Cricket 1902

C R IC K E T , DEC. 18, 1902. Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 6 1 9 . VOI.. X X I . THURSDAY, DEC. 18, 1902. PR ICE 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. F . BOYINGTON. For thelast twenty years Mr. Boyington has been the scorer to the Surrey County Cricket Club. It might be thought that, with such a record, a scorer would almost hate the name of cricket in the winter season, and that in the summer he would regard his duties with about the same amount of enthusiasm as a young lady in an office regards a. typewriter; possibly a man who was not a cricketer at heart might become a mere machine after scoring day after day in the summer for twenty years. But the Surrey scorer was a cricketer in his lime, and a good cricketer. As a wicket­ keeper he gained consider­ able fame in Nottingham, and after being tried two or three times in the Cults match, he was marked out as the coming county wicket­ keeper. But just before the opportunity came he had become manager of a large business firm, and could not forsake hii new duties. As a local cricketer his heart was in the game, and as captain of the once well- known Notts Castle C.C., of which he was one of the originators, he had more than an ordinary reputation. “ I am sorry to say,” he said, “ that after all these years the Notts Castle Club practically came to an end in 1901. Until I went into business I played regularly for the team and I never severed my connection with the club. In those days several of the county eleven were members, and Mr. Henry Turner, now the secretary of the county club, was our secretary. For a single season I played for the Notting­ ham Commercial Club, in which Bichard Daft was the life and soul. We had two professionals thatyear—Billy Mycroft and Johnny West—and we hadamatch, XVII. against Parr’s England X I. With two such good professional bowlers we had a pretty easy victory. I remember first that before the match it was arranged that I was to keep wicket in one innings and Mr. Sam Brittle in the other. It was the first time I had ever been in the field in a decent match, aud my ex­ periences were curious. I was at deep SIB. F. BOY1XGTON. (From a photo ty A. Pickering, 82, High Street, Leicester.) square-leg almost among the crowd when Tarrant, who was forcing the game, hit one in the direction where I was fielding, aud as I unable to save the two I waited to gather the ball, which caught in a rut made by the carriage traffic, and went to the boundary for four. A murmur went through the dissatisfied crowd, who, of course, were anxious for the local side to win. I thought at the time there was more than one who would have liked to thro w me over the hedge. Butafew overs later I caught the same player—a lofty driveiathe long field—and this practically ‘ brought the house down.’ I only men­ tion this little incident to show what our county players of to-day have to contend with. They are often condemned for not doing an impossible thing, and are greatly applauded for taking a simple chance.” “ You must since then have had a very wide experi­ ence of crowds ? ” “ Well, of course, I have seen all sorts. But I should like to say that much in- j ustice has been done to the crowd at the Oval. You often hear people say, ‘ Oh, the Oval crowd ! ’ as if it were composed of an unruly one-sided class of spectators. No doubt the opinion arose through the Bank Holiday crowds of years ago. It is because on those occasions all counties get a very mixed audience. Out of a crowd of twenty thousand I should say there aie at least four or five thousand who take but little interest in the game; they simply come fora day’s enjoyment. I will make so bold as to say that the ordin­ ary Oval crowd is the fairest in the world. And most of the county scorers will bear me out in this statement. Where else, after the home team has been defeated, will you see two or three thou­ sand people swarming round the pavilion cheering the victors ? I recollect one Bank Holiday match at the Oval years ago, when we had turf banks instead of asphalte steps. There were about twenty and thirty thousand people on the ground, and for want of something better to do some of them began to aim pieces of turf at those who were in front and shut out the view. Mr. Alcock at last went round the ground, and had no difficulty in quieting the majority; but at one