Cricket 1901

CR ICKE T, S E P T EM B E R 5, 1901. “ Together joined in Cricket’ s m an ly to il.” — Byron. wo. 584. v o l. x x . THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1901. p b ic e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD- MR. H. 8. JOHNSTONE. For many years Mr. Johnstone has been known as one of the best batsmen in the Hastings and St. Leonard’s Cricket Club. He holds the record for the Central Ground, Hastings, viz., 227 no out, and a short time ago scored 131 and 103 not out for Hastings against the Old Carthusian C.C. In the course of the match in which he made, the record score for the ground, he made six boundary hits in an over, being, as far as is known, the first man to do so since the over was altered from five balls an over to six. L'lng ago, when there were six balls an over, someone may, perhaps, have accomplished the feat. He has unquestionably improved a great deal in batting during the past season, and he attributes this to the trouble which Bennett, the Derbyshire professional, who is the ground bowler to the Club, has taken over him when he has been practising at the nets; he also considers that Lavender, the then local professional, helped him very much by his coach­ ing in former years. Mr. Johnstone, who is a cousin of the Fords, is a member of the Wanderers C.C. and the Old Eastboumians. For thirteen years he gave up a lot of time to Volunteering, but has recently resigned, as he finds it difficult to spare time for both this and cricket. Of Harry Phillips, the famous old Sussex wicket-keeper, who lives at Hastings, and still occasionally plays for the town, Mr. Johnstone tells a good story, which is accepted as gospel by all true Hastings cricketers. “ When Harry had just come out as a wicket­ keeper,” he said, “ he had to go to the Oval to play for Sussex against Surrey. The train was late, and when he arrived on the ground the Sussex men were going out to field. Having dressed very hastily and feeling a little flurried, he made rather a mess of it at the wicket for a few overs, Jupp (the batsman) suggest­ ing that he (Phillips) appeared unable to handle the ball. Presently the other batsman made a tremendous drive in the direction of Mr. Arthur Smith at MB. H . S. JOHNSTONE. From a Photo by J. Weston and Son , Eastbourne. mid-off, and thinking that by no pos- sibility could it be fielded, called for a run, which was attempted. Mr. Smith, however, picked up the ball and threw it exceedingly hard to Phillips, but so high that it seemed to be going far out of his reach. But Phillips, with one of those alarming springs for which he was famous, leaped up, seized the ball, and, when still in the act of descend­ ing, put down the wicket, Jupp being run out by yards. As Jupp was dis­ consolately passing him, Phillips said, ‘ Well, Juppy, that was pretty middling, wasn’t it ? ’ But Jupp was too full of emotion to be able to reply. The umpire was so pleased that he presented Phillips with a fourpenny piece as a memento of the feat. Phillips regrets to this day that he parted with the ‘ medal.’ ” Mr. Johnstone’s very earliest recollection of the game was an expedition to see Mr. W. G. Grace bat. “ I was a very small boy, ” he said, “ and the match has left no impression on my mind. But I perfectly well remember going with my cousin, E. C. B. Ford, to the ground on Durdan Downs to see a Gloucestershire match. I also remember seeing W. G. for hours, for he made a big score. In­ deed, I have always been uncommonly fortunate when I have gone to see him, for he has nearly always made a big score.” “ Do you remember your first match?” “ My people had gone to live at Weston-super-Mare, and there, when I was nine or ten years old, I played for an eleven got together by W. J. Ford against the town. I did not play on my merits, of course, but because the team was one short. I didn’t have a knock. But just after that, in a boy’s match, I scored about forty, which was the first time that I had ever made anything approaching a decent score. I still have the bat in my possession. I bought it at a toy shop, and oddly enough it turned out to be a really good bat, and I frequently used it in after years. At that period of my life we lived next door to F. G. Monkland, who, like E. C. B. Ford, was in the Gloucestershire X I. at the time when W. G. was astonishing the world by his