Cricket 1901

386 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e i t . 5, 1901 extraordinary performances.” “While Mr. Johnstone was still a youngster his family went to live at Eastbourne. “ There I went to East­ bourne College,” he said, “ in the time when W. E. Pedley was one of the upper boys. I always remember him as the man who was responsible for the only victory of Sussex in 1881. The match was against Kent, who had to make about 90 to win, and Pedley bowled them out one after the other. More especially do I remember him because of an incident with which he and I were connected. He had made a small school bet that he would get a hundred in a certain house match, and when nine wickets were down and he still wanted about thirty runs, I had to go in as last man. Particular instructions were given to me to hold my bat firmly upright in the block without moving it an inch. Accordingly I held on tight, and succeeded in keeping up the end until Pedley made his hun­ dred. As a reward for my steady play I was put into the second eleven.” “ Was it long before you were in the first eleven ? ” “ It was in the next season. We had a pretty good professional who took an interest in me, and I recollect how sur­ prised all of us were when the first match we played he advised that I should go in first. I was at the nets as often as I possibly could, for then, as now, I was decidedly of opinion that the man who practises constantly has a better chance of doing well than one who either cannot or will not go to the nets.” While Mr. Johnstone was a boy at Eastbourne, Mr. Wickham Noakes often used to play against the school. “ He took a lot of interest in us boys,” he said, “ and once, when I was going to the wicket, he stopped me and pointed out that the fastenings of my pads were loose, and that if the ball happened to hit against one of them the umpire might be led by the sound to give a catch at the wicket. I have never for­ gotten the advice, but one constantly sees men cheerfully going in to bat with loose ends of leather flapping about. A few days sga I went to play for Arthur Priestley’s X I. at Selsdon Park in a match against Wickham Noakes’ X I., and then had the pleasure of reminding Mr. Noakes of his valuable advice.” “ By-the-bye, Mr. Noakes’ team consists mainly of fmployees on the estate, but upon this occasion we found some well- known faces among the ‘ employees ’ which led some of us to say: ‘ You have iome splendid material here; you ought to send four or five of these young players up to the Oval’ !! ! He looked hard at us but only smiled, even when we threw out mysterious hints about how useful it was to have the Oval so close at hand. But I guess he knew that we had spotted the young Surrey professionals in his team.” When he left school Mr. Johnstone was unable to play cricket tor years, escfpt in a very cccasional match. But in 1867 he went to Hastings, and from 1891 he has been able to play regularly. “ When I first went to Hastings,” he said, “ Bernard Ellis was the honorary secretary of the Old Carthusians Cricket Club, and he was also running the Silver- bill Club at St. Leonards. One day he persuaded me to go and watch the prac­ tice. I soon found myself with a bat in my hand, with the result that I took up cricket once more with enthusiasm. In the following year I played for the Hastings Club, which was then very strong, and included James and Harry Phillips, E. J. M ’Cormick and others among its members. “ You subsequently became honorary secretary of the Hastings Club ? ” “ Not of the old Hastings Club, as it was at that time. That club was dissolved and the present Hastings and St. Leonards Club was formed in its place, and of this I became the secretary. We had no dififi- culty in getting good matches, for I had made many friends while playing Bugby football in London, and I had no difficulty in obtaining fixtures with clubs like Hornsey, Chiswick Park, Granville, Bichmond, and so on, through their agency. At about this time I played in a very local match in which a curious thing happened. One of our opponents, who was fielding at short-slip, asked the captain if he might adjourn to the refresh­ ment bar to ‘ refresh.’ The captain objected, but by a friend a glass of beer was brought out to him. As he was about to swallow it the bowler, not noticing what had happened, delivered the ball, which was snicked to short-slip’s left hand. Short-slip, in the act of diinking, stuck out his left hand, brought off a brilliant catch, and finished the beer in triumph! ” “ You had a strong rival club in the South Saxons ? ” “ Yes. They had a very strong team, including C. E. Dunlop, the Somersetshire cricketer, the Papillons, H. C. L. Tindall and a good slow bowler named Henson. Unhappily, the club practically died out, and although there is still a club of the name, it only plays half-day matches in these days. The odd thing about the breaking up of the old club was that the Hastings club did not become any the stronger, for although several of the best players came to us they only very seldom took part in our matches.” “ Is cricket in Hastings fionrishing at present ? ” “ We are very much handicapped. The Central cricket ground is simply worn out, although the actual wickets are better than ever—in fact, as good as they can be. Of the out-fielding the less said the better. Then the public is free to hammer about on it as much as it likes once a week, and all the small clubs have nets round the ground during the season. Then, for want of a better word, I may say thatthe ground is prostituted to ‘fetes,’ fireworks, menageries, circuses, etc., so that it does not get a chance. Added to that, football commences on it imme­ diately after the cricket is over, and continues until April. Yet despite all this the new ground man (Tutl)has paid such attention to the wickets that they have been of a very high standard indeed. But cricket at Hastings wants an impetus of some kind to enable it to compete with the many other attractions. Although the town has 60,000 inhabitants, we find it exceedingly difficult to raise a team, and the consequence is that we are obliged to call in the services of Parris, Marlow, etc., so that when we win it is not on our merits. I am afraid that the League matches which were started two or three years ago have done much more harm than good. Feeling runs high, and men play forone club in one year and in the next year for another, while sometimes the best men will band together to make a team—all with the object of capturing the championship instead of for the love of the game. In theory, league matches may be excellent things, but it seems to me that in practice they do not tend to the good of the game.” To Bugby footballers the name of Mr. Johnstone is well known as the honorary secretary of the Harlequins in their palmy days. Before he was the secretary of the Harlequins he was captain of the East­ bourne College Association team, and once after playing in an Association match he went to the next field and played forward in a Bugby match against Hastings. “ The old days with the Harlequins were fine times,” he said,” and I look back upon them with the greatest pleasure. Stoddart was then one of our members—for this was before he joined the Blackheath club—and I think that he wasthenathisverybest. NooldHarlequin will ever forget the way in which he used to jump right over men who were bend­ ing down to tackle him. Nor will any of us forget Billy Williams, the slow bowler who played for Middlesex this year. He was our full back and one of the best tacklers I ever saw. When Stoddart began to play for Blackheatb, Williams nearly always brought him down. The Incog., A. B. Cipriani, and G. L. Jeffery, who still plays cricket for Hampstead, were Harlequins in those days. As a club cricketer Mr. Johnstone has something to say about the various proposals to revise the laws of the game. “ I do hope that they will not go tamper­ ing with the laws, especially with the l.b.w. law,” he said. “ In our class of cricket it would be something dreadful. We generally meet with reliable umpires, but sometimes they are biassed, and when there happens to be strong feeling between clubs the effect would be disastrous. The l.b.w. law which wa? proposed this spring would, in my opinion, have practically settled club cricket if it had been carried. While I am on the subject of club cricket I should like to remark that nowadays one hardly ever sees men throwing the ball about to each other after a wicket has fallen. In foimer days men were always practising catching in this manner. This is hardly ever done now, and it is not therefore remarkable that many more catches are dropped, and that long scoring is so lrtquent.” W. A. B etteswobth . T E E CLASSICS OF CBICKET: The Yout g 1 Cricketer’s Tutor. By John Vivien. i6mo, :S0 pages, and Frontispiece representing Lord's Cricket Ground in J833. Price, 1/-; poBt free, 1/2.— Cricket Offices, 168, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C,