Cricket 1907

J an . 31, 1907. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 5 O B ITU ARY . M r . H a r v e y F e ll o w s . Mr. Harvey Winson Fellows, who was bornat Ricbmansworth, in H°rtfoidshire, on April 11th. 1826, died at Ids native place on the 13th inst., in Ids eighty-first lear. He was in the E ton Eleven in 1841 and 1842. playing each year against Harrow ami Winchester. Iu IS O , when Eton beat Harrow by an innings aud 175 MR. HARVEY FELLOWS. {Reproduced by landperiuission from “ Cricket o f To-day and Yesterday .•” ) runs, George Yon ge and Walter Marcon obtained all the wickets between them, but in the following vear when the tables were turned, and Harrow won by 65 runs, Harvey F ellow s went on aud b vvled thiee mm. In the latter match, although the Harrow totals amounted to only 141 and 121, there s ere 53 extras (38 byes and 15 wides) in the first innings and 32 (28 byes and 4 wides) in the second. In the 1841 match Emilius Bayley played his historic ianings of 152, and it is an interesting fact that as many as three of the Eton Eleven of that year still survive. In the Winchester match of 1841. which Eton lost by 109 runs, Mr. Fallows made 3 and 26 not out and took six wickets, whilst in the following year he scared 24 and dismissed eight, men, thereby contributing iu no small measure to the defeat of Winches'er by seven wickets. Mr. Haygarth, in Scores and Bio­ graphies (iii-41), says of him :— “ As a halsman, at first he was a hard slashing hitter, but he afterwards became steadier. At Himley (Lord Ward’ s), Sep­ tember, 19th, 1848, iu the match I Zingari v. Gentlemen of Worcestershire, he hit a ball off Nixon 132 yards to the pitch. Is, however, most famous as a bowler, though bis great success only lasted three or four seasons, commencing in 1847. The pace was then terrific (by some thought quite danger­ ous to bat against), very straight, and with a good deal of “ spin ” on the ball, which, in its progress, often has been heard to hum like a top. The delivery was low— so much so, indeed, that by some it was called under­ hand, which, however, was quite a mistake. He afterwards got his arm higher, and this is_supposed to be the reason that he soon lost his tremendous speed, and also some of his straightness. His bowling against the I’layers in 1848 and 1849 was quite different from that in 1850 and 1851. “ And Fellows, whose electric speed with due precision blends.” Messrs. Marcon, H . Fellows, W . Fellows, Osbaldeston, and G. Brown, sen., are sup­ posed to be the fastest bowlers that have ever yet appeared. T. Brett, A . Mynn, Esq., T. Sherman, Tarrant, J. Jackson, Wisden, and R. Lang, Esq., ranking next as to speed. In the field Mr. Fellows is generally cover- point, where he is very active, notwithstand­ ing his great bulk.” In Mr. Fellows’ young days them was little, if any, coaching at the Public Schools. Two professionals—“ Picky ” Powell and Redgate, of Notts-bow led at the nets to the Eton boys, but it may bequettioned whether their services did much good. The former used to annoy some of the Harrow supporters at Lord’s by announcing, on the occasion of the big match—“ All the good I sees in ’Arrow is that you can see Eton from it, if vou go up into the Churchyard,” whilst of Redgate, Emilius Bayley has himself said - “ He came for a fortnight at two guineas a week, and bowled a fastisb, well-pitched, and straight ball, when sober.” After leaving Eton Mr. Fellows quickly made his mark, being chosen for practically all the great matches of his time, including Gentle­ men v. Players from 1847 to 1851. His swift bowling on the rough wickets which were general in his time was frequently destructive, though often expensive to his own side on account of the number of byes that resulted. Mr. E. S. E Hartopp was considered to long- stop to his bowling more successfully than anyone els*, and for that reason was called “ Mr. Fellows’ loug-stop.” Fuller Pilch, it has been sail, has been known to play his bowling at Lord’s with his head turned away, whilst George Parr admitted he was the only bowler he could not hit to leg. Ia the first innings of the Gentlemen v. Players’ match, at Lord’s, in 1849, old William Lillywhite was bit on the wrist by a ball from Mr. Fellows, and so bidly hurt that he would not go in for his second inniogs. Just before it was his turn to bat he went round to the scorersand said, “ Put Lillywhite down Aabsent.” The score-sheat reads:—“ W. Lillywhite, hurt by Fellows on wrist, and refused to go in, 0.” The old mau was then 57 yetrs of age, aud one can readily sympathise with his action, especially as his side w jre in a hopeless position. In the match at L )ra’s, iu 1850, he and Mr. Jones G. Nash bowled un­ changed through both ioning j for Gentle­ men of England v. Gentlomen of Kent, whilst for M.C.C. and Ground v. Hamp­ shire, at L o ri’s, in 1861, he bowled 33 balls for two runs and four wickets. Playing for I Zingari v. Gentlemen of Warwickshire, at Leamington, in 1849, he bowled down the first nine wickets in the first innings and caught the tenth. He frequently appeared at Canterbury for the Gentlemen of England v. the Gentle­ men of K -n t; iu 1847 he played an ianings of 51 there, and in 1853 one of 61, whilst, when bowling Mr. G. M. Kelson in the M.C.C. v. Gentlemen of Kent match of 1864, he kuocked all ttir^e stumps out of the ground. Mr. Harvey Fellows had often Fervcd on the Committee of the M O.C., to which he was legal adviser, aud of which he had been a member tinea 1859. Ia 1867 he played in Paris for the M.C.C. and I Zingari in the first matches those clubs played outside the Uuited Kingdom. A lfred S h a w . Alfrel Shaw, who was born at Burton Joyce on August 29th, 1842, died at Gedling on the 16th inst., after a long illness. To say that he was one of the Kings of Cricket is to under-state, rather than to exaggerate, the case, for all good judges of the game are unani­ mous in regarding him as having never been surptssed as a bowler; inlaed, the saying, “ As accurate as Alfred S&aw ” has, among cricketers, as much signifi­ cance as “ As safe as the Bink of England” among people generally. It is, of course, impossible to compare Shaw with such old-time worthies as David Harris, William Lillywhite, Lumpy and others, for the conditions whicu existed in his time were quite different from those of sixty or eighty years earlier. It is, nevertheless, quite as impossible to beievfi .that richer of the graat trio mentioned ever excalled the Nottinghamshire or- ek so far as precision is concerned. That Shaw must be reckoned the greatest of all medium- paced bowlers is everywhere acknow­ ledged. His extreme accuracy of pitch and a deceptive fl’ght combined to credit him with hundreds of wickets, “ W .G.”