Cricket 1907

38 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M arch 28, 1907. the hundred. Taat is what the book or newspaper reader infers, or what the traveller, who stays three months in the colonies and then returns home thinking he has seen and learnt every­ thing, gives out when he embodies his experiences in a book. But those who, after long residence in the colonies, really are cognisant of the true state of affairs in regard to matters of cricket, are not at all surprised that there is not a greater number of cricketers of high rank. In the first place Australia has not what we call a leisured class. Tnere are very few who cm devote all their time to playing cricket for pleasure. Secondly, though frost and snow are hardly known in Sydney or Melbourne, the winters there are felt to be cold, and the amount of rain that falls (the writer remembers 20 inches falling in 1890 in Sydney in five days, aud 13 inches in three days in 1886) would render cricket imposs-ible. In the summer hot winds and dust- storms— “ brickfielders ” as they call them in Sydney—make active exertion very difficult. But what will seem strange to many, the chief reason why not more Australians attain front rank is that they have not sufficient time at their disposal after they leave school or college. Cricket can be played for five months of the year much as it can in England, but in Eng­ land there are long twilignts. In Aus­ tralia there is no twilight at a ll; in Mel­ bourne and Sydney, as soon as the sun goes down—aud this it does at about 7.30 iu midsummer —it is immediately dark. What chance, then, have young men employed in city offices, warehouses, etc., all day of playing in the evenings when they have first to go home and get their meal, and when they cannot play much later than 7 p.m. ? Those in banks, Government offices and the uni­ versities fare better as regards cricket practice, and it is a fact that most of the Australian teams for England have con­ sisted of men drawn from Government offices or banks, or from the students of colleges or universities. But thsee are, naturally, the few. The many cannot do in the Colonies what some years ago was done in one of the South Sea Islands, where the natives took so much to cricket that they played all day and every day, matches with a hundred oa each Bide being arranged, until the Polynesian king had to interfere and veto the game altogether, as no work was being done and they were all goiug to the dogs ! How in the late sixties ana early seventies the few young Australians who had time and ability to devote to the game availed themselves of the lessons taught by Caffyn’u coaching, and by such masters as the Graces, Jupp, and Alfred Shaw, whose performances they would have witnessed, may be inferred from the fact that the very first Austra­ lian X I., the team of ’78, by vanquishing the powerful Marylebone team at Lord’s proved itself capable of meeting the best English X L on level terms. {To be continued.) O B ITUARY . T he Rev. A. J. L o w th . The Rev. Alfred James Lowth, who was born at Grove House, Chiswick, on July 20th, 1817, died at Winchester on Feloruary 5th, being at the lime senior Wykehamist. He was at Eton from 1826 to 1828, but was elected to a scholarship at Winchester in 1829. He- played for Winchester from 1834 to 1836, for Gentlemen v. Players in 1836 and 1841, and for Oxford against Cambridge in 1838, 1840 and 1841. He was left- handed both as batsman and bowler, but did not continue the game loug after taking Holy Orders. Scores and Bio­ graphies (ii.-278) says that his bowling was “ round-aruied, fast, with a beauti­ ful, easy delivery.” For Winchester against Harrow in 1835 he tock ten wickets and scored 23 in each innings — he was bowled on each occasion by Mr. R. J. P. Broughton, the Harrow captain, who survives him—and in the same year bowled down eight wickets iu the first innings of Eton. Mr. Fred Gale (“ The Old Buffer” ), who was his cricket fag at Winchester, has said of him*—“ He was a pocket Hercules, standing a feet 6 inches high, and had a most beautiful natural round-arm, left- handed delivery from the height of the shoulder. He was my boy tutor and I was bis semper long-stop as a fag at practice, so 1 knew the break of the ball pretty well, and had to go on the right side to see the ball pitch and run back to the left to stop her, as the break and spin was extraordinary. In 1836 a deputation from M.C.C. cime down to Winchester to see him bowl, and asked him to bowl in Gentlemen v. Players, at Lord’s, and he got nine wickets.” In Felix on the Bat the following interesting anecdote is told in connection with the match—“ It chanced some few years since, that entering Lord’s Cricket Ground at the moment when a young man, nomine Lowth, was bowling in a match, Gents, v. Players (those who were out were wondering how it was so, and those whose turn was soon to come were wondering how they were to remain when at the wicket), 1 accosted Beagley (who was taking solo observations) with “ Well, Baagley, how goes the match ? ” So absorbed was he in his meditations that, forgetting the formality of a ceremonious greeting, he inquired of me, ‘ Bay pardon, Muster Falix, but how be oi to ploy that ere yong gemmun’s bowling ? ’ ” What advice Felix tendered is unrecorded, but the Winchester boy, who played the following day against Harrow, took nine wickets, and the score-sheet reads—“ T. Beagley, not out, 1; b Lowth, 0.” In the three matches in which Mr. Lowth played against Cambridge, he took twenty-four wickets, his most successful appearance being that of 1840, when he obtained eleven, and when he was, curiously enough, on the losing side for the only time. * The Public School Matches. The Rev. A. J. Lowth, who was one of a family of thirteen, was the son of the Rev. Robert Lowth, Rector of Hinton, and grandson of the Right Rev. Robert Lowth, Bishop of London. He was buried in St. Michael’s Church, Win­ chester. Me. G. E. H e m in g w a y . Mr. George Edward Hemingway, who was torn at Macclesfield in 1872, died at Rangoon on the 11th inst. He was educated at Uppingham and, although he was only sixteen years of age when he left, was in the Eleven in 1888. He was a free batsman, particularly on the off-side, his best strokes being past mid- off. As a boy he showed considerable pro nise, but business and weak sight handicapped his play considerably. He was ambidextrous, and in the field was generally mid-off or cover-point. Much of his cricket was played for the Derby­ shire Friars and Grasshoppers, and once — against Yorkshire, at Sneffield, in 1898 — he appeared for Gloucestershire. Two of his brothers, Messrs. W. M ‘G. and R. E. Hemingway, have gained distinction as cricketers. One who knew him well writes :—“ He was, in face and build, very like his better-known brother, W. M ‘G., though larger and stronger. When quite young he had slipped the cartilege of his right kne3, which often got out of gear and interfered with his games. He was a good gymnast and a free hitter with the gloves. Though he was never a class player, he was a dangerous bat, especially if the light were good : but he excelled at yard cricket (i.e., cricket played in a yard: chalked wicket, cut-down bat, and tennis balls—real or lawn equally good). It was not that he made many runs, but, as throwing was permitted instead of bowling, he was almost unplayable as he threw left-handed at a great speed, coming from the leg, some­ thing after the manner of Wass I suppose, and almost invariably straight enough to hit the sticks. When begin­ ning an innings he was nervous to a degree, and I remember old H. H. Stephenson giving him a rare dressing- down at school once. He played at a ball, the keeper whipped off the bails, and George immediately started on his way to the pavilion, brandishing his bat and looking very miserable. Meanwhile the stumper stumped him in good earnest, taking out all the sticks, and then, and not till then, he realised that he had given away his wicket when he should nave waited for the umpire to decide his fate. It is probable that he made the largest number of runs on record off one h it; it was whilst playing his two youngest brothers, R. E. and H. E. The ball was hit into a bed of nettles and the young men quarrelled at first as to who should get it; then they went into the house to gat some refresh­ ments ; and when they came back George had got about 250 and, like Charlib’s Aunt, was still running.”