Cricket 1910

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. S e p t . 22 , 1 9 1 0 . N O R F O L K C R I C K E T . - (Concluuedfrom page U02.) When the history of Norfolk cricket since the middle of the nineteenth century comes to be wiitten the chronicler will find the story to be related one of varying fortune, telling of many a gallant fight on the field and of many difficulties with which it was necessary to contend in order that the county might not sink into oblivion so far as the game was concerned. In 1851 George I'igg, a Sussex man, entered upon an engagement at Norwich which he was destined to hold for several years. He was a medium-paced bowler who was deadly on his day, and before going into Norfolk had been engaged at Bury St. Edmunds and Woolwich. In or about 1856 he opened the Boar’s Head Hotel, at Norwich, attached to which was a cricket ground of which he had taken a lease a few years earlier. In 1851 the Earl of Leicester’s ground at Holkham was visited by many good sides, including I Zingari an! M.C.C., aud in October of the same year the Lynn O.C. played XXII. of Lynn (with Pilch), who won by two wickets. In tbe two innings of the XXII. there were twenty five 0’s, and in their second innings I’ilch made 70 not out and the other twenty-one members of tbe side only 17 : as he also took eleven wickets the honours of the game were clearly his. The match may have been arranged as a trial game in view of the first visit—in June, 1852—of the English Eleveu to Lynn to play against a local twenty-two, assisted by Charlts Arnold. After the poor form shown in 1851, the performance of the Lynn players in dismissing the A.E.E. for 41.must have occasioned some surprise. Strange to say no fewer than eight men were dismissed without a run, the only players to score being Caffyn (28 not out), Alfred Mynn (6) and Bickley (1). The match was drawn, with honours fairly even, but at Norwich in June, 1853, XVIII. of Norfolk (with Frank Tinley) beat the England Eleven by 28 runs —one of the best thiDgs accomplished by tbe county for some years. Mr. W. Mai con, the very fast bowler, played frequently for the Gentlemen of Norfolk and the County, but as he was iu Holy Orders—for many years he was Rector of Edgefield—he did not keep up the game as long as he would probably have done otherwise. At times he was almost irresistible, but, like every other great bowler, he had an occasional off-day: thus, against the Gentlemen of Suffolk at Gunton Park, Lord Suffisld’s seat, in 1854, he failed to take a wicket, and the Gentlemen of Norfolk had a total of 251 made against them and were beaten by an innings and 133 runs. 'I he Suffolk players were stronger just then than their neighbours and generally won—they did so by 121 runs at Stowmarket in 1855 although C. Wright took fifteen of the eigh­ teen wickets obtained by the Norfolk bowlers. Downham Market placed a XXII. in the field against the England Eleven in 1856, and after losing their first seven wickets without a run against Bickley and Willsher were all out for 42: the match was drawn. I Zingari played several times in Gunton Park, and in 1857 and 1858 beat the Gentle­ men of Norfolk there. (The score of the former match, by the way, is to be found twice in Scares and Biographies, vol. v., pp. 434 and 457.) In 1858 also the United England Eleven beat XXII. of Lowestoft, &c , by au innings and 118 runs, Lock.ver making 76 and the crowd only 28 and 77 : * Previous articles on N orfolk Cricket appeared on Septem ber 8 th and 15th. it was said that “ The match was far from being well managed or arranged.” Following three years in which little of interest happened we find the Gentlemen of Norfolk beating the Gentlemen of Cam- bridgshire on the Norwich ground by an innings and 331 runs. The Rev. (afterwards Canon) J. M. Dolphin scored 64 and the Hon. T. de Grey (now Lord Walsingham) 57, but H. W. Salter claimed the chief share in the success by making 113 and taking ten wickets. The Norfolk total was 442—a large one in those days. In the return the result was reversed, but Salter was away. After a disastrous season in 1863—in one match (against the Gentlemen of Suffolk) the side were dismissed for 24 and 43 and beaten by an innings and 192 runs—the Norfolk County C.C. was re-established. Practically a*ll the players were amateurs, and the matches were pleasant and in­ expensive. Among the best-known cricketers of that period were the Hon. T. de Grey, T. E. (“ Peter” ) Bagge, C. Marshall, the Rev. T. S. Curteis, G. H. Tuck (captain of the Cambridge team of 1865) and— a little later — C. Tillard. In 1864 the County appeared at Lord’s for the first time since 1846 and were beaten by 171 runs. They also met Cambridge University for tbe first time, and were rather fortunate to save the game : Mr. Clement Booth punished the County bowling for 106 and the Hon. C. G. Lyttelton, now Lord Cobham, made 92 off it, the University total reaching 311. Norfolk cricketers then, and for some seasons following, were enthusiastic rather than successful: their most important game of the season -that with M.C.C. and Ground —was generally lost, though at Dereham in 1867 they won, thanks to fine all-round cricket on the part of Mr. E. L. Fellowes, by ten wickets. At Lord’s in the succeeding s'ason, when the M.C.C. won by 2i3 runs, Mr. W. B. Money scored 51 not out and 107 and took five wickets in the only innings in which he bowled, whilst for Norfolk Mr. J. Mack bowled down four wickets in four balls in the second innings of the home tide. “ The Norfolk County C.C. ceased to exis>t at the end of 1868, and the subscriptions for 1869 were applied to defray the debt of £40 owing to the Treasurer and Secretary.” So says Scores and Biographies (X.—623) which adds “ The Club was, however, it is btlieved, soon resuscitated.” The season of 1869, in fact, was a most successful one. The Gentlemen won both their matches with the Gentlemen of Suffolk and won one and drew the other with the Gentlemen of Essex, whilst in August XXII. of Norfolk beat the U.S.E.E. by thirteen wickets at Norwich, and the M.C.C. were defeated by the County Eleven at East Dereham by six wickets. In the match at Norwich the Rev. T. S. Curteis got rid of the strong touring team almost unaided for 33, his aualysis being 17 overs, 9 maidens, 14 runs, 9 wickets. E. L. Fellowes was in fine form with the bat that year, and among several good scores made 126 v. Gentlemen of Essex at East Derebam and 60 v. Gentle­ men of Suffolk on the same ground. In 1870 a most exciting finish was seen to the XII. a-side match against the Gentlemen of Essex at Dereham. The home side won by one wicket, Mr. Chamberlain, who carried out his bat for 96, finishing the game with a hit for seven: with a more active partner he might have run more, but Mr. Charles Wright, who was in with him, hal played for the County as early as 1834. In the seventies Norfolk cricket owed much to Mr. R. T. Gurdon, and under his management many most pleasaut matches were played by the Gentlemen of the county. In Lord Suflield, Sir Lewis Jarvis and Mr. Gurney Buxton were three most enthu­ siastic supporters, each of whom possessed a private ground which he was willing to lend. But more than the enthusiasm of a few is necessary if a county’s cricket is to be well represented on the field, and therefore at a meeting at the Royal Hotel, Norwich, on October 14th, 1876, under the presidency of Mr. Gurdon. the reconstruction of the Norfolk County C.C. was decided upon. Lord Suffield was elected President, and Messrs. Gurdon and S. Gurney Buxton Vice-Presidents ; a Committee was formed and several gentlemen were enrolled as members of the Club. For a few seasons the fixtures arranged were not of a very ambitious character. The Gentlemen of Suffolk continued to figure in the list, and among the other teams met may be men­ tioned I Zingari, Cambridge University L.Y.C., Incogniti and Lincolnshire, whose County Club was established at a meeting at the Great Northern Hotel, Lincoln, early in 1880; In 1882 they gained an easy victory over a team representing the Players of England, and in the same seacon also beat Hertfordshire, Suffolk and M.C C. and Ground. One of their three drawn matches was against the Free Foresters, when 864 runs were made for twenty wickets, the County scoring 398 (Rev. C. L. Kennaway 147) in reply to a total of 466 (A. H. Trevor 104, R. A. H. Mitchell 102). In the early eighties the County pos essed several most useful players, including the Jarvis brothers, H. T. Luddington, P. H. Morton, A. P. Wickham, E. B. Raikes, C. P. Wilson, J. H. M. Hare, Rev. A. C. Davies and Rye. New opponents were gradually welcomed on Norfolk grounds, Leicestershire, Northamp­ tonshire, the Gentlemen of Notts, Surrey Club and Ground, Hampshire, the Parsees, Surrey second eleven, Eton Ramblers and Derbyshire all being met by 1890, in addition, of course, to rivals of longer standing. Mr. C. J. E. Jarvis, of Middiet n Towers, Ring’s Lynn, and Sir Kenneth Kemp, Bart., of Mergate Hall, Norwich, shared the secretarial duties for a few years, and were succeeded l»y Mr. W. E Hnnsell, the Rev. W. F. G. Sandwich and Mr. E. G. Buxton, who served from 1892 until 1908. The side always played bright cricket, and the fielding was invariably very good indeed, but the public support was at times most disappointing and more than once threatened to precipitate a crisis. The flag was kept flying, however, and if the county did not experience an astonishing amount of success it at least performed with credit and also played the game in tbe best spirit. At times —in the nineties especially—there were too many changes in the team, and the bowling of the side was allowed to depend to too great an extent upon the efforts of Shore and Morley. Shore was born at Sutton-in-Ash- field—in the same street as Briggs, George Bean and Tom Morley—and had played for both Notts and Lancashire before going to the East Coast on the advice of his doctor in order to rid himself of rheumatism. During the ten years he was engaged at Sefton he received many useful hints from Mr. A. G. Stet 1 and later was spoken of most highly by Ranjitsinbji. One of the most note­ worthy matches played by Norfolk in modern times was against M.C.C. and Ground at Lord’s in July, 1885. Winning the tos3 and