Cricket 1910

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JULY 21 , 1910 . “ T o g e t h e r j o i n e d in C r i c k e t ’s m a n l y t o i l . ” — B y r o n . No. 847. v o l . x x i x . THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1910. o n e p e n n y . A CHAT ABOUT W. G. QUAIFE. Next week W. G. Quaife will receive a benefit at Edgbaston, and it is almost un­ necessary to add that if he is supported to the extent he deserves he will receive a sum running well into four-figures. Time after time his steady batting has saved his side from defeat, and on occasions far too numerous to mention he has scored well when the majority of his companions have proved almost helpless. To see Quaife at his best is to witness batting of a very high standard, for he has always been a stylish player possessed of plenty of strokes, which he uses freely when set. In some respects he may be taken as a very safe guide for young cricketers, for he plays with a very straight bat and the manner in which he uses his feet and manages his hands and arms is admirable. So quick is he on his feet that hp^8an make almost any ball ^appear easy to play. Many hard things have been said of his defensive innings, but it should not be forgotten that he has been responsible for many an excellent display, on good and bad wickets alike, at a critical time. It has been found that those most ready to belittle his “ lifeless tactics” are generally*the first to look to him for succour when a crisis has to be faced or some good bowling worn down. Thus, in the match with Yorkshire at Edgbaston ten years ago Warwickshire had no possible chance of winning, and there was a distinct likelihood of their being beaten, when they com­ menced their second innings on a wicket which suited the bowling of Rhodes and Haigh to perfection. Quaife and Kinneir went in first, and a very great deal depended on their success or failure. In the circumstances they were thoroughly justified in restricting themselves to defence, and that they did so effectually that at the end of half-an-hour, when Quaife was leg- before-wicket without a run, all that had been scored was a bye. On other occasions, it is true, his slow scoring lias not had so much to vindicate it, and in support of this statement one may cite the mutch with Hampshire at Bournemouth in 1890, in which, on the first morning, he batted for an hour, during which time he scored one run and changed his bat. His value to a side, however, cannot be gauged correctly by a perus il of score-sheets, for he has done much brilliant work at cover-point, where he has made many a fine catch and saved hundreds of runs. Furthermore, he has often proved of use as a leg-break bowler, and in this connection it is of interest to recall that at the meeting of the captains of the first-class counties at Lord’s on December 10th, 1900, he was one of the players—C. B. Fry and Mold also were included in the list—whom it was agreed should not be allowed to bowl in county matches during the season of 1901. The resolution wa^, as everyone knows, nullified by the Committee of the M.C.C., who, whilst approving of ihe principle of the action of the the captains, deemed it ex­ pedient to postpone the actual suspension of any bowler. Since then Quaife has obtained many wickets for Warwickshire, and, one may hope, will continue to play long enough to take many more. W. G. Quaife was born at Newhaven, in Sussex, on March 17th, 1872, and began to play cricket almost as soon as he could walk. That he must have been except­ ionally keen is evident from the fact that he can recall practising on a Christmas Day, and that at the age of fourteen he was chosen to play for Newhaven. Later he received some coaching at Sheffield Park from Alfred Shaw, but, although he learned the game in Sussex, he appealed only once for the County—against Hampshire, at Brighton, in 1891, when he scored 11 and 1 not out. Later in that season, when his brother Walter went to Birmingham, he accompanied him and was engaged by the Moseley C.C., for which he played in Birmingham League matches. When he had become duly qualified he was tried for Warwickshire, and at once proved his worth by playing a not-out innings of 102. That was against Durham on the Durham ground in August, 1893, and was the ouly occasion on which he had au oppoitunity of showing his skill that season in county matches. He became a regular member of the side in the follow­ ing year, and has continued such ever since. H h best season was undoubtedly that of 1898, when, in strictly first-class cricket, he