Cricket 1902

J u n e 5, 1902“. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OE THE GAME. THE BOOK OF THE SEASON* For a long time it has been known to cricketers that an authoritative hook on Surrey cricket was about to be published, and that its editors and authors were men who were exceedingly well qualified to undertake their tasks. Naturally, gieat curiosity was aroused as to whether the book would be worthy of the subject, which was so vast as to make one fear that justice could not possibly be done to it. The result of years of labour has now been placed before the public, and it may be said at once that fears that it might be unsatisfactory are quite groundless, for it would be difficult to imagine how the work could have been better done. The editors had an enormous field from which to select their subjects, but they have made a most judicious choice. There is not too much detail and not too little ; in all things ahappy mean has been taken. It is well known that Lord Alverstone has not been merely an editor in name; on the contrary, he has taken the liveliest interest in the book from first to last, and has worked hard upon it. Not by any means the least interesting of the chap­ ters in this notable book is the first, which is written by himself, and is entitled “ County Cricket.” In it he makes many excellent suggestions, and shows a sound appreciation of the difficulties met with by county committees, and by rising young amateurs. He is quite wrong in stating that “ I can claim no novelty for the observations I have put together in this chapter,” for several of his ideas are original, and what is even more to the point, practical. He has decidedly hit the nail on the head when he makes the following statement: “ It has astonished me more than once when looking at a first-class match to see men playing for county elevens who do not seem to have an elementarynotion of how they ought to hold their hands when attempting a difficult catch, and I honestly think, although it may seem a somewhat elementary suggestion, that the abandon­ ment of the practice of throwing the ball from one to another while waiting after a wicket has gone down is much to be regretted. . . . . A great many catches which ought to be held are lost from sheer carelessness and want of practice in difficult catches. You have only to watch the Australian Eleven in the field to see the justice of these observa­ tions, although even there I have seennotable exceptions.” Naturally one expectsto findthatMr. Alcock, the other editor, with all his experience, and all his opportunities of knowing the complete history of the .cricket in the county during his thirty years of office, is responsible for a large part of the county’ s history in modem times. And ons is not disappointed—indeed there is no disappointment to be found in any of the chapters written by any of the con­ tributors. The present secretary writes the chapters on “ The Australians at the Oval,” “ Surrey Captains,” “ The Surrey County Cricket Club, 1845-1872,” and again from 1872 to 1901, “ Kennington Oval—its progress and development,” and finally, “ Football at the Oval.” He has done his work wonder­ fully well, and has evidently spared no pains to make his share of the book as accurate and as complete as could possibly be. No one who knew Mr. John Shuter as a captain, but will heartily endorse Mr. Alcock’s verdict upon him. **And what better type of county * “ Surrey Cricket: its History and Associations ” Edited by the Rt. Hon. Lord Alverstone, L.C.J., president, and C. W . Alcock, secretary of the Surrey County C.C. Longmans, Green & Co., London. 16a. net. captain than John Shuter,” he asks, “ a cricketer who never spared himself, who never lost heart, who played the game as keenly as the best of them, but always played it in the broadest and most liberal spirit; who played to win, and in the most chivalrous fashion, scorning anything that would suggest the semblance of sharp prac­ tice ? ” A little further on, Mr. Alcock more fully analyses Mr. Shuter’s claims to be con­ sidered—as he undoubtedly was—one of the great captains of all time, but the short note just quoted brings the man himself to one’s mind in the most vivid way. But, that nothing might be left untold or unnoted, the aid of other men, enthusiastic students of Surrey cricket, has been called in with the happiest results. Several chapters are written by Mr. E. B. V. Christian, viz.: “ Surrey Cricket 1845-1872,” “ Surrey Cricket 1873-1901,” “ Surrey v. England,” and “ Extraneous Matches at the Oval.” He tells the story of important matches, noting their main points of interest in a manner which never becomes uninteresting or dry. Some of his remarks are inimitable, such as the following : “ Mr. Felix, we are told, in allu­ sion to his musical tastes, made a ‘ semi­ breve.’ The language of cricketers has found no other such elegant synonym for failure:— ‘ Thou tellest of Duck to thy sweetheart, to men thou recordest a Blob.’ ” To Mr. Ashley Cooper has fallen the task, which must have been very congenial to him, of writing upon “ Early Surrey Cricket 1698- 1845,” and “ Cricket Curiosities.” Where he has managed to get all his information from must for ever be a mystery to ordinary persons, who find the work of searching for even a single date quite sufficient for their peace of mind. Suffice it to say that whatever is known about early Surrey cricket, and whatever of uncommon is known in connec­ tion with the game in Surrey, has found a place in these two chapters, which is as it should be. It is only natural that in the u Cricket Curiosities ” some of the best stories in the book are to be found. Here is one of them. “ A curious incident occurred in a match between Thames Ditton and Cobham, at Cobham, in May, 1892. While W. H Martin was batting for the home team, he played a ball just beyond mid-on. A dog, anxious to put himself in evidence, made for the ball, and, before the fieldsmen could get to it, was away with his prize in hot haste to all parts of the ground. Meanwhile the bats­ men were making the best of a rare oppor­ tunity, and twelve or thirteen runs had been got before the ball was secured. But the question of the amount to be scored had to be settled. The umpire solved the knotty point with the ruling that the ball was dead, and the result in the end was an allowance of four runs.” Other chapters are “ Reminiscences of Half- a-Century Ago,” by the Rev. T. O. Reay, with entertaining comments on the old players ” ; “ The Village Greens of Surrey ” and “ School Cricket in Surrey,” both collected by the Editors; “ Statistics,” by the Marquis de Santa Susana (A. B. de Lugo), containing a complete record of averages, &c. ; and last but not least, “ Reminiscences of Surrey Captains,” by Mr. John Shuter and Mr. Jephson. Mr. Shuter concludes his remarks (which are all very much to the point) with the following considerations, which are well worthy of careful study. “ A young player stands in much the same position as a freshman at the University—so much depending on what use he makes of his early trials. It is more than likely that if he fails in his first or second trial he will not get another opportunity,- for that season at any rate, and thefe is no doubt, as vacancies in county elevens occur but seldom, the young player gets tired of waiting for further opportunities and transfers his services elsewhere. Nowadays it really seems that, so far as batting alone is con­ cerned, increasing years seem to make no difference in the batsman’s ability to make runs, and in this fact lies the chief difficulty of superseding old players to make room for the younger ones who are waiting their turn. I fear that the ability to field will disappear long before the ability to bat will, and of this fact I think we do not take sufficient notice. Undoubtedly it is the falling off in the fielding of a side which accounts for more lost matches than anything else, and there­ fore, sorry as we all must be to see old players retired, yet I cannot but think that too much sentiment is shown in this respect.” Mr. Jephson’s reminiscences are of great interest, and full of charming little sidelights, among which the following is particularly amusing : “ Some years ago we were playing a certain county at the Oval, and Bobby had made about 30 in the hour. A very young player opposed to us remarked at lunch ‘ that he thought Abel was a really fine player, but painfully slow.’ When our turn came to field I watched this youthful critic with keen interest. Over after over he played with extreme caution, and eventually, after one hour and a quarter, had amassed six singles ! As he walked past me to the pavilion a strange longing to say something was with difficulty resisted, and my tongue kept silent.” The publishers are to be congratulated on their share of the work, for the book is exceedingly well got up, well bound, and well illustrated with photographic repro­ ductions of the best kind. There are no impossible figures in impossible attitudes, and no indistinctness in the faces ; indeed, when one turns over the leaves of the book the figures of men whom one well knows seems to be almost real, so excellent is the printing. The book will be the standard work on Surrey cricket for very many years to come. W. A. B e tte sw o r th . CforresponocncE. The Editor does not hold himself responsible tor the opinions o f his correspondents . REFLECTIONS. To the Editor of C r ic k e t . D e a r S ir , —Turning over the leavas of an old Wisden I noticed in the account of the Surrey and Notts match, played at the Oval in August, 1888, the following analysis:— First innings. Second innings. O. M . E. W . O. M. K. W . Attew ell... . 29 24 10 1 ........... 44-8 38 22 4 Could anything bring home to us more strongly the fact that we live in another age ? Even allowing for the different number of balls in the over?—was it four or five?—the utter impossibility of such figures at the pre­ sent day compel us to remember that there was a time when every ball hadits btereotyped stroke, any departure from which being looked upon as an eccentricity, almost a faux pas in a stylistic sense. Of course I remem­ ber and do not underrate Attewell’s wonder­ ful accuracy, but still, the one epithet that rises in the mind as descriptive of those days is the word, not a pretty one, “ pre-Jes- sopian.” However Mr. Jessop may be finally appraised as a batsman, few, I think, will deny him the title of epochmaker. E. K. L. Poplas, Colwyn Bay. June 1st, 1902.