Cricket 1901

162 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 30 , 1901 now to learn cricket. As we go along we shall all of us, I hope, pick up the smaller points of the game which make so much difference to a player. We don’t mind being thrashed over and over again, for we always must learn something by defeat. Naturally we should prefer to win, and we ought to have won the test match at Cape Town against Lord Hawke’s last team. W e only had to make 130, but were out for 99. It was very exciting, and during the later stages of the game you could almost hear a pin drop. Cuttell and Trott bow led remarkably well.” “ Had you ever played on grass before you came here ? ” *' Never in my life. The first hit I had on a grass wicket was at Southampton soon after we landed, and it was a curious experience. I think that we shall like grass wickets much better than matting, but it is not very easy to become accustomed to them .” “ H ow was it that from being a bowler only you came to be regarded chiefly as a batsman ? ” “ It was chiefly through Tommy Rout- ledge, who took a great deal of interest in me, and any amount of trouble over coaching me in batting. He did me a vast amount of good. His motto was that ‘ if you only show keenness you may always do something good .’ Routledge came over with the last South African team, and would have been here now if he were not still engaged in the war. He has just been recommended for the Y .C . for doing something plucky. I remember once bow ling in a match at Pretoria when he was keeping wicket. A ball got up and gave him a black eye, whereupon Peter de Villiers, who would also have been in the present team if it had not been for the war, said, ‘ H ere: you can’t keep wicket. Give me the gloves.’ A ccordin gly he took Tommy’s place and the very next ball got up and gave him a black eye also. P oor old Peter is now a prisoner in C eylon ; he threw in his lot with the Boers.” “ D id you ever meet any cricketers when you yourself were engaged in the war ? ” “ Lots of them—sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. Am ong others I met Major Poore, who was P ro­ vost Marshal at Pretoria. On the night when I was taken prisoner by de Wet, I had two guards allotted to me. Presently one of them lighted his pipe and then held the match to m y face. ‘ W ell I ’m damned,’ he said, ‘ I knew I should come across some of you fellow s! ’ H e was a cricketer in the post office at Johannes­ burg whom I knew well. Another cricketer whom I met was Theuron, one of de Wet’s commandants who managed the scouts, and did a lot of fighting. H e was very good to me when I was taken prisoner. In the laager were quite a number of cricketers whom I knew. W e had a lively time in dodging our own shells. I may say that the story which has g ot about that I was obliged to act as aide de camp to de Wet bas not a word o f truth in it ; I was treated exactly the same as anybody else.” “ H ow did you manage to escape P” “ Oh, three of us legged it during a b ig fight at Eustenburg; things were pretty lively when the BoerB discovered us on the move, but we got away. I never had a much happier moment in m y life than when, a day or two afterwards, I wandered into Lord Methuen’s camp, and almost ran into the arms of Frank Mitchell. He knew me at once, although I was in a shockingly dilapidated condi­ tion, and had a bit of a beard on too ; we hadn’t much time for shaving in De Wet’s laager— even if we had had the razors—for we were always on the move. Frank M itchell was acting as quarter­ master to the Yeomanry, and any one who knows him w ill guess that during the four days that I was in the camp he did not give me much chance of starving.” “ D id you get any cricket during the war ? ” “ Up at the front we had a match against the Eastern Province at Jagers- fontein in the Free State. It was a cruel pitch, which we made as best we could with spades—of course we hadnomatting. Y ou could make the ball go over long- stop’s head quite easily. We got beaten by about eleven runs. Where on earth the bats and ball and the wickets came from I don’t know, but there they were. I also played in a match at Pretoria for the Garrison against the T ow n ; there were several good players among the cavalry.” “ None of the members of the team can have had much cricket during the last year.” “ We have hardly had any for two years, and if the war doesn’t come to an end soon we may not get any for two more years. For myself I suppose that I have played for about ten days during the last two years, and it is the same with most of the rest of the team, for as soon as the Boers came into the colonies they nearly all went up to try to keep them ou t.” “ What were your first impressions of cricket in England ? ” “ That it was cold work ! When I played for London County against Warwickshire I had no feeling in my fingers most of the tim e; in fact, I have never felt so cold in my life. All our fellows felt it very much. I thought I was tough till I g o t here, but in the cold weather after we landed I found that there was more in life than I had dreamed of. W e have all noticed one great difference between English and South African cricket. In South Africa a man nearly always stops playing when he is still young, because of the increasing difficulties of getting away for the time required for matches, travelling included. Here, on the other hand, it is very pleasant to see men playing until they are forty, and some of them, like Dr. Grace, ever so much longer, while when they cease playing they come to watch the game, and so always keep in touch with it.” “ You have to travel immense distances for matches in South Africa ? ” “ The longest distance is 900 miles to Cape Town. This means travelling two days and three night without cessation, except for a few minutes, at long intervals, for refreshments. In the Free State they have a dining saloon, but in the other colonies there is no special accommodation, and if it happens that you are behind time, you may only get a quarter of an hour for dinner. It is a m ighty lon g way to go if you make a ‘ duck’s egg ’ and take no wickets when you get to the end of your journey ! The nearest place where you can get a decent wicket outside the Transvaal is Bloemfontein, which is 400 miles from Johannesburg. They have a very pretty but small ground there.” W . A . B ettesw o rth . ©orrcsponDcncc. The Editor does not hold himself responsible tor the opinions of his correspondents. T H E N E W S Y S T E M . To the Editor o f C r ic k e t . S ir , — I f it had rained on Wednesday, 22nd inst., the South Africans, under the new system advocated by some reformers with an abnormal craving for tabular results, would have been beaten by London County by S4 runs. It did not rain, and they won the game by 61. This is an instance in which the inferior side would have obtained a nominal victory with, had it been a county match, its due meed of “ points.” In the Surrey v. Hampshire match, the latter county, being 33 runs behind on the first innings, would have had no incentive to the fine fight which it made. I admit that Hampshire had no right under the circumstances to win, unless it could have won by six wickets, which number Surrey had still to fall when its second innings was closed. To decide matches on the first innings would in many cases destroy all interest in the second—cer­ tainly in the closing innings of all. Batsmen and bowlers would think even more of their averages, while fieldsmen would not be likely to exert themselves immoderately. W ill you think me frivolous i f I suggest that to decide matches by the win of the toss would solve all difficulties, and save alot of trouble? Yours faithfully, A. C. C oxhbad . SURBITON v. GUY’S HOSPITAL.—Played at Surbiton on May 16. G u y ' s H o 8 pit a l . E.A Collins,cBryant, b Scarf ............. 36 R. C PoyBer, c Fran­ cis, b Mnlaa n ... 3 H. Barber, c Francis, b Moon ............. 17 H. M. Langdale, b Moon ................ (j F. Morris, lbw, b Scarf10 A, L. Foster, c Taylor, b Moon .............22 G. S. Graham-Smitli, c Hickson, b Scaif 9 8 . Wyatt, not out ... 28 M. C. Wetherell, b Finlason................ 11 J. S. Bookless, b Fin­ lason ..................... 6 E. M. Cooper, c Hick­ son. b Scarf ......... l B 5, lb 1 ......... « S u bbiton . S. S. Taylor, b Foster 13 J. A L. J. Moon, c Collins, b Bookless ......... 95 H. J. Davenport, c Smith, b Foster ... 17 C. E. Finldsun, c Wetherell,bBooklees 13 F. H. Bryant, c Poyser, b Cowper............... 12 F. P. Francis, c Barber, b Wyatt ... 27 Total ...165 — Hickson, b Bookless................ 8 P. C»stle, b Cowper... 7 A. J Fleming,not out 33 C. fccarf, c Wetherell, b W yatt.............. 0 W. E. Fiske, c Poyser, b Wyatt ... 23 B 10, lb 9, nb 2 .. 21 Total ...269