Cricket 1903

CRICKET, APRIL 16, 1903. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. ho. 624 . v o l . x x i i . THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1903. f b i c e ad. A CHAT WITH D r . J. EARL NORMAN. So successful has Dr. Norman been as honorary secretary of the Herts County C.C. that there are excellent reasons for supposing that he will be the right man in the right place in his more ex­ tended sphere as joint honorary secretary of the Minor Counties’ Association with Mr. R. H. Mallett. He was elected co-secretary of the county club with the Hon. W. Grimston in 1897; but the latter resigned early in 1898 and Dr. Norman has been in sole charge ever since. Anyone who knows what Hertfordshire cricket was a few years ago, and what it is now, will not re­ quire to be told how greatly Dr. Norman’s energy and method have helped to brin * about the change. Dr. Norman was in the Uppingham eleven in 1876 and 1877, and like all old Uppingham boys speaks most enthusiastically and affec­ tionately of H. H. Stephen­ son, >,who for mauy years acted as coach to the school. “ I owe all my cricket to him,” he said. “ I doubt whether any professional ever had such influence over boys as he had—an influence, too, which extended far beyond the cricket field. He was a gentleman to start with; and he taught us to play as gentlemen should, and not merely showed us how to handle bat and b ill. No Old Boy of my time ever paid a visit to Upping­ ham without going round to see ‘ H. H.’ ” After leaving Uppingham, Dr. Norman went to Clare College, Cambridge, but a very serious bicycle accident kept him out of the Freshmen’s Match, and he could not play at all until his second year, when bis otmnoe of a trial was gone. Afterwards he played for the Burghley Park C.C., Stamford, and for the Sevenoaks Vine, and at St. Albans. OccAionally he has done duty for Hert­ fordshire, but never by any chance if he could find another man to play. “ Have you anything to say about Hertfordshire cricket^” ‘ ‘ The county is very much handicapped, in my opinion, because it has no big towns. Big towns can command big gates : small towns beget petty jealousies, which are inimical to concentrated action. Watford, with its 30,000 inhabitants, is our largest town, but it is not large enough for anything like a decent gate. Any county whic'l aspires to become first-class must be able to secure good gates; for one of the chief differences, it seems to me, between first and second* class counties is, that with the latter the subscription list is of primary importance and the gate almost a negligible quantity, whereas with the former the subscription list ia of comparatively little consequence and the gate ia everything. In Hertford­ shire there are virtually two counties, which may be said to be divided by the Great N orthern Rail way. To travel from the western half to the eastern half is not at all a pleasant undertaking. For ex­ ample, if we go from St. Albans to play Bishop’sStort- ford, which is about thirty- five miles off as the crow flies, we have to go through a series of adventures.” “ In what way ? ” “ Well, we leave here before nine o ’clock, change at Hatfield, and again at Hertford, where we cross over from the Great Northern to the Great Eastern, and so advance to Broxbourne, and at last find-ourselves on the direct route to Bishop’s Stortford, where we arrive at about twelve. In the evening we are obliged to go right up to London, and accordingly we do not reach home before 11 o’clock. This sort of thing is a very serious drawback to the success of a county club. Another dis­ advantage is that in Hert­ fordshire there is no centre whence all roads go. All the roads seem to be at right angles to one another, and the position is much like that of Cambridge town, where it would puzzle any­ one to say what is the centre. London is the only place we can use as a centre. Yet another drawback is that of having no big manufactur­ ing town to keep young fellows in the county. If you get hold of any likely young fellows who might become professionals, you have nothing for them to do in the winter, and you can’t afford to keep them in idleness. Young amateurs again, when they leave school or college, and think of going into business of some sort or other, can find no opportunity for their talents in Hertfordshire. We have