Cricket 1902

CRIOKET, MAY 1, 1902. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. N o. 5 96 . VO L. X X I . THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1902. P R IC E 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. MR. S. 8. PAWLING. So famous is the Hampstead Cricket Club that Mr. Sydney Pawling, who has been one of its most valuable members for the past sixteen years, is, nearly as well known by name to cricketers as if all that time he had been playing in first-class cricket. He has a proper pride in now being Vice-President of the club. If circumstances had been favourable his dSbut for Middlesex in 1894 would doubtless have been followed by a notable career for the county, but the fates willed it that his fame should be gained in club cricket. At his best he was a very fast bowler with infinite possibilities; and even now after so many years of hard work for the club he almost invariably takes his fair share of wickets. Six feet two inches in height and powerfully built, he is still able to get a pace on the ball, and there are few men who could feel confident of making twenty runs against him on a wicket which was not of the best. Mr. Pawling is a partner of Mr. Heinemann, the well- known publisher. “ What cricket did you play immediately after you left school ? ” “ I left school at the end of 1877, and in the follow­ ing year I became the first secretary of the Old Mill- hillians Club. We made great efforts to persuade old boys to join the cricket section of the club, but with varying success, for there had not been many good cricketers at the school. For the first season half-a-dozen matches were arranged, the first of them being against Dulwich College. I was most anxious that our very first cricket match should be a success, for much de­ pended on whether we made a good beginning. I managed to get a fairly strong team together, of which the shining light was T. A. Fison, the captain of the Hendon Cricket Club, and one of the hardest hitters of the day. I remember that a year or two afterwards he scored 338 again: t Highgate School, and that in the school magazine his manner of getting out was reported as MB. 8. 8. PAWLING. (From aphoto by A, J. Langton, 35, Buckingham Palace Road, London. ‘ retired to catch a train for the conti­ nent,’ which, I believe, was strictly true. But with regard to the Dulwich match there was a disappointment in store for us, for on the Thursday before it was fixed to come off I received a letter from the Dulwich captain to say that measles, or some other epidemic, had broken out, and that they were obliged to scratch. In despair I at once went off to Dulwich’ interviewed some of the masters and members of the eleven, and eventually succeeded in arranging that the match should be played, but against an A team instead of the College Eleven. We had quite a good match, and I was in great hopes .that a firm foundation had been laid for^the success of the cricket section of our club. But the diffi­ culty of getting teams together proved very great, for most of the men belonged to other clubs, and the cricket side has never been very prominent. From a social point of view, the Old Millhillians Club has always been an astonishing success; at the present time it has 550 members, with a branoh in connection with Toynbee Hall. The football section has flourished from the first.” “ What other cricket did you play at this time ? ” “ Unfortunately, Saturday half-holidays were not as common as they are now, and I was unable to get away every week. But I had some very pleasant matches with Hendon, for although I was not a member of the club I was often asked to play by Fison, who liked to strengthen the bowling when he could. The finish of one of these matches is still vividly impressed on my mind. We were playing against the Law Club, which in those days was strong, and, after scoring 120, had disposed of nine wickets for 119. Now the Hendon Club had as umpire an old post­ man named Jack Burden, who was quite a character. I had to bowl to the last batsman, who scraped at the first ball and missed it. The ball hit him bard on the toe, and went into the hands of short slip, who appealed for a catch. Jack Burden promptly replied ‘ Out,’ whereupon the batsman indignantly explained that the ball had hit him on the toe. ‘ Yes, Sir,’ said Jack Burden, rubbing his nose, ‘ it