Cricket 1903

116 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 7 , 1903. not unto them.” After stating that he had no intention of lowering the tone of his ordinary pulpit utterances, or of indulging in semi-religious comedy, he said the text was his undeniable apology for his departure from church usage. He pointed out that of the three recog­ nised ways in which a ciicketer met with downfall, viz., "caught,” “ bowled,” or “ leg-before-wicket,” the last was the one to which the greatest master of the game might be expected to succumb. Being caught (unless by the man in the country) was not considered a sign of excessive talent; “ bowled” wasmore excusable; but “ l.b.w .” was the bowler’s strong resource when the batsman was well set. Every man had to defend his wicket. Souls were attacked from every standpoint by a subtle, unsleeping foe, who knew every weakness and whose resources were mani­ fold. A timid batsman in spiritual life was soon beaten, and Satan need trouble little about them, as a tennis ball would be sufficient to lift their bails. He urged them to have a good defence and not to be taken off their guard. Sermons on the game have often been preached, generally by people whose knowledge of cricket has been very limited indeed. The Eev. Mr. Mercer preached a cricket sermon at Ballarat in 1883, taking as his text Ephesians v., 13, whilst a few years ago the Eev. W. Carlile, of London, dis- coursedjon “ MacLaren’s .Centuries,” the sermon being illustrated with lime-light views. In 1837, Kent played Sussex at Town Mailing, and on the day before the match commenced—Sunday, June 11th—the vicar of West MalliDg denounced from the pulpit as sinners all those who attended to witness the play, whether they betted or not, and prayed for grace to support him under the weight of the reproaches he anticipated would be heaped upon him for performing his sacred duty. Bell's L ife stated that the sermon was warmly canvassed upon the ground, but it appeared the worthy vicar did not suffer, as he anticipated, any diminution whatever in the esteem and affection of his flock, as they seemed to be perfectly satisfied that he had not thereby exposed himself to any shadow of suspicion of cant and hypocrisy. “ The match was attended on both days by many of the neighbouring clergymen,” drily adds the Nunquam Dormio oracle. The cricket of the past week calls for little comment. What little there was took place between the showers, and although rain did not permit a definite result to be arrived at at the Crystal Palace, there was j ust sufficient time at the Oval to enable Surrey to succumb. The good impression formed of the capabilities of the young Surrey bowler, P. M. Jack­ son, in the match between the First X I. of Surrey and the Next X Y I. has been considerably strengthened by his per­ formances for Surrey against London County and Warwickshire. He certainly gives every promise of being of great use to his native county in the future. There is, however, a danger that he will be overbowled, though were Surrey pos­ sessed of an experienced captain, there would be little fear of such an occurrence. The fact that there was no play at the Oval on Monday, ones again causes attention to be drawn to Law liii, which concerns the follow-on. The law runs: •*The side which bats first and leads by 150 runs in a three-days’ match, or by 100 runs in a two-days’ match, shall have the option of requiring the other side to follow their innings.” Should not an additional clause be in­ serted stating that if, in a three-days’ match, there be no play on the opening day, owing to the weather, the match shall be reckoned, so far as the follow-on is concerned, as a two-days’ match ? Such an addi'ion would not meet with oppoH'ion from the legislators, and would cause some games to be finished which would otherwise fiil to end in a definite result. C E L E B R IT IE S A T H O M E . The celebrity in last week’s issue of The World was Lord Hawke. The fol­ lowing extracts are taken from the article:— “ The most interesting room at Wighill to a cricketer is one which Lord Hawke makes his own, though it serves at the same time as a billiard-room and a smok- ing-room. Facing south and east and plainly furnished, but with a comfortable armchair or two from the rooms at Mag­ dalen of the late Mr. “ Abington” Baird, who was Lord Hawke’s contemporary at Cambridge, much interest attaches to it, for it contains photographs of all the elevens Lord Hawke has travelled with on eight trips to different parts of the world. These trips include two to South Africa before the Eaid, two to India, two to the United States and Canada, and one to the West Indies and Australia. Then there are photographs of all the Yorkshire Elevens he has played with since 1882, while on a table containing many curios are three cricket balls, the history of which is peculiar. One is the ball off which Yorkshire scored 887 runs in one innings against Warwickshire in 1896, when the score was: Peel, two hundred and sixteen (not o u t); Hawke, one hun­ dred and sixty-six; Wainwright, one hun­ dred and twenty-six; and Jackson, one hundred and seventeen. Never before had.four centuries beenmade in an inniDgs of English cricket, though the score was repeated by Derbyshire two years later. The fellow-ball on the stand records the minimum score in a great match, as it was used by Yorkshire v. Notts on the Trent Bridge ground when the latter were disposed of for 13 runs. The third ball was given to Lord Hawke for the wicket he took in a match at Ottawa, which was played in the snow. He also greatly rizes a gold cigarette case, given him y the professionals of his team in 1896, with the Yorkshire Rose on one side and his own arms on the other. There is a second table covered with memorials of his tours, while on the walls are engrav­ ings of Gentlemen v. Flayers at Lord’s, and of the three Yorkshire Elevens which have for the last three seasons held the Championship of England, winning 80 matches and losing only two. “ Lord Hawke informs you with regret that the secretary of the Yorkshire Club, which has been in existence for half a century and is now based upon a very good basis, is retiring, after thirty-eight years’ service, and he leaves it in a very pros­ perous condition, for there are 3,000 mem­ bers as against 180 when he took office, while the County X I. has won the Cham­ pionship of England six times since 1893. Lord Hawke is leas confident of York­ shire being again to the front in 1903, as he will not have some of his best men. For he believes in young professionals working for a liviug at some trade, and not relying solely on cricket, and putting this doctrine into practice will cost him one or two of his best players during the season, which will commence, as usual, with a match against M.C.C. at Lord’s, on Monday, May 11th. Lord Hawke, though captain of the Eleven for twenty years, has only been President since 1898, taking the place of Mr. Ellison, who had been agent to three Dukes of Norf jlk. Lord Hawke’s experience of the game commenced soon after he went to Eton, where, after begin­ ning with Hawtrey, who taught him how to run, he was in Cornish’s house with the legendary nine Pitmans. He played two years at Lord’s, losing both matches, and was one year captain of football. After leaving Eton he went for a couple of years to a private tutor in Hertfordshire, where he had a pack of beagles, and also hunted with the Old Puckeridge. Then he entered at Magdalen, and played cricket for the University in 1882, 1883 and 1885, being captain in the last- mentioned year. Cambridge won all three matches; but in 1884, when he was unable to play owing to an accident, the Light Blues lost. His highest score in any of the three University matches was thirty; but it may be interesting to mention that his aggregate score from 1881 to 1901 is 12,312 runs, giving an average of 21 per innings. It was not long after he left Cambridge that he made the first of his cricket tours to the East and to our Colonies, and he is inclined to think that the most remark­ able match in which he played was one at Bombay in 1892, when his team defeated the Parsees by seven runs. The trip during which this match was played started at Colombo and went all through India up to the Kyber Pass. It is not for cricket only that Lord Hawke has visited India, for he went in January, 1892, on a sporting trip, which lasted four months, with Sir Robert Harvey and Mr. Hunter, during the whole of which time they lived in camp at the foot of the Himalayas, shooting or fish­ ing every day. Their spoils comprised thirteen tigers, two leopards, swamp- deer, cheetah, and other jungle animals, and their encampment was a formidable one, seeing that they had forty elephants and twenty camels. When Lord Hawke returned to India with his cricket team in the autumn of the same year, he paid a second visit to Nepaul and got nine tigers, since which time he has never left England except for his cricketing tours,