Cricket 1906

2 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J an . 25, 1906. and in 1891 he was the president. Again, for many years he was one of the Middlesex vice-presidents, eventually becoming president, an office which he held to the day of his death. His opinions always receivedcarefnlattention, for he was undoubtedly a fine judge of the game. Only a few weeks before his death there was a full description in nearly every newspaper in England of the plucky way in which he went to the assistance of a policeman who was being overmastered by a prisoner, and very few of the readers had to ask themselves “ Who is V. E. Walker ? ” Mr. Walker had an extraordinary memory for a man of his age, and any­ one who has listened to one of his word- pictures of a match in which he took part forty or forty-five years ago must have wished that such matches were played now. He was a man who could see the humorous as well as the serious side of cricket, and he had a seemingly inex­ haustible fund of anecdotes. It happened that I was once in correspondence with him for a long time, and it was very seldom indeed that a day passed in which one of his letters did not include two or three interesting anecdotes or reminis­ cences. I think that of all his anecdotes the two which he most enjoyed were con­ nected with Julius Cffisar, the old Surrey professional. They may be repeated here. Julius Csesar, said Mr. Walker, was an amusing sort of person. He was a splendid batsman, but his bowling was feeble in the extreme. Consequently he was always trying to get his captain to put him on in a match. Wheu his chance came Surrey were in a bad hole, for Mr. Reginald Hankey was hitting everybody all over the field, and the captain, in desperation, turned the ball to Julius. But the bowler, who was usually so eager, did not like the look of things. He raised all sorts of objections, but was eventually persuaded to have a try. His first ball was a beautiful half-volley to leg, which Mr. Hackey timed perfectly. The hit was very hard indeed, but, as Irek would have it, the ball was caught magnificently with one hand by Mr. C. G. Lace. Julius was quite equal to the occasion. He turned to the captain and coolly remarked: “ Well, I mighty soon found out his weak point, didn’t I ? ” In the second tale, Julius played another role. In the early days of the United Eleven, Caesar and Lockyer were plajing in a match against a twenty-two on a small ground, on the outskirts of which, and not very far distant from the wicket, cocoanuts were set up for spectators to throw at. Evening was approaching. It began to rain, aud it looked as if the last two men of the Twenty-two would manage to play out time. One of them hit a ball past Julius at cover-point. Julius ran after it with tremendous energy. “ Now, Julie,” cried old Tom Lockyer at the wicket, “ let us have it.” “ Julie ” picked up a cocoanut, threw it in full-toss to Lockyer, who, whipping off the bails, pocketed the nut, and ran off to the pavilion; and the match was won. W. A. B ettes worth . MR . Y . E. W A L K E R AN D THE TWO BROTHERS NA PPER . In “ TheWalkers of Southgate” reference is made to a case in which the two famous old Sussex cricketers, Edwin and William Nap- per, were the opposing parties. “ Anyone who knew the two brothers will remember how keen each of them was, in a strictly brotherly way, to show that he had done things of which his brother might be proud. They often had amusing discussions as to the merits of this or that performance for which one or the other of them was responsible. After one of these good-tempered disputes they put up a small stake and agreed that Mr. V. E, Walker should decide which was the better man.” Mr. V. E. Walker accordingly drew up a judgment on fcolscap, and the document eventually came into the possession of Mr. A. L. Ford, the well-known collector of cricket literature, who has kindly copied it for reproduction in Cricket as follows :— Scores of Edwin Napper, Esq. and William Napper’ Esq., as recorded in Lillywhite’s Cricket Scores. The following scores obtained by these gentlemen have been put into a tabular form by one who has no doubt that many a yarn will be spun and many a pipe will be smoked whilst these innings are played over again by the celebrated left-hand batsmen and right-handed bowlers. It is hoped the scores will be found correct; they begin in 1837 and finish in 1854, both brothers playing in the first as well as in the last match recorded. In vol. 3, page 221, the runs have been credited to Mr. E. Napper, as 1have considered it more probable that he was playing and not his brother. In vol. 3, page 419, the runs are not reckoned to either, the compiler believing that neither of these gentlemen played; he trusts he has judged rightly. It will be observed that on several occasions they played against each other and with varying success; each, however, has succeeded in lowering his brother’s stumps. On one occasion Mr. E. Napper was “ hurt” and did not go in for his second innings; and once Mr. W. Napper was absent in his first but “ all there ” in the second innings. The success of neither was great the first time of playing at Lord’s. The highest innings of Mr. E. Napper is 83* and highest in match 81; that of Mr. W. Napper, 65 in an innings and 70 in a match. Their averages are extremely close, with a slight pull in favour of Mr. E. Napper, but considering that he took part in more first-class matches than his brother, I think it will be allowed, even by Mr. W. Napper, that his brother isat the “ head of the poll.” Had it not been for the “ four pairof specs.” attached to Mr. W. Napper’s name (while his brother has not once brought them off), the result might have been different. As regards the bowling, no analysis having been given, it is impossible to give any table, but I sus­ pect that Mr. E. Napper will agree with me and decide in favour of his brother. If the bet (which was the origin of this table) remains undecided from these statistics, the only course to pursue would be to put the money together and present it to the compiler of these small items! (Signed) V .E . W. November, 1872. [Here follows a list of the scores made by the two brothers from 1837 to 1851.] SUMMARY. Times M’ches. Inns, notout. Runs. Aver. W. Napper..........15G ... 272 ... 21 ... 2999 ... 11||» E. Napper ..........172 ... 309 ... 15 ... 3553 ... 12%’u O B ITUARY . Mr. S. H. S wire . Mr. Samuel Herbert Swire was born at Ashton-under-Lyneon January 3 d, 1839, and died after a long period of ill-health at Southport, where he had latterly resided. As a faithful servant of the Lancashire County Club he enjoyed a unique record, having occupied the position of hon. sec. ever since the formation of the County Club in 1864. He assisted Lancashire in the first county match in which she engaged, scoring 18 not out and 16 against Middlesex at Manchester on July 20th, 21st and 22nd, 1865, and appeared again for his county on and off in the three following years. Outside county cricket he had been well known in local matches, and was a good bat and field. The following account of the presentation made to him on Novem­ ber 24th, 1888. is taken from Vol. xiv. of “ Scores and Biographies.” “ On Satur­ day, November 24th, a dinner was held at the Queen’s Hotel, Manchester, in honour of Mr. S. H. Swire, who had acted as hon. sec. to the Lancashire C.C. for 25 years, Mr. C. Bayley occupying the chair. Mr. Swire, in responding to his toast, dwelt at great length on the progress the game had made while he hfid been associated with it, and spoke most highly of the services rendered by the professionals. The presentation to him took the form of a magnificent silver tray acd a chrque, while Mrs. Swire was presented with a beautiful diamond ornament. The members of the club, to mark the completion of his twenty-fifth year of office, subscribed the sum of £500 as a presentation fund, out of which the massive silver tray and diamond crescent were purchased.” Mr. Swire was a whole-hearted supporter of the game and of his county’s interests, and his place will indeed be bard to fill. May cricket know many the like of him. J. B. P ayne . M r . E. A. N epean . On Saturday last Mr. Nepean, the old Middlesex cricketer acd Oxford Blue, died of pneumonia in bis foriy-first year. He was at school at Sherborne, and played for Oxford against Cambridge in 1887 and 1888, making 58 not out in the second innings in the former year, and taking five wickets for 83 in the match. While he was at Oxford he began to play for Middlesex, acd proved to be very useful to the county, both as a slow leg- break bowler and a batsman with great skill in defence. In 1889 he took forty- one wickets at an average of 18.27 for Middlestx, his best performances being five wickets for 24 and four for 57 against Lancashire at Old Trafford, and three for 44 and six for 39 agaiust Notts at Trent Bridge. Like all other leg-break bowlers, he was at tirnts unable to get his pitch, but when he was at his best he seldom found batsmen who could play him with ease. As a batsman his best scores were 71 against Gloucestershire at Clifton in 1887, 59 not out against Notts at Trent Bridge in 1888, 58 not out for Oxford against Cambridge in 1887, 64 not out against Surrey at Lord’s in 1889, 62 against Yorkshire at Lord’s, and 53 against Notts at Trent Bridge in the same year, 61 against Notts at Lord’s in 1892, and 50 against Somerset at Lord’s in 1895.