Cricket 1907

CRICKET : » WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. AUGUST 29, 1907. Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 7 6 3 . VOL. X X V I. THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1907. PR ICE 2d A CHAT ABOUT MR. K. L. HUTCHINGS. To many followers of the game it will perhaps come as a surprise to be told that it was as far back as 1902 that Mr. Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings played his first match for Kent. He was thpn nineteen years of age, and in his last year as a member of the Tonbridge Eleven. Unlike S. H . Day, he failed to signalise his dibut for the County b y making a hun­ dred. The match was against Worcestershire, on the T on ­ bridge ground, and Hutch­ ings scored only 10 and 1. The records of the game do not chronicle the impression his two innings made upon those whose business it was to estimate bis capabilities, but as his appearances for Kent that season were limited to the one match, it is safe to infer that there was n otlin g iu the form he then displayed to foreshadow the many successes he has achieved during the last two years. It is said that when Fuller Pilch played his first match at Lord’ s, in 1820, at the age of seventeen, Mr. William Ward was so much struck with his style, although his scores were only 0 and 2, that he prophe­ sied to the effect that “ there is much promise in this young Pilch, who, if he fu l­ fils the promise his batting in this match shows, will one day be the finest player in England.” The remark, if really made, was very possibly meant jocosely, for one of Ward’s lobs bowled down Pilch’s wicket, and, therefore, by praising the skill of the Norfolk lad, he was alto say­ ing a word in favour of h ’S own bowliDg. Be this as it may, however, the fact remains that nobody appears to have noticed anything of unusual merit in the b ittin g of Hutchings on the occasion mentioned, although his fielding was unanimously acknowledged to be of a high quality. It was in the follow ing season, that of 1903, that Mr. Hutchings first played at all regularly for Kent. In that year he had 17 innings, was ones not out, and, with 106 against Somerset at Taunton a? his highest score, made 454 runs with an average of 28'31. In the autumn he was MR. K. L. HUTCHINGS. (Photo by Messrs. Han-kins «t- Co., Brighton). a member of the Kent team which visited America, but he could never get going, and made only 48 runs in five completed innings. In 1904 he played in but one match, and, as he then scored 30 and 66, against Sussex at Tunbridge Wells, it seems curious that his tervice for the County that season was so limited. In the succeeding year he played twice and averaged 21-75, but in 1906 appeared iu 18 matches and dizzied almost everyone with the brilliance of his hitting. The power he put into his driving was remark­ able, and, as he made his runs quickly and in a most attractive manner, it is not surprising that crowds flocked to see him perform. He commenced fairly well by making 39 a?»inst Hampshire, at Ton­ bridge, but in his next four innings he caused quite a sfnsatijn. scoring 125 and 97 not out against Middle­ sex at Tonbridge and 131 and 50 not out iu the match with Yorkshire at Bramall Lane. These four scores, made in a single week against such strong sides and in so breezy a manner, naturally caused the greatest interest to centre in hisperformances. On two other occasions dur­ ing the season he exceeded the hundred, making 176 against Lancashire at Can­ terbury and 124 at the expense of Hampshire at Bournemouth, and in all matches in which he took part that year for the County he scored 1454 runs and averaged 60-58. In the game with Worcestershire, at Canterbury, he made 53 out of 69 iu 40 minutes in fourteen hits—a 6, eleven 4’s, a 2, and a single : eight consecutive scoring strokes were 4’s. Wisden, in referr­ ing to his performances that year, remarked : — “ Hutch­ ings was not only the most brilliant man in the team, but the Fensation of the see son. So little had been seen of him for two years, that bis astonishing success came to most people as nothing short of a revelation. Seldom bas a bat man ju n p ed more suddenly to the top of the tree. The month of June was more than half over before he took bis place in the Kent eleven, but such a profound impression did he make by his batting against Middlesex at Tonbridge, and Yorkshire at Sheffield, that he was picked b y the M.C.C. Committee for