Cricket 1901

CRICKET, JUN E 13, 1901. “ Together joined in Cricket’s m an ly t o i l .” — Byron. * o . 5 7 2 . v o l . XX . THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1901. p k i c e aa. AN "APPRECIATION OF MR. G. L. JESSOP. There is not very much room for doubt that if the spectators at a match in which no question of the county championship entered had to ohoose whether they would prefer to see Ranjitsinhji or Mr. Jessop make a hundred runs, they would be hard put to it to decide. Possibly the thought that their pleasure would be prolonged a little if Ranjit­ sinhji made the runs, might turn the scale in his favour. But be this as it may, it is very certain that if you cast your eyes round the crowd when Mr. Jessop is batting, you will not see many people reading newspapers, or yawning, or stepping out to get a drink. Every moment of his innings is precious to onlookers, for any single over may pro­ duce something startling. It has always been, and always will be, a mystery to the crowd that he manages to play long innings, for his style of batting seems to them so fraught with danger as to invite destruction. But any cricketer, man or woman, who after playing very carefully at the nets, has ever had a go at all the bowlers for a few minutes, trying to hit every ball as hard as he, or she, can,Jin order to give catches to fieldsmen who want some practice, knows that on such occasions it is exceedingly difficult to hit a ball into anyone’s hands. To apply this system exactly would, of course, be fatal in a first- class match in which, however bad the fielding may be as a whole, there are always some men who hold on to any­ thing which comes their way. But Mr. Jessop has reduced the system to a possibility by adapting it to circum­ stances. He may run out and apparently bit wildly and recklessly at a ball, but he works with method. No one will ever convince me that he knows pre­ cisely what he is about to do when he starts on one of his excursions, but he has such a quick eye, such a supplewrist, such absence of fear, and such presence of mind, that when the ball arrives on the scene he can suddenly hit it to any part of the field, or let it hit the bat, or do anything else which occurs to him on the instant. Any bowler knows what to do with a batsman who comes out at him in the ordinary way, but with a man like Mr. Jessop he at once finds himself in difficulties. The wonder is that someone has not tried the same game before in first-class matches; in club matches one has often seen it played with some approach to success. But where such a batsman generally fails is in losing his nerve ; this is absolutely fatal. When Mr. Jessop first came out in first-class cricket, after having astonished cricketers at large by his remarkable scores at Beecles College, it was prophe­ sied by everybody—critics, cricketers and spectators—that although he might get runs in his peculiar way for a season, it was bound to happen that sooner or later he would lose his nerve after meeting with several failures, and that if he did not, bowlers would soon get ahead of him. But he continued to play wonderful innings, scoring runs at a pace hitherto unheard of, and yet the bowlers seemed just as far off as ever from holding him at their mercy. But at last it seemed that the prophecies had really come true, for bad times came upon him, and he could not get runs. He seemed to have lost his nerve entirely. Whether he had done so or not, for the time being he set himself out to play the game as it was played by all orthodox players, and al­ though by comparison with what had gone before his performances seemed tame, he showed that he could play an ordinary game as well as most other people. The memories of his brilliant innings began to fade away, when to the surprise, not to say the delight, of every­ body, he started on the old tack again, and meeting with a vast amount of suc­ cess, was chosen to play for England against Australia, with the unanimous approval of all critics. Since that time his fame has gone on increasing, and most decidedly no England team would be complete without him now. He has over and over again completely changed the fortunes of his side, while on several occasions the mere terror of his name has saved it from almost certain defeat, the opposing captain being afraid to close