Cricket 1901

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. no. seo voi. i x THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1901. rrice 2 a. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OP ;THE REV. F. J. GREENFIRLD . THE OLD CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND SUSSEX CAPTAIN. After a chequered career which would have furnished an excellent groundwork for a plot to a great novelist, Greenfield died in South Africa as the result of inj uries received at the hands of the Boers, who, having no cause whatever against him, ill-treated him in a shameful manner. It was in the early seventies that I first met him. His name as a cricketer was already famous in Mid-Sussex, and why on earth he was not asked to play for the county at this period of his life is one of those mysteries which only county committees can understand; it is certain that he never played such good cricket in after years, despite his increased expe­ rience. St. Saviour’s had just moved to brand new build­ ings at Ardingly, and although the cricket ground was not yet made, or at any rate was not fit to play on, so that we could get no practice, we sent a challenge to Hurst College in fear and trembling. The match came off at Hurstpierpoint, and each side played about a couple of masters. We had all heard much of Greenfield, for he used to make hundred after hundred in those days. His appearance and manner of standing at the wicket were calculated to impress small boys— we were all small. Powerfully built, he was very dark and seemed born to command, having a decisive manner and a curiously thrilling voice. When he called " y e s ” we were too frightened to pick up the ball quickly, and when he called “ no ” we felt alarmed. We nad plenty of time in which to watch his style, for he made a hundred against us. I remember perfectly well that when he walked to the tent— there was no pavilion at Hurst at that time—he found that the scorers had made his total to be 99. “ It is exactly a hundred,” he said, in a voice which left no manner of doubt that he knew what he was talking about, and to my surprise and admiration he proceeded to call out his runs, hit by hit, without locking at the score —he could always do this. It was discovered that a mistake REV. F. J. GRERNFIRLD. ( From, a Photo by Hawkins <b Co ., Brighton.) had been made, one of his runs having been put down as a leg-bye in error. From this time I met him frequently. He was a really fine actor, and I saw him, among other things, take the part of Macbeth in one of the annual school plays at Hurst. In the great scenes he was thrilling, and I must own that I could not help feeling glad I was not in his form at Hurst, although as a matter of fact he was very popular with his boys. By degrees our bowlers began to get on terms with him, although he still made good scores against us, and against all other teams to which he was opposed. As to his bowling—lobs as well as round- arm which was afterwards so successful — I never knew why—in Cam* bridge University matches, the simple truth is that we cared nothing for it. I well remember Greenfield’s in­ dignation when our umpire no-balled him when he was on with lobs, presumably not for throwing. Greenfield went through the action of bowling to prove to the um­ pire that it was impossible for him to bowl a no-ball. He ended with the emphatic statement, “ I ’ve never been no-balled in my life.” “ Oh yes, you have,” replied our umpire, who was quite un­ moved b y his harangue. “ When and where ? ” in­ dignantly demanded the bowler. “ Here, and about half a minute ago,” was the reply, at which Greenfield laughed heartily, and all was peace. One day when we went over to Hurst we heard to our astonishment thatGreen- field was going up to Cam­ bridge ; he must have been at least thirty years old. We could hardly believe it, but the arrival on the field of the future ’Varsity captain with a Giles’ Crib to Virgil in his hand settled the matter. He went to Cambridge, got into the eleven in his first two years distinguished himself both with bat and ball, and was, in his third year, captain of one of the best University sides ever known. He was now chosen to play for Sussex, although it would perhaps be difficult to say under what qualification, for he no longer resided in Sussex, while he was born in the West Indies. But in those days there was not much inquiry into qualifications, and many a well-