Cricket 1911

CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. JUNE 17, 1911. Together joined in Cricket’s m an ly toil, • B yron , no. 872. v o l . x x x . SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1911. price 2 d. A Chat with /Hr. H. P. Chaplin. appointment with the Sussex captain was for Monday. I told him I hoped to see him before play began, or, if lie won the toss, during the home side’s innings. But play began at half-past eleven instead of at twelve, and I r e a c h e d t h e ground only just in time to see the first ball bowled, with Sussex in the field. And Northamptonshire were unkind. They kept Sussex there till past six o ’clock. I saw Mr. Chaplin as he came off, and told him I would not bother him that evening. He had had enough without submitting to the inter­ viewing ordeal. On Tuesday morning I saw him again. Sussex wickets were falling fast, and our talk was interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Heygate, seeming not quite satisfied with himself or things in general, in the dressing- room, with the news that he was out and it was his captain’s turn to go in. A quarter of an hour later Mr. Chaplin came back. He had started well, running into double-figures pretty quickly and by some capital strokes. Then Albert Relf called him for a short run and sent him back, and he was out with yards to spare. The fact that he consented to go on being interviewed directly after this speaks volumes for his good temper. He could not have been pleased ; but he did not show his displeasure. No one was more sick about the mistake than the good sports­ man who had made it, one may add. Relf seemed badly upset, and got out directly after­ wards. “ You were at Harrow, Mr. Chaplin. How was it you were not in the Eleven ? ” So the interview began. It may strike some readers as an impolite opening; but the inter­ viewed and the interviewer were not quite strangers, and the former did not appear to think so. “ I didn’t get my colours, but as a matter of fact I played in the team on several occasions. Then I went to Sandhurst, where I was in the Eleven in 1902. We had no match with Wool­ wich that year, owing to the fires at the R.M.A., of which no doubt you have heard.” The interviewer’s memory failed him here, but he did not confess it. ‘ ‘ Were there any other men who afterwards played in first- class cricket at Sandhurst with you ? ” ‘ 1 Oh, yes. H. G. Bignell, of Hants., now dead, was just ahead of me in the averages, and H. W. M. Yates, who has played for the same county, and J. R. C. Gannon, who has figured in important M.C.C. matches, were also in the team.” ‘ ‘ Prom Sandhurst you were gazetted to the 10th Hussars, I believe, and shortly afterwards went to India ? You got a good deal of cricket there ? ” “ Yes, while my regiment was quartered at Mhow. We held the Garrison Cup for three or four successive years, the whole time we were there, in fact.” “ You played for Bombay Presidency against the Parsis, and scored a century in one of the matches ? ” ‘ ‘ That was at Poona in 1906. I made 144 and 28 not out. Kanga and Meherhomji batted well against us in both innings, and Mistri had 12 wickets out of 14 that fell. We won the match by six wickets. Captain Wigram and I added 168 for the second wicket of the Presi­ dency, and in the second innings of the Parsis Meherhomji and Kanga put on well over a hundred in partnership.” “ You have played against most of the present All-Indian team. What do you think of them ? ” Photo by] [Hawkins iii Co., Brighton. Air. h. P. C H A P LIN .