Cricket 1908

78 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r il 16,1908. SOME REMINISCENCES . Writing in the Australasian of February 22nd, “ Felix ” (T. Horan) contributed a very interesting article entitled “ Once More Round,” from which the following extracts are made :— “ As it was the last Test match in Vic­ toria and the final appearance of the Englishmen in the cricket field in this State, I think it right to have another walk round, especially as I saw some old friends who have come a long way to see the struggle between these giants of the game, who represent England and Aus­ tralia. “ First of all I spot Mr. Phil Sheridan, who has been round the world since I had previously met him in the M.C.C. pavilion. It is many years now since first I met Mr. Sheridan." Those were the days of the old Albert ground in Sydney, when the wickets provided were very different from the perfect wickets now to be had on the beautiful ground in Moore Park. I re­ member walking from the old Albert ground with Mr. Sheridan to the site of the present ground, and it looked one of the most hopeless places you could think of for a cricket ground. Yet the energy of Mr. Sheridan and those associated with him in the project of forming the new ground was so great and sustained that they overcame all obstacles, no matter how formidable, and, after much labour and heavy expenditure, the new ground was formed. One man, who had chief control in the practical work, was the famous old-time Sydney player Ned Gregory, and many a chat I had with him whilst he was thinking out his plans as we listened to the bullets whizzing in the adjacent military-ground. That Syd­ ney cricket ground is now unsurpassed in the world for perfection of pitch and com­ pleteness of buildings and up-to-date ap­ pointments Yet I venture to say that the young Svdney Association member and cricketer who enjoys all the comforts and conveniences on the ground to-day never gives a passing thought to either Ned Gregory or Phil. Sheridan for the splendid pioneer work they did in the for­ mation of that ground. Ned Gregory is dead now quite a long time; but in his day he was a fine, vigorous batsman, who was known as “ Lion-hearted Ned. Once on the old Albert ground he got a terrible blow in the eye from a bumping ball from Sam Cosstick. After a few minutes’ retirement, and an application of raw meat, he came out again, and scored 6^ not out, out of a total of 116 made by the whole New South Wales side. I "never saw a worse black eye than “ Ned ” had on that occasion. Nasty cracks from bowlers were quite common on the old Albert ground, and on the present ground for some considerable time. Inter’-colonial matches were played on two, and, if my memory is right, on four separate pitches when first the present ground was used, so inferior was the wicket. To those who batted on those old wickets it is amusing to read of the comparisons between the scores made then and the scores made now on the absolutely perfect wicket on that Moore Park ground. I felt really pleased to see Mr. Sheridan looking so well, and I hope he may be all there for many a season yet as managing trustee of the good old Sydney ground. “ Talking of the old Albert ground at Sydney, here standing at my elbow at the 1elm ’ is my old friend Mr. Pocock, who hit me to square-leg out of that ground for 6. He wears wonderfully well, and in his summer suit of grey, with felt hat to match, he seems fit to entr.r the field to-day. He and the champion of cham­ pions", W. G. Grace, are cousins, and Mr. Pocock tells me that in his early boyhood, in Gloucestershire, he saw W. G. play his first match as a boy. W. G. went in, made a duck, and walking over to where Lis mother was sitting, he threw himself on her lap and burst into tears. That was W . G .’s first appearance in a match on any cricket field, and the first and only time he cried on a cricket field. His mother used to take great delight in watching him play when he was in his prime, and when he was playing away from Gloucestershire the great player used to send her telegrams at drawing time telling her the state of the game. I asked Mr. Pocock if he ever heard what became of another cousin, W. R. Gilbert, and he replied, ‘ The last I heard of him was that he went to Canada some years ago.’ “ In his day Andrew Loughnan was a fine footballer and cricketer. He is talking about the ‘ lost ball ’ match to W. W. Gag- gin, and they go over all the old ground with surprising minuteness of detail. Close at hand is the grand old footballer and cricketer, Charlie Carr, who played in that ‘ lost ball’ match, and not far from him is the old Jolimonter, ‘ Tinny ’ Slack, who knew * old Mac ’ when first the dead and gone old warrior went to East Mel­ bourne. ‘ Tinny ’ can tell you the very spot where the ball stopped when the bril­ liant field, L. Goldsmith, came to grief in chasing that ball over the fence. They talk of the grand innings played by Clem. Hill for 188, when he and H. Trumble made the great stand that saved Aus­ tralia Andrew Loughnan says that Trumble made 70 on that occasion. W .W .G. says 47, but as a fact ‘ Hughie’s’ score was 46. That was the time when a rinker sang out to Maclaren, ‘Alio. Mac, the kangaroo is still ’oppin’. ’ “ Amongst all those who have gathered from afar in the M.C.C. pavilion to see the fourth Test there is not one who gets a more thoroughly cordial welcome than the old M.C.C. player, C. Ross, who has come over from Sydney. His bright and busy batting and his able wicketkeeping are still fresh to most of us, and as we watch the slow play it makes us wish that he was in the field once more to wake things up. In a pleasant chat I find that he still plays with I Zingari in Sydney, and scores fairly well at times. He had an average of 52 runs per innings, so it would seem that he can still wield the willow with effect. Down at the nets I saw him shape, and playing with him was his old comrade, W. Bruce, the famous left-hander. ‘ Charlie ’ is in fine condition, and comes out after his prac­ tice without turning a hair. We were all very glad indeed to meet him. I asked him whether H. H. Massie ever plays now, and the reply was, ‘ I don’t think so.’ What a grand bat Massie was, and how he used to punish that off ball. “- Over from the Golden West is Mr. Frank Martin, from Perth. He is the Western Australian Association delegate to the Board of Control, and he has taken the long trip chiefly to see this Test natch. It is a pity the Englishmen did not play up to form in the second in- lings, so as to let him have a proper taste of th.?ir quality in Test match cricket. By the tree once more I hear a voice that has the old Richardian Northern ring about it. These were the words, ‘ Give him out, umpire,’ and they had reference to Arm­ strong, when an appeal was made against him during his stonewalling period. Once W’arwick hit one fairly hard along the ground back to the bowler, and a voice from the eastern corner of the shelter- shed sang out, ‘ Don’t slog.’ “ All the way by road for 160 miles comes Mr. FrankSmithto see this Test, and I feelmuch pleasure in meeting him, for he is a downright enthusiast in cricket, and takes great interest in the develop­ ment of the game in his district up Noorat way. Mr. Smith introduces me to his sister, in whose autograph-book I sign my name. Themotto of Mr. Smith’s club is ‘ Aiblins, ’ which he is careful to explain to me is the Scotch for ‘perhaps.’ Their competition furnishes interesting matches, and the modest ‘ Aiblins ’ motto comes out on top. Curiously enough the old bowler, R. S. Inglis, gives me a quotation from Bobbie Burns, with ‘ aib­ lins ’ in it, and, like Mr. Smith, Mr. Inglis is also careful to explain that ‘ aib­ lins ’ means ‘ perhaps.’ “ Round by the tree I met the old Bruns­ wick supporter and great enthusiast, J. Crewther, who has lived pretty well all his life in Australia, but who has a Scot­ tish voice that makes you think of Alan Breck and David Balfour hiding among the hills and heather on their way to the haunts of Cluny. One of the greatest treats I have had in days gone by is to chat with J. M‘ Donald about old Scotia. He is here to-day, and is rather disap­ pointed with Warwick Armstrong’s slow play. Keen as mustard in cricket is my friend M‘ Donald, and I have no chance r.ow to chat with him about his shooting and fishing in the Highlands, or to hear him give again the ‘ Caller Herrin’ ’ cry just as I heard it myself in Edinburgh. Ah ! those days in Edinburgh— * Time but the impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.’ “ A Yorkshire man near the free when the barracking is rife remarks that they never do that sort of thing in England, and the old Australian XI. warrior, Jim Slight, bursts into a laugh, and says, ‘ Don’t they?’ Jim was right. They bar­ rack pretty strong in England, and my friend, Mr. M‘ Nabb, who greets me out on the pitch, can tell you of the good old time he had at Kennington Oval, when the Surrey poet tackled him, and later when the crowd at Leeds gave him quite a glorious time. “ J. D. Edwards, the natty little all­ round man of the 1888 Australian XI., is in the pavilion, and on my way round I meet D. Ilton, the old Malvernian, who can go back to the fifties, when Malvern was one of the best clubs going in or near Melbourne. The veteran, I am glad to note, is still hale and hearty. Wrhen he played first in Malvern there was scarcely a house, except in Malvernvale, and now the vacant spaces in the district are very few indeed. The veteran Joli- mont patron, Mr. A. E. Clarke, was a resident of Malvern in those days, and I remember playing on the Malvern ground when his brother, the late Reginald Clarke, was in the Malvern team in 1869.