Cricket 1906

306 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 2, 1906. career as an active cricketer extended over forty years, and he was a fine player to the last. His success was the more extraordinary from the fact that he had only one eye, the sight of the other having been destroyed whilst playing fives. In his last few seasons, when over fifty years of age, Parr used to declare that the old man played more by sound than by sight. Clarke was of a very reserved and abrupt disposition, but possessed a caustic wit as many anecdotes concerning him attest. Like Lord Frederick Beauclerck, and one or two other famous bowlers, he had a weakness for keeping himself on too long, thinking it certain that he would obtain a wicket in “ the next over.” He used to declare that a cigar and a bottle of soda-water were a capital lunch for a cricketer, there being no after effects of indigestion, but he often made up for lost time by demolishing a whole duck for his supper ! As founder and captain of the All-Eng­ land Eleven, Clarke is entitled to occupy a prominent place among the cricketers of all time. Contemporary with Clarke were eucn well-known men as JosephGuy, who appeared for the Players in their matches with the Gentlemen from 1833 to 1852, Jatvis, a very free and elegant bats­ man, Bartholomew Good, another fine run-getter, Charles Brown, a talented wicket-keeper who could also score well, Tom Barker, a useful all-round player who had a wonderful know­ ledge of the game and every­ thing appertaining to it, and Samuel Redgate, a bowler of terrific pace who, accord­ ing to “ B o b ” Thoms, could take wickets with as much ease as he (Thoms) cculd catch blue-bottles. Redgatt’s career was not a long one—he was only 40 years old when he died— but he was very famous. He was of an excitable dis­ position, and, if things did not go altogether to his liking, would get somewhat out of hand. One year Bell's Life reported that, whilst playing at Brighton, he had offered to fight any man on the ground. A few days after­ wards, when the side was passing through LondoD, they called in a body at the cffioes of the newspaper mentioned, and Redgate, who was at their head, denied the soft iajpeachment more or less em­ phatically. The curious mission of the eleven or more top-hatted players makes one regret that snap-shots were unknown in those days. One of the most noticeable things in connection with Nottinghamshire cricket is that the County appears never to have lacked good bowlers. Clarke, Redgate, and Barker were a formidable trio, and since their time, in an almost unbroken string, there have been such giants as Bickley, Grundy, Jackson, R. C. Tinley, Wootton, Morley, Alfred and J. C. Shaw, Martin McIntyre, Attewell, Shacklock, and Wass, to say nothing of such useful all-round men as Plowers, Barnes and John Gunn. But Nottinghamshire has always boasted a deservedly-high repu­ tation as a nursery for cricketers. It has been stated that no other county produces so many young players of promise, and who is there would be so bold to question the accuracy of the remark ? Not content, indeed, with always turning out a good team of, with very few exceptions, home-born players, the county has also given many fine cricketers to other shires: thus, Kent J. IREMONGER. (Photo by Messrs. Haivkins Co., Brighton .) have had Walter W right; Lancashire, W. McIntyre, Crossland, Briggs, and A. Smith; Middlesex, H ow itt; Sussex, Bsan; whilst Sharpe and Lockwood, who rendered such fine service to Surrey, were both Nottinghamshire born. The first of the great historic batsmen that the county produced was George Parr, who was born at Radcliffe-on- Trent in 1826. He was famous for his leg-bitting, but those who think that be had few, if any, other strokes are sadly mistaken, for he could hit brilliantly all round the wicket. His best innings was probably his 130 against Surrey at the Oval in 1859, which he made whilst suffering from a battered and bruised hand, against the bowling of Caffyn, Stephenson, Griffith and Martingell. He appeared for his county from 1844 until 1871, scoring 32 not out and 53 in his last match, and assisted the Players against the Gentlemen from 1846 to 1865, making 13 and 60 on bis final appearance, which marked the <Ubut in the Lord’s match of W. G. Grace. He succeeded Clarke in the leadership of the All England Eleven, and in 1863 took to Australia a team whioh returned with an unbeaten record. He was known as “ The Lion of the North,” and succeeded Pilch as the champion batsman of the world. Iu 1859 he took a side to America which did not experience defeat, this being the first occasion upon which a team of fir3t-class cricketers left England. Brampton and Bignall, Oscroft, John Selby, Scotton and Barnes were very fine batsmen, but Daft, Shrews­ bury and William Gunn were still greater, and, with George Parr, are entitled to rank as thef ur greatest batsmen the County has yet produced. Daft was famous for bis s'ylish play, and in Prowse’s poem on Alfred Mynn was specially mentioned in the lin e:— “ Richard Daft is cool and cautious, with his safe and graceful play.” He continued the game until considerably over 60 years old, and at the age men­ tioned plaj ed an innings of 222 for a Nottinghamshire X [. againsttheNorth RidiDg. He played his first match for the County in 1858, and his laBt in 1891. The finest in­ nings he ever played was, so he told the writer, his 111 iu the Two Elevens match at Manchester, in 1867, when he made his runs against Atkinson, Howitt, Freeman, Grundy and Iddi- son. Of Arthur Shrewsbury and William Gunn there is no need to go into detail here, for their performances are of too recent a date to require recapitulation. The former, who was probably the best professional batsman the world has yet seen, and second only to “ W. G.,” played many large innings, but never a better than his 164 for England against Australia, at Lord’s, in 1886, when opposed to the bowling of Garrett, Evans, Palmer, Spofforth, Trumble and George Giffen upon a wicket which varied in pace in a most puzzling manner. His numerous triumphs both in this country and Aus­ tralia, in inter-county as well as repre­ sentative cricket, stamp him as a player of remarkable attainments. His many fine feats performed in partnership with Gunn will always cause the names of the two men to be bracketed together. Gunn, although considerably over six feet in heighth, was a batsman whom it was a great pleasure to watch, for, despite his many inches, he was a very elegant player. Perhaps the best display he ever