Cricket 1902

CRICKET, MAY 15, 1902 Together joined in Cricket’s m an ly toil wo. 598. v o l . x x i . THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1902. p b x c e 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. GEORGE HAY. Blessed with the most cheery of dis­ positions, George Hav, for whose benefit the proceeds of the Whit-Monday match at Lord’s are set apart, has been apopular cricketer from the days of his boyhood until the present time, when he is head of the ground staff at Lord’s. In the days when he was a most useful member of the Derbyshire eleven he was a very fast bowler indeed, with great accuracy, and plenty of spin; indeed wicket-keepers used to say that he came faster off the pitch than any other man whom they had to take. He was born on January 28th, 1851, at the colliery village of Staveley, in the neighbourhood of which several other well-known Derbyshire men were born, including the two Mycrofts, the two Davidsons, Cropper, Yates, the Brelsfords, and the Doughtys. The village had a good cricket club known as Staveley Works, whichincluded R. G. Barlow, the famous old Lancashire cricketer, in its team. Thanks to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, the club had an excellent ground, a dead level, 130 yards square : Hay still looks after it during the winter, and keeps it in first- rate repair. The speciality of Hay’s bowling was his very fast yorker. “ I learned that this was a useful ball,” he said, “ in about the second match I played for Staveley Works. I was put on to bowl without meeting with much success, until Jack Tye said to me, ‘ Send him one straight up into t’ blockhole.’ I took his advice, and found that I had hit upon a very happy discovery. I practised this ball continually until I was pretty accurate with it. Many wickets have I got with it when nothing else would answer. I remember a match in which I was playing for Accrington against Bingley. We only made about fifty, and presently Bingley got within one to tie and two to win when the last man had to come in. It seemed to me that he was a dead bird if I could have a go at him; so I said to Mr. Homer, who was our captain, ‘ I feel sure I can get this youngster if you (Photo by J. Chaffin and Sons, East Street, Taunton), let me have a go at him.’ Mr. Horner consented, whereupon the youngster’s partner called out to him ‘ Keep t’ wood in t’ hole ? ’ So I didn’t give him a yorker as I intended, but bowled a little to the off, hoping that he would give a catch in the slips. But he kept bis bat in t’ hole and escaped that time. However, I gave him a yorker next ball, and he forgot all about his orders,* [with) the result that he lifted up his bat just in time to let the ball go under it, [and [we won.” “ Who first brought you to the'notice of the Derbyshire committee ? ” “ It was Richard Daft. I) had played for Eighteen of Saltaire against his Eleven, and had taken five wickets in each innings, and he said that I was good enough to play for the county. I had previously played for the Colts. I shall never forget the first ball I bowled for the county. It was to Lord Harris, and it came back past me like a shot out of a gun. But I got him the next over, and four more wickets in as many overs.” “ When were you first on the groundstaff at Lord’s ? ” “ In 1882. But I was asked by Mr. A. J. Webbe to go to Lord’s i.i 1881. The first time I ever played at Lord’s was in 1876 for the Colts of the North against Colts of the South. We had a queer eleven for colts, for the qualification was that we had never played at Lord’s before. Consequently there were men of forty in the teams. Alfred Shaw was our captain, and Alec Watson was also on our side—he had played for Lan­ cashire for a couple of years. The match was over in a day, for Watson and I got the other side out in an hour. Mr. Fitzgerald, who was then the secretary of the M.C.C., pitched into Shaw for keeping us both on all through the innings, and we were not allowed to bowl in the second innings. I rememb er that after the match we were all called into the pavilion by Mr. Fitzgerald to be paid. He asked me where I came fro m, and in my innocence I said, ‘ from Stave­ ley ’—where I was born, but of course he meant where we had come from for this match. If I had said Bradford I should have bad another sovereign, because of