Cricket 1904

CRICKET, A WEEKLY REOORDOF THE GAME. SEPT. 15, 1904. % — 8 0 H - 1 - _ ) $ 0 J 0 =*r ! <D I 0 $ : ^ = H e 11 j g F it <ija Y ' I r a SUM Ip- / w f ; < 1 / r ^ L Y I / / \ I ij1. r p . V ? J J L ? I a r <Z3» ( e ! H “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. vo. 675. voi. x x i i i . THURSDAY, SEPT. 15, 1904. p b ic e 2a. CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD- MR . a. ALLSOP. THE MANAGES OF THB SOUTH AFRICAN TEAM. A wise choice was made when it was decided that Mr. Allsop should be the manager of the South African team, for apart from his lon g experience as secre­ tary of the Wanderers Club at Johannes­ burg, he is a man who waa bound to make himself popular with cricketers as well as other people with whom he came in contact. Above all, he has the tact which, although it is not always possessed by a manager of a team, is the chief stepping stone to suc­ cess. Mr. Allsop was born in Hampshire, but went to South Africa twenty-three years ago. He has played a great deal of cricket, and represented the Transvaal in intercolonial cricket from 1890 until 1898. Mr. Allsop has been secre­ tary of the Wauderers Club at Johannesburg since 1896, although during the war he was on active service with the South African Light Horse, while the club premises were used as a military hospital. “ The club was formed in 1889,” said Mr. Allsop. “ The men who had most to do with its institution were Messrs. J. Swart, H . Eckstein, A. Bailey, J. B. Taylor, W . P. Taylor, D . J. Pullinger, J. Jeppe, and C. L . Anderson, who succeeded in getting a lease of the thirty acres of ground for 99 years for the club from the old Government. The lease has been con­ firmed b y the present Government. The town has grown all round the club premises now, and from a build­ ing point of view the grounds would be worth from a quarter to half a million. They are very conveniently situated, being alongside of the station.” “ Is the club confined to cricket, or is it a social club ? ” “ An attempt was made some years ago to make it a social club something like the clubs in America, but nothing came of it. We have large rooms which are let for balls, assemblies, concerts, etc. But the club is not confined to cricket, and accomodation is found for Gymastics, Lawn Tennis, Rugby and Association Football and Baseball. There is no croquet. A t present we have about 1,000 members. There are three grounds for Rugby football, and tw o for Association, ME. O. ALLSOP. (From a photo by the London Stereoscopic Go ., London .) which form four cricket grounds for the summer pastime. Most o f the games are played on Saturdays, sometimes as many as three matches taking place on each ground. The grounds are more suitable for Association than for Rugby, but the Rugby enthusiasts don’t seem to mind getting scratched as they are bound to be on ground whioh has a sort o f gravel surface.” “ What is the soil ? ” “ I believe that geologists call it de­ composed diorite. It is very gritty, and if it were not for the quantity of sand it would be a sort of red clay, I fancy. I don’t think we shall ever succeed in getting grass to grow on it. Sydney couch grass might perhaps do, for there are already patches o f this here and there, but it has to be scraped off for the sake of uniformity. It might perhaps be possible to get grass to grow at Johannesburg if no football were played, but it is doubtful, to say the least of it. When Lord Harris was over in South Africa he used to use our nets for practice, and he was very nice to us. He said that the younger players were learning their cricket under ideal con­ ditions, because on the true matting wickets they were not frightened as your.g<tera so often are in England, even at achoola and on well- kept grounda. Cricketers in Johannesburg play much more frequently at the nets than cricketera in England. We partly play for the sake of the exercise, and a man will go to the nets five or six times a week.” “ What sort of a light is there for cricket at Johannes­ burg ? ” “ I don’t think it could be better. But the ground used to be surrounded by blue gum trees, which grew so rapidly that in about a dozen years they were a hundred feet high, and as the leaves of these trees are very dark, they made the light bad sometimes. But we have cut them down to forty feet now, which is a vast improvement as far as light is concerned. There is not much time for cricket, for it often gets dark at half-past five, and the matches do not begin till two o ’clock. Y ou see there are no people without business of some kind or other over there, and no people staying for their health.” “ Are there many promising young players now in Johannesburg.” “ I think that there are more than ever