Cricket 1907

CRICKET ! A WEEKLY RECORD OF TH E GAME. AUGUST 8, 1907. 5/sf k t '_ .) 9 © 8 c _ . 1 / V 1 Y v p i f / I B k i h £ V-' / j y r - r'.'l a - :.'- ' '- : y \ \ i p ’H • c j t i f r «■ J — ) ^ < — - * » r * m # n J r f t 1 1 tr m 1 F ^ | [ A AAA L L a m I s “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. n o . 7 6 0 . v o i. x x v i. THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1907. p r i c e 2 a CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. M k . W. B. DAVENPORT. A VISITOR PROM AMERICA. Mr. Davenport, who has been paying a visit to England this summer, has been identified with American cricket for a number of yeare, and, although his rame is probably unfamiliar to the majority of Cricket readers, has done a great deal for the game in tho country of bis adoption. H j is the President of the well- known Alameda Club, and is a believer in all forms of ouf-door exercise. Cricket he has been devoted to from his very youthful days, but now he goes in chiefly for golf and hunting, though his love for the greatest of games is still as strong as ever it was. But when a man reaches middle age he may well be pardoned if he takes up a game which he considers better suited to his requirements than the one he learnt as a boy, and especially is this so when being on with the new love does not involve being off with the old. If Mr. Daven­ port no longer takes so active a part in cricket as he did formerly, he still does much for the game, for he is at all times ready and anxious to work in its b<s; interests, and to allow the younger generation to profit from his experience and advice. It was to Mr. Daven­ port that inter-State and inter - League cricket in America owed their incep­ tion, and, as will be seen later, it was in connection with a club of which he was President that one of the first tours in America was arranged. In response to a request for some information concerning his early cricket, Mr. Davenport said :— “ It was in Cheshire that I was brought up and learnt the game. There was a good deal of cricket played there, though the County has done curiously little at the game, and at the present time is not reckoned even second-class, I believe. The Lathams were keen supporters of cricket, and more than once put a family eleven into the field : but that was after my time. Dr. Charles Latham, whose death you announced a few weeks ago »t the age of ninety, I can well recill. My cricket over here was necessa' ily restricted to playing for my College and various clubs, for I was hardly old enough for county cricket when I went abroad. I went out to Canada, and located at Niagara Falls. Whilst there, news arrived of the Fenian invasion : report said that they were a very powerful force and had come out “ to take Canada.1’ Volunteer forces, one of which I joined, were raised to repel the invaders. We had a skirmish with them, and lost thir­ teen killed—nearly all students of Upper CanadaCollege. Tbirty-five years later we received medals from the Queen in recog­ nition of our services. Afterwards I settled in St. Louis. We had a good team there even before S. F. Sharp made the place his home, but his presence made so great a diff rence that a year after his arrival we cons:dered ourselves strong enough to undertake a tour against such sides p . b New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, etc. When we went into figures we found that the cost of the expedition would amount to five thousand dollars—roughly, a thousand younds—but, as tending to show how readily English­ men abroad generally are to assist ia any such project, it is only necessary to point out that within an hour of the tour being suggested Henry Shaw had contributed two hundred pounds towards tie expenses, and Joe Brand a hundred. The trip was arranged, and we won all our games with the excep­ tion of one, which was drawn. We beat Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia New York, and Detroit, and drew with Hamilton. One of the happiest moments I have ever experienced was on the return of the team, when, as President of the club, I pre­ sided at the dinner, to which five hundred sat down, ar­ ranged in celebration of the event. The tour took place about thirty-five years ago, and was one of, if not actually, the first ever arranged in America.” “ Do you think cricket is m a k iD g head­ way across the Atlantic ? ” “ I believe that cricket is on a sounder basis in America now than it has ever been before, though games like baseball and football, and even hockey, appeal more to people generally, as they are not MR. W. B. DAVENPORT.