Cricket 1908

CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 30, 19 0 8 . The former, who led the Kent XT. against the combined forces of Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire in 1729, is the first Kent County player of whom there is any record ; he died on July 28th, 1735, and it is to be regretted that no portrait of him appears to exist. The Earl of Leicester, who had been Cup-bearer at the Coronation o! George I., had a cricket-ground at his seat, Penshurst Park, where various County matches were played even 180 years ago. It is more than probable that Kent has taken the field yet earlier, but no record of any matches has been handed down, and it is, in fact, due only to very meagre reports in the newspapers that we know anything at all about Kent cricket prior to 1744. The earliest match known to have been played by the County was against the Lon­ don Club in White Conduit Fields in 1719, when the County lost by 21 runs. The game gave rise to a lawsuit, which was thus referred to in the Weekly Journal of May 16th of that year :—“ Last Week a Tryal was brought at Guildhall, before the Lord Chief Justice Pratt, between two Companies of Cricket Players, the Men of Kent, Plaintiffs, and the Men of London, Defendents, for Sixty Pounds played for at Cricket, and after a long Hearing, and near £200 expended in the Cause, my Lord, not understanding the Game, ordered them to play it over again ; and they met accordingly on Monday last in Lamb’s-Conduit-Fields, but one of the Players being taken ill, it was deferred till another Opportunity.” The Kent XI. played on Kennington Common, now the Park, as far back as 1726, and two years later beat Sussex on three occasions. In 1729 they opposed a team drawn from Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire, but, pre­ sumably finding their task beyond them, “ threw it up.” During the following de­ cade, Surrey, Sussex, London, and Middle­ sex players were met, and in 1739 — a memorable date in the County’s history— England were opposed for the first time, Kent winning the first match, on Bromley Common, by “ a very few notches,” and the second, in the Artillery-Ground, Lon­ don, being unfinished. Kent cart claim to have played more often than any other county against England single-handed ; of the 87 matches contested she has won 34 and lost 45. With but few exceptions, the names of the men who were fortunate enough to render Kent service during the first half-century or so of her career as a cricketing county are unrecorded. By a lucky circumstance, however, the full score of the match against Englafnd in the Artil- Iery-Ground in June, 1744, has been pre­ served, but it is not until 1773 that we again come across an eleven a-side Kent match with the totals attached to the name of each player. The game of 1744, which was described in verse by Love, was won (owing to a missed catch at the critical moment) by one wicket by Kent, who thereby “ firmly ” fixed their “ everlast­ ing ” fame. During the latter part of the eighteenth century Surrey, Hambledon, M.C.C., and England were the County’s most frequent opponents, but during the first two decades of the nineteenth Kent, probably on account of the wars, seldom put a side into the field— “ Their oxen stall and cricket ball they left for martial glory ; Ye Kentish lads shall win the odds your fathers won before ye.” The 3rd Duke of Dorset, one of the greatest patrons of the game any county ever possessed, died in 1799, whilst Sir Horatio Mann, another enthusiastic sup­ porter of the County’s cricket, was obliged, owing partly to advancing age and partly to a reversp in fortune, to discontinue or at least considerably curtail, his lavish entertainment of the players at his various seats — Bishopsbourne, Linton, Sissing- hurst, and Dandelion Paddock, near Mar­ gate. From 1834 t° date Kent has played matches every year without a break, the present therefore being their seventy-fifth successive season. But 1834 marks another event in the history of the County’s cricket inasmuch as Felix, Hillver, and Alfred Mynn made their first appearance that year for Kent. The trio were destined to render the side valuable service for many years, and, with Pilch and Wenman, to enable the County to meet England regularly on level terms with a prospect of success. An old poem says— “ For with five such mighty cricketers ’twas but natural to win, As Felix, Wenman, Hillyer, Fuller Pilch, and Alfred Mynn.” Wenman had played for Kent as early as 1825, but Pilch was not imported until 1836; the pair, who are shown at the wickets in Mason’s well-known engraving, continued to assist the side until 1854, when each was in his fifty-second year. It was due almost entirely to the .five players men­ tioned that the decade 1839-49 ranks as the most brilliant one in the County’s history. Of the twenty-eight matches played during that period against England, Kent won 16 and England 12. Those must have been good times ! Gradually, however, as was, of course,' inevitable, Mynn and Felix, Pilch, Wenman, Hillyer, and Adams ap­ proached the end of their career and, if the truth must be told, lagged a little super­ fluous on the stage; they continued the game a little too long and their efforts failed to bring victory to their side as in the days of their full vigour. The conse­ quence was th^t, when it became evident that Kent could not meet England on level terms, the County was allowed odds either in numbers or in given men. But the ar­ rangement was not very satisfactory, for, whatever the result of the match might be, Kent obtained but little credit or satisfac­ tion ; if she won, she was reminded that the match was not even-handed, whilst de­ feat served only to emphasise hpr weakness compared with her records of previous years. A landmark in the history of the County occurs in 1859, as it was on March 1st of that year that the old Kent County Club was formed. This, in December, 1870, amalgamated with the Beverley (Kent) Club, and by that means the present Kent County C.C. was established. During the fifties and sixties the side met with varying success; thus, in i860 they played six matches and won them all, whilst four years later they took the field nine times and suffered defeat on each occasion. The full strength of the County was seldom re­ presented, as it was considered scarcely “ the thing ” for amateurs to appear for Kent, except in the Canterbury Week. The cricket was kept going by Willsher and Bennett, a splendid pair of bowlers who were overworked and kept at it when past their prime. Lord Harris played his first match in 1870, and it is from that year that the history of modern Kent cricket may be said to date. Scores and Biographies (xiv.- lxx.) has truly observed that “ No cricketer, perhaps, ever did more for a county, if his Lordship’s merits and performances as a batsman are considered in conjunction with his ability as a general manager of the Kent Eleven.” He worked hard and successfully in the best interests of cricket because he recognized the fact that it was mere than a game. Gradually he gathered a fine team together and, if the County did not succeed in repeating the wonderful suc­ cesses of the 1839-49 epoch, it could gener­ ally be depended upon to battle gamely against its strongest opponents. Space, un­ fortunately, will not permit the perform­ ances of Kent’s leading players to be re­ ferred to in any detail, but no article pio- fessing to deal with Kent cricket would have the slightest pretension to considera­ tion which failed to mention the names of such latter-day heroes as Mr. Mason, Alec and G. G. Hearne, Blythe, Messrs. Bradley, Burnup, and Marchant, Huish, Martin, Mr. Patterson, Wootton and Wright, or to al­ lude to the great service rendered to the County for over a hundred years by the Bligh family, of a foremost member of which it is our sad duty to publish an obi­ tuary notice in this issue of Cricket. In conclusion, it may be stated that of the 982 matches known to have been played by Kent, the County have won 378 and lost 4 23- _____________________________ THE SPORTING AND ATHLET IC R EG I S T E R * All those whose interest in sports and athletics is sufficient to induce them to turn occasionally to a record of the past season’s performances should welcome the first issue of this work. The Register is primarily a detailed survey of the outdoor and indoor doings of the past year, but it also con­ tains numberless tables of records and lists of previous successes which are hardly of less interest. No attempt is made to com­ pete with such works as Wisden’s Cricketers' Almanack , Baily's Hunting Directory , The Racing Calendar, The Golfing Annual , etc., but a most successful effort has been made to answer the demand for an annual compendium recording with­ in the covers of a single volume the events of the year in all branches of sport. The Register contains some 680 pages, sixty of which are devoted to Cricket. Full scores of the most important of <:he first- class matches are given, as well as excel­ lently arranged summaries of the doings of the Counties. The Public Schools also receive attention, whilst the complete aver­ ages for the season are, of course, in­ cluded. The Register, which is nicely bound in red and green with gilt letter­ ing, has made a most creditable first appearance and, if it meets with the success it merits, should make its re­ appearance every spring. * Sporting and Athletic R egister , 1908. Lon­ don : Chapman and Hall, Ltd. Price, 5s. net. GEORGE LEW IN & Co., (Established 1869.) Club Colour Specialists and Athletic Clothing Manufacturers. OUTFITTERS BY APPOINTMENT To the Australians, 18%, 1899 and 1902 ; Mr. Stoddart’s XI.. 1894 - 1895, 1897- 1898: Mr. MacLaren’s XI., 1901-1902 ; West Indian XI., 1900 and 1906 ; South Africans XI., 1901 and 1907; and M C.C., Lancashire, Kent, Surrey and London Counties, Wanderers, Stoics. Bromley, Sutton, and all Public Schools’ Old Boys’ Clubs.—Write for E s tim a te s F r e e . Telegraphic Address: “ LeotAde , Jjondon.*' Telephone: P.O. City 607. g, Crooked Lane, Monument, London Bridge, E.C.