Cricket 1901

CRICKET, AUGUS T 8, 1901. § | | = = e j « 0 — J — $©8— f g H j P 3 ZDj eK— = H I “ Together joined in Cricket’s m an ly to il .” — Byron. n o . 5 8 0 . v o l . x x . THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1901. p b i c e 2 a. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD- CAPTAIN J. G. GREIG. The remarkable success of Captain Qreig for Hampshire this season did not cause as much astonishment in England as that of Major Poore when he^flrst made his appearance for the same cou n ty; for cric­ keters had learned to un­ derstand from the M ajor’s great performances that an officer who had played nearly all his cricket in India was not necessarily second- class. When, there­ fore, it was announced that Captain Greig was com ing to England on leave, and that he would play for Hampshire this season, cric­ keters were prepared to find that he was a really first- class player, the more espec­ ially as his doings in India had been chronicled in most of the English papers— need it be asked whence they derived their information P The consequence was that there were found hundreds of men who, when they heard that the new mem­ ber of the Hampshire team had made the then record of the year, viz., 249 not out against Lancashire at a time when runs were very badly wanted by his side, exclaimed “ Ah, I always said that he was just the sort of man that Hampshire wanted.” It is no secret that when he came to England Captain Greig had no anticipation of making runs in first-class cricket, for he had never imagined that wickets could be as perfect as they are, or that a man who had nearly all through his career played on the heavy wickets of Bombay could accustom himself to the altered conditions. But he made enough runs in the earlier matches, besides bringing off some very effective bowling, to justify the county committee in con­ sidering him a regular member of the team, and when he had once settled down he began to make b ig scores. When the wickets were not goodj his long practice in India came to his assistance, and the result was that he has come to be regarded as one of the best men of the day. If it had pleased the authorities to choose him for the Gentlemen,' either at L ord’s or the Oval, not a voice would have been raised in protest, which is more than can be said of every man who found a place in the teams. When he was hardly more than a boy, Captain Greig played an innings of 239 for the Visitors against the Residents at Dinard, in France, where he had gone to spend his holidays after the examina­ tions. In the same match, in which several well-known men were playing, his brother made 123. Nearly all the cricket played in India by Captain Greig was on slow wickets, and it is remarkable that he should have so quickly become accustomed to the fast ones in England. “ 1 have played practically all m y cricket in the Bombay Presidency,” he said, “ and there we only play in the monsoon {i.e. the rainy season) ; so our wickets are nearly always slow and wet. In Bombay itself the average rainfall for the three and-a- half months that we call our cricket season is about one hundred inches, so you can imagine that we don’t get many hard wickets. Luckily the ground dries in a won­ derful manner, or else there would be little play. During one of the Presidency matches, a tremendous rain storm swept over the ground, the rain com ing down in a perfect sheet, and tbe water standing several inches deep on the wicket, so deep in fact that the fire engines were run up and the water pumped off the pitch. An hour-and- a-half afterwards, just as the ground was considered fit for play, and the players proceeding from the tents, another shower came and drove them in again. In other towns of the Presidency the rainfall is much less, and we do occasionally get fast, true wickets. In other parts of India they play in the cold weather, and then wickets are always dry and fast, and they tell me generally ‘ fiery..’ Matting wickets are very much the exception, and on the Bombay side of India we always play on turf. W e have only two really big matches, the Presidency against the Parsees, but they are watched by vast crowds. On one side of the ground every club in Bombay has its tent, and above all towers the Shamiana, that is to say, the