Cricket 1908

418 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 17, 1908. A HUNDRED Y E A R S AGO. In glancing through the records of the year 1898 the first thing which strikes one is the small number of first-class matches with which the cricketers of that time were content. Mr. Haygarth, in Scjres and Biographies, has included the scores of only ten matches played that season, and at least one of the games — that between Bromley and Dartford—had only slight claim to be considered first-class. Lord’s, then as now, was the Mecca of the game and for several years the M.C.C., which had been founded in 1787, had undertaken the revision of the Laws. There was no County Championship in those days, and, compared with the present, cricket must have been a somewhat leisurely game. The players, not being expected t) play day after day from April to September, were not subject to the wear and tear inseparable from twentieth-century cricket,and,inconsequence, m my of the chief cricketers were able to continue the game until quite middle-aged; thus, when the Young played the Old in 18 10 , the age limit for the former was as much as thirty-eight. Play was generally very keen for—this will come as a surprise to many—boo! m ikers attended as regularly at Lord's as Cioskfoidand Gully at Epsom and Ascot. Mr. Pycroft has a chapter on those dark days in The Cricket Field, and a very interesting chapter it is. “ If gentlemen wanted to bet,” said Beldham, “ just under the pavilion sat men ready, with money down, to give and take the current odds; these were by far the best men to bet with, because, if they lost, it was all in the way of business; they paid their money and did not grumble. Still, they had all sorts of tricks to make their betting safe.” “ One artifice,” said Mr. Ward, “ was to keep a player out of the way by a false report that his wife was dead.” Such days, fortunately, will never come again. A hundred yeara ago the wicket was 24 inches high and 7 wide, instead of 27 by 8 as now. Furthermore, the captains did not toss for choice of innings, the Laws enacting that “ The Party which goes from Home shall have the choice of Innings, and the pitching of the Wickets, which fhall be pitched within Thirty Yards of a center lixe.l by the adveifaries” and that “ When the Parties meet at a Third Place, the Bowlers fhall tofs up for the pitching of the Wickets, and the choice of going in.” There were no billiard- tnble wickets in those days and scores of five hundred or more were consequently unknown. All hits were run out, the players still wore knee-breech s, and all the bowling was -underhand. Creases were cut in the turf, not painted as now, wides and no-balls went for nothing or were included amongst the byes, and the follow- on and declaration were uuknown. It all sounds very primitive, but that the leading cricketers of that time possessed that amount of genius which would have nude them great players in any age cannot be doubted for a moment. All ten matches recorded by Mr. Haygarth for the year 1808 were played in the South, for, truth to tell, the game had not made very much headway in the North. The matches honoured by inclusion in the magnum opus of cricket are:— Surrey v. England (4). M.C.C. v. Middlesex (2). Essex v. Homerton (2). M.C.C. v. Homerton (1) and Dartford v. Bromley. Surrey was the chief power in the world of cricket in those days and the coDnty’s meetings with England were the chief events of the year. The first three matches were even-handed, but in the fourth, when Surrey allowed England the services of Lambert, the county were allowed to put sixteen men in the field. Surrey, owing largely to Beldham and Robinson, won all four games. Beldham had played his first great match as far back as 1787, when twenty-one years of age, and even as late as 1821 was chosen for the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s He excelled in every department of the game and has strong claim? to be regarded as the finest cricketer Surrey ever produced. “ Take him for all in all, we ne’er shall look upon his like again,” remarks Scores and Biographies. In their matches with the M.C.C. Middlesex were beaten by six wickets in the first but proved successful in the second by 86 runs. Mr. E . H. Budd a Buckingham­ shire man by birth and one of the best players of the day, assisted Middlesex on each occasion, he residing in the county during the twenty years or so he was employed by the War Office. Essex, with a plentiful supply of “ given men,” won both their matches with the Homerton Club, the first, at Lord’s, by 44 runs and the return, at Woodford Wells, by 57, but Lord Frederick Beauclerck and Beldham did practically everything for them. From about 1799 until 1808 the Homerton Club was one of the strongest in the Metro­ politan area. Mr. Haygarth records that in or about 18 12 it amalgamated with the St. John’s Wood Club and afterwards with the M.C.C. In 1808, in addition to playing the two matches mentioned with Essex, Homerton met the M.C.C. at Lord’s and were soundly beaten by 156 runs. Each side received the assistance of some of the best professionals of the day, but it was the batting of Lord Frederick which won the game for the M .C .C .: he made 100 in his first innings and 5 1 iu his second. It was during 1808 that Mr. George Osbaldeston played his first match at Lord’s. For some years he was one of the best-known men in the cricket world, owing to his great powers of hitting and especially to his fast bowling, which is said to have fractured almost as many legs as wickets. Until Brown, of Biighton, was brought forward by Mr. William Ward Osbaldeston, owing to his terrific pace, was invincible at single-wicket, but Brown beat him with his own weapons. A good-sized volume could be written concerning the doings of Osbaldeston, for he excelled in many branches of sport. He was known as “ The Squire”— “ The Squire of England ’’—and has been described as “ The greatest sportsman the world ever knew since the days of the Assyrian Nimrod.” In 1818, when he and Lambert were beaten by lour of England in a single wicket match at Lord’s, Osbaldeston was so provoked at the result that he took up a pen and struck his name off the list of members of the M.C.C., and in so doing obliterated the only two other names beginning with “ O.” “ The Squire ” afterwards regretted his hasty act, but not even the intercession of his friend Budd could induce the Club to consent to his name being again enrolled on their list. Osbaldeston died at St. John’s Wood on August 1st, 1866, aged 79, devoted to tho game to the last. Not very many cricketers of note appear to have been born during the year 1808, the best-known apparently being the Rev. H. E. Knatcbbull, I). Hayward, J . Hodson, and S. Dakin. Mr. Knatchbull. who was brother- in-law of Messrs. E . and G. T. Knight, played in his time for Winchester,Oxford University, Kent, Suffolk, Middlesex and Norfolk as well as for the Gentlemen against the Players. One corner of Lord’s ground—at the extreme left of the pavilion—became known as “ Knatchbuli’s Corner,” as he was very fond of driving the ball hard in that direction. He was born on August 20th at Mersham Hatch which, since the year 1486, has been the seat of the family ; before going there they had lived for centuries at Leinne. Daniel Hayward, of Mitcham, was a very stylish batsman and an excellent field. He played for Surrey in 1847 and frequently for the Cambridge Town Club. One of his sons and a grandson—the latter being the well- known cricketer of to-day—have also assisted Surrey, whilst another son, Tom, shared with Daft and Carpenter in the sixties the right to be regarded as the best professional batsman in the world. James Hodson was a Sussex man and rather above the average as an all-round player. He assisted his county from 1838 to 1854, and in the second innings of thematch with M.C.C. and Ground at Lord’s in 1839 was no-balled (for being too high) by W. Caldecourt after his delivery had been allowed as fair by Bart Good. The incident created quite a Jurore at the time. The fourth of the players named, Samuel Dakin, belonged to Leicestershire and was a very good bat and useful change bowler. T H E COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP, 1873-1908. Matches. Year. Champion County. Won Lost Dm. Total 1873-j Nottinghamshire 5 .. 0 . .. 1 .. 6 Gloucestershire ... 4 .. . 0 ... 2 ... 6 1874 Derbyshire .......... 3 .. . 0 ... 1 .. 4 1875 Nottinghamshire ... 6 ... 1 ... 3 ... 10 1876 Gloucestershire ... 5 .. . 0 ... 3 ... 8 1877 Gloucestershire ... 7 ... 0 ... 1 ... S 1878 Middlesex ........... 3 .. . 0 ... 3 ... 6 1879 Nottinghamshire ... Lancashire ........... 5 . 1 .. 6 ... 12 k . 1 ... 4 ... 10 18S0 Nottinghamshire ... 6 .. . 1 ... 3 ... 10 1881 Lancashire ........... 10 .. . 0 ... 3 ... 13 1882-j Nottinghamshire ... 8 .. . 1 ... 3 ... 12 Lancashire ........... 10 .. . 1 . .. 3 ... 14 1883 Nottinghamshire ... 4 .. . 1 ... 7 ... 12 1884 Nottinghamshire ... 9 ... 0 ... 1 ... 10 1885 Nottinghamshire ... 6 ... 1 ... 5 ... 12 1886 Nottinghamshire ... 7 ... 0 . ... 14 1887 Surrey ................... 12 .! . 2 .!! 2 ... 16 1888 Surrey ................... 12 .. . 1 ... i ... 14 1889-5 Surrey ................... 10 ... 3 ... i ... 14 Nottinghamshire ... 9 .. . 2 ... 3 ... 14 1 Lancashire .......... 10 ... 3 ... 1 ... 14 1890 Surrey ...........' ... 9 ... 3 ... 2 ... 14 1S91 Surrey ................... 12 ... 2 . .. 2 ... 16 1S92 Surrey ................... 13 .. 2 .. 1 ... 16 1893 Yorkshire ........... 12 .. 3 ... 1 ... 16 1894 Surrey ................... 13 .. . 2 ... 1* ... 16 1S95 Surrey ................... 17 ... 4 ... 5 ... 26 1896 Yorkshire ........... 16 ... 3 . 7 ... 26 1S97 Lancashire ........... 16 .. 3 . ’’ * ... 26 1898 Yorkshire .......... 16 ... 3 . 7 ... 26 1S99 Surrey ................... 10 .. . 2 ..!! 14 ... 26 1900 Yorksliire ........... 16 .. . 0 ... 12 ... 28 1901 Yorkshire ........... 20 ... . 1 , .. 6 ... 27 1902 Yorkshire ........... 13 ... . 1 ,. 11 ,... 25 1903 Middlesex ........... 8 .. . 1 ., ... 16 1904 Lancashire ........... 16 ... 0 ., io ! ... 26 1905 Yorkshire ........... 18 .. . 3 ... 28 ... 22 1906 K en t.......................... 16 ..,. 2 .. 4 , 1907 Nottinghamshire ... 15 .. . 0 .. 4 ,... 19 1908 Yorkshire ........... 16 .... 0 .,,. 12 , 2S * Includes a tie-match. M etho d of R eck oning th e C h am p io n sh ip . 1873 to 1886.—The smallest number of lost matches decided the order of merit. 1887 to 1889.—A win counted one point, a draw half- a-point. 1S90 to 1894.—Losses were deducted from \nns, and drawn games ignored. 1695 to date.—One point counted for each win ; one deducted for each loss ; unfinished games ignored. The Championship decided by the greatest proportionate number of points iu finished games.