Cricket 1910

CR ICK E T : A W EEKLY RECORD OF T H E GAME. D EC EM B E R 22 . 1910 . “ Together joined in CricRet’s manly toil."— Byron. No. 859 . v o l . xxix. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1910. o n e P e n n y . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. M r . C. E. GREEN. Very few persons indeed are better quali­ fied to speak on past or [modern cricket than Mr. C. E. Green, who gained a place in the Uppingham Eleven just over fifty years ago, at the early age of twelve, and has been identified very prominently with the game ever since. His appearances in first-class cricket were made for Cambridge, Middlesex,Sussex, M.C.C. —he joined the Club in 1869 and was its President in 1905—Essex, Gentlemen v. Players and North v. South, and as he also played for many amateur clubs, including I Zingari, Uppingham Rovers and the Quidnuncs, it will be realised that his experience has been exceptional. All the honours of the cricket-field which it was possible for him to obtain he gained, and if Test matches had been in vogue when he was in his prime he would assuredly have played for England. During his last year—his fourth—as a member of the Cambridge team he was described in Lillywhite’s Com­ panion as “ A fine batsman . . . his hitting being beautifully clean and effective; bowls fast right-handed, and is a sure and brilliant field and catch anywhere.” Furthermore, he was an excellent judge of the game, a fine captain and a player who has seldom been equalled, and never surpassed, in pluck. His innings of 51 for M.C C. v. Yorkshire, against Freeman and Emmett on a rough wicket at Lord’s forty years ago, has become historic. He and “ W.G.” were struck repeatedly by the bowl­ ing, and to this day the former carries on his chest a mark which testifies to the pace and awkwardness of Freeman’s attack on that occasion. Mr. Green played his last match for Essex in 1891, but has ever since remained most closely and actively identified with the County’s cricket. At the present time he is—not for the first occasion—doing all in his power to put the Club on a sounder financial basis. He said :—“ We found ourselves nearly twelve hundred pounds short this year, and as Sussex had promoted a Shilling Fund with every success we decided to follow their example. I am glad to say that we received happy days spent on Essex ericket-fields. But what is required in order to make the County Club self-supporting is a membership of 2,500. Constant appeals to the public become rather monotonous and are not very dignified. At the Secretaries’ meeting at Lord’s this year I met Harry Foster, and could not help twitting him on two such impe­ cunious clubs as Worcestershire and Essex arranging long County Cham­ pionship programmes for next season.” “ You mention the Championship. Do you favour any particular scheme concerning it ? " “ In my opinion there are so many counties taking part in the competition that it has become un- wieldly under the various conditions that have governed it. I am strongly in favour of the Divisional system, which has been advocated in Cricket and by Lord Hawke, and feel that, sooner or later, it will be adopted. It would mean the counties being divided into two sections, but all the games would rank first-class and every county would play home-and- away matches with every other side in its own division. The fact that a county happened to be in the second or B section would carry with it no stigma, for it would be merely for convenience that the sides would be divided. If it were the fortune of Essex to find themselves in B section, certainly I should not complain; it would be necessary for some counties to be there and if, owing to their demerits or lack of success, they found themselves so placed, there should surely be no cause for com­ plaint. In the event of the system being put to the test, the sides will often be better matched than they are at present and more closely- contested games and keener cricket will be witnessed. Furthermore, the efforts of the clubs at the top of tbe B division to gain promotion to the A should provide good struggles, and the same remark applies to attempts on the part of the lowest clubs in the first section to avoid being trans­ ferred to the second, whilst the fact that there would be the usual keen, ness to become Champion County would mean that there would really be two strivings after distinction instead of one as hitherto. The Lancashire scheme was not sufficient support to warrant us in arranging fixtures for next season, although the debt Jhas not yet been quite cleared off. But we [ hope to get the rest soon, for a Shilling Fund M r . C. E. G reen . Photo by] ' [Dickinson, London. should tap nearly all. Several old ericketers, many of whom have no connection with the county, have written me very kind letters enclosing contributions in remembrance of