Cricket 1905

CRICKET, a w e e k ly reoord o* t h e qame. SEPT. 21, 1 9 0 5 . I t I “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron, so 706 . voi. xxiv. THURSDAY , SEPT. 21, 1905. peice aa. not regret that he was not spirited away. During the past season he has had to do the brant of the bowling since Bast broke down, and he came through the ordeal with great credit. It will be interesting to see whether he will im­ prove or deteriorate during the next few years, now that he is on a level with other first-class county professionals. When Thompsonwas play­ ing for Northamptonshire in its days as a second-class county, he had an excellent record in every season after 1895. In 1898 he had a batting average of 65, and in 1901 and 1902 he took a hundred wickets, having a batting average in each year of 36. As a member of Lord Hawke’s team which, under the captaincy of Mr. P. F. Warner, toured in New Zealand and Australia in 1902-3 he took 177 wickets for 6J runs each, his finest performance — the best of any bowler during the tour— being to take nine wickets for 85 runs in an innings of 304 against South Australia at Adelaide. He owes his success as a bowler chiefly to his persistence and great accuracy, and, as a batsman, to his patience and good judgment in picking the ball to hit. It would not be true to say that Thompson made Northamptonshire cricket, for Mr. J. Gaudern and Mr. A. J. Darnall as secretaries, as well as many other men, had a large share in making the county what it is. But it would be quite true to say that, without Thompson, Northamptonshire could not have come to the front as it has done of late. He made his first appearance in the eleven in 1895, when the county did not even take part in the Minor Counties’ Competition which was then instituted. But in the following year, Northampton­ shire succeeded in arranging a sufficient number of matches to enable them to compete, and Thompson’s fine all-round AN ALL-ROUND MAN. [G. J. THOMPSON. It is generally said that Thompson is the most unfortunate of cricketers because for many years he had to play for a second-class county with very few oppor­ tunities of distinguishing himself in first- class matches. This is quite true to a certain extent, but there is another side of the question, and it is not impossible that Thompson may not have considered himself as unfor­ tunate as his well-wishers have imagined him to be. Among Northamptonshire cricketers he has for a long time been a king; he can never have had the slightest fear that if he lost his form for a few weeks he would be left out of the team; he was never overworked and was therefore able to come abso­ lutely fresh to the first-class matches in which he played. In these matches he did ex­ ceedingly well because he was a fineall-round cricketer, and the result was that he was singled out by the critics in a way which would hardly have fallen to his lot if he had been a member of a first-class county team. His fate has been very different from that of an all-round professional whose privilege it is to play for a weak first- class county. Such a man has to bowl his heart out for season after season, and even if he is a really great player, and succeeds in spite of his handicaps, he is certain to deteriorate before very long. On the other hand, Thompson had to bowl against opponents who were for the most part not of his class and, being an exceed- ingly good bowler, he met with a rich harvest, while, when he had the chance of playing in better cricket his methods were more or less new to his opponents. Naturally, if he had only been a mackerel among the minnows and not a triton, his want of experience would have been a great drawback to him ; as it was it was not altogether a disadvantage as far as bowling was concerned, and not a very great disadvantage when it came to batting, for after all he had excellent practice in minor county matches. On the whole, it is by no means certain that Thompson would have done better if he had qualified for a first-class county G. J. THOMPSON. (From a photo by B. G. Brock, | Northampton). long ago. Naturally he has heard the voice of the charmer, and a year or two ago it was feared by Northamptonshire cricketers that he had listened to it and would soon begin to qualify for Kent. Happily for his own county, and perhaps for himself, he remained in Northampton­ shire, and now that he is able to play regularly in first-class matches he will