Cricket 1909

CRICKET : A w e e k l y r e c o r d o f t h e g a m e . NOVEMBER 25, 1909. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— B yron . No. 828. v o l . x x v i i i . T H U R S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 5 , 1 9 0 9 . o n e p e n n y . A CHAT ABOUT MR. E. H. BUDD. During the first two decades of the nine­ teenth century no figure was more fam iliar in the great matches than that of the player whose name is given above. He was con­ temporary with three other famous gentlemen cricketers— Messrs. Osbaldes- ton and Ward and Lord Frederick Beauclerck, but only the last-named cculd challenge bis right to be re­ garded as the most accom­ plished all-round amateur of the time. Both Mr. Budd and Lord Frederick were very great indeed in their genera­ tion and undoubtedly pos­ sessed that amount of skill which would have made them excellent players in any age. Mr. Pycroft, discussing the merits of the pair in The C ricket F ie ld , remarked :— “ H is Lordship is generally supposed to have been the best amateur of his d a y ; so said Caldecourt; also Beagley, who observed his Lordship had the best head and was most valuable as a general. Otherwise this is an assertion hard to reconcile with acknow­ ledged facts ; for, first, Mr. Budd made the best average, though usually placed against Lambert’s bowling, and play­ ing almost exclusively in the great matches. Mr. Budd was a much more powerful hitter. Lord Frederick said, “ Budd always wanted to win tbe game off a single ball ” : Beldham observed, “ If Mr. Budd would not hit out so eagerly, he would be the finest player in all England.” When I knew him his hitting was quite safe play. Still Lord Frederick’s was the prettier style of batting, and he had the character of being the most scientific player. But since Mr. Budd had the largest average in spite of his hitting, Beldham becomes a witness in his favour. . . . . Secondly, Mr. Budd was the better fieldsman. He stood usually at middle- wicket. I never saw safer hands at a catch ; and I have seen him very quick at stumping out. But Lord Frederick could not take every part of the field; but was always short- slip, and not one of the very best. And, thirdly, Mr. Budd was the better bowler.” From this evidence it w’ould appear safe to rank Budd at least on an equality with Lord Frederick, especially when it is remembered that the latter’s reputation as a captain was MR. EDWARD HAYWARD BUDD. to some extent founded on tactics which, regarded as somewhat questionable in his own day, would not have been tolerated in these. Budd, on the other hand, never indulged in anything contrary to the spirit of the game: no word of scandal was ever whispered against him , although he flourished when book-makers were to be seen at Lord ’s calling out the latest odds in front of the pavilion, and when large bribes were offered to the players to sell the match. In those days scandals were frequent, and many were the reputations which, justly or unjustly, suffered. Mr. Budd was born at Great Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, on February 23rd, 1785, and was one of a fam ily of sixteen, eleven of whom lived to be about forty. H is mother was a daughter of the Rector of Uley, in Gloucestershire, and was quite young when she made a runaway match with her lover, “ a powerful athletic man, of liberal and gentle­ manly character.” In 1801 M r. Budd, then only sixteen years of age, received an appointment in the War Office from the Hon. W. Windham which he retained for almost twenty years before accepting a retiring pension. H is first match at Lord's was in Sep­ tember, 1802. when he helped X X I [. of Middlesex to beat X X ir. of Surrey by 25 runs. He was chosen for the Gentle­ men v. Players match of 1806, but it wTas not uiitil 1808 that he begau to be seen at all regularly in the great matches. For almost twenty years — until, in fact, 1825, when he left London—he was one of 'the first men chosen for an important occasion, and as far .on as 1830, when forty-five years ( f a^e, was picked for Gentlemen v. Play< rs. After his ret:rement he kept up the game for many years and played for Purton against Marlborough College as late as 1852, when, to quote Mr. Pycroft again, “ to his great disgust some boy umpire gave the old man out ‘ leg before­ wicket ’— a thing next to im­ possible with Mr. Budd’s style—and which, he declared, had never happened in his whole life.” [According to Scores an d B iographies , however, he was bowled in each innings.] The subject of these remarks was five feet nine inches in height and his weight for many years was uniform ly twelve stone. He was devoted to the majority of outdoor