Cricket 1904

98 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 5, 1904 pair ” b y the narrowest of margins. The Druces and Schwartz were among the amateurs, and Holland and Nice among the professionals.” “ F or what club did you play after you left school ? ” “ I didn’t play at all for some time. For tw o years I was in the city, and towards the end of this time I played a good many matches for Dulwich town club, and was top of the averages. Then I went to the London College of D ivinity, and the only cricket that I had for three years was on a very bad wicket. I came to the conclusion that my cricketing days were over. But after­ wards I went to Durham University, where I had plenty of cricket on good wickets for two years, getting an average of 60 in m y first year, and 80 in my second. I need hardly tell you that the bow ling up there was not of the most formidable kind.” “ When you were ordained you came to Leyton ? ” “ Y es. I cim e here in 1899. I did not play any club cricket, but joined the County Club and went to practice at the nets. Three years ago I was put on the special coaching list, and the year before last I had a good trial in the second eleven. In 1900 I had a week of country house cricket at Surrenden Park, the only really heavy week I have ever expaii- enced. The wickets were hard and fast, and the bow ling easy, and I made a lot of runs, besides doing a good deal of fielding. It made me wonder what it must be like to play county cricket throughout a very dry season without a rest. Of course, last year the turf was generally anything but hard, so that no amount of fielding was tiring ; it must be very different when one has to field day after day and week after week on ground which is like iron. Speaking of country house cricket reminds me of a tale that I heard about a match on the private ground of a very wealthv man who bad a son with ambition. Unfor­ tunately his deeds were not in accord­ ance with his will, and as this was known to the opposing side, which chiefly con­ sisted of good humoured professionals, they laid a plot to enable him to make a good score. They agreed that the bowlers should not bow l straight, and that the fielder? should not hold citches, and everything promised very well in­ deed. But they had forgotten to arrange with the wicket-keeper, a keen player, whom they did not know ; he snapped up an exceedingly difficult catch at the wicket off the first ball, but wondered ever afterwards why his prowess met with such a lukewarm reception. If one may ju d ’ e from Mr. G illing­ ham’ s experiences, the liberality shown by Mr. C. E. Green in getting Alfred Shaw and Peel to coach the Essex team at the beginning of a season is not thrown away. " Last year,” said Mr. G illing­ ham, “ Alfred thaw and Peel did a very great deal for me in the way of coaching, especially Shaw, whose advice is short and pithy. He often uses only five or gix words, but each sentence contains a mine of common sense. Before I met him I thought I knew how to play cricket, but I soon found that my educa­ tion was only just beginning. Shaw is always encouraging; he never makes sarcastic remarks, which make a beginner vow that he will never play again. Even when you feel that cricket is a game which you will never play properly, and that you may just as well retire into obscurity before you are sent there, he w ill say, ‘ It’s all right. Y ou ’re not playing at all badly, but move your feet a little better, ’ and you feel quite cheer­ ful again.” “ D id county cricket seem strange to you when you first played in it ? ” “ O f course, I was neivous, but not nearly as nervous as when I was play­ ing for my colours at school. Probably the reason for this is that in county cricket you feel that men of experi­ ence have chosen you, and that they will give you a fair trial, whereas at school you know that if you make a duck’s egg you are very likely to be left out with great promptitude. Once or twice the older professionals of some of the other counties succeeded in ‘ telling me a tale.’ For example, when I went in to bat at Edgbaston there was a short wait, and one or two of the Warwickshire professionals took the opportunity of enlightening me on the subject of Hargreave’s bowling. ‘ Sorry for you, sir,’ they 6aid. ‘ Why ? ’ I asked, in some trepidation. ‘ Well, you see, sir, Hargreaves is doing just what he likes with the ball. Make3 ’em talk like anything.’ The result was that my hopes, n e . er very high, soon fell to zaro. On the other hand the members of the Essex team have been exceedingly kind and encouraging, and always seemed ready to give a young cricketer a help­ ing hand.” While last year’s cricket season was in progress a paragraph which caused Mr. Gillingham no little astonishment and amusement appeared in several of the papers. “ It was stated,” he said, “ that I was a great boxer, and that I had taken on all the policemen in the district, one after the other. Also that my vicar and I had a policeman in the garden to box with, and that we both gave him a good thrashing. Absolutely the only ground for such a statement was that just after I left school a friend of mine, who was going in for a boxing competition at Aldershot, asked me to have a round or two with him so that he might have someone to practise on. But the para­ graph was quoted in some of the papers m the East, and one of my brothers, who was in Penang at the time, sent me a copy c f a papar with the laconic ques­ tion, “ Is this my parson brother ? ” Mr. Gillingham’s duties will not allow him to play regularly in first-class cricket. “ But if I am wanted for the county this year,” he said, “ I hope to be able to play occasionally. I generally take my holidays in playing various matches instead of takiug them all at once. M y vicar, Mr. J. T. Intkip, has been very kind in letting me get away, and he feels as I do on the question of playing cricket, that it brings one into closer touch with one’s parishioners, especially with the working classes, and that if one has the least talent for games it was given to bs used. Now and then I get into hot water for playing county cricket, but on the whole I have met with sympathy from all classes. Often when I have had to meet some working-man who has the reputation of being very shy with parsons, he has greeted me by say­ ing, “ Oh, I know you well enough. I have seen you play for Essex.” And barriers are thus broken down at once. W . A. B e tte s'W O K th . GRANVILLE (Lee) v. CHARLTON PARK.— Played at Lee on April 30. G b a n v il le . C. E. C. Kendle, b Mascall ................. 9 A. G. Paton, c and b Mascall ................. 0 H. E. Thomson, b Cowley ................. 4 J. P. Clarkson, b Mas­ call ........................ 1 W. Edwards, c Sar­ gent, b Mascall ... 20 F. fielder, c Sargent, Total ... b C owley................. 8 C h arlto n P a r k . E. Rymer-Jones, c Ogilvie, b Cowley... 1 A. P. Roe, not out ... 33 P. P. Lincoln, c Wat- mough, b Mascall... 2 Howard Morris, c Cross, b Cowley ... 23 E. R. 8tagg,b Rumpus 0 Extras ................. 7 ...108 S. Robertson, b Morris 17 S. R. Sargent, lbw, b Edwards ... ........... 4 H- C. Ogilvie,c Helder, b Edwards ..........46 R. G. cowley, b Thom­ son .......................11 G. W. Bumpus, st Kendle, b Edwards 24 C. Watmough, ibw, b Edwards .................. 6 C. Tompson, st Ken­ dle, b Paton ..........18 C. T. Turpin, b Ed­ wards ................. A. J. Mascall, c fiel­ der, b P a ton .......... C. E. Bernays, c Lin­ coln, b Taomson ... H. C. Cross, not out Extras................. Total ...138 GRANVILLE “ A ” (Lee) v. UNION CASTLE.— Played at Manor Way on April 3J. ^ U nion C a st l e . 8. L). Harrower, not out ........................ 5 R. S. McCulloch, lbw, b Kenyon................ 0 W. H. Bishop, not out 4 E xras.................2 i A. E. Quine?, c Liver­ more, b Gill ..........15 G. C. Gidden, c sub., b Treasure................. 8 W. A. Penton, c Ken­ yon, b Petiman ... 33 W. I). Murray, c — Temple, b Gill ... 2 Total (6 wkts)* 116 S. J.Uibhop,b Kenyon 22 * Innings declared closed. L. G. Weitcott, E. D. Eastaway, am O. G. Williams did not bat. G r a n v ille “ A .” W. Helder, ct W. Bishop, b Quiney ... 11 A.O.Petimau,cBishop, b Quiney................. 8 A. L. Rydcn, b Gidden 0 A. O. Taylor, b W. Bishop ................. 8 E. G. Livermore, c S. Bishop, b Quiney ... H. Temple, not o u t... 13 G. Treasure, b Quiney 1 fi. W.Gill, cd. Bishop, b W . Bishop .......... 0 P. C. Wood, not out... 6 Extras.................10 Total (7 wkts) 67 C. O. Kenyon and W . E. Dedrick did not bat. GRANVILLE “ A ” v. CHARLTON PARK “ A .” —Played at Charlton Park on April 30. C h a r lto n P a r k . J.R. Johnston, b Pass- more ........................ A.E. McCanlia, b Hol- lingworth................. R. M. Allen, run out.. W.J. Keats, c Holling- worth, b Walker ... 8.A. Cross, b Passmore H. Gibbad, b Passmore J. Mcimith,bPassmQre G. A. Todrick, c Pass- more, b Walker ... E. J. Thomas, not out D'.Allen,c Passmore, b Walker ................. H. J. Rickwood, b Walker ................. Extras................ Total J.H. Fry, c Keats, b R. Allen......... ... 38 H.A.Levinson.bKeats 5 E.D.C.Young, ruuout 7 A.E.Weber,bJ±c:Jmith 3 A.Helder,c Keats,b R. Allen........................20 T.L. Passmore,b Ketts 22 E Gale, atJohnston, b R. Alien ............... 0 , 40 [LLB. T. W. Maynard, b R. Allen........................ 7 J. A. Johnston, notout 16 8. A. Walker, b Keats 0 J. R. Hollingworth, b R. Allen ................. 8 Extras.................16 Total ..142