Cricket 1902

C R IC K E T , MAY 8, 1902 “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— B y ron . N o. 5 9 7 . VOI.. X X I . THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1902. P B IC E 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET EIELD. MR. W. 8. NORTON. Born in June, 1831, Mr. Norton is one of the oldest of the men who played in the Kent eleven between 1849 and 1870, but he bears his years remarkably well and indeed looks much nearer sixty than seventy years of age. For some years he has lived at the Charterhouse. He played for Kent for more than twenty years, and during a large part of that time was one of the most useful men on the side. As a batsman he could score quickly, although, his muscles not being very powerful, most of his runs were madeby leghits andlatecutsof thekindwhich one never sees nowadays except when the hit is acci­ dental. In the field he generally stood at point, where he was uncommonly quick and safe, and some of his catches are remembered even now by old players, who refer with glee to a catch at Lord’s by which he disposed of Robert Carpenter right under the batsman’s nose. Mr. Norton was con­ temporary in the Kent eleven with Alfred Mynn and Puller Pilch, not to mention other great names. Mr. Norton’s first exper­ iences as a cricketer were in connectionwith the old Town Mailing C.C. “ We had a pitch at the back of our house,” he said, “ and the town was then a hotbed of cricket. My fatherandMr. T. Selby arranged the matches, and so I became intimate with all the famous Kent players. When I became a man I set about reforming the town cricket club. This was in 1848, and to my very great surprise I received a letter containing a subscription from old William Ward, who, in some way or other had heard of what was going on. Of course I never saw the old man play, for he was long before my time,” “ What was the first important match you ever saw ? ” “ Kent v. England, in’ 1839. But as I was only eight years old I cannot remem­ ber much about it except that when Kent won by the skin of..their teeth, old Alfred Mynn and some others of the team showed their delight^in 'the most boyish and excited manner. I] also remember ME. W. S. NORTON. (From a photo by Barrauds , Ltd., 263, Oxford Street , London ,) that between the innings Fuller Pilch bowled a few balls to me at the tent. Old Fuller lived at Mailing, so that I saw a great deal of him as time went on. My father and some friends induced him to go there to live, and gave him a retaining fee. He was very tall and although by no means stout, was very muscular. He was a very quiet old chap, but delighted in a sly joke, over which he would look as sober as a judge. The late Lord Bess- borough has said of him that he was facile princeps in his time, and it is my opinion that if he had been bom later he would have rivalled W. G. himself. But cricket was quite a different game then, and it has now lost a good deal of the variety which made it so charming.” ‘ ‘ And when did you first play for Kent ? ” “ My very first match for Kent was against Sixteen < f Oxford University, on the Prince of Wales’ cricket ground at Oxford—a very small ground indeed. Which reminds me that it was always a long time before anybody would believe that the ground at Mailing was under three acres when the county matches were played there. The Hon. E. V. Bligh and Fuller Pilch played in that match. I remember that I made top score, and that it was very easy to hit out of the gronnd. We had to go by trap from Oxford to Blisworth to get on the railway, en route to Sheffield. The first eleven a-side Kent match in which I played against another county was Kent v. York­ shire, in 1849, following the Oxford one.” “ You saw a great deal of the famous Alfred Mynn ? ” “ Yes. He was a very fine bowler, and very fast for the time, but in my opinion not as fast as the present slingers. But then he used to bowl, whereas the men of the present day throw—at least I can’t see where the differ­ ence between throwing and their bowling comes in. I don’t for a moment believe that they could make the ball break back as they do unless they threw. Not that it is only modem men who throw, for I have met others in my time. For example, I was batting for an hour, with Mr. C. |I. Thornton as a partner, at Tunbridge Wells, on the roughest pitch imaginable, with J. C,