Cricket 1904

C R IC K E T , A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A U G . 4, 1904. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. n o . 669. VOL. XXIII. THURSDAY, AUG. 4, 1904. fb ic i aa. A CHAT ABOUT MR. R. H . SPOONER. So rapidly has Mr. Spooner risen to the front rank among cricketers that it seeins hardly possible to realise how young he is. It was only two or three years ago that he was a schoolboy at Marlborough, and yet when he was asked to go to Australia last autumn with the M.C.C. team not a voice was raised in protest—a truly remarkable thing in days when the merits, and especially the demerits, of players are discussed so energetically. Mr. Spooner was in the Marlborough cricket, foot­ ball and hockey elevens for three years, 1897, ’98 and ’99, and in the last year was captain of cricket. He also represented the school at rackets and fives. At the end of the school term in 1899 he was given a trial in the Lancashire team, show­ ing such promise that a brilliant future was prophe­ sied for him. But military duties called him to South Africa, where he was at­ tacked by enteric fever, which has fortunately left him well and strong. After being in South Africa for a year and a half he returned home, and since then he has played regularly for Lan­ cashire with conspicuous success. He has played Rugby football for England against Wales at Swansea, and since 1899 has appeared at intervals in the Lanca­ shire county football team. He has now given up the game on account of an injury to his knee. Mr. Spooner was fortunate in his school, for the small boys at Marlborough have a professional to themselves, and any boy who shows promise has some coaching at the nets once or twice a week, while the house masters look after the games care­ fully, so that it would hardly be possible in these days for a really promising youngster to be passed over. Mr. H . Leaf, one of the masters, always takes a great interest in the cricket of the boys, and naturally he did his best to improve the cricket of such a promising young player as Mr. Spooner. Arthur Hide, the old Sussex bowler, was the profes­ sional coach during Mr. Spooner’s school­ days, and Alec Watson, the famous old Lancashire bowler, used to go down for six or seven weeks ut the beginning of the season. Watson was a splendid practice bowler for boys, and although he had ceased to play cricket for Lanca­ shire for some time, he could pitch a ball almost exactly on the same spot time after time, and when he had given a ball which a boy did not know how tojplay, he would repeat it until it had been mas­ tered. One can easily imagine how pleased the famous old Lancashire pro­ fessional muit be when he watches his brilliant pupil making a big soore at Old Trafford. It was at a small preparatory school, where Mr. E. C. Streatfeild, the old Cam­ bridge Blue, was a master, that Mr. Spooner received his first lessons in cricket. Mr. Streatfeild, who was a splendid coach, did a great deal for him for a couple of years. In later years the schoolboy leimed very much from watching county cricket at Old Trafford, and he could hardly have had better object lessons than were there available. He often played in boys’ matches on the Liverpool ground at Aigburth, and it seems a pity that such matches are not more frequently played on other large grounds. After a most successful career at Marlborough Mr. Spooner was chosen to play for Lancashire. He met with great success, but was persuaded to adopt a steady game for the reason that it was more likely to pay in the long run. He soon had occasion to find that the advice was apparently sound. So firmly did he establish his reputation for consis­ tently good play against all classes of bowling that the invitation to go to Australia with the M.C.C. team was inevitable. He was greatly disappointed at being com­ pelled to deoline it, but was unfortunately unable to get away for so long a time. Despite Mr. Spooner’s success, it is by no means certain that in the long run his natural game would not be the best for him. His natural game is undoubtedly similar to that of Mr. A . E. Stoddart, who was a very much greater batsman when he played it than after he di*- carded it for the same sort of game that Mr. Spooner now plays. It may be