Cricket 1902

CRICKET, JULY 24, 1902. Sf I J© 1 III Together joined in Cricket’ s m an ly to il.” — Byron. Vo. 0 0 8 . V O L . XXI. TH U R SD AY , JU LY 24 , 1902. PBXCE 2d. A CHAT ABOUT W. P. HOWELL. It is hard to realise that Howell is not almost a veteran, so long does he seem to have been before the English public, and yet he only made his first appearance in England with the Australian team of 1899. Nor had he attracted much atten­ tion in Australia for years before he was selected for the team, for as a matter of fact he was not h e a rd o f in first-cla ss cricket until the Australian season of 1897-98. It may be that his appearance gives him the air of a veteran, but be that as it may, there can be no doubt that he seems to be quite an old hand, a very much older hand than 8. E. Gregory, who first appeared in England as long ago as 1890. From his business up- country as a bee farmer, Howell came before the ap­ preciative notice of Sydney cricketers as a hitter without fear or hesitation, but as he was also without much guile it was not long before the bowlers generally began to find their way to his wicket soon enough to prevent him from doing anything aston­ ishing in the way of scoring. But gradually he was work­ ing his way up as a bowler with a lot of spin on the ball and a practical variation in pace. The great British public knew him not until in 1898, for New South Wales against A. E. Stod- dart’s ill-fated team, he scored 48 in the first innings in 48 minutes and 95 in the second innings in 57 min­ utes. All Australia rose at him to a man after these two innings, which were indeed all that was claimed of them. Everything seemed possible to such a man. He might become another Massie, or a Lyons, or a Percy Mac- donell, and it was with much curiosity that his next performances were watched in Australia. But he had not yet found his metier as a cricketer, and as a batsman he became disappointing. He seemed to have all the attributes which go to make a great hitter, but there was something wanting which prevented him from becoming a terror to bowlers. Neverthe­ less, as an all-round man, he was played in the third test match^against Stoddart’s team, and came outJwith a splendid bowling analysis. W. P. HOWELL. (From a photo by R. Thiele de Co., 66, Chancery Lane , London .) Whatever may have been said about the choices made by Australian selection committees, it has never been urged against them, as it so often has, with some justice, against our own selection committees, that they did not know a good man when he presented himself, or that they bothered themselves either about precedents, or other people’s opinions. Consequently, the committee which chose the Australian team of 1899 had no hesitation in including Howell as one of its members. He came to Eng­ land and oonquered, his performance in taking all ten of the Surrey wickets at the Oval early in the season stamping him as a bowler who had points quite out of the common. With the orthodox first-class captain he might not have been a success, but Darling nursed him with splendid judgment, andnever allowed him to bowl for hours before making the brilliant discovery that it was one of his “ off days.” After a highly successful tour, during which he every now and then showed glimpses of his great powers of hitting, Howell seemed to lose some of his skill when he was back again in Australia. Whether this was owing to business cares, which prevented him from playing frequently, or to an actual falling off or not, it is certain that he was not as successful as usual as a bowler in first-class cricket in 1900 and 1901. It came to be regarded as a moral certainty that he would not be chosen to accompany the team of 1902 to England. But in the winter of 1901 he came very much to the front as a batsman, and was high up in the New South Wales averages, so that taking him as an all-round man there was much to be said in fav­ our of taking him again to England, more especially as Australian bowling was not considered as strong as it might have been. At the same time, there were not wanting critics to say that the selectors had made a big mistake, and it was prophesied not only that he would break down in England, but that he would be a passenger in the team. Once more, however, the wisdom of the selectors was justified in their choice, and although you may search in vain for the name of Howell in the list