Cricket 1904

C R IC K E T , A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. AUG . 11, 1904. m ■ ' '.iefl— . )|@jc— t— 1 - j « I — t- J|»tc -S “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. Wo. 670. VOL. X X III. T H U R S D A Y , A U G . 1 1 , 1 9 0 4 . PRICE 2d. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. 8. SANTALL. One of the most useful all-round men in the Warwickshire team, Santall was born at Peterborough on June 10th, 1873, and when he was eighteen years old he played for Northamptonshire as an amateur. He was then re­ garded solely as a batsman and was not put on to bow l at all. One of his best per­ formances that year was to make 39 out of 78 from the bat for the oounty against Lincolnshire. In the follow ­ ing year he went to Birm ing­ ham to qualify for W ar­ wickshire, and in 1894 he played his first match for his new county. It was against Surrey, and, as he took five wickets for 51, he had much to do with Warwickshire’s victory b y seven wickets— it was the first time that Warwickshire had ever beaten Surrey. One of his many fine performances with the ball was in 1895, in the match against Lancashire, when at the end of the game he went on to bow l a second time and took five wickets for three runs, winning the match for his side. During the past winter he compiled two very useful little books, viz. : “ Ten Years of First- class Cricket in England (1894-1903),” and “ Warwick­ shire as a First-class County.” In the latter book he writes a most interesting chapter, entitled “ Hints to Y oung Bowlers.” The books, which are published at the price of threepence each, may be obtained direct from him at Augusta Road, A cock’s Green, Birmingham. Santall was at the K in g’s School, Peterborough, and from 1885 to 1890 he was in the eleven, for which he had a good record as a bowler, taking 404 wickets at an average of four runs apiece. “ I bow led faster at that time than I do now,” he said, “ for I used to think that Jessop. “ He made 121 against us in 1897 at Birm ingham ,” said Santall, “ and he hit me on to the top of the the pavilion three or four times. Y ou never know what he is goin g to do with a ball after it has left your hand. You bow l him a ball which he hits over cover point’s head to the boundary ; the next ball is precisely similar, and he hits it to square leg for four. But the biggest hitter that I have ever seen is Mr. Sin­ clair. When the South African team was over here in 1901 he hit me right out o f the ground at Edgbaston, and the only other man who has ever hit a ball out of that ground is Macdonell, the Australian. Mr. G. H . Arlington, the Sussex crick­ eter, who now lives at Stratford-on-Avon, is a very big hitter. I went down with him a short time ago to Devonshire for a fort­ night’s cricket tour, and I saw him make 100 out of 118 in forty minutes at Chudleigh.” “ One of the finest innings I ever saw played,” said Sintall, “ was the 144 by Mr. H . W . Bainbridge in 1895 against Surrey at Bir­ mingham, when Bichardson and L ockw ood were at their very best. The mention of Birmingham reminds me of the hundred made against us there b y F. H . Bacon for Hampshire in his very first county match. I remember that when |he was walking to the wickets, looking very nervous, Shil­ ton, who was generally fatal to men who never played against him, said to Lilley, ‘ I suppose he’s one of the sixpence a dozen sort.’ But as it happened, he had cause to alter his opinion very soon, for Bacon hit him all over the field. P oor old Sh ilton ! H e could give and take in the way of jokes, and I remember that once when playing Durham we had the laugh of him. I t was arranged that while one of the gentlemen on the other pace was everything then. While I was at school Teddy Diver used some­ times to play against us, com ing over from Cambridge, and I very well remem­ ber that he once made 273 in three hours. Mr. C. O. S. Hatton, the Corinthian foot­ baller, hit me for nine in a match at Stamford, when he was a boy at the grammar school there. We played in S. SANTALL. ( From a photo by Arthur Wells , Moseley Road , Birmingham). a field, half of one side of which opened into another field, and everything was run out. It was slightly down hill, too. Mr. J . B. Challen, the Somersetshire cricketer, played against us when a master at Wellingborough Grammar School.” Like most other bowlers, Santall has memories o f hits made off him by Mr.