Cricket 1905

CRICKET, A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. DEC. 21, 1905. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. s o 709. v o l . x x iv . THURSDAY, DEC. 21, 1905. p r i c e 2d- CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIEID. pared with the seventy or eighty of an Uppingham boy, seems almost ridiculous. But I don’t think that the averages in other schools would be as high as they are if they had to play on a similar ground. At the same time I always think that our ground was calculated to bring out a boy’s best qualities, for he found that it was necessary to use his eleven, and thanks chiefly to the bowling of Edwards, the visitors were out for about 110 on a dry wicket. 0. M. Wells, Jimmy Douglas, and E. N. Douglas were all in the opposing team. Dolbey andjl went into the eleven in the same year; he was very fast and I was very slow, and the combination seemed to puzzle our opponents. In our last year in t t . school eleven we each had an average of about ten runs a wicket, but his was rather lower than mine.” “ Did you find that you had to alter your style at all when you came to play in first-class cricket ? ” “ Yes, very considerably. I went up to Oxford with the very haziest ideas of ever getting into the eleven, and before the Freshmen’s match I could do nothing at all. But in this match I took four or five wickets'and made a few runs, and was fairly successful for the Sixteen against the Eleven. The result was that I played in all the trial matches and against Cambridge. But I very quickly found that, although in school matches I could bowl leg breaks con­ siderably outside the off stump, with the certainty that the batsmen would have a go at them, it was useless to bowl them against first-class players. I had to put more men on the leg side, and often had to bowl outside the leg stump. It was very difficult for a time to alter my methods.” “ Can you still keep a length ? ” I’ve lost my pitch. I always think that unless'you can practise every day you cannot be a successful slow bowler. At school I was always ready to practise, and the more I practised the more accurate I became. After I left the University I went into business, and couldj give very little time to the game, with^the result that my bowling soon began to fall ;off. I think that I was a better bowler during MR. F. P. KNOX. After a successful career at Dulwich College as a slow leg-break bowler, Mr. Knox, who is an elder brother of Mr. N. A. Knox, the young Surrey fast bowler, gained his blue at Oxford in his first year. For some time after he was first tried for the eleven he was sent in last, or nearly last, disputing the position of ninth with Mr. Bosanquet. But in the Surrey match at the Oval Oxford had a few minutes’ batting on the first day, after Surrey had scored 415, and although he only made eight runs in the first innings, he showed such promising form, and did so well in the second innings with 37 not out, that he was always sent in early from that time. The results were most satisfactory, and he headed the Oxford aver­ ages with 43-12, scoring 62 and 106 against Sussex, and 37 and not out 73 against Cambridge. His bowling was also effective in many matches. After the Uni­ versity match he played several times for Surrey. In the two following years he again played for Oxford, heading the batting averages in his third year with 36 21, and a highest score of 198 against Sussex at Brighton. Unfortunately, his career as a £rst-class cricketer then came to a close, on account of business duties, but as a member of the Surrey com­ mittee he still takes a very active interest in the game. Chiefly as a slow bowler Mr. Knox gained his place in the school eleven iu 1895, but he soon showed that he was also a good batsman. “ Our batting averages were never very high at Dul­ wich,” he said. “ The fiery nature of the cricket ground was against large scores. In my own case I never had an average of more than twenty-four, which, com­ wits if he wanted to make runs.” “ Such a ground would produce fast bowlers P” “ We always seemed to have a good fast bowler at Dulwich. In my time there were W. H. Edwards, C. Gilson, and H. O. Dolbey, each of them very good indeed. In one year the school played what was practically the Cambridge