Cricket 1910

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF T H E GAME. MARCH 31 , 1910 . ‘‘ Together joined in CricKet’s manly toil.”— Byron. No 832. VOL. XX I X . THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1910. o n e p e n n y . A CHAT ABOUT ARCHDEACON SANDFORD. The Venerable Ernest Grey Sandford, M.A.., late Archdeacon of Coventry, and formerly Archdeacon and Canon Residentiary of Exeter, died at Exmouth on the 8 th inst. As he was born—at Dun- church, in Warwickshire— on August 16th, 1839, he was in his seventy-first year at the time of his death. To the present generation of cricketers he was, of course, only a name, it being almost fifty years since he had appeared in a match of note. In his young days, however, he was an excellent player: whilst batting was his forte, his wicket-keeping and slow underhand bowling were also of a very high standard. What he would have done had he possessed good health and decided to devote his time and energies to the game can only be surmised, but it can be said without fear of contradiction that he had that amount of genius which would have made him a great player in any age. Neither at Rugby nor at Oxford did he make enormous score?, ft r the reason that it would have been almost impossible for anyone to have done so on the wickets which were pro­ vided in his time, but he generally made as many runs as anxbody else on his side, and moreover obtained them by blight methods and in an exceedingly good style. In being sent to Rugby, E. G. Sandford was for­ tunate indeed, inasmuch as it enabled him to be coached uy John Lillywhite, an ex­ cellent judge of the game and a very successful tutor. Lillywhite entered upon his duties there early in 1850 and remained until March, 1855, when he was succeeded by Alfred Diver, who is even better known as a Public School coach. Sandford must have shown exceptionally j promising form at an early age, for he was only thirteen when he played his first match THE LATE ARCHDEACON SANDFORD. for the School, against a Cambridge team in September, 1852. He scored 10 and 1 on that occasion and made a catch, but did not appear again in the Eleven until 1854. In that year he played some useful innings, his best being one of 26 against the Rugby Club, for whom Messrs. T . C. Goodrich and David I Buchanan bowled. Matches with Marl­ borough were not started until 1855, but Sandford remained long enough at the School—he was Captain in 1856 and two following years—to appear in three of them. Furthermore, he had the satisfaction of being on the winning side each time, and in two of the matches of knowing that the result was due chiefly to his own efforts. In the game of 1856 he played a wonderful not out innings of 88 , which is still remembered by several old members of the M.C C., who recall it as one of the finest Public School displays ever seen at Lord’s. The only other double­ figure score for the side was 11 by A. Helme. In the following year, when the match was played on the smoother ground of the Oval, he was only slightly less prominent: he scored 58 and took eight wickets, and Rngby won by an innings and 83 runs. That he must have been far above the average among batsmen is evident from some of the innings he played whilst still quite young. In 1856. when only sixteen years of age, he scored 87 for The Eleven v. Next Thirteen (with Diver), no other player on the side reach­ ing double-figures : he also made 40, 56 aud 25 in con­ secutive innings Against, the bowling of Mr. T. W. Wills, John Lillywhite and Diver. Two years later he scored 65 not out at Lord’s against M.C.C. and Ground, who had Mr. E. T. Drake, Dean and Martingell to bowl for them, and 66 against the Free Foresters, who could make only 60 off the bat in their twenty-two innings ! His highest score seems to have been 105 not out in a pie-match in August, 1857. Of his