Cricket 1902

CRICKET, AUG. 14, 1902. )$e?c j 0 6 c ~ 9 — f e f i Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. Wo. O i l . VOL. X X I. THURSDAY, AUG. 14, 1902. p r i c e ad. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD1 MR. R. W. FRANK. Only a week or two ago Mr. Frank was injured, during a cricket match in such a way that he may not be able to play again this season. He is undoubtedly, and has been for y ears, one of the most popular men in York- shire, for long before he began to assist Yo rkshire in an officialcapacity he had played and made runs on nearly every ground in the county, besides accounting for hundreds of his opponents’ wickets and playing for the first team itself. He might have done all these things and yet not have been popular, but there is something inhis nature which disarms the most can­ tankerous individual withwhom he comes in contact, so that he is everywhere received with open arms. Everybody knows that Mr. Frank has for some years acted as captain of the Yorkshire second team. But everybody does not know what this means to Yorkshire—nor does Mr. Frank himself realisehowmuch his genial good nature, his optimism, and his ready en­ couragement have done for the county and for its younger players. As a matter of fact he is an ideal captain of a second team, which, although it may seema backhand sort of compliment to say so, means a great deal. For young players are so easily discouraged, that a man who is always cheerful, who never despairs, and who shire it ought always to be the simplest thing in the world to get hold of the best men, but, as you have seen, it is not so. I should like to say that the county committeehave always been particularly nice to me, and havebacked me up wheneverit hasbeen necessary, while I have had a free hand. The result is that if a young player is lazy or indifferent, he has not the consolation of knowing that it does not matter what he does when there are n« in some mysterious way con­ trives to give them a feeling of confidence in themselves works more good than he knows. Mr. Frank’swork isnot always easy. “ There are only eleven places in the first team,” he said, “ and so many big clubs which can afford to pay a professional well, that as soon as a young player begins to dis­ tinguish himself he is snapped up by a club, andwe have great difficulty in getting hold of him again. Then again, when you have, for instance, a man like Rhodes in your first team, what chance has a young player whose style is similar to his? People often, and naturally, think that as there are so many thousands of good young cricketers in York­ MB. B. W. FBANK. (From a photo by Messrs. Book and Sons , Bridlington Quay.) members of the committee watching him, and consequently he feels bound to do his best.” “ You have chiefly taken up the Captaincy of the Yorkshire 2nd Team with an idea of finding young players? ” “ Yes. And a very uphill task it is. You see, Yorkshire have no Club and Ground, and considering the size of the County and the high position of the first team, it is very difficult to find players to meet your require­ ments. However, the success of Washington as a bat and Higgins as a wicket-keeper is very encouraging. As you know, we have joined the Minor County competition, and although our main object is to win matches, we have another motive. We wish to give the most promising young players an opportunity of meeting class bowlers. You cannot expect local players (especially when they are young) to get runs against county bowlers straight away—it requires time and patience. I always contendthat if a recruit is worth a trial in one match he is worth playing in three matches, and should be asked for three to com­ mence with, for the knowledge that he is sure of three matches encourages him. It should be the object of everyone trying young blood to make their trial as favourable as possible; also care should be taken to get men with a nice disposition, for if you have men onyour side who are selfish andjealous, how unpleasant it is for those with whom they have to play! Never encourage young players who make use of an unsports­ manlike shady action in order to get a batsman out. Two years ago we were playing against Staffordshire, and one of their best bats got hit with the ball, the blow causing him so much pain that he fell out of his ground. Higgins got the ball, but he was so much of a sportsman that he did not break the wicket—an action which I greatly admired, although the batsman got about a hundred afterwards.” “ When and where did your cricket begin ? 9 ' ‘ ‘ That is avery difficultques­ tion to answer, for I have been playing ever since I can remember. My first important match (as a boy of ten years of age) was for the Eastgate White Stars. I was not included in the team par­ ticularly for my ability as a cricketer, but rather on account of my usefulness in the noble art of self defence. You may not be able to comprehendtheconnectionbetween cricket and boxing, but I can assure you that if ever you had had the honour of play- ing for the White Star 1st Eleven you would have done so. It was essential that some of