Cricket 1904

CRICKET, A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. MAY 5, 1904. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. n o . ese. v o i . x x i i i . THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1904. p r i c e aa. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. THE REV . F. H . G ILLINGHAM . Although Mr. Gillingham made his first appearance in county cricket last year, he has already made a sound reputation as a batsman of uncommon merit. Quite unknown as a cricketer, he went to live in Essex, joined the county club, practised occasionally at the nets, and began to be noticed b y the author­ ities, with the result that, after a short trial in the second eleven, he was pro­ moted to the first. It was a wretched season for a debu­ tant, but Mr. Gillingham’s powers of hitting were of great service to him on the wet wickets, and it was not long before paragraphs about him began to appear in the newspapers— a sure sign that he was attracting considerable attention. A t the beginning of June he made 79 against Kent at Leyton, the highest score in the match, his innings being all the more creditable be­ cause when he went in his side were doing badly. A t the end of the season he made his first hundred in county cricket, scoring 116 against Leicestershire — an innings which had much to do with the success of Essex by ten wickets. From the point of view of a cricketer, it is a pity that he cannot play regularly in first-class cricket, but for the sake of his county it is greatly to be hoped that he will find it possible to take part in most of the matches this season. He was without doubt one of the most promising of the batsmen who made their debut last year. Mr. Gillingham played his first cricket in Japan, where his father helped to found the cricket club at Kobe. “ Two of my brothers have captained the Kobe Club,” beaten. A t the present time there is a Japanese professional cricketer at Kobe, who, from what I hear, would be a very fine bowler if he had a fair chance. His name is, I believe, Yoshi. He is fast right arm, and a really good cricketer ; he is the Kobe Club ground man. “ D id you come to E n g ­ land to go to school ? ” “ Yes. I was sent at first to a private school at Beaconsfield, in Bucks., and got into the cricket team. From there I went to Dulwich College at the same time as one of my brothers. In our first year he was in the second eleven and I was in the third, and in the next year we both got into the eleven. C. M. Wells was at the school when we went there, but we were not in the eleven with him. One of the masters, Mr. H . V. Doulton, did a great deal for me in the way of coach­ ing, and what success I have met with is largely due to him. Jimmy Douglas, who was then at Cambridge, oiten used to come down to the school, and he, as well as Shepherd, one of the pro­ fessionals, also gave me some very useful coaching. We only had a moderate team at that time, but several sub­ sequently left their mark on the athletic world, viz : C. Wells, Norman Miller, Gil­ bert Jordan, the Oxford runner, W. H . Edwards, the Northampton football player, Lionel Jackson, who plays football for Black- heath, E. Wiltshire, the Surrey cricketer, F. D. Brown, the Kent cricketer, and Shclto Douglas. A t the same time that I was at Dulwich, Sewell was at Bedford Grammar School. H e was a big chap even then, and was a perfect terror to us. In the holidays, after I left school, I played at the Oval for the Y oun g Surrey Amateurs against the Y oung Professionals, but without any success; in fact, I only just missed “ a said Mr. Gillingham, “ and my youngest brother is still captain. A t the beginning the ground was primitive in the extreme, and even now, although they generally have grass wickets, they have occasionally to play on matting. I was only about eight years old when I left Japan for THE REV. F. H. GILLINGHAM. [From a photo ly Mr. C. Hawkins, 2, Allots Park Terrace, High Bond, Leyton.) England ; and at that time the Japanese did not play cricket at all, though they looked on, and seemed to enjoy the matches. They weremuch moreenthusias- tic over football, and I remember that once or twice we playeda team of Japanese boys at Association, and got badly