Cricket 1901

3 3 8 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A o g . 1 5 , 1 9 0 1 . “ It is situated behind the Zoological Gardens. We have a nice pavilion and a good matting wicket. Mr. Alcock has seen the ground and says that it is the best in Holland. Of course, when we began to practice over here at Lord’s, all of us who had not been here before were astonished at the excellence of your wickets and the great pace at which the ball travelled to the boundaries. Hits which on our grounds would barely score two go crashing against the boundary almost as soon as the ball leaves the bat.” “ What do you think of the future of cricket in Holland ? ” “ I think that the game will flourish and that more people will play it, but the difficulties in the way are so many and so great that in the mere matter of skill a very high level is hardly likely to be attained. In the first place the price of land, even in the villages, is so high as to be almost prohibitive, so that a large increase in the number of grounds is not to be expected. Then there are no private or public residential schools, so that boys get no opportunities of learn­ ing the game until they are old enough to go into business or professions, and then only a few of them have the time to spare. There is a leisured class as in England, but of course it is comparatively small. When cricket was first started in Holland, we learned much from the visit of English teams, and from the services of Arthur Bentley, a professional from Newton Abbott, who came with one of the teams, and afterwards remained as coach. We have no professional now, and for the last year or two English teams have not come over, so that there are. no opportunities for learning from better players than ourselves. An E n g­ lish team was to have come over this year, and I thought that the arrange­ ments were almost complete, when there came an ominous letter from the English secretary, in which occurred the words, ‘ I hope we shall have a good reception. We have heard that Englishmen run the risk of being insulted in Holland just now.’ I did my best to show that there were no grounds whatever for fearing insults. I showed that football teams had been everywhere well received, but it was of no use; the secretary could not get his men to go, and so, unless a visit is arrangtd very quickly-—and we should welcome such a visit immensely— we shall have to suffer for newspaper reports which have no foundation in tact.” “ D o you use the Euglish technical cricket terms or have >ou translated them. We use the English terms exactly as they are used in England. We talk of drives and cuts aud leg glances, and we say ‘ W ell played,’ 1Throw it in ’ aud so forth, just as you do here. As a matter of fact when cricket was first played in Holland an attempt was made to trail-late the technicil ex- piessions, but the result was so absurd and to uiscuuragiug that the idea was very soon given up. For instance, ‘ square-leg ’ became ‘ vierkant been,’ a leg which is square, and this of course is uot an equivalent. Again ‘ wicket keeper ’ must become ‘ poort bewaarder ’— a guardian of a gate, which does not se^m satisfactory at all. So English terms were used everywhere in Holland. There was never any difficulty about this, for nearly all cricketers speak English. I may say for myself that I practically learned English b y playing cricket, for I found that one could not play the game without hearing English spoken every­ where, and very soon I became accustomed to it. In more ways than one I am indebted to cricket, for as secretary of the Hague Cricket Club I was constantly in correspondence with Englishmen, and could not help improv­ ing m y knowledge of the language through this. O f course, the English language is taught in the schools, but when schoolboys begin to play cricket we always find that they cannot speak English at first; they understand some­ thing about it, but that is all. In a short time, however, they very soon get into the swing of it, so that you will easily be able to understand that even if Dutchmen did not love cricket for its own sake, it would still be a popular game if only as an educational medium.” As Dutch names have an unfamiliar sound to English ears, Mr. Isbrucker was kind enough to give an approximate idea of the pronunciation of the names of the players. “ Posthuma,” he said, “ is pro­ nounced, ‘ Poss-tuma,’ with the accent on the first syllable, and a sound of ‘ h ’ in the second. ‘ F eith ’ is ‘ Fate,’ with a sound of the 1h ’ at the end ; ‘ Coops ’ is ‘ C opes” “ K o o l’ is “ R ole ’ ; ‘ Van Booven ’ is ‘ Von Bo-ven ; *Beukema ’ is ‘ Bo-kema,’ the ‘ o ’ having the German sound ; ‘ Bourlier ’ is of French extrac­ tion, ‘ Bour-lya ’ ; ‘ Broese van Groenou ’ is * Broo-se von G rocn-noo ’ ; *Schroder1 is German ; ‘ Hisgen ’ is ‘ H is-gun.’ My own name is German, and is pronounced ‘ Eess-brooker.’ ” W. A. B k t t e s w o k t u . MARLBOROUG-H BLUE3 v. BANSTEAD.—Played at Banstead oa August 2. M arlborough B lu e s . First innings. H. Ellinger, c I’Anson, b Randall .......... ... 1 N. C. Phillips, b Randall ... 24 E. Gr Phillips, b Randall ... 20 R. F. C. de Winton, c Fors­ ter, b P e n fo ld ................12 T. C. Gr. Sandford, c Ran- some, b I’Anson ..........25 G. <oles, b I’Anson ........ 6 F. 8. Preston, b Randall ... 12 J. H. Alston, c and b Ran­ dall .............................. 0 J. E. Williamson, b Randall 5 De Robinson, not out .. , G- Gr. Napier, c Penfold, I’Anson ................. . B 2 ,lb 1 .......... 15 Total ......... 135 B a n st e a d . Second innings, c Hansome, b I A n s o n ......... 49 b Randall ..........15 c Randall, b Pen­ fold ................. 4 cJameSjbl'Anson 19 c Alston, b James 5 b Horn .. ... 34 c Penfold,1)James 16 c Forster, b han- d a ll................. 1 st Ransome, b H orn................ 3 not out ..........13 c Alston, b Horn 5 B 3, lb 3 .......... 6 Total ..........170 R. D. Alston, b Sand­ ford ........................ \ D. B. James, c Coles, b Sandford .. ... 17 C. bentley,cSandford, b Napier .. 0 C. Ransome.c Preston, b Sandford ... 28 H. Forster, st Preston, b Napier ................. 9 L. Gr. Horn, c Phil­ lips, b Sandford ... 1 T. Rodger, b Sand­ ford .......... 0 M. S. Mason, not out 17 W. Penfold, c Coles, b Napier.......... 0 T Randall, bSandford 13 R. I ’Anson, run out.. 6 Leg-byes .......... 4 Total ..102 BUSSEY’S G G ca O © 9 4 P H 3 3 © H e e -a O G aa p i (A CO CO CO 0 9 CO CO BUSSEY’S Manufactory:—PECKHAM, S.E, Timber M ills:—ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK.