Cricket 1908

178 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. J u n e 4, 1908. played about half-a-dozen times for K ent, but it w as not until 1887 that I becam e a regular m ember o f the C ounty side. From that tim e until I gave up, in 1899, I m issed very few m atch es.” “ W hat do you regard as your best b ow lin g p erform ance? ” “ Undoubtedly m y seven wickets for 18 runs in the second innings o f N otts, at B eckenham , in 1889. T hat was a rem ark­ able m atch in m any w ays, and the result — a w in for Kent by fou r wickets— caused Surrey and Lancashire to share the honours of the Cham pionship with N otts. W hen the gam e wa's half over N otts, w ho had gon e in first, were 16 runs on. In their second innings they lost Shrew s­ bury without a run and M r. D ixon at 4. Gunn and Barnes added 20 very steadily, and then W alter W righ t and I g ot the last eight w ickets dow n for 11. A glance at the analysis will show you that runs w ere not easy to m ake : W righ t bowled thirteen overs for seven runs and three w ickets, and fifteen o f the tw enty-tw o overs I sent down w ere m aidens. W e w ere set only 52 runs to w in, but it proved a terribly difficult task against A ttew ell. W hen five w ickets had fallen for 15 everything seemed over bar the shouting. Frank H earne— the last time he ever played for us— stayed in until the score reached 25, and then B om bardier Barton and G eorge H earne m ade the other 27 without b ein g parted. There was naturally m uch enthusiasm at the finish. Attewell took four w ickets and had only seven runs scored off twenty-five overs, whilst G eorge, w ho carried out his bat, batted an hour and three-quarters for 14. It w as a great stru g g le .” “ D id you not once bow l ‘ W .G . * tw ice in one m atch ? ” “ T hat w as when w e were playing Gloucestershire on the G loucester ground in 1890. In the first innings I m anaged to get his w icket before he had m ade a run. At lunch tim e on the second day he w as not out 32. In those days C ounty C omm ittees did not supply lunch for visiting team s, so as soon as play had stopped W righ t and I made our w ay to the refreshm ent tent to see what w e could find. W hilst we w ere debating what we should have ‘ W .G . ’ cam e a lon g and ordered a bottle of cham pagne. As it was handed to him I rem arked ‘ I suppose you haven’t a spare one o f those, D o c to r ?’ and he at once pushed the bottle into my hands, saying ‘ T ake it, boys, and have w hat you like to eat as w ell.’ W alter and I had a g ood lunch that day and both thoroughly appreciated the D o cto r’s kind­ ness, but I ’m bothered if the very first ball I sent dow n after lunch didn’t upset his s tick s ! O n another occasion, at L o rd ’s— I thing just before an M .C .C . m atch w as about to start— ‘ W .G . ’ cam e running out of the Pavilion and called loudly across the ground to W righ t and m e. ‘ Is anything w ro n g ? ’ w e both w ondered. But when w e reached him he sim ply said, ‘ T h ere’s som ething for y o u ,’ and then strode aw ay, leaving half-a- sovereign w ith each o f us. I have m any m em ories, and all very pleasant ones, of ‘ W .G .’ ” 41 W as not the Gloucestershire match to which you referred the one in which the late M r. C . J . M . F ox dislocated his shoulder? ” “ Y es, and at the time the accident occurred I happened to be b ow lin g. T he batsm an made a very hard cut, which M r. F ox, fielding at point, endeavoured to stop. Everyone could see that som e­ thing serious had taken place, for he was floundering about on the ground like a fly with only one w in g , and I fear that for the m om ent I w as m ore concerned about the batsmen, who continued to run despite the accident. M r. F ox was quite unable to return the ball, o f course, and before it w as throw n in the batsmen had run five ! T w o years later, when w e again went W est— to B ristol this time— to play Gloucestershire, M r. F ox again accom ­ panied us and, by a very extraordinary coincidence, again put his shoulder out whilst fieldin g.” “ D id you not make the w inning hit in a very exciting finish at L ord ’s about fifteen years a g o ? ” “ T h a t was in a match between M .C .C . and Lancashire, and I can rem ember every incident in connection with the last innings as though it had been played yesterday. It had been a low -scoring gam e, and we knew that the 103 runs we w ere set to w in would require a lot of m ak in g. Mr. C . P. Foley, fortunately, w as in his best fo r m ; otherw ise, we should have collapsed like a house of cards. T he eighth w icket fell at 41, and as only Jack H earne and I were left to g o in the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion. But then, as occasionally happens, one of the presumed ’ rabbits ’ chanced to com e off where better men had failed. H earne, in fact, stayed with Mr. Foley w hile 61 w ere added and then Mold beat him and I went in, last man, with the gam e a tie. T h e first ball I had from M old flicked the front of m y shirt and went into the hands of the wicket-keeper, M r. K em ble, w ho cried ‘ H o w ’s that? ‘ N ot O ut ’ said R ylott, and then I made a hit for 3 and w e won by a w icket. Mr. Foley carried his bat through the innings for 62. Another match in which I was happy enough to m ake the w inning hit in a desperately-close finish was when Kent played Sussex at T on brid ge in 1888. W e had six wickets in hand and wanted only four runs to win, and it seemed all L om ­ bard Street to a china orange that we should w in easily. But at that moment M r. N ewham , the Sussex captain, had an inspiration. H e put on T ate, and the change was so successful that he clean bowled G eorge H earne, M r. M archant, M r. F ox, Alec H earne, and W alter W righ t without a run being made off him . H ere again I was last man in, but this tim e tw o runs were required to win. M r. M . C. K em p, who w as in at the other end, had not made a run. I made a little tap on the off-side, and we raced across the w icket as though for dear life. W e g o t hom e, and the gam e was a tie. A nother gentle tap, another hurried scram ble from w icket to w icket, and the w inn ing hit had been m ade.” M artin’s perform ances for Kent may be summarised as follow s :— Com pleted Year. Inns. Runs. Aver. Runs. Wkts. Aver. 1S85 1 ... 0 ... — 1 ... 0 .. . — 1886 7 .... 37 ..., 5*28 303 ... 29 .. . 10*44 1887 21 .. . 179 .... 8*52 1,074 ... 52 .. . 20*65 1888 15 .... 108 ..., 7 20 731 ... 65 .. . 11-24 18S9 14 .. . 92 ..., 6.57 1,182 ... 87 .. 13-5S 1890 22 .... 138 .... 6 27 1,625 ... 116 .. . 1400 1891 17 .. . 79 .... 4-64 1,519 ... 112 .. . 13*-56 1892 20 .... 309 , 15-45 1,468 ... 64 ..,. 22-93 1893 23 .. . 412 ..,, 17*91 1,112 ... 54 .. 20-59 1894 24 .. . 220 .... 9*16 1,259 ... 80 .. . 15-73 1895 28 .... 400 .. . 14*28 2,030 ... 82 .. 24-75 1896 24 .... 337 .... 14*04 1,618 ... 79 .. 20-48 1897 32 ...584 ... IS‘25 1,511 ... 52 ... 29*05 1898 23 ...346 ... 15’04 1,386 ... 73 ... 18*98 1899 19 ...169 ... 8-89 760 ... 34 ... 22*35 Totals 290 ...3,410... 11*75 17,579 ... 979 .. 17*95 H is b e st fe a ts w ith th e b a ll w e r e :— Wkts. Runs. Year. 7 for 18, K ent v. N otts, at Beckenham 1889 8 — 57 in an inns., K ent v. Lancs., at Beckenham 1890 8 — 53 in an inns., M.C.C. & G ., v. O x. U niv., at O xford 1891 13 — 48, K ent v. M iddlesex, at L ord’s 1891 8 — 45 in an inns., K ent v. Lancashire, at Tonbridge 1894 4 — 11, K ent v. Notts, at M aidstone 1894 11 — 29 (including 7 for 12), M .C.C. & G. v. Sussex, at L ord’s 1894 5 — 8 , M.C.C. & G. v. Notts, at L ord’s 1894 8 — 89 in an inns., K ent v. Surrey, at the Oval 1896 6 — IS, K ent v. Surrey, at Catford 1896 8 — 79, K ent v. Sussex, at Brighton 1897 5 — 33, M.C.C. & G. v. Derbyshire, at L ord’s 1899 For M.C.C. and G round v. Derbyshire, at L ord’s in 1895, he took four w ickets in four balls, and in the first innings of the K ent v. Surrey m atch at the Oval in 1890 disposed of three such great run-getters as Abel, J. M. Read, and Mr. K. J. K ey w ith successive balls, bu t obtained no m ore w icK cts during the innings. For Mr. W. W. Read’s team v. X X II. of the Country Clubs, at Cape Town, in M arch, 1892, he and Pougher at one tim e between them took eight w ickets in eight balls. It only remains to express the hope that next w eek’s weather will be gloriously fine and that M artin’s benefit will prove a “ bum per.” G R A N V IL L E “ A ,” v. SU TTO N “ A ” .-P la y e d at Lee on M ay 30. Score G r a n v ille “ A .” A . H elder, c Straker, b Burnett ................15 H . Gill, c and b B urnett ...............11 F. Browne, b Tullock 2 F. B. W ood, c Leeding, b T ullock ... 3 R . Johnston,c Tullock, b Burnett ................ 6 H . Tem ple, b Burnett 1 J. Heath, b Burnett 14 S utton 8 . Poole, c Gill, b Johnston ... ... 0 P. Burnett, c H eath, b J o h n sto n ................19 A . Greenfield, not out 115 W . M urphy, run out 8 A . Collins, c H elder, b J o h n sto n ................ 2 L . Straker, c H eath, b Johnston ................. 0 J. Tullock, c Lavender b J o h n sto n ................25 E . Lavender, hit icket, b Straker ... 7 W. D edrick, st S. Poole, b Burnett ... 18 A . L e M ay, b T ul­ lock ................. ... 0 C. H opw ood, not out 5 Extras ................20 T o t a l................102 “ A .” D . L eeding, b John­ ston ............................. 14 K . Parkin, b John- s t o n ..............................9 J. Poole, c Lavender, b J oh n ston ................16 E. Cooper, n o to u t ... 10 E xtras ................15 T otal (9wkts.)233 L O N D O N SCO TTISH v . F IN C H L E Y .—Played at Brondesbury on M ay 23. L ondon S co ttish . E. A . H om er, b W . de Paula ................33 E. A . Bennett, b T uck 11 G .Lienard,c K isling- burg, b M elhuish... 51 H . G. V. H om er, lbw, b M elhuish W . G. Henderson, b M e lh u is h ................ 0 L . Lienard, b T uck... 0 A . H . R ead,c Davies, b Tuck ................14 F in ch ley . 6 E. H ogg, huish ................ J. Lam ont, b Tuck ... H . C. H odgson, b M e lh u is h ................ R . A . Bennett, out . b M el- not B 1 4 ,lb 3 141 A . E. Griffiths, b S. Lienard ... .5 3 A . V . Kislingburg, b E. A . Bennett ... 0 L . Niederheitm an, c L m ont, b S. Lien­ ard ...........................35 B . C. S. Venables, lbw , b E. A.Bennett 2 H . C. Fisher, b S. Lienard .............. 3 H . W . M elhuish, b E. A. Bennett ... 5 H . W . T uck, c Read, S. L ie n a rd ............... 1 O. H . Davies, not out 11 L. Mee, b S. Lienard 0 J. E. C ox, not out .. 2 B 2, n -b 1 ... 3 Total (8 wkts.) ...115 W . de Paula did not bat. W. J. Brown took all ten w ickets for 62 runs for W hite House v, Roupell Park on May 23rd.