Cricket 1905

178 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J uke 8, 1905. slow on the Saturday. I bowled most of the time that Surrey were batting, but Mr. Key and Mr. M. P. Bowden made a fine stand, and in the end Surrey beat us by two runs on the first innings. Then Lohmann took seven wickets for 32 when we went in again, and Surrey only had to make 62 to win. Abel and Mr. Shuter put up 16 for the first wicket, but Mr. Robertson and I got rid of six more men before Surrey won the match.” “ When did you begin to play for the M.C.C.” “ I was taken on the staff in 1883, and my first match for the club was at Hors­ ham, against a very strong local team, which included Mr. A. G. Steel, Mr. J. E. K. Studd, and some of the Lucases. We went down with only eight men, but managed to pick up three substitutes. Horsham would have given us a good licking if there had been time. Mr. Steel was a fine bowler, but I think I should count Alfred Shaw as the greatest bowler I ever saw. He had such won­ derful accuracy and command over the ball. I well remember seeing him play for Sussex at Lord’s when he was over fifty, years after he had given up first- class cricket for good as he thought. But old as he was, and out of first-class practice, he puzzled every batsman who came in, and some of the best players of the day were feeling for the ball all the time that they were batting. By his wonderful work with the ball when he had turned fifty Alfred, like Dr. Grace at the same age, was fortunate enough to be able to give cricketers of a younger generation an idea of what he must have been like when he, too, was young. In the case of most old cricketers it is easy for a young player to say, ‘ Oh, it’s all very well to talk about how clever he used to be, but I don’t believe it.’ You never hear anyone say that about W. G. or Alfred Shaw.” For the last five or six years Burton has been the official scorer for the Middlesex County C.C., and although he retired from first-class cricket in 1902, he went as twelfth man in two of these years, always liable to be called on to play instead of to score. As scorer he saw two remarkable matches played by Middlesex in the August Bank Holiday week of 1903. In the first, at Taunton, Middlesex had to make 313 to win in three hours and a-half on the Wednesday. “ Both sides played to win,” said Burton. “ Somerset laid themselves out to get rid of us in the time, and we went for the runs. There was never any question for a single moment of either side trying to get out of it by making a draw. It was one of the most sporting struggles I ever saw. In the end we managed to get home by two wickets a quarter-of-an- hour before time. Next day we went on to Bristol, where on the Saturday Gloucestershire had about two hours to bat on a good wicket, but as they had to make 373 there was of course no possible chance that they could get the runs. I.don’t suppose there was a single man on either side who before the innings began dreamed that the match would be finished. The first few men made a stand, and then Mr. Bosanquet, who had been experimenting with fast balls, suddenly began to bowl funny ones, and the result was that wickets fell with astonishing rapidity, and Middlesex won with half an hour to spare. Mr. Bosan­ quet took six wickets for about 60, and Mr. Wells four for about 30.” “ Have you ever carefully watched Mr. Bosanquet’s action ? ” “ Well, I can’t say that I have ever actually studied it, but like most other people I have tried without success to see if I could discover his secret. Mr. A. O. Jones once said—not to me, although I know that it is true—that he had very carefully watched Mr. Bosanquet through a field-glass from the pavilion at Nottingham and that he could make nothing of him. Shrewsbury couldn’t detect any change in his action, nor could Billy Gunn, and there are not many men who have better sight than they had. Mr. Bosanquet has generally been successful at Trent Bridge, and I must say that I believe in this sort of luck, if you can call it luck—some people call it a ‘ coincidence.’ But there cannot be much doubt that every bowler has a few favourite grounds on which he is likely to come off.” Burton had to bowl at a time when Dr. Grace was only a little past his best, and it was a feather in his cap when in his first year in the Middlesex team he twice dismissed the Doctor at Lord’s, bowling him in the first innings when he had made 64, and getting iim out c and b in the Becond innings for 4. Speaking of Dr. Grace Burton said, “ One of the chief things which any man who bowled against him always noticed was that he hardly ever let a ball pass by him, and men used to bowl off the wicket in my time for the sake of catches, just as they do now, only not so persistently as some of them. I can’t help thinking that it would have been a poor business to try Dr. Grace with over af :er over of balls pitched off the wicket to leg. And I am certain that many balls are passed by now, which batsmen of twenty years ago would have been only too glad to have.” As a boy Burton played for the Isling­ ton Youth’s Institute on the Sluice House Ground at Highbury, now built over. “ I think that the idea of making a ball break occurred to me when I first met Alfred Shaw,” he said. “ Alfred was then living at Kilbum, and he arranged a matca between Kilburn and Sixteen of London, or some such title. 1 fancy he had persuaded G. G. Hearne to play for him. In the course of the match I had a long chat with Alfred, and, like the good-natured man that he was, be gave me many hints which helped me very much. Except for these hints I was practically self-taught. I think this match took place betore my first appear­ ance at Lord’s, which was for North Middlesex against the M.C.C. I did very well then, taking ten wickets in the two innings, and making about 70 out of 150. I remember that we won by an innings, so that the M.C.C. cannot have made very many runs.” For some years Burton has coached the members’ sons at Lord’s in the early spring. “ Carlin and I began the coach­ ing,” he said, “ and Geeson helped in the following year, while last year Atfield and Yogler also helped. The boys play on matting wickets. I have always taken the younger ones on a wicket under the grand stand. It is really wonderful how well some of these youngsters play—so very much better than boys of their age used to do—and if they don’t get into their county teams batting will have to be improved out of all knowledge before their time comes. I am sure that a matting wicket is the best for coaching. The ball comes off the ground at the same pace and keeps the same height, and a youngster is never afraid that he may be hurt. Conse­ quently he gets plenty of confidence, which never leaves him. Grass wickets are nearly always wet and sticky during April.” “ I should like to say,” said Burton, “ that I was fortunate in having to play under two good captains, Mr. I. D. Walker and Mr. A. J. Webbe. I met with nothing but kindness and consider­ ation from them, and neither of them ever grumbled at me.” In conclusion it may be said that after the Middlesex match against Surrey, in which he took all ten wickets, Burton, in his next county match, against York­ shire at Sheffield, took eight wickets in the first innings for 48 and eight in the second for 66. In the first match against Yorkshire in the same year he had taken three for 53 and seven for 18. so that his record for the two matches was 26 wickets for 185 runs. One of his most remarkable feats was to bowl nearly all through an innings of 415 by Notts in 1885 (when Arthur Shrewsbury made 224) with a record of 112 overs (4 balls an over), 68 maidens, 96 runs and seven wickets, a feat which is unique iu its way. It reminds one of Alfred Shaw’s famous 101 overs and a ball (5 balls an over), 31 maidens, 168 runs, four wickets for Sussex at Trent Bridge in 1895, when Notts made 726. Up to to the time that he retired from first-class cricket Burton was always high up in the Middlesex bowling averages, often being first. As a batsman his highest score was 49, against Lancashire in the time of Mr. A. G. Steel, but he could generally make runs when they were required, and if he had not been a bowler he would without doubt have been a fine batsman. He has a good tenor voice, and for about five years he was engaged at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate. Last Good Friday he sang the tenor solos in Stainer’s “ Crucifixion” at St. Jude’s Church, King’s Cross, and on the Sunday before last “ Comfort y e ” and “ Every Valley ” at the same church, receiving many congratulations from musicians. W. A. B e tte sw o rth .