Cricket 1904

354 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 25, 1904. is desirable at your end ? Have not th e 1 slows * been on too lotig? —Yours, J. S.* Need I say that the letter answered its purpose ? ” “ In one of the Mitcham matches,” said Mr. Barber, “ I was keeping wicket to Jim Southerton, who was bowling to Jim Adams, the jockey. The ball was a curly one, and Adams left his ground to play it. It just touched the shoulder of the bat, knocked one of the bails into my hand, and followed it. I whipped the three stumps out of the ground, for Adams had not got back, and then de­ manded how the batsman was out. I forget what the umpire said, though I recollect Adams’s strong comment, but of course he was bowled.” You had something to do with arranging for the 1880 Australian team to practise at Mitcham ? “ It was in the latter part of April, 1880, that Jim Southerton came home to his hostelry at Mitcham with the news that the authorities at Lords and the Oval had not seen their way to invite the forthcoming visiting team of the Colonials to practise at their respective grounds. An emergency meeting of the Committee of the Mitcham C.C. was called for the same evening. As captain of the club, I was requested to communicate with G. W . Alexander, the manager of the Australian team, inviting the team to practice at Mitcham, and a cordial acceptance was the result. The villagers not only gave up their best practice pitches, but assisted in preparing them for our visitors. It was on this visit that Bonner made his memorable hit of 149 yards 2 feet from bat to first bound. The distance was measured by a chain by Fred Gale, Jim Southerton and myself. Bonner often said that his hit at Scarborough in 1882 went further than that at Mitcham, but as the ball went clean out of the ground on the north side, the distance could not be measured. That hit was made in the course of an over of four balls by A. P. Lucas, from which he made 20 runs. I shall never forget seeing the look on Lucas’s face when the fourth ball went sailing away.” In your time, did the Mitcham club confine its eleven to residents ? “ Well, not exactly that. You see it was a sort of unwritten law that any cricketer who drove through the village to Epsom on Derby day was eligible to play for the club. 1 remember that once when Lancashire was playing at Lord’s, I wrote to ask Barlow and Watson to come and stay with me at Mitcham, and, if the match was over in two days, to play for the village against the Tooting Wanderers, who were moatlypast and present Blues. They both agreed to come, but Bar- low said that a young piayer, not yet sixteen years of age, htd been entrusted to his charge, and that he was not to lose sight of him. Could I put the young player up, and include him in the team ? I could, and did, for the M .C.C. matchwas over early. The young player turned out to be Johnny Briggs, and he made one of the finest catches at cover point I ever saw, and scored well.” How did the match end ? “ Well, one of the Fords was captain of the other side, and when he came into the dressing room he saw Watson. ‘ Hallo, Watson ! ’ he said, ‘ What are doing here ? ’ * I ’ve come to play cricket,’ was the reply. Just then Bar- low walked in, and Ford said, ‘ What on earth are you doing here ? ’ I ’m following Watson,’ was the reply. Our team consisted of Watson, Barlow, Briggs, Jim Southerton, Dick Hum­ phrey, Boy Jones, Jack Constable, two Caf- freys, T. P. Harvey, and myself. We won the toss,battednearly all day, and then got them out for a small number of runs. You see we had a few pretty good bowlers. I remember that years afterwards, when Richardson and Briggs had returned from Australia, there was some talk about by-gone days, and Briggs said, ‘ Why, bless you, Tom, I played cricket on Mitcham Green when you were a boy in petticoats.’ Which was quite true.” Mr. Barber tells a good tale of how a clock went fast and saved a game. “ One of those peculiar incidents that sometimes happen in cricket,” he said, “ occurred in a match in which I was playing. One of the competing sides had the misfortune to be disappointed by five of their men at the time fixed for com­ mencing the match, through the common excuse of ‘ missed the train.’ As a consequence they could not arrive until 1.30 ; their captain won the toss, and of course elected to bat first, although he had three passengers in his avail­ able six. To his dismay soon after the match commenced he saw three of his available five wickets go down before 1 p.m. Having a trusty henchman, he asked him to visit the purlieus of the kitchen where the vegetables were being cooked for the lunch, which was fixed for 2 o’clock, and having received a favourable report that they were in a forward state, the henchman then diverted his atten­ tion to the hotel clock. He then reported to his captain that seeing the figures of the clock in a backward state, and not at all on a par with the forward state of the vegetables, he had ventured upon an operation that would save the vegetables from being spoiled. The result was that the good landlady having her attention called to the near approach of luncheon as per the clock time, dished up immediately, and then ordered the luncheon bell to be rung, which was done. And simul­ taneously with the serving of the lunch the five missing links appeared. There was much comment during the afternoon about the cause of the shortness of play before lunch and the length of the time between lunch and the drawing of the stumps (6.30 p.m.), but as the clock at this period agreed to a minute with the village chimes, it is, even now, not agreed amongst a certain few, whether the clock was too slow or the vegetables too fast.” Once when the M.C.C. were playing Winchester College, the boys wanted to play 12-a-side, and to enable the M.C.C. umpire to make the twelfth man, Mr. Barber, who was on the ground, took his place. ‘ ‘ In the course of the College innings,” he said, “ one of the Yorkshiremen was bowling for the M.C.C., and in trying to make the ball break from the leg he let it slip out of his hand, with the result that it plumped in the middle of the pitch and stayed there. I went out and recovered the ball, and did not count it in the over, relying on the rule about umpires being the sole j udge of fair and unfair play, for of course the thing was an accident. There was a good deal of discussion about the incident at lunch time, and I suppose that if the batsman had gone out to the ball and hit it to the boundary as it lay dead, it would have counted to him.” W . A. B bttesworth . NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK v. NEW BhCKEN iAM . - Played at Beckeoh im on August 20. N. P. B ank . A. Hirrison, b Pryor. 6 H. E Mo »re, not out. 61 E xtras................. 4 E. W . Armstrong, run out ................. 15 J. W. Richards, not out ..........62 A. King, b Monntford 9 E. J. Innocent,b Pryor 6 A. D. Phillips, E. H. Stocks, f . Hughes, E. G. Troughton anu (J. A. Cosser did not bat. Innings declared closed. Total *162 N ew B eckenham . Hummell, c Richards, b King ................. 6 Hill, b Cosser .......... 1 Marshall, o King, b Cosser ................. 0 Cropton, c Moore, b Cosser ................. 6 Goldsmith, b King ... 12 Simpson, c Stocks, Harrison.......... Pryor, not out ... Osmond, not out Extras.......... Total ... ... 14 ... 10 FOREST HILL v. BRIXTON WANDERERS.— Played at Forest Hill on August 20. B bixton W anderers . F. Odell, b Bradley ... 8 E. T. Gale, b Bradley 12 H. Mason, b Bradley . 6 H. Goodall, b Bradley 26 L. M. Simmons, b W illiams.................18 G.Stubbs.b Welchman 19 C. G. Smith, c Hooker, b Bradley................. 1 F. P. Rider, c Hooker, b Bradley................19 H.E.Smith,bWelchman 0 A. R. Whitley, c Welchman.b Bradley 9 H.C Edmonds, not out 13 E xtras................. 6 Total ...136 F orest H ill . H. A. Hooker, b C. G. Smith .................19 C. Moore, b Simmons. 32 C. G. Hill, c Odell, b C. G. Smith ......... 0 W. R. Williams, c Gale, b Stubbs..........12 S.Silverthorne.bStubbs 0 C. G. Welchman, c sub, b C. G. Smith .. 38 E.R.Riche8,bSimmons 0 C. F. Phillips, c Mason, b Simmons ..........21 J.Balkwill, b Simmons 13 W. M. Bradley, c Simmons,bC.G.Smith 0 F. Skipper, not out ... E xtras................. 15 Total ...160 HAMPSTEAD v. FINCHLEY.—Played at Finch­ ley on August 20. F inchley . W.P. Harrison.oToller, b Brachi .................20 L. Niederheitman, run out .......................33 L. H. Bacmeister, st Macgregor, b Toller 77 D J. Crump,c Monro, b Toller .................37 E. Wiltshire, st Mac­ gregor, b Toller ... 36 G. G. Napier, not out 61 W. A. Pearce did not bat. •Innings declared closed. H ampstead . A. V. Kislingbury, o Orr, b Monro......... 0 W. W.Franks, c and b Hebert ................. o P. C. Kay, b Hebert... 26 W. R.Walter, not out 0 B 6, lb 1 .......... 7 Total (8 wkts) *297 F.R.DMonro.bNapier 4 H. G. Dunkley, c lUc- meister, b Napier ... 7 R. G. Hebert, b tfac- m-ister ................. 0 H. H. Walters, b Bac­ meister .................19 R. J. Orr, c Kay, b Napinsr ................ 4 D.Macgregor, not out 46 E. W.button, b Harri­ son i J.C.Toller, b Harrison 6 S. Oxlade, not out ... 10 B 8, nb 2 ..........10 Total (7 wkts) 107 LONDON & COUNTY PROVINCIAL BANK. August 16 and 17. L. & C. J. A.Bienvenu,cMaugh- fiing, b Cireeu 62 P. t\ Allen, c Green, b Holmes .................84 E.F. Robinson, not out 6 L. & P. C. Sabin, c Goddard, b Bienvenu................. 1 P. H. Green, c Stiff, b Bienvenu ................. 20 S. J. Holmts, c sub., b Bienvenu................ 6 W.Maughfling, c Stiff, b Robinson .........12 R.Williams, b Trowell 8 C. S. Averill, b ien- ven u........................ 8 BANK v. LONDON & — Played at Catford on B ank . F. Knight, not out ... 0 B 19, lb 2 ......... 21 Total (2 wkts) 163 B ank . J. T. Makins, b Bien­ venu ........................ R. H. Harries, c Stiff, b Bienvenu .......... J. L.Williams, not out H.L.Sparrow, b Bien­ venu ........................ —. Charman, absent.. B 6, lb 2 .......... Total ... 0 2 0 0 7 64 STRBATHAM v. RICHMOND.—Played at Streat­ ham on August 20. S trkatham . D. O. Kerr, c Court­ ney, b Chapman V. F. Feeny, c Green­ field, b Chapman C. J. Parbon, c Wrig- nell, b liree^fleld ... 16 E. P. Puibrook, b Chapman................. 9 N. Miller, c Money- penny, b Greentteld 119 * Innings declared closed. R ichmond . J. F. W. Hooper, c Wrignell, b Green­ field .........................116 H. S. Barkworth, not out .......................36 H. M. Leaf, not out .. 38 B 18,1b 2 , nb 1... 21 Total (6 wkts) *366 B. Burton, c and b Hooper .............. 42 W. G. Moneypenny, b Feeny .................62 H .H . acott, nut out .. 7o H. S. Chapman, st Kerr, b Barkworth 61 E. G. Wrignell, not out 2 B 3, lb 6, w 2 ... 10 Total (3 wkts).242