Cricket 1911

238 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF TIIE CAME. J une 10, 1911. Countv) Secretaries. II.— M r . R. V. RYDER . Mr. Rowland Vint Ryder was only 22 when, in 1895> he was appointed assistant secretary to the Warwickshire County Cricket Club, the Secretary at that date being Mr. William Ansell, than whom few men have laboured harder in any county’s cause. For some seven or eight years the two worked together in most amicable fashion ; then Mr. Ansell resigned, and the whilom assistant-secretary took over full charge. It has been no sinecure. Warwickshire has had its ups and downs, like most other counties ; there have been times when the extinction of the county club seemed im­ minent. That it has weathered the storms is due more to Mr. Ryder than to any one other individual connected with it. When Mr. Ryder left Colchester, where he had spent a year or so in business, for Edgbaston, the club had a subscription list in the neighbourhood of £1,400. During Mr. R. V. RYDER. the next few years it averaged nearer £1,750. In 1902 it reached all but £2,400 ; but in that year for the first time Birmingham had a test match, and the subscription was raised five shillings and an entrance fee charged. Over £1,500 had to be spent to fit the ground for the crowds expected ; then rain spoiled the match, as it spoiled almost every match at Edgbaston that y ea r: and at the end of the season the club was very nearly on the rocks. A special appeal had to be made. Mr. Ryder threw himself heart and soul into this, and with good results. Willing help was given, and Warwickshire responded gal­ lantly. The large sum of £3,700 was collected and the County Club was saved. For a time. Then came another bad period. Gate money fell ; subscriptions dropped—from £2,040 in 1905 to £1,746 in 1906. Again disaster loomed ahead. Mr. Ryder made a special personal canvass of the County, and actually secured 600 new subscribers ! This must surely be one of the biggest things ever done by any county secretary. Since then there has been another slump, but the indefatigable canvasser has put in another spell of hard collar work, and is inclined to think the results satisfactory. He could hardly hope for such figures as those of 1906. A test match on a ground where one has never been played before means tremendously hard work for those concerned. The bulk of this work at Birmingham in 1902 fell on Mr. Ryder, and it is not too much to say that the manner in which he discharged it left no room for adverse criticism. Seven years later the difficulties were less, but still there was much to be done. In Golf Illustrated during April there were a couple of articles on the effect of golf upon County Cricket. These were Mr. Ryder’s work. He was moving in his adjurations to old supporters of county clubs—and naturally of War­ wickshire in particular, the golf fever having bitten Birming­ ham badly—not to withdraw their support, or, having withdrawn it, to return to the old allegiance. Whether he will have effected much may be doubted ; it is said to be a characteristic of the perfervid players of golf— no doubt an excellent game—that they cease to care about anything else on earth. But Mr. Ryder has done his best, and no man can do more. The Warwickshire secretary was a capable crickete- in his day, a quick-scoring bat, and a right hand mediumr paced bowler. He played in a couple of matches for Staffordshire in 1893, and from 1895 to 1907 took part in a good many club and ground games. His only century was 129 for the Club and Ground v. Tamworth in 1901 ; but probably this would not have been the only one, by a good many, except for the fact that Mr. Ryder has always put work ahead of play. He has given of his best to War­ wickshire, and one may safely say that no one who has upheld the game on the greensward has done more for her cause than the man in the Secretary’s office. R. V. R. is a Yorkshireman by birth. He was born at Wetherby on March 11, 1873. But he was quite a youngster when his family migrated to Wednesbury, his father, Mr. Robert Ryder, taking over the Wednesbury Herald, with which journal the family is still identified. For sixteen strenuous years Mr. Ryder’s labours have lasted. May they last—with some abatement of pressure, one hopes—for many more ! Brighter days seem in store for the County with the device of the Bear and Rugged Staff, and to none will they be more welcome than to the subject of this sketch. J. N . P e n t e l o w . LEIN STER V. D UB LIN UNIVERSITY.— Played at Rathmines on May 26 and 27 and left drawn. Score:— First innings. D u b l in U n iv e r s it y . Second innings. R. A. Lloyd, b Anderson ............................... 44 c Anderson, b Stuart 5 P. F. Quinlan, b Anderson ......................... 4 b Anderson......................... 42 H. M. Read, c Ward, b Anderson ................. A. E. Wilkinson, c Johnstone, b Anderson 14 53 b Ward................................ 33 A. Blair-White, lbw, b Stuart......................... J. Roche-Kelly, c Davey, b Anderson.......... R. H. Jones, lbw, b Stewart ......................... W. Sproule, b Anderson ....................... 8 22 1 c and b Anderson .......... 0 19 not o u t................................ 2 B. G. Quinlan, not out ................................ G. E. Craig, c Ward, b Anderson ................. 21 7 c G. Meldon, b Anderson 2 J. E. Meade, c Drummond, b Anderson Byes, &c. ................................ 7 b Davey................................ 3 37 Byes, &c.................... 5 Total ................................ 237 Total (6 wkts) ... 92 First innings. L e in s t e r , Second innings. L. A. Meldon, c Read, b Jones ................. 8 c Lloyd, b Sproule .......... 29 W. H. Drummond, c Blair-White, b Jones ... 3 b Quinlan ......................... 37 F. C. Flanagan, b Mead ................................ 9 not out................................ 11 J. Anderson, b B. G. Quinlan........................ G. Meldon, c Lloyd, b Jones ......................... W. P. Hinton, c Blair-White, b Jones.......... 29 c Lloyd, b Sproule .......... lbw, b Q uinlan................. 26 8 0 69 S. C. Smith, c Lloyd, b Sproule ................. 52 c Sproule, b Meade .......... 53 L. L. Johnstone, lbw, b Sproule ................. P. M. Davey, b Jones....................................... R. W. Stuart, b Sproule ................................ B. J. Ward, not out ....................................... 6 0 0 0 c Lloyd, b Sproule .......... 48 Byes, &c..................................... 18 Byes, &c.................... 14 Total ......................... 133 Total (Gwkts)* 287 * Innings declared closed. At Wellingborough, on M ay 3 1, Wellingborough Grammar School (270) played Leicester Clergy (114 ),