Cricket 1900

THB FINEST BAT THE WORLD PRODUCES. A p r il 1 9 , 1 9 0 0 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 6 7 BUSSEY’S IIi l l CO M i-3 O fc 6m t> 05 i j - J C W £ —CO — g - I £ I o w i " | i - S U <x> -Q CO w CQ s 0 3 T CO £ CO s o a 93 QD BUSSEY’S AT THE SIGN OF THE WICKET. B y F . S . A sh l e y -C ooper . CRICKET, 1742-1751. ( Continuedfrom page 63.) In the Artillery-Ground, Wednesday, August 2nd, 1749. ELEVEN BAKERS v. ELEVEN BUTCHERS. In White Conduit Fields, Islington, Wed­ nesday, August 2nd, 1749. AN ELEVEN v. AN ELEVEN. The match was played by twenty-two gentlemen of the City of London for a lars^e sum. The wickets were pitched at one o’clock. Cricket was played in the White Conduit Fields upwards of one hundred and eighty years ago. The White Conduit Club was established in or about 1780 by Lord Win- chilsea, Sir Horace Mann, and other leading patrons of the game. In addition to the cricket-ground there were Dutch-pin grounds as well as a bowling-green. One of the attendants engaged by the Club was Thomas Lord, a Scotchman, who, being promised support, took a piece of ground in 1787 which soon went by the name of “ Lord’s.’ ’ The White Conduit Tavern, which was erected as early as 1648, was a favourite halting-place for those who had walked out a short distance from London. In 1749 the Tavern was owned by William Curnock, and shortly afterwards by Robert Bartholomew, a Surrey cricketer, whose name, however, is not found in many matches of note. In the Artillery-Ground, Saturday, August 12th, 1749. LONG ROBIN AND G. SMITH v. TWO OF GODSTONE. The wickets were pitched at three o’clock. In the Artillery-Ground, Monday, August 14th, 1749. BERSTED v. LONDON. It was stated that the Kentish men had beaten all the parishes in their neighbourhood. Played for “ One Guinea per Man, of their own Money, exclusive of all Bye-Betts, which are very considerable.” In the Artillery-Ground, Thursday, August 17th, 1749. LONG ROBIN AND A PLAYER FROM HAVANT v. TWO PLAYERS FROM BELOW WINCHESTER. The wickets were pitched at three o’clock. Played for forty guineas. In the Artillery-Ground, Friday, August 18th, 1749. LONG ROBIN’ S SIDE v. T. FAULKNER’ S SIDE. Long Robin's Side. Long Robin G. Smith W. Anderson Robinson and two gentlemen T. Faulkner's Side. T. Faulkner T. Southam J. Hitches G. Carter and two gentlemen Won by T. Faulkner’s Side. Played for fifty guineas a side. The wickets were pitched at twelve o’clock. This match was arranged by the noblemen and gentlemen of the London Club, In the Artillery-Ground, Monday, August 21st, 1749. LONG ROBIN’S SIDE v. T. FAULKNER’S SIDE. Long Robin'8Side. Long Robin G. Smith W. Anderson Robinson and two gentlemen T. Faulkner's Side. T. Faulkner T. Southam J. Hitches G. Carter and two gentlemen Won by T. Faulkner’s Side. The wickets were pitched at one o’ clock. This was the second match this season between these two sides. In the Artillery-Ground, Monday, August 28th, 1749. LONG ROBIN’S XI. v. T. FAULKNER’S XI. Long Robin's XI. Long Robin John Bryan James Bryan J. Calchin J. Hitches G. Carter T. Southam Tall Bennet and three gentlemen T. Faulkner's XI. T. Faulkner J. Mansfield R. Ewres W. Anderson J. Capon Perry Little Bennet Robinson and three gentlemen This match, which was arranged by the members of the London Club, was played for sixty guineas a side. The wickets were pitched at one o’clock. Perry, whose name is found above, played a single-wicket match against Piper, of Hampton, for twenty pounds a side, at JSIoulsey Hurst, as far back as August, 1726. A t------------ , inWest Sussex, September------ , 1749. SONS OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND v. HALNAKER BOYS. Th? umpire was T. Waymark, the famous player, who at one time was engaged by the Duke of Richmond to play at cricket. 1 7 5 0 . It was in or about the year 1750 that the famous Hambledon Club was formed by Squire Paulet, but all details concerning the early history of the club are lost. It has been stated* that it was also in or about 1750 that the Sevenoaks Vine Club was founded. This club, which was re-formed in 1849, is still in existence, and is the oldest- established club in the world. The club possessed a silver ball, which was filled with snuff and tossed from hand to hand after dinner ; he who dropped it being fined in claret, or some other liquor. In Smith’s “ Life of Nollekens ” we are told that Alderman Boydell, the etcher and printseller, had many shops, but that the best was the sign of “ The ( ricket Bat,” in Duke’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane. This was in 1750. The tame year an old writer, then seventy-five years of age, observed, “ When I was a boy every cottage in the cricket- playing districts in Kent had a well-greased bat either kept in the bacon-rack or hung up behind the kitchen door,” and he adds that his grandfather was a famous local player in his day, and ‘ ‘ within these last ten years I could have shown you his name as one among a famous team preserved on a tablet over the chimney-piece of the inn at Sevenoaks.” Johnson, writing in TheRambler (vol. i., p. 164), dated Saturday, June 30th, 1750, says, “ The laborious poor every where blest my appearance: they do so still, and keep their best clothes to do me honour; though as much * Frederick Lillywhite's Cricket Scores and Biographies, Yol. 4, p. 131.