Cricket 1902

98 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a t 1, 1902. was leg before! ’ ” In’ 1880 Mr. Pawling joined the South­ gate Club—then called the Junior South­ gate, and for five or six years was at or near the top of the bowling averages. “ In what way did your connection with the Hampstead C.C. begin ? ” “ One summer day in 1884. I had a letter from Russell Parker, to whom the Hampstead Club perhaps owes more than any other man, for he steered it through a time of great trial and difficulty. In this letter Parker said that they were to play at Charlton Park and were short of abowler—would I fill the vacancy ? I was very glad to have this opportunity. Parker was a rare good bowler and he and I divided the wickets equally between us, and from that time I began to think of joining the club. Later—in 1887—1 went to live at Hampstead, not so much by force of circumstances, as because I wanted to join the cricket club, and from that time I have played regularly for it. It saddens me some­ times to think that we old members still bowl and bowl because the youngsters do not come on as I Bhould like to see them; but in F. C. Wheeler we have a first-class secretary, a wonderful worker and mcst cheery personality who is more than ready to foster lieing talent, and now that, thanks to the president (Sir Spencer Maryon Wilson), the lease of the ground has been extended, the club can look for­ ward to many further years of success. One of the most remarkable things in the history of the Hampstead club was the strength of the bowling for some years, as represented by George Thornton, A. E. Stoddart, F. R. Spofforth, W. S. Hale, and others. Hale is not so well known as the others, but is a real good man on any side. I ’ve played with him for many years and never remember him missing a catch.” Twice in successive seasons, when playing for Hampstead, Mr. Spofforth took all ten wickets of the Marlow C.C. On the second occasion he had taken four wickets for 27 in the first innings, and Mr. Pawling six for 14. “ In the second innings,” said Mr. Pawling, “ Spofforth took seven wickets off the reel, and, being naturally anxious that he should take the other three, I did my best to give him the opportunity by bowling just off the wicket a little too fast for the ball to be hit. This manoeuvre worked well, and Spofforth took the next three wickets. My own analysis is (we both bowled throughout the match) rather curious— eight overs, five runs, three maidens, no wickets. I remember another curious thing in connection with my bowling for Hampstead. Last year in the match against Granville (Lee), the wicket was a bit fast, and the first four of our oppo­ nents all played on to me—the ball in each case pitching just outside the off stump. H. B. Hayman last season accomplished what Mr. Pawling thinks almost the most remarkable bit of cricket he has ever seen. Playing against Eltham after Eltham had declared their innings closed, he made 165 runs against time, scoring almost off every ball and enabling Hampstead to claim a brilliant win. This he did in under an hour. Mr. Pawling has been a member of the Nondescripts for some years, and speaks most enthusiastically of the sporting spirit of the club and the mem­ bers; some of his jolliest matches have been when “ on tour ” with them. Last season he played for the M.C.C., and in a twelve a-side match against West­ minster School he took ten wickets in the first innings. In connection with the many years Mr. Pawling and Mr. A. E. Stoddart have played together as members of the Hampstead C.C.,’ it may be interesting to note that the first time the two players encountered each other on the cricket field, was in 1876, when Mr. Stoddart was a boy of about twelve. The match was between Mill Hill School and St. John’s Wood School,” said Mr. Pawling, “ and Stoddart went in nearly last. He made two runs, and although I was able to bowl him at that time, I’ve hardly ever been able to do so since then, even at practice. In matches, we have only opposed each other on very few occasions, but Stoddart has generally knocked me about all over the place. If Mr. Pawling had been “ caught young,” and properly looked after, he would, with very little doubt, have been a great success in first-class cricket. As it was, he was not asked to play for Middlesex until 1894, when he was over thirty years old, when fast bowlers lose somethingof their dash. Notwithstanding this, he was so successful in his few trials that his withdrawal from county cricket was very greatly regretted by Middlesex men. His first trial was for the second eleven against Lancashire second eleven ; he took seven wickets for 68, all clean bowled. He was then put into the first eleven against Sussex, at Brighton; he took five wickets for 60 (the best analysis on the side) in the first innings (all clean bowled) in a total of 181, and three for 60 (the second best analysis on the side) in the second innings, in a total of 225. After this he only played in two more matches, and can hardly be said to have had a fair chance in them. “ One thing I shall never forget,” he said “ in connection with the little first-class cricket which I played. I refer to the great kindness of A. J. Webbe to me in the Sussex match—the match in which he was so severely hurt when practising at the nets that he was unable to play again for a long time. He put me on in the middle of the innings, and said, ‘ Don’t feel worried if you don’t get a wicket. Just bowl as well as you can. I’ll give you another chance if you don’t come off at once.’ I did not take a wicket, so he took me off, and a little later gave me another turn, with the result that fortune favoured me beyond my keenest hopes. Unfortunately, Webbe was not able to play on the other occasions.” Mr. Pawling had a unique experience in the first match in which he ever played. “ I was eleven years old then,” he said, “ and was playing as a pretty fast bowler for Mill Hill School, Under Fifteen, against Elstree School. They were really much the stronger team, for we were but a rough lot of cricketers, having only a very poor ground to play on. But the luck was all on our side on that day, and we won. With the first three balls of their innings, the first I had ever bowled in a match, I had the extreme good fortune to clean bowl three men—Andrew, Gerrard, and C. F. H. Leslie, while with the fifth I bowled M. F. Ramsay. Years afterwards the two latter played for England against Australia. I took seven wickets in the first innings and five in the second. In addition to this, I made the top score, but as this was only eight, there was nothing to be very proud of. You will understand that I really did not know anything about bowling; I was straight and very fast for my tize, which in those days went a very long way in boy’s cricket. I had no record of this match until a short time ago; by one of the oddest circumstances I picked up at a second-hand bookstall a bound volume of the Mill Hill School Magazine, the first volume published, and to my delight found the score and analysis set forth in full. Since that match 1 have only played at Elstree twice, and it is curious that there was an interval of a a quarter of a century between : in 1874 for Mill Hill School, and in 1899 for Nondescripts against Elstree Masters. As it happened, In both matches I began the bowling.” “ Was your success in your first match a flash in the pan, or did it continue ? ” “ I am pleased to say that it continued. When I was twelve years old I was put in the first eleven, and got wickets in almost every match until I left five years later. You see my early good fortune made me keen to bowl. I always gave up my ten minutes batting at the nets in order to have extra time for bowling, which probably accounts for the fact that I have gone in last as often as most people, as being one of the worst bats in any team with which I have played. But as regards bowling there can be very little doubt that my early success was not a good thing for me.” “ For what reason.” “ Well, on wickets which were not of the best, any very fast bowler who was straight was bound to get men out; it was in the nature of things that he should do so. The consequence was that there was not the incentive to try to vary one’s pace and pitch, and it was not until I joined the Hampstead Club, and got into a better class of cricket, that I found it was not merely fast and straight bowling which would get people out. Indeed, I never quite realised what bowling really was until F. R. Spofforth began to play for Hampstead. I had the extreme pleasure of fielding short slip to him, a position in the field which is about the best for studying the way in which a bowler uses his head. I have tried to turn this advantage to the good, and at our annual dinner this year our chair­ man, E. L. Marsden, made a remark about me which was received with a good deal of laughter—that ‘ what I had lost in pace I had gained in intelligence.’ I