Cricket 1907

M arch 28, 1907. CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE CAME. 35 appeared about the time the stakes were claimed. My uncle possessed abonhomie wbich was irresistible, and wl/leh en­ deared him to everybody with whom he associated. When the Sutton Valence team would be returning home late from a match he would leave bottles of brandy and whisky, with glasses, and a pail of water, outside his hall door for them to help themselves. The cricketers would then serenade him, and I remember them singiDg the old hunting song :— <There was1Spero, Spendigo, Bonny Lass and Truelove, And Euler that never looked behind him.’ He was a very handsome man. On one occasion, just as I was about to go in in a match, Alfred M jnn said to me, ‘ You are not bad-looking, Edward, but you will never be so good-looking as your uncle John.” “ Mr. Willes, I thiuk, was an adept at several sports besides cricket ? ” “ He was a good boxer and a capital rider and shot. Gully, who started life as a butcher, and, after gaining high honours ia the P.E., sat in Parliament for Pontefract, lived not far from us at Sutton Valence. I remember him well. My uncle once showed me where, on riding home across country from a visit to his friend Charles Springett, he jumped his grey mare over a high stile, down very steep and irregular stone steps between tweuty and thirty feet deep, into a very narrow lane. How any horse could have done it with safety I cannot thiuk; at the time it seemed to me that my uncle did it iu order to break his neck. On another occasion Capt. Mansel, who was staying at Sutton, had a veiy vicious and intractable horse with him, and neither he nor the grooms could do anything with him. ‘ Bring him to me,” said Uncle. The horse was brought, led by two long halters by the two grooms. When it was at length mounted, the animal at once began attempting to throw the rider; but in vain. Then it galloped up the hill, and, when at the top, tried to smash my uncle’s legs by beating itself against a wall, but the attempts were met by blows from the butt-end of a hunting whip. I Cin’t remember all the incidents of the hazard­ ous ride—to his friend, Col. Best, at Boxley, abort nine miles off—but once, when almost unseated, he lost his hunting whip. I asked, ‘ What did you do then ?’ and he replied, ‘ Why, I got him close to to a hedge, pulled up a hedge-stake, and every time he wanted to go the wrong way gave him a smack on the head! ’ By the time he arrived at Boxley the horse was almost done up, and was flecked all over with foam. The Colonel was astonished at the sight. Uncle did not dismount, and, when he arrived home again with the horse thorcughly broken in, found Captain Mansel and the grooms awaiting him. One September morning I was out with him partridge-shooting, carrying the game bag, and, boy-like, was saying that I thought ‘ it was not very difficult to hit a bird; one had only to point the gun about a foot before the hi ad and let fly.’ This seemed to nettle him, for he suddenly thrust the gun (a Joe Mantcn) into my hands, saying, ‘ Here ! Take the guu ! ’ and walked on. Presently old Fairy, a setter, dropped down, making a point. We followed up, and Uncle sang out to the dog. ‘ Shoot i n ! ’ A single bird flew up. I tired, and, fortunately for me, brought it down—the first I ever shot at. ‘ Ah ! A h ! Master Teddy,’ my uncle ex­ claimed, ‘ if you had missed you would never have heard the last of it.’ We wandered on, and presently came to a ploughed field, when a hare shot out of the hedge and made off across the field. I was so flurried that I could not shoot. Uncle called out, ‘ Shoot, shoot! Why don’t you shoot ? ’ and, snatching the gun from me, killed the hare which, being about fifty yards off, shows what a good shot he must have been.” “ There seems to have bsen something in Mr. Willes’ nature characteristic of John Mitton.” “ He was certainly a reckless and very dare-devil person, and seemed to stop at nothing. When I was a youth I heard of an iucident which well illustrates the truth of this. At one time he knew a young lady in Harriettham, and one day he said to her, ‘ If I drove up in a coach- and-four, would jou run away with me?’ The lady said she would, and a few days later my uncle appeired before her house with such a conveyance. He got out, held open the door, the lady p ipptd into the coach, and away they drove as fast as the animals could cover the ground. The lady’s father chanced to be close at hand, however, and, mounting his horse, and seizing a pistol, furiously gave chase. He gained on the runaways s j rapidly that the lady at last decided to dismount and meet her father, whilst the coach with its solitary occupant went rumbling on.- When I innocently asked my uncle if the story were true, he demanded to know how I ever came to hear of it, and his anger was not appeased when I had to confess that a lady of his acquaintance told me the facts. It may, of course, have been simply a joke on his part from the first, but whether it was so or not I could never discover.” F.S.A.-C. CR ICKET IN AU STR A L IA . N EW SOUTH W ALE S v. VICTORIA . Played at Sydney on January 25, 26 and 28. N .S.W . won by an innings and 266 runs. W inning the toss, the home side made only a moderate start, losing Duff and Trumper at 50 and Hopkins at 63. Diamond then joined Noble, and, although the pair added 96 for the fourth wicket, half the side were out on W addy’s downfall for 181. Macartney, upon partnering Diamond, was missed three times in quick succession, and by the call of time the score had been taken to 334 without further loss, the last-named having then made 148. On the second day the pair remained, together until they had put on 219 for the sixth wicket in 150 minutes. Blaxland made only a dozen, hut Cotter, who was caught off a no-ball from Armstrong one over and bowled by another from him in the next, scored fast, and helped to add 62. The innings eventually closed for 491, Diamond, who hit a 6 and nineteen 4’s, carrying out his bat for a faultless score of 210, made out of 428 in 375 minutes. The Victorian innings opened disastrously, both Ellis and Carroll being sent back at 7. Arm­ strong and McAlister then came together, and, by putting on 128 for the third wicket, improved matters considerably. As it happened, these were the only players to reach double figures, the other nine scoring but seventeen between them. McAlister hit seven 4’s in his 51, and Armstrong, who was missed when 20, and scored 111 out of 187 in 155 minutes, a 6 and eight 4’s. Heavy rain fell on Sunday, the consequence being that, when play was resumed on the third day, the bowlers carried everything before them. The wickets fell as follows :— 4 * 5 8, 9,10 Macartney followed up his good score by some effective bowling ; he sent down his first five overs for four wickets and no runs. The whole side were out in 75 minutes, and New South Wales were left with the easiest of victories. Score and analysis :— N ew S outh W ales . V. Trumper. e Mc­ Alister, b Saunders 11 R.A.Duff,bArmstrong 38 M. A. Noble, c Horan, b H azlitt.................08 A. J. Hopkins, b Arm­ strong ................. 7 A. Diamond, not out 210 E. L. Waddy, c Mc­ Alister, b Hazlitt ... 9 C. G. Macartney, c Carkeek, b Vernon... 72 First innings. M. Ellis, c and b Garnsey... P. A. McAlister, c Noble, b Macartney......... E. V. Carroll, c Cotter, b Garnsey ........ W. W. Armstrong, b ____ F. Vaughan, b Macartney T. Rush, run out... T. Horan, b Cotter W. Carkeek, b Cotter... W. Hazlitt, b Cotter ... J. V. Saunders, not out B 0, lb 4, w 2, nb 3 1 Total N ew S outh W ales . O. M.R. W. Vernon ...28 3100 2 |Ellis.. . Saunders ...34 t> 145 2 Hazlitt . Armstrong..36.5 6 116 4 j M. H. Blaxland, b Vernon ................. ]2 H. Carter, c Carkeek, b Saililders ... ... 9 A. Cotter, c Rush, b Armstrong ......... 34 G. L.*Garnsey, c Vau­ ghan, b Armstrong 4 B 11, lb 5, nb 1 IT Total ...491 Second innings, b Macartney ... 1 . 51 b Noble ... 0 . 0 b Macartney ... 8 111 b Noble ... o T 0 b Macartney ... 0 7 b Macartney ... 0 . 2 b Noble ... l . 0 e Hopkins, b . Noble 5 . 0 notout.......... ... 0 . 2 b Noble ... ... 0 . 5 c Diamond, b Noble ... 0 5 B 2, lb 2 ... 4 .194 Total... ... 31 O. M. R. W. 3 0 14 0 28 (i 99 2 V ictoria . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Garnsey... ... 12 1 47 2 ... Cotter .. .. 15 2 37 3 ... Macartney ... 1(5 3 43 2 ... ... 10 7 0 4 Hopkins . . 7 1 20 1 ... Noble ... ... 8.1 1 32 1 ... ... 10.5 2 21 0 Cotter bowled three no-balls and two wide.s. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. A. C. S outh (Grahamstown).—Very many thanks. See “ Gossip.” “ B otha ." —The teams you mention have no stated hours for practice.