Cricket 1908

322 C R IC K E T : A W EEKLY RECORD OF TH E GAME. A u g u s t 6, 1908. and thereby gained the distinction of m ak­ ing w hat is believed to be the first three- figure score recorded in the N ew W orld. International m atches betw een the United States and C anada have taken place for ever half a century, but it was not until 1859 that Am erican and E nglish cricketers engaged in friendly strife. In the autumn of the year named a strong professional side, consisting o f six m em bers of the All E ngland Eleven and six o f the U nited, crossed the Atlantic and played five m atches, all of which they w on w ith great ease. It w as due to the enterprise o f the M ontreal C .C . that the visit w as made, and although the players w ere absent only a couple of months they cleared about ninety pounds each after all expenses had been paid. T h e final m atch of the tour was at R ochester, against X X I I . o f the United States and C anada, who w ere dis­ missed for 39 and 64, and beaten by an innings and 68 runs. W isden took six wickets with consecutive balls w ith lobs. In the m atch against X X I I . o f Phila­ delphia at C am acs W ood both of the N ew - hall and W ister fam ilies w ere represented. T he N ewhalls have been to Am erican cricket what the Graces and W alkers have to cricket in this country, and for over half a century their name has been well to the fo r e ; in fact,- a m em ber of the fam ily is accom panying the Philadelphian team at present on tour over here. Perhaps the best o f them all were C . A ., R . S. and D . S ., each of w hom played his part, and played it well, upon the stage of Am erican cricket. T h e last, in addition to his skill as a player, deserves to be gratefully re­ membered as the founder o f the Am erican C ricketer. O f the tw elve m em bers o f that pioneer team of 1859 only C affyn, w h o also went to A ustralia tw o years later w ith the first E nglish team to visit that country, and who is now in his eighty-first year, survives. W illsher took a team across the Atlantic in 1868, and four years later M r. R . A. Fitzgerald went out at the head o f the strongest amateur eleven which has ever left these shores, w hilst in 1878 the A us­ tralians played a few m atches on their way hom e, and in the 'fo llo w in g year tw o team s— one representative o f the Gentlem en o f Ireland and the other under the leader­ ship o f R ichard D aft— visited the chief cricketin g centres o f the States and Canada. All that E nglishm en had yet seen o f Am erican cricket had been supplied by the base-ball team w hich cam e over in 1874, m embers o f w hich played seven m atches— at L o rd ’s, the O val, P rin ce’s, M anchester, Sheffield, D ublin and R ich ­ m ond— four o f which w ere w on and three lost. T h ey possessed little skill, how ever, and w ere opposed by very w eak sides, and had no m ore claim to represent the strength trans-Atlantic cricket than had T reloa r’s C low n X I. which went to Am erica in 1876, and o f which the fam ous Edmund Peate w as at one tim e a m em ber, to pose as the strongest side E ngland could produce. In 1880, how ever, a Canadian team , which included one or tw o fairly g ood players, cam e over, but the speculation proved a failure, and the tour w as abandoned before all the m atches arranged had been played. T h ey had m any difficulties to contend w ith, but the severest blow o f all was when their best player, T . Jordan, w hilom know n as Trooper Dale, o f the H ousehold B rigade, w as rem oved into the safe custody o f the m ilitary authorities here as a deserter. T h e tour cam e to a sudden close at the con­ clusion o f their m atch at Stourbridge, in which, by-the-w ay, J. S. Gillean took five w ickets w ith consecutive balls, one of his victim s being Mr. Paul Foley, who has done so much for W orcestershire cricket. It w as not until 1884 that a side which could be taken at all seriously cam e over. T h e Gentlemen o f Philadelphia then paid us their first visit, and, as their matches w ere for the m ost part against strong amateur sides, their tour did not clash in any w ay with that o f the Australians. Messrs. R . S. and C. A. Newhall were m embers o f the side, which showed cricket of a very fair standard and w on m ore m atches than they lost. In W illiam C. L ow ry, w ho took over a hundred w ickets for less than thirteen runs each, they pos­ sessed a m ost useful left-handed slow bow ler, and the batting was very useful dow n to the last man. They ran up 520 at Stockport against the Gentlemen of Cheshire, but what pleased them m ost was their win by 168 runs at Cheltenham over the Gentlem en of Gloucestershire, w ho had W . G . and E. M . Grace on their side. Four team s have com e over from Phila­ delphia since then— in 1889, 1897, 1903 and the present year— and during the last three tours have been strong enough to m eet the m ajority o f the first-class counties with a prospect o f success. Space, unfortunately, will not perm it their triumphs, which have been m any, to be referred to, but the object o f the present article, which w as to outline the history of the rise of Am erican cricket, has already been accom plished, and those w ho have follow ed the gam e at all closely durin g the past ten or tw elve years can easily b rin g the story up-to-date for them ­ selves. T w o names, how ever— the greatest in the history of the gam e in Am erica— call for em phatic m ention— those o f G eorge Stuart Patterson and John Barton K in g. Each w as a splendid all-round player, and there can be little doubt that, on his day, the latter w as w orth a place in any side in the w orld. H is greatest feat w as per­ form ed against Surrey at the O val five years a g o, when, in addition to scoring 98 and 113 not out, he took six w ickets. In his native land he has bow led down all ten wickets in an innings and tw ice scored over 300. M r. Patterson, although not yet forty years o f age, is now past his prim e. H e w as probably at his best four­ teen o f fifteen years a g o, when he made enorm ous scores. O n tw o successive days in 1894 he made 450 runs for once out, carrying his bat through the innings for 179 on the first and scoring 271 on the second. If Am erica can produce a few m ore players of the class of Messrs. Patter­ son and K in g, the day will not be far distant when E ngland, Australia and South A frica will find they are not the only sides entitled to com pete for the cricketing suprem acy of the w orld. L. R. Burrows, the Charterhouse captain in 1907, who took six wickets for 40 runs in this year’s Freshmen’s match at Oxford, scored 100 not out and took five wickets for Roving Friars v. Purley on Saturday. ** Some enthusiastic Yorkshiremen, who can­ not believe that any moderate thing can come out of Yorkshire, have taken offence at certain criticism s which have been passed on their County’s eleven. A little reflection would show them that when it is said that Yorkshire’s hundred per cent, flatters the ability of the side the excellence of English cricket in general, rather than of Lord Hawke’s men in parti­ cular, is callcd in question.” — The Morning Post. D R . W A R R E ON M O D E R N S P O R T . D r. W arre, the late head-m aster o f Eton, delivered on Thursday last a strikin g de­ nunciation of m odern athletics at D ulw ich C ollege to the students assembled for “ Prize-G iving D a y .” F or the follow in g summary of his adm irable rem arks w e are indebted to The D aily Telegraph :— The spirit of the age, which fostered the Olympic agony, swept into its net all sorts of amusement, every kind of business, and every branch of education. It hungered after dis­ play, it loved advertisement, it lived on ex­ hibition. Even exhibitions were becoming in­ trinsically competitive within themselves, and the epoch was quite feverish with record-mak­ ing and record-breaking. It was curious to reflect how, in the last half-century, this same spirit of competition had succeeded in turning most of our play into hard work and making a toil of our pleasures. The sports and pastimes of “ Merrie England,” as old Stow loved to think of them, were, for the most part, no longer, except in name, joyous recreations. They were mostly fbr those who took part in them a serious business. The professional element was largely permeating them, with the result that the games and matches played in public were becoming more and more spectacular, and it was to be feared that, in many cases, among the multitudes that flocked to see them, the chief interest in them centred not so much on the skill of the players and the goodness of the game as on the cash concerned in the issue. Continuing, Dr. Warre wondered if he should be thought singular if he expressed his belief that the influences thus engendered were not wholesome or elevating, either socially or in­ dividually. The popular excitement as to any sporting event had usually a somewhat sordid tinge owing to the betting that enhanced it. On the other hand, in the case of the individual players, the temptation to self-advertieement was strong, and the desire for personal dis­ tinction tended to supplant esprit de corps. Add to this the craving for publicity, and the extent to which it was fostered by the Press, not only by papers devoted to the chronicle and criticism of sporting matters, but also by those of the highest repute, and it must be confessed that, viewed as an aspect of national life, the tendencies of competition in games and amuse­ ments justified much anxiety as to their effect in the future upon the national character. He ventured to think that if we were to hope for any amelioration in these conditions we must look for it to the example set and the lead given by the public schools and the Univer­ sities of the country. The popularisation of games and sports which sixty or seventy years ago were, with but few exceptions, the pastimes of youth, and had their " foci ” in places of education, was chiefly owing to the joy and the good found by the young in those pastimes, which, radiating from these centres, had gradually assumed an import­ ance which used not to be theirs, and had be­ come part and parcel of English life. The public schools and the Universities had, there­ fore, in a peculiar manner incumbent upon them the duty of keeping up the best traditions, the most wholesome practice, and the highest code of honour in their pames. All uncon­ sciously the popular mind did incline to observe and to consider, as the right standard and the best example, that which was maintained by the schools, and, in this light, it was of tho highest importance that not only a generous esprit de corps should supersede and efface all personal self-seeking and self-advertising ten­ dencies in our games, but that a chivalrous sense of honour, should instinctively repudiate any unfair advantage, any unfair method, and so intensify the moral force and upright char­ acter of those who ** play the game.” Such example could not be lost. Whether in victory or in defeat it was recognised and appreciated. It endured hardship; it maintained courtesy It kindled generous sym pathy; it silently chal­ lenged imitation. It was, as it were, a moral antiseptic tending to sweeten and keep clean by its influence all the contests in which it might be engaged. Such to his mind was the idea! to which, in these days of competition, a great public echool should strive to attain in its games and so help, in due measure, to build itp & national character sans peur et sann reproche. ________________________ ** Australia has every right and claim to visit England next season, and South Africa h^a none.”— Transvaal Leade r,