Cricket 1900

“ T oge th e r joined In C r icke t’ s m a n ly to ll.” — Byron. ho. 557 . v o l . xix. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1900. p k i o b ad. A CHAT ABOUT JIM LILLYWHITE. Pew men who have had so many diffi­ culties to contend with have come out of the trial with such credit as Jim Lilly- white (now one of the county umpires) during his famous career as a Sussex cricketer. He began to play for the county when its reputation was at a very low ebb, and there was never a time when his bowling was backed up by anything like good fielding on the part of the whole side. Indeed, it may be pretty safely said that more catches were missed off him than off any bowler who has played for many years in a county team. Despite these disadvantages he met with a vast amount of success, and was unani­ mously regarded as one of the finest bowlers of his day. For some years there seemed a likelihood that he would develop into a splendid left- hand batsman, but, like so many other great cricketers, he fell off in his batting when he began to come prominently to the front as a bowler, although opposing sides could never be sure at any period of his career that he would not make a good score. Once or twice he made a hundred in county matches, while he scored over fifty about a dozen times. Imperturbability was his chief characteristic. No matter what the state of the game might be—and it was often about as bad as was possible — he was always cheerful and self-possessed. It was impossible that he could have seen catch after catch missed off his bowling without some feeling of irritation, but it is quite certain that there was never anything in his expres­ sion, or in his comments, to show that he was in any way moved by such mis­ fortunes. When other members of bis side made scathing remarks about the stupidity of a fieldsman in missing a simple catch, Jim invariably had some excuse which was calculated to let the offender down easily even in his own eyes. In one of the Yorkshire matches at. Brighton an unhappy long-field missed Ulyett and Louis Hall off Lillywhite in the first two or three overs. The chances were siu ple in the extreme ; they came straight into the fieldsman’s hands, and ought to have been taken with the greatest ease by any man with even a limited experience of long-field work. After the first miss—it was a positively awful thiDg to miss Ulyett at that time— the miserable fieldsman approached the bowler to humble himself, and was met with the cheering remark : “ I thought you’d got her easy; there must have been a deuce of a lot of spin on the ball, or you wouldn’t have dropped her.” Then came the second miss—even more awestriking than the first. At the end of the over the fieldsman hardly dared go near Lillywhite, but as he was crossing the wicket to take up his place in the long-field at the other end—a practice which was in force in the Sussex eleven of those days, when long- fields were not numerous— he was met by the long- suffering bowler, who said, without a trace of annoyance in his tones: “ Never mind. We’ve all got to miss ’em sometimes, and your turn was bound to come sooner or later.” Lillywhite was just as im­ perturbable when he himself made a mistake as when other men made one. In the Australian match of 1878 Sussex scored 80 in the first innings on a terrible wicket. The Australians lost nine wickets for 38, and the last two batsmen then started for what seemed an easy run. As it happened they had miscalculated the quick­ ness with which the fields­ man could move, and before they had crossed the ball was at the wicket at the spot where Jim Lillywhite’s capacious hands werewaiting for it. To the general sur­ prise Jim drew away his hands and allowed the ball to pass by, remarking with the utmost coolness, “ Lord, I thought it would hit ’e r! ” Once, and once only, was he known to lose his temper in a match, and a saint might have been pardoned if he had been tried in a similar manner. Sussex had a remark­ ably good chance of winning, and the batsmen who had still to come in were not greatly to be feared, with one excep­ tion. In those days each side had its own umpire, with results which were not always as satisfactory as they might have been. Presently the only dangerous batsman was twice hit on the foot by a JIM LILLYW HITE. (PhotolyMr. J. H. Stain ton)