Cricket 1902

CRICKET, JUNE 26, 1902. “ Together joined in Cricket’ s m an ly to il.” — Byron. no. 604 . vol. xxi. THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1902. price 2 d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. ME. CHARLES ABSOLON. A VETERAN WHO PLAYED IN A MATCH ON THE DAY OP THE CORONATION OP UUEEN VICTORIA. At the present time it is interest­ ing to note that Mr. Absolon, who only gave up cricket a few years ago, when he was eighty years old, was a good player in the year when the late Queen Victoria was crowned. He was on a visit to London at the time of the Coronation, and was introduced to Mr. Dark, the then proprietor of Lord’s. Through him he played in a match at Lord’s in that year. On the Coronation Day itself he played for a team of Butchers against Bakers at Kine Croft', Wallingford, and remembers the match even now by reason of the success with which he met as a bowler in the match. For seventy- one years he regularly took part in the game, and it cannot be doubted that with his old-fashioned lob bowl­ ing he took more wickets than any other man of any period. In the last thirty years of his career he took 8,500 wickets, in addition to scoring 26,000 runs, and goodness knows what his record was in the previous forty-one years. But as he scored runs more and more slowly as the years went on, while his bowling, although nearly always successful, lost some of its terrors, it may reasonably be supposed that his early record far exceeded his second period. From his first match until his last he kept the score of every game in which he played, but unfortunately he lent the books in which his deeds in his first forty-one years were chronicled, and never saw them again. Years afterwards he heard that the friend to whom he had lent them was dead, but of the books no trace could be found. This is the main reason why Mr. Absolon has never written his reminiscences, and thus cricketers have lost what would have been one of the most interesting books in the history of the game. During Mr. Absolon’s later years, his doings were annually recorded in Cricket and other publications, and the scores of most of his early matches appeared in CHABI.BS ABSOLON. (From a photo by W. S. Proe, 62, Rye Lane , Peckham). Bell's Life, although hundreds cf them must be hidden away in the files of local papers. For he played all over the country. At one time he was a wealthy man, and he then spent his money freely upon cricket and cricketers, taking teams at great expense to various parts of England, and encouraging young cricket­ ers by every means in his power. The more one thinks about it, the more one realises what a pity it ii that a complete record of his life as a cricketer can never be obtained. He was known far and wide, and there can hardly even now be a cricketer living who, on seeing his name, would ask “ Who is Charlie Absolon ? ” In his house are to be found scores of cricket balls, silver-mounted, each recording some remark­ able performance of his. Photographs of famous cricketers, presented to the old man by the originals, are crowded on the walls, and reminiscences of his career appear on every side. It will be remembered that in 1896 a match was played at the Oval for his benefit, and that, as in so many matches of the kind, the rain took a prominent part in it. A little later, at a dinner at the Holbom Restaurant, he was presented with a purse of 120 guineas, an illuminated address, and a large album containing a list of the donors, etc. Now that his days of cricket are over he lives near Finsbury Park, and is frequently to be seen on the cricket ground, where, as he says, “ I can still count the sparrows on the other side.” And Finsbury Park cricket ground is anything but a small one. Mr. Absolon had the pleasure of playing with Dr. W. G. Grace and Dr. E. M. Grace before they came out. “ They came to spend their holidays in London during their school days,” he said, “ and they used to get me to put them down for a match if I could work them in. They were both pretty good even ther, and after I had played E. M. a few times other teams began to object, saying that he was much too good. The very first match that E. M. played for me he made 75, and he then said to me, *Charlie, play my brother George (that was W.G.), he’ll make a better man than I.’ I said,