Cricket 1909

45 ° C R 'C K E T : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME Nov. 25, 1509. spoiis and took pains to keep himself in excellent physical condition. Old Lilly- white, who seldom bestowed compliments except on himself, was once heard to remark, “ Mr. Budd is the hardest hitter and the best-made man I ever saw in my life.” H is scores, which may not seem large to those accustomed to watch runs being made by the thousand on the hard, true wickets of to-d$y, were obtained when every ball had to be carefully watched, and it is testimony to his skill that Mr. W ard would give twenty to twenty-five pounds to anyone who would give him a sovereign for every run scored by M r. Budd in his one innings, well knowing, as Mr. Wheeler records in S p o rta scrap ian a , that he was making a pretty safe thing, Mr. Budd’s average being twenty-nine in all the great matches. H is bat weighed three pounds, but Mr. W ard’s was a pound heavier : light bats with cane handles were then unknown. Although he continued to play until he was sixty-seven years of age he never forsook the dress of his youth— nan- keea knee-breeches and silk stockings— and he always disdained pads and gloves. When playing for England against Surrey, in July, 1808, he h it a ball out of Lord ’s ground. O ld Tom Lord had promised to give 20 guineas to anyone who performed the feat. Mr. B idd told the professionals they could have the money, but Lord was shabby and would not pay. H is b nvling, without being really fast, possessed more pace thau Lord Frederick’s. Pycroft has paid “ Mr. Budd bowled, like Clarke, from his hip, with good elevation, and could make the ball rise very high, even when much past bis best, when fifty years of age.” It was very seldom indeed that his attack was mastered during his" prime, an 1 doubtless he had lost some of his spin by 1820, when Mr. Ward scored 278 against it at Lord’s for M.C.C. against Norfolk (with three given men). It says much for bis skill that for twenty years he was barred in all small matches. It is difficult for one to say much about Budd without referring to Osbaldeston, for the two were not only contemporary players, as already stated, but were bosom friends for more than half a century. Osbaldeston, like Lord Frederick, had a choleric disposition, and hifl habit of acting impulsively on the spur of the moment must Irequently have proved somewhat thrilliug to his companions. Both were first-rate at single wicket, Osbald- eston’s fast bowling being as well adapted to such matches as Budd’s powerful forward play. The pair entered into an agreement that they would never appear against each other in such a game, but Budd was induced by Osbaldeston to break the compact in 1818, when the latter stated that he and Lambert (with two to field) could beat auy four in England. The Four won with ease— Mr. Budd, in fact, beat the Two off his own bat by an innings and 8 runs—an event which so provoked “ The Squire” that he took up a pen and immediately erased his name from the list of M.C.C. members in the Pavilion at* Lord’s. Osbaldeston soon regretted his hasty act, but not even the persuasive plead­ ing of Budd could induce those in authority to reinstate him. 1 he pair were lost to the game —so far as great matches were con­ cerned— all too soon. In the following extract from an old poem entitled “ In Praise of Cricket” it is suggested (inaccurately) that Budd gave up playing in what would now be called first-class games owing to an injury:— “ Two gentlemen lately have given up play, And both, let me add, of renown in their day ; The one’s hurt his arm, and the other now narrows His mind down to popping at pigeons and sparrows. “ Were they in the field now, the Marybonne Club Might still be enabled opponents to drub, B-dd’s arm may get well—Osb-ld—think proper Again to play cricket, and lay by his popper.” _ Budd played in another noteworthy single­ wicket match two years later and afterwards describe 1 it in tbe following words:— “ About 1820, at our anniversary dinner (3-guinea tickets) at the Clarendon, Mr. Ward asked me if I had not said I would play any man in England at single-wicket without fieldsmen. An affirmative produced a ‘ p.p.5 match for 50 guineas a side. On the day appointed, Mr. Brand proved my opponent. He was a fast bowler, I went in first, and scoring seventy runs, with some severe blows on the legs, I consulted a friend, and knocked down my wicket lest the match should last till the morrow, and I be unable to play. Mr. Brand went out without a run ! I went in again, and, making the seventy up to a hundred, I once more knocked down my own wicket; and once more my opponent failed to score! The flag was flying, the signal of a great match, and a large concourse were assembled, and considering Mr. Ward, a good judge, made the match, this is probably the most hollow victory on record.” To this account — in S portascrapiana — Mr. Wheeler suppl.ed this interesting footnote:— “ Mr. Budd, of course, demanded of Mr. Ward to name his man, but the latter objected. Lord Frederic said he must, of course, as if his man died he may name another ; whereas if Mr. Budd died in the interim, Ward would claim his stakes of 100 guineas. Ward asked what Budd would take not to have the name, and Budd said five guineas, which Ward paid. When Budd met Brand on the ground the day of the match, he said, 4Well, Brand, you’ve come to see the match ? ’ ‘ I’m come to play,’ said Brand. Mr. Budd told us he knew then his money was safe.” Brand afterwards compiled an Armenian dictionary, “ shutting himself up in a convent for that purpose,” and died in a private lunatic asylum—a result, one hopes, in no way due to the punishment inflicted on him in the match mentioned. If M r. Budd had never played cricket he would still have been known to fame, for he was a remarkable man in nuny ways. In his prime he was prepared to back himself against any man at shooting—he took out a license for over fifty years— running, jump­ ing and sparring, in addition, of course, to cricket, whilst at billiards and tennis he was also very formidable. He retained his interest in sport to the last, and the posses­ sion of a very retentive memory enabled him to supply Messrs. Pycroft and Haygarth with much valuable information concerning the old players. In his home at Wroughton, in W iltshire, he devoted much of his time to gardening, specialising in tulips, of which he collected 20,000 in forty years, and wall­ flowers. H is tombstone, which can still be seen in Wroughton Churchyard, bears the following inscription:— “ Sacred to the memory of Edward Hayward Budd, who died March 29th, 1875, aged 90. For fifty years a resident of this parish.” Mr. Budd’s best scores in matches of note are appended:— Score. Year. 76 Middlesex v. M.C.C., at Lord’s ... ... 1808 60 England v. M.C.C., at Lord’s .................. 1809 105 E. H. Budd’s XI. v. G. Osbaldeston’s XI., at Lord’s .................. .......................... 1816 57 Epsom v. Sussex, at Lord’s ................... 1816 68* England v. /Surrey, at Lord’s ................... 1817 63 Epsom v. Sussex, at Lord’s ................... 1817 65 M.C.C. v. Hampshire, at Lord’s ........... 1817 78* E. H. Budd’s XI. v. W. Ward’s XI., at Lord’s ........... ......................................... 1817 54* M.C.C. v. Hampshire, at Lord’s ........... 1818 73 M.C.C. v. Gentlemen of England, at Lord’s .......................................................... 1818 56 Gentlemen v. Players,at Lord’s ............ 1819 51* Gentlemen v. Players, at Lord’s . 1820 56 England v. Hampshire, at Lord’s .......... 1820 87 X. of M.C.C. (with Sparks) v. VIII. of M.C.C. (with 3 Players), at Lord’s ... 1822 86 M.C.C. v. Godalming, at Lord’s ........... 1822 69 Gentlemen v. Players,at Lord’s ............ 1822 67 Hampshire v. England, in Bramshill Park .......................................................... 1823 65 H. Hoare’s XI. v. W. Ward’s XL, at Lord’s .......................................................... 1824 51 The B.’s v. England, at Lord’s ................. 1824 * Signifies not out. A NOTABLE CRICKET RECORD. The distinction has, for the second year in succession, fallen to the lot of R. E. S. Mendis, the young Sinhalese Sports Club cricketer, of scoring over a thousand runs and capturing over a hundred wickets. As w ill be seen from the figures appearing below, Mendis had scored 1,051 runs in 29 innings, and, being twice not out, has an average of 39. In bowling he has secured 183 wickets to date, at a cost of a little over seven runs each. Such a record is without parallel in Ceylon cricket. The only other cricketer who achieved this excep'.ionally rare distinction was Lieut. Faviell. The Worcester officer, however, did not complete his thousand runs till the last month of the year had been reached. A. S. Eliyatamby succeeded in scoring his thousand runs in 1907, but just failed to obtain his hundred wickets, Mendis is to be heartily congratu­ lated on his success. Appended is a list of Mendis’ scores for this year :— Score. 105 ... Sinhalese S.C. v. Wesley College Masters 41 ... }} v. St. Benedict’s 65 ... t v. Railway C.C. 82 *... v. Y.M.C.A. 60 ... Treasury v. Combined Colleges 67 ... v. Malay C.C. 62 ... v. Government Stores C.C. 62 ... Sinhalese S.C v. Audit & Controller’s Office 46 ... v. B.Y.M.A. C.C. 89* ... Treasury v. Railway C.C. 50 ... v. Wesley College 40 ... v. G.P.O. 31 ... Sinhalese S.C v. G.P.O. 39 ... _j v. Malay C.C. v. St. Thomas’ College 11 ... 37 ... v. Bloomfield C. and A.C. 5 ... v. Municipal S.C. 6 ... v. Police 1 ... v. C.C.C. 16 ... v. St. Thomas’ College 11 ... v. Tamil Union 16 ... v. Colts 29* ... 20 ... Treasury ” v! C.C.C. 16 ... v. Audit & Controller’s Office 4 ... v. Tamil Union 26 ... v. Y.M.C.A. 12 ... jj v. G.P.O. 2 „ v. ,, 1,051 Total Runs. H is best bowling performances were as follows :— Wkts. Runs. 4 for 28, Sinhalese S.C. v. St. Thomas’ College. 3 ,, 17, ,, v. St. Benedict’s. 5 » 17, ,, v. „ 5 ,, 21, ,, v. Bloomfield C. and A.C. 5 ,, 8, „ v. Sports Club. 6 „ 30, ,, v. Malay C.C. 6 „ 8, „ v. Y.M.C.A. 5 „ 12, „ v. C.C.C. 5 „ 20, „ „ 8 „ 16, ,, v. Combined Colleges. 9 „ 31, ,, v. Wesley College Masters. 6 ,, 32, „ v. Colts. 4 ,, 45, „ v. ,, 6 „ 28 „ v. G.P.O. 5 „ 21 „ v. G.P.O. C eylon Sportsm an (2110/1909). n lC H A R D D A F T ’S N O T T IN G H A M S H IR E K MARL.—Particulars apply Radcliffe-on-1 rent, Notts.