Cricket 1901

CR IC K E T , JU L Y 25, 1901. I AA I M e ___ >N ) C = 3 - t r jy y y •$©«— e z '/ ?£ C 0 j ?4 DJ@9CZ 3 1 J X X & m b t @5 j n @8 “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. Jto. 5 7 8 . v o l.. X X . THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1901. p b i c e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD- THE REV. H. B. BIRON. Although it was thirty-five years ago when Mr. Biron played his last match for Kent he still looks young and fresh enough to be able to take part in local cricket. He is well and widely known as a grower of roses, and his grounds at the Lympne Vicarage, near Hythe, are full of the choicest speci­ mens, which, when they are transferred to the principal rose shows, generally gain prizes. There was not very much county cricket in his time, but there were a good many matches which to all intents and purposes were first-class, and Mr. Biron was quite one of the men of the day. His best known feat was to score 214 for the Quidnuncs (this was and is a Cambridge University club) against Gentlemen of Sussex, in 1864. This may not seem on the face of it anything out of the common, but when his score was made the second hundred had only been reached five times previously in the history of the game, namely by Mr. Alfred Adams, Mr. Ward (M.C.C. v. Norfolk; Fuller Pilcher’s first match at L o r d ’ s), T om H a yw a rd (twice), and Mr. E. M. Grace, so that it was some­ thing to be mightily proud of. Mr. Biron’s early cricket was played in the Canter­ bury Precincts when he was at the King’s School. “ This was our sole practice ground,” he said, “ and rough was not the name for it. Our match ground was the Beverley, which is now the famous St. Lawrence ground. While I was at school the great Puller Pilch used to coach us, his chief formula being, ‘ Keep your hind leg still.’ He was a great big fellow and a fine batsman. What he would have done if he had been to see his side doing badly. I remember that once we were playing Cambridgeshire at Chatham Lines, and one of the oppos­ ing side put a ball high up to short leg in the direction of a colt named Burton, who stood looking at it. This was too much for Pilch, who said, ‘ If you don’t bustle, Burton, you won’t get there in time.’ Burton accordingly bustled and got there. At another time we were playing against the M.C.C. at Canterbury before boundaries were invented. One of the M.C.C. went in, and proceeded to enquire carefully of Fuller Pilch, who was the umpire, how many runs would be given for such-and-such a hit— how many to the tent, etc. Fin­ ally he said, ‘ And what if I hit the ball over those trees and out of the ground (pointing to the farthest distance) ? ‘ Well, then,’ said Fuller slowly, ‘ I should dra1 the stoomps ! ’ A ball had never been hit out of the ground in that direction, but Philip Knight once hit one right over the Nacking- ton Road at the south-east end. The biggest hit I ever saw on the Canterbury ground was that of Charles Thornton ; it was almost a drive, between square leg and long on, and half a pull. It did not go out of the ground, but very nearly into the hop garden. It was never correctly measured, only stepped, and the dis­ tance might have been less or might have been more than is usually given." “ After leaving school you went to Cambridge ? ” “ Yes, I went to Trinity Hall, which was then, as now, a great boating college. There was no cricket club then, but with the co­ operation of the boating men, I succeeded in forming one, an arrange­ ment being made that we should not ask boating men to play until after the May races. On one of the field days on Fenner’s Ground a curious thing playing now I don’t know, but he cer­ tainly would not have left off balls alone ; nor would he have peddled about with his legs when a leg-break bowler was on. His great stroke was an off drive or a forward out—whichever you like to call it. But although he was a wonderful batsman he was about the worst umpire in the world, chiefly because he was THE F.KV. H. B. BIRON. {From a Photo by Banauds, Ltd., Oxford Street, London.) always so deeply interested in the game that he was apt to forget his duties. He would criticise the play, make running comments, and give sound advice; he was always keenly anxious for his own side to w in.” “ Do you mean that he was dishonest P” _“ Oh, no ; not at all. Anything but dishonest. But it grieved him very much