Cricket 1904

CRICKET, A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JUNE 16, 1904. at) I I i i .. ■ ) 9 ^ f i - , p = p fif iF r m B N r a t e S 3 i ; / W , a kjcSi nu _ i '/?£COXl J ' i 1ns =5-— i I j p r I ft “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 662 . v o l . x x i i i . T H U R S D A Y , J U N E 1 6 , 1 9 0 4 . f b i c e 2 a. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. M b . E. ROPER. The mention of the came of Mr. Roper —Teddy Roper as he is known b y his many friends—will bring a pleased smile to the face of any cricketer in the North who hears it. For Mr. Roper, who is the secretary of the Liverpool Cricket Club, is one of the most popular and good- natured secretaries in the whole kingdom . He has played for both Yorkshire and Lancashire, and when j ust before the Whit-Monday match between these two counties he said that he really must g o to Old Traf­ ford to see it, one of his friends remarked, “ Teddy, you have the best of us, for if the game happens to be exciting you can look on with perfect equanimity.” Mr. Roper, who was born at Richmond (Yorkshire) in 1851, was at Clifton College at the same time as Mr. E. F. S. Tylecote, in the days when Mr. Percival, the present Bishop of Hereford, was headmaster. H is father, a banker, was the first cricketer who engaged the famous Tom Hayward, the old Cambridge player. A t Clifton, Mr. Roper was the fast bowler of the eleven, and for some years he was regarded chiefly as a bowler. But when he joined the Sefton C.C. at Liverpool, he made a vast number of runs, and he and the late Mr. C. L. Jones must have been con­ cerned in more first-wicket partnerships of over a hun­ dred than any two other cricketers, whether of the past or the present. In reply to a question as to what was his first county match, Mr. Roper said, “ It was Yorkshire v. Middlesex at Lord’s. For some time the Yorkshire team had consisted entirely of profes­ sionals, and there was a sort of idea in the county that if amateurs played they would take the bread out of the mouths of the professionals. But several mem­ bers of the committee began to think that it would be better to include a few amateurs in the team, and the result was that Lord Londesborough was asked to choose the team for the Middlesex match. He selected four amateurs—Canon E. 8. Carter, T. S. Dury, myself and Ackroyd, of Uppingham. It was the first time I had ever played at L ord’s, so that I was highly pleased at scoring 68, c and b Pearson. We were beaten, I think. I only played about four times for Yorkshire, but I frequently played for Lancashire afterwards. I was played as a bowler in my first match for Lancashire, and took two or three wickets against Kent. As a matter of fact Mr. Roper would have played a great deal more county cricket if he had been good in the field. But he knew his weakness, and was not sorry when he could turn his attention entirely to local cricket. “ Curiously enough I never missed a catch at Old Trafford,” he said. “ I remember that once when Watson was bow l­ ing, Shacklock made a tremendous hit to me in the long field. I could always judge a catch all right, and I soon g ot under the ball, which looked like a pea in the air. Two spectators were sitting ju st behind me, and I have a vivid recollec­ tion of what they did and said while the ball was still in the air. One man pulled out his pipe, lighted it, and puffed at it, while the other man said *There’s going to be a w ick et! ’ To which the first man replied, ‘ Perhaps he may miss it.’ ‘ N ot he,’ said the other. ‘ I ’ve never seen him miss anything.’ As luck would have it the thing dropped safely into my hands,and I felt quite pleased to think that my unknown friend’s faith wag still unshaken.” “ One of your brothers used to play a good deal P ” “ He often played for Gentlemen of Yorkshire and for Richmond. He was a pretty good bowler and a good bat. Two of the Rich­ mond annual matches were against Northallerton, whom we were always very anxious to beat. Their best bat was named Stelling, a really good player, but my brother bowled him first ball in five successive matohes, and we came to the return match in the third season. When Stelling came in he said to m y brother : ‘ Mr. Roper, if you bow l me first ball, I ’ll never play against you again.’ M y brother gave him the best ball he ever bowled in his life ; it pitched just off the leg stump, worked right across and