Cricket 1907

34 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M arch 28, 1907. “ Which do you consider the best- contested match you have ever seen ? ” “ It would be difficult to say, for I have witnessed so many during the last eighty years or so, but the Kent and England match, played for Pilch’s benefit at Town Mallii g, in 1839, would take a lot of beating. Kent led by 15 runs on the first innings. and eventually won by 2. When old Lillywhi e went in, last man, in the second innings of England, 3 runs were required to win, and a gentle­ man present offered Hillyer five pounds if he towled him in his next over. Hillyer’s first ball just missed the wicket, and the second proved fatal. There was naturally much enthusiasm at the finish. Thirty-seven years later I saw “ W.G.” make his 344 against Kent on the St. Lawrence ground. It was a magnificent display, for he made his runs fast and without a mistake, but I had always been so keen that my County should do well that it was not long before I wished him anywhere but at the wicket. There can be no doubt that cricket is a much more scientific game now than it was during my time, this being due largely, so I think, to the admirable coaching boys receive at the Public Schools. But the large scores so conspicuous nowadays would have been impossible in earlier times. The lawn-mower has revolu­ tionised the game. Pilch, 60 I have been told, used to go round the country with the England Eleven with a scythe in his bag to cut the grass between the wickets.” “ Lord’s must have been very different when you first went there from what it is now.” “ Yes, indeed ! In those days it was almost as frequently called Dark’s ground as Lord’s. There was no house between it and the Swiss Cottage on the one hand, nor between it and the Eyre Arms on the oiher, whilst the Nursery ground had not then been formed. It was there that I first met Lord Frederick Beauclerck. I was with my uncle at the time, and Lord Frederick, who was accompanied by a fox-terrier, catching sight of him, called our, ‘ How are you, Wilies ? ’ I was told afterwards that his Lordship was the only person allowed to take a dog on the ground. Some years later I saw Mynn play lis siugle-wicket match at Lord’s against Felix. The latter, who had foi some time before practised assiduously agnnst the catapulta, which he invented, had n> chance, and was easily beaten. •Bob ’ FitzGerald, for several years Hon. Secretary to the M.C.C., was one of my most intimate friends. He was a clever man, with a charming manner and much wit.” “ I believe it was Mr. Willes who taught Alfred Mynn the game ? ” “ My uncle had a cricket ground just below his house, and it was there that Alfred and his brother Walter first began to play. I can remember what a lung time it was before Mynn could bowl straight, and how we all used to laugh at him. Dear, genial Alfred ! A more delighUul man never lived. When he first begau to play he took a very long fatiguing run, and it was on my uncle’s suggestion that be adopted the six-step approach to the wicket that he retained until the end of his career. I knew all the brothers. John, the eldest, was an even finer and more handsome man than Alfred. Think of that! Next came William and then Walter, who once made a sensation by eloping from Maidstone with the daughter of a retired post­ master. Walter survived his brothers some years, but did not make headway in the world, and, when I last met him, was keeping a billiard-room somewhere off the Eigware Road. Alfred was a most kind-hearted man, and the last person in the world to hurt the feelings of anyone, but one day he was in the company of some friends and cricketers when a common fellow, wishing, I sup­ pose, to show off his courage, began to banter Mynn and raise his temper. Alfred bore it patiently for some time, but at last, unable to stand it any longer, he quietly lifted up the window sash, walked over to the fellow without saying a word, caught him up by the scruff of the neck, and lifted him up and dropped him out of the window, which was about eight feet from the ground. Things, I fear, did not prosper with Alfred, but he had some generous friends in the brothers Banks and Walker and Lord Cavendish. The last-named used to follow him from place to place in order to see him perform, and was always eulogising his play. Once, just before the commencement of an important match, I saw him liquidate a debt for Mynn, and so prevent his arrest, for which a warrant was about to be served.” All students of the game are aware that it was Tom Walker, of Surrey, who (about 1792) first essayed round-armed bowling. Owing to its tremendous pace, however, it was disallowed, and, as Walker had neither the position nor ability to urge its claims to recognition, it was left for Mr. John Willes to intro­ duce it at Lord’s. A match was played at Dartford Brent in 1794 between sides headed by Walker and David Harris in order to test its efficiency, and, although Walker’s side won a low-scoring game by 53 runs, the style was not afterwards sanctioned for the reason stated. Asked what it was that suggested the idea of round-armed bowling to his uncle, Mr. Hodges replied:— “ It was my mother’s skill in throwing the ball to him for practice in a barn at Fonford, near Canterbury. He trained a dog to fetch the ball, and there was a saying that Willis, his sister, and his dog could beat any Eleven in England. There was a great hub-bub when he endeav­ oured to bowl the new Btyle in the great matches, soma being iu favour of the innovation, and others, the majority, against it. When he played on the side of Lord Frederick Beauclerck his bowling was fair; when against him. the contrary. In 1822 my uncle took a Kent team to Lord’s to play the M.C.C., but, when they barred his bowling, he threw down the ball iu disgust, ana, jumping upon his horse, rode home and iefc all the players in the lurch. Tnere were no railways in those days, and he told me that it cost him a hundred pounds to take an eleven up to London. He did not often play after that, but took to fox­ hunting and shooting, and kept his pack of hounds, which were long known all over the County for their fine breed. Many years afterwards, when I belonged to a club at Battersea Park, I had j ust related the Lord’s incident to the players when an old, white-haired gentleman rose from his seat in the tent, advanced towards me, and said, ‘ Sir, what you have just related about Mr. John Willes is perfectly true. I was a member at Lord’s then, I am a member now, and I was on the ground when it took place.’ In some accounts my uncle is stated to have been a farmer, and even a profes­ sional. As a matter of fact, he was a large land-owner, having estates both in Kent and Sussex (where he often played): Lancing College is built on one of his farms. In his later years he gave up fox-hunting, but continued to hunt a pack of harriers kept by his very dear friend Wilkins, of the Manor House, Sutton Yalence. Wilkins himself never hunted, but kept them solely for the pleasure of seeing them together with pointers and setters. My uncle would never ride to a pack of harriers. Then Ballringham, a beautifully situated house, with a large plantation and much meadow-land, was sold. It over-looked the Weald of Kent, and from its windows you could see twenty-five churches and the railway running along for almost thirty miles. He afterwards settled at Staunton, near Gloucester, and died there, but was buried at Sutton Valence. He was most temperate in his habits, and generous to his brother William, but he muddled away his fortune. His lawyer, who lived at Charing, told me that he often rode up to his house shout­ ing out, ‘ I want £500 ! ’ ” “ Did Mr. Willes give up the game entirely after his bowling was barred at Lord’s ? ” “ He often stood umpire in the Sutton Valence matches, but did not play as frequently as before, though he promoted a large number of matches. I remember asking him if he made any money out of the game, as they used to bet and play for stakes iu his time, and he then told me of a match played for a hundred pounds between Sutton Valence and Staplehurst, a village about five miles distant. Staplehurst in those days had one of the best teims in tnat part of Kent, and thought themselves invincible, and, to use my uncle’s words, made cock­ sure of winning. He drilled the Sutton Valence X I. to perfection, and told me that the practising catctjing was so severe that the villagers’ hands were covered with blood, and the first joint of his own forefinger put out of joint. They had on their side an old gentlemin, a bowler, who, by using all the strength he pos­ sessed, was ju s r. able to make the ball keep a good length. Staplehurst lost, and found it so difficult a matter to pay the hundred pounds that it broke up the club. Before the match, one of the sup­ porters of the home side was known to possess a fine fiock of sheep, but it dis