Cricket 1905

188 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u n e 8 , 1905. OB ITUARY . M b . W . H . H aigh . On March 26th, at Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston, occurred the funeral of one of the best-known cricketers in New England, William Henry Haigh. In the traditions of the game in this country, he never had a superior as a wicket-keeper, and his career in that position was passed in a period of the fastest howling and roughest wickets. His best work was with the old Roxbury and Boston clubs of the 60’s. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, some seventy years ago, he was early identi­ fied with the best players of that county, and immediately made a reputation as a clever stumper. In the early 50’ s, when a very young man, he came to the turning of the roads, in which he had on the one hand the offer of the position of wicket-keeper on one of the two great elevens of England which were then running in opposition to each other, and the option of starting in business in this country. He chose the latter, and became a very suc­ cessful business man in Roxbury, Mass. He had the reputation of being the only man in England who could handle the very fast bowling of Tarrant, who was a member of the All-England Eleven. This great com­ bination was organised by the great player, William Clark, and after his death was cap­ tained by Parr. Mr. tlaigh played several times with this eleven, and this at once established his rating—that of one of the foremost players in England, an honour that but few among thousands of players ever attain. American Cricketer. A r c h ib a l d B l a b e r . Archibald Blaber, a Sussex cricketer, who died on the 16th inst., was an active member of the Horsted Keynes, East Grinstead, Hayward’s Heath and Brook House Clubs. He was born at Ludwell Farm, Horsted Keynes, on December 15th, 1869, and was thus in his thirty-sixth year. He first appeared for his native club in 1881, and was tried in the Sussex Colts’ match of 1890, when he captured the wickets of W . Quaife, J. Hide, A. F. Somerset, W . H. Dudney, C. A. Smith, J. R. Jackson, and F. Gibb for 36 runs. On the strength of this perform­ ance he played for Sussex against Oxford University that year, when he delivered 16 overs for 36 runs and no wickets. Four years later he was again tested in the trial game, on which occasion he scored 65 in an hour and a quarter, the highest score of the match. This feat earned for him a place in the county team when opposed to the Light Blues. In this match Blaber broke up a century partner­ ship by clean bowling Mr. E. Field, and afterwards carried out his bat for 28 in a low scoring game, but he received no further trial. ©ormponaence. Thg Editor does not hold himself responsible tor the opinions of his correspondents . CRICKET IN NORTH HANTS. To the Editor o f C r i c k e t . D e a r S i r , —I am preparing for publi­ cation a volume on “ Cricket in North Hants,” which, while giving some par­ ticulars of the present position of the game in this part of the county, will more especially deal with reminiscences and records of the past. My desire is to give as fully as possible an account of the early days of the game in this district, and to show what a leading part was taken by county gentlemen in local cricket. I have already received most kind and valuable help from a large number of gentlemen, but I feel that there may be many more who may be able to con­ tribute something towards making the record as complete as possible. May I therefore ask that any of your readers who, either from their own experience, or from documents or photo­ graphs in their possession, may be able and willing to help me in any way with regard to cricket in North Hants in the 19th century, will kindly communicate with Mr. F. Ray, 63, Southern Road, Basingstoke, who is collecting and colla­ ting the information for me. I may add that any documents or photos entrusted to him will be carefully preserved and safely returned. I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, J o h n M a y . Hawkfield, Basingstoke, June 3rd, 1905. FROM AMER ICA . The secretary of the Cleveland C. C. (U. S.), M. A. MacGruthar, sends us a quaint and amusing extract from the Cleveland Press. In a temperate reply, Mr. MacGruthar in the same paper ably defended the game of cricket against its calumniator, Harry Yaughn, a baseball player, whose knowledge of cricket seems to be somewhat limited. It is well known that gentlemen do not play baseball in America after they leave college, because of the “ inside tricky work ” in which Vaughn glories. The extract, which is “ real American,” is as follows:— “ BULLY WELL PLAYED,” SHOUTS THE BRITISH CRANK ; “ SLIDE, YOU LOBSTER, SLIDE,” YELLS THE AMERICAN FAN. Harry Yaughn, the veteran catcher, now in charge of the Barons at Birmingham, is an expert crieket player, or was before he j oined the Reds long, long ago. “ Baseball and cricket illustrate the lives and natures of Americans and Englishmen better than anything else I know,” says Harry. “ A baseball game is short, snappy, full of life and dash, with plenty of excite­ ment from beginning to end. This is the American nature to a dot. A cricket game lasts three or four days and is long and tedious. An American at a ball game is whooping, yelling, cheering, roasting, or at least deeply interested in every play. An Englishman will sit up and read his paper or magazine while a cricket game is going on, and maybe every now and then look up at some play while handing you this: ‘ By Jove ! Bully well played, old chap. Stunningly clever work, doncher know.’ Put this against ‘ Slide, you lobster, slide,’ and you see the difference of the two people. Just imagine one side scoring 400 runs in a ball game or a scrap lasting three or four days ! And yet they draw more people there at these games than New York or Chicago would ever draw on this side of the pond, for at the big matches you will often see 75,000_ people packed around. “ There’s a lot of science and skill to cricket, but not near the room for inside, tricky work you find in base ball. In fact, the average Englishman is a poor hand at any slick, tricky, inside work. He is right there when it comes to plugging along and staying to the finish, and he’s never beaten until the game is over, but when it comes to catching an opponent off guard or taking some quick advantage he is generally found wanting. “ I have played both games and many others round about, but base ball is the king bee of them all. There’s something doing all the time while you are on the field, and when the game is over you have a chance to rest and take life easy till the next day. All cricket bowling is done with the underhand swing, just as in the old days of town ball here, and I sometimes wonder what a fellow like Chesbro with his spit ball would do against some of England’s champion crick­ eters. They use a pad dle, but I ’ll bet they couldn’t hit him with a shotgun. Here’s another point, too. Over here the game changes every year. The ‘ spit hall, ’ ‘ the squeeze,’ different brands of curves, new tricks and new everything, it seems, comes in, but in the old country the game is the same to-day as it was when I was a lad.” DRAW INGS OF C R IC K E T ER S * An interesting experiment has been made by the Fine Art Society, who, with the aid of Messrs. Dawbarn & Ward, 6 , Farringdon Avenue, E.C., have published a series enti­ tled “ The Empire’s Cricketers,” with draw­ ings by Mr. A. Chevallier Tayler. Each number of the series consists of eight sepa­ rate sheets, on four of which are lithographic reproductions of crayon drawings, while on the other four are short notes by Mr. G. W. Beldam. Mr. Chevallier Tayler is so well known as an artist that it would be out of place for a cricket paper to offer any criticisms on his work from the point of view of tech­ nique. But the average cricketer has been so accustomed to photographic reproductions of cricketers that, although these drawings seem to suggest photographic originals, he may very likely ask some questions. He may want to know why Dr. Grace looks five feet high, and why he wears boots without laces; why P. F. Warner (who is Warner to the life) uses a bat which is not spliced, and why he also is without laces to his boots; why Rhodes has a deformed right hand, and why he is bowling a ball which would he discarded, even in a preparatory school, as much too small; why all the cricketers wear shirts with stripes running in all sorts of curious ways—he is hardly likely to be satis­ fied with being told that the stripes are really shadows, for he will say that he never sees a cricketer wear shadows in that way. But, as we have said, the experiment is most interesting, and it is greatly to be hoped that the series will meet with an encouraging sale. * The Empire’s Cricketers. Part II. Published for the Fine Art Society by Dawbam & Ward, Ltd., 6, Farringdon Avenue. Is. net. Complete in 16 parts. C EIOKET LITERATURE.—FOR SALE. The Cricket Library of the late Mr. Robert Thoms, the famous umpire. Sets of “ Scores and Biographies,” 14 vols., 1744 to 1878; Fred Lillywhite’s Guide complete set 1849 to 1866, and duplicates of 1851, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1859 to 1866 “ Wisden,” complete set, 1864 to 1905, and duplicates of 1865, 1867, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1877, Lillywlute’s Companion,” complete set,*1865 to 1885; James Lillywhite s Cricket Annual, 1872 to 1885; “ Cricket/’ vols. 1 to 23, And duplicates ° £ 1 to 12.—Address, A. J. Gaston, Preston Park Library, Preston, Brighton.