Cricket 1908

CR ICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JULY 23, 1908. w ie 0— Dj©j( ' ■*— © & m ^rjy^y '/?£COW ( * { v r j — =4 -fag— “ T og e th e r jo in ed in C r icK e t’s m a n ly to il.” —Byron. N o . 7 8 8 . v o l . x x v i i . THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1908. o n e p e n n y . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. F . H . H u is h . Kent, like Surrey, have always been strong- in wicket-keeping. During the past eighty years such groat ex­ ponents as Wenman, Dorrinton, F. S. Clifford, Fryer, Henty, Mr. C. Kemp, Pentecost, and F. H. Huish have undertaken the duties, and right worthily have they per­ formed their task. It would be in­ teresting, if it were possible, to com ­ pare the last-named wilh his pre­ decessors, but the conditions which existed in former times were so ^different from those which exist to­ day that it would be futile to at­ tempt to do so. It would, however, be difficult to imagine anyone show­ ing better or more consistent form behind the sticks than Huish has done during the last ten or twelve years. In former days cricketers, ow ing largely to the small number of matches played, kept before the public far longer than they would have done in modern tim es; thus Box, the Sussex wicket-keeper, ap­ peared for his county from 1828 until 1856, and from 1832 to 1855— twenty-four consecutive seasons—-did not miss a single match, whilst Edward Gower Wenman assisted Kent for the first time in 1825 and for the last in 1854. The latter, during his long period of service, kept wicket in 52 matches, catching 47 men and stumping 33 ; on the other hand, Huish, to the end of last year, had taken 699 wickets in 270 matches as the result of twelve seasons’ work. Few facts could more eloquently show the extent to which cricket-playing has increased during the past three-quarters of a century. If a young wicket-keeper wished to model his style upon that of one of the great players of the day he could not do better than carefully watch the methods of the subject of these remarks. The manner in which he holds his hands could not well be improved upon ; the wrists are set close together, and the fingers, which point somewhat downward are spread apart, so that once the ball gets into the hands there is little chance for it to escape. He is, moreover, very quick on his feet and to see him run out a man off a ball received a trifle wide is an education in itself. Unlike se'eial players one might mention, he does not lose interest in the game when he leaves the field. He is, in fact, president of several small clubs in the Sidcup neigh­ bourhood, and so keen a student of his county’s cricket that it has been said that he knows the History of Kent County Cricket by heart; but this may be a slight exaggeration. “ It is, I think, through residence that you are qualified for K en t?” “ Although Surrey is my native county— I was born at Clapham— I am to all intents and purposes a Kent man. I have practically lived in Kent since my childhood, and it was at Dover that I learnt the game and first played. I was fortunate enough to come under the watchful eye of Harry Wood, of Surrey, and had it not been my great admira­ tion for his wicket-keeping whilst a youngster at school I do not think I should ever have taken to that branch of the game, and I feel now that if I have been a success in that department the credit of it all belongs to this old friend. I was in business at Eynsford eventually, and whilst there played a lot of cricket, principally for Eynsford, Farningham, where the Rashleighs lived, and occasionally for Becken­ ham. It was whilst captain of Eyns­ ford that I came under the notice of the County authorities.” “ Upon whose recommendation was it you were given a trial?” “ I think Leonard Shuler’s. After some preliminary practice at Ton­ bridge and a trial for the Gentle­ men v. Players of Kent at Becken­ ham, I was asked to play for the second eleven of the County against Middlesex 2nd X I., at Lord’s. This I did, and, getting several wickets, was invited by Mr. Marchant before the match was over to play for the first team the following week against Warwickshire and Lanca­ shire. That was in 1895. At Man­ chester, in trying to escape being run out, I fell and broke my collar­ bone, and was kept out of cricket for some weeks in consequence. By the beginning of the next season, however, I was quite sound again, and I have played regularly for the side ever since. Although, of course, I have taken some hundreds of wickets for Kent, I can, when going through the score of any match, re­ call the particulars of each dismissal I was responsible for.”