w ith all m y force; and getting three notches, the Duke of Richmond, John Tufton, Leigh, Anguish, and other arch-w ags, advanced, and form ally presented me with tw enty-five sixpences in ahat, collected from the b y ­ standers, as “ the reward of m erit.” Even Lord W iuchel- 8ea and Sir Horace Mann contributed to this, and then all playfully commenced pro­ m oting a new subscription, only stopped, because I could not stop the next b ill. To m y great jo y, up went m y stumps and out I w alk ed ; certainly with some little 6clat, being the first member of the club who had been considered a regular player, i.e., paid for his services. Thus much for cricket, on which theme, as before stated, I could dwell for ever, did I not fear that some of m y readers have already cried “ H old enough.” This, how ­ ever, I hope I m ay add in ex­ tenuation of these latter anecdotes, that whatever lightness m ay be attached to them , they have attempted to preserve the characters and dispositions of those, who, though they deserve the talents and exertions of a more able biographer, evidently deserve s ill to be remembered. H O W T H E G U A R D I A N S B E A T T H E C O R P O R A T I O N . A C IV IC C R IC K E T M A T C H . [Last week we gave a very amusing extract from the BrightonHeaid describing a Municipal match in which Brighton and idaatii gs opposed Ea*t ourne and Lewes. We now append bn equally amusing account from the tame paper of a match between the Brighton Guardians and the Town Council.] The M ayor bit a four. N o fluky four over the head of slip or lucky snick just away from the wicket-keeper’s left hand, but a good honest four, a sturdy hit, well worth every run that was gained from it. Then he made a three, and more threes ; and when he went on to bow l his first ball scattered the wicket of one of the best of his opponents. In this doughty fashion did Alderman Stafford, M ayor of Brighton, hold his own when the Town Council played the Board of Guardians in a cricket match on Wednesday at Preston Park. That a M ayor should wield a hammer well as he reclines, gold -en ­ chained and red-gowned in his Civic chair, is natural enough, but that he xhould be able to wield the w illow with equal t ffec iveness is a qualific ition that the burgesses probably did not count on when they elected him on the N inth P. NEED. of November last. M ost certainly, Alder­ man Stafford can play cricket. There’s fame for a M ayor. A Mayor m ay work hard for a town, aud achieve all sorts of C.vic successes. But what is that, com ­ pared with the fact that he can play cricket ? W hat are civic honours, when a man can stop a good leg-break, can make a decent drive, can take wickets, ar.d field hard hits off his own bow ling ? But Alderman Stafford is not alone in winning this distinction. M r. G . Cooper has given many years of service to the town, as a Missionary and a Guardian, aud, probably none works harder. But has he ever done anything to arouse such interest and win such applause as he did on W ednesday, when he made tw enty- seven runs off his own bat, and bowled more than one of his opponents ? It was not so bad, this cricket match, despite the nasty things people said about it. A distinguished cricket authority— wild horses shall not drag his name from us— sat watching the game for some time, and he groaned at nearly every ball. “ D on’t poke about like that, m a n ; go out and hit th em ; keep your b it straight, why don’t you P” A n ! more tragically s till: “ W hat is the good of bow ling long hops like that, that you can see every inch of the way ? ” W ell, what was the good, when M r. Cooper, after making his tw enty-seven, was b iwled by a silly sort of thing, that ran along the ground all the way. So slow was it, that, as a well-known cricketer said, “ They had to go behind and push it to get it into the w icket.” B u t it was the bow ling that gave the game the very amateur aspect that it assumed. For various good reasons, they lim it all bow ling in these matches to under-hand, and under-hand bow ling has to be very good, indeed, if it is not to look very bad. It takes a W alter Humphreys— who, b y the way, was watch­ ing the game with a thought­ ful smile— or a Jephson to bow l a lob with anything like finish or satisfaction. Whatever the bow ling was, however, the batting and fielding were often quite passable. A n y number of good strokes were made, while M r. Jarvis covered himself with glory by holding three catches, one after the other, all good, and tw o quite difficult. M r. Penfold, if he could not hold a ball that came to him with all the weight of M r. M ayston’s massive frame behiud it, at least stopped it. Considering the pace at which it was travelling, he deserved so ue credit for putting himseli iu its way at all. But let us take the game in chronological order, for that, it seems according to the best e>tablished precedent, is the only way one can get at the true in­ wardness of a cii. ket urn'cli. The Guar­ dians won the toss. H ereattbey had much jo y , for it is manifestly better to bat before lunch than after lunch. The reasons are too obvious to need specific t- tion. But their eltiion received a rude shock, wben, from the very first ball of the match, M r. Jatvis, seeming every inch a cricketer, was caught by Colonel Tester, who, despite his three score years and ten— and more than ten— stood close in at point v. ith absolutely youthful recklessness. Another wicket soon fell, but then the Guardians’ hopes went up to fever heat. M r. H ill, who is a new acquisition to the Board, proved a tower of strength, sm iting lustily, and knocking up 25 in a very short time. M r. Cooper, (PhotobyBriggs <tSon, 41, HighStreet, St. John's Wood, AT. IF.)