Cricket 1908

C R IC K E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE QAME. JULY 30, 1908. “ T oge th e r jo in ed in C r ick e t’s m a n ly to il.” — Byron. N o . 7 8 9 . v o l . x x v i i . THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1908. o n e p e n n y . A C H A T A B O U T C. B. L L E W E L L Y N . T h e m atch which comm ences at South- am p!on to-day is to be played for t! benefit of Charles Bennett Llewellyn, who has rendered such goo d service to H am p­ shire in all departments o f the gam e during the past decade. H e is left-handed both as bats­ man and bow ler, -a m agnificent field at m id-off, arid an untiring w orker. By w atching him in the field it would be quite impos­ sible to tell whether he was on the losin g or the w inning side, for, whatever the state of the gam e, he always does his best, evidently recognisin g the fact that a m atch is never won until the last ball has been bow led and that an “ accident ” m ight happen when least ex­ pected. H e is a player who never abandons hope how ever desperate the situation m ay be, and his batting or bow ling— perhaps even both— has often put heart into his side and changed a critical position into a satisfaclory one. \Vhen a great effort is required o f him he generally rises to the occa­ sion. An instance o f this was furnished in the m atch at Bournem outh tw o years a g o be­ tween H ampshire and Kent. T he lat'er, in reply to a total of 163, had run up 610, and no one would have been very sur­ prised if H ampshire had made another small score in their second innings and suffered an overw helm ing defeat. Llew el­ lyn, fortunately, gave one of the best displays of his career with the bat and, when the innings closed for 410, was un­ defeated with 158 to his credit. It w as a very m eritorious per­ form ance, takin g into considera­ tion the circum stances under which it was accom plished and bearing in mind the fact that Kent— it was their Championship year — had been carrying all before them. His display did not enable H am pshire to escape defeat, but it prevented Kent from carry­ in g off all the honours o f the match. Llew ellyn was born at Pietermaritzburg in September, 1876, and cam e to the notice of English cricketers through his perform ­ ances against L ord H a w k e’s team ir 1895-6. H e showed such prom ising all­ round form that season that he w as chosen to play for South A frica against the E n g­ lishmen at Johannesburg. As it hap­ pened he did little with the ball, but hi: score of 24 made him the second highest scorer in the first innings— not a bad perform ance for a man occupying tenth place in the order of goin g-in . M ajor R . M. Poore, whilst stationed in South A frica, has been m uch struck with his play, and he w rote to the Hampshire authorities advising them to offer the young cricketer an engagem ent. T he consequence w as that Llewellyn arrived in E ngland in the spring of 1899 in order to qualify for the County. It was not long before he had an opportunity o f prov­ ing his worth, for, included in the sicr which met the s ron g Australian team of that year, he scored 72 and 21 and tcok eight wickets in an innings of 360 for 132 runs. Later in the year he visited Am erica as : m ember of R an jilsin h ji’s team, when he took twenty-two w ickets at a cost of n . 13 runs each but quite failed to show his true form as a batsman. In the follow in g year, when his period o f qualification had still to be com pleted, he was allow ed to appear for the County in their match with the W est Indians. H e again met with great success, scoring 93 and 6 and taking thirteen w ickets, but was on the los'n g side, the W est Indians w inning by 88 runs. T he form Llewellyn shewed in the couple o f matches he was permitted to appear in during 1899 and 1900 naturally caused people to look forw ard to tho time when he would be able to assist the County regularly. H is first season in C ham pion­ ship cricket, 1901, was a great triumph for him , seeing that in all first-class matches he scored 1,025 runs with an average c. 31.06 and took 134 w ickets at i\ cost o f 22.53 f uns each. Ir. the match with the South A fricans at Southampton he contributed 216 to a total o f 538 which took only five hours ard a quarter to com pile and after­ wards obtained four wickets for six runs. So pleased were the spectators with his display that a sum o f nine pounds ten was quickly collected for him . Later in the season he had a prom inent share in a rem arkable run- gettin g perform ance at the expense of Somerset at Taunton. H ampshire scored 642 for nine w ickets in five minutes over five hours, Llewellyn m aking 153, Mr. E. M. Sprot 147, and Capt. G reig 113. So fast was the scoring that during the second day 649 runs were made for the loss of Photo by ] [Messrs. Hawkins Co ., Brighton. C. B. LLEWELI.YN.