Cricket 1911

J u l y 1, 1911. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 305 Countv} S e c r e ta r i e s . III.—M b . F. H. BACON. Somebody has said, with a good deal of truth, that a paid secretary who is worth anything at all will always be worth more than his salary to a first-class county cricket club, because he is safe to cover that on the subscription list alone. Such secretaries as Mr. F. H. Bacon, to mention only the man with whom one is dealing at the moment, do very much more than this. Much of the new energy, efficiency, and enthusiasm apparent during the last few years in Hampshire cricket is directly traceable to Mr. Bacon. When he took office in 1903, the county was in a parlous state. Season after season Hampshire had figured among the last three or four in the County Championship, actually last all too often. There were only eight hundred paying members. The new secretary set to work with two main objects— to increase the membership, and to equip the club with a team worthy of the name. Perhaps one should reverse the order for the team had his earliest attention. Here he worked hard, and found generous support, without which his most strenuous efforts would have been in vain. Now Hampshire has a side that looks good for the next decade at least. The amateur players have been rallied to the standard, and there is a young, keen and exception­ ally promising professional band, trained in the nursery, and numbering among them three or four men who may yet represent England. The membership has gone up over CO per cent., now amounting to more than 1,300. In addition, the Club does its own catering on the county ground and nets a profit equal to the subscrip­ tion of a couple of hundred members—a good tip, this, for other struggling counties, though, if adopted it might add considerably to the work of other struggling secretaries. The pivot of all this— though he would be the last to say that he could have done it all without hearty support from others—has been Mr. Bacon, and if Hampshire is not grateful to him (but one does not doubt that Hampshire is) it ought to be ! Francis Hugh Bacon is not Hampshire by birth. (There is an opportunity for a bad joke here, but one refrains). He was born at Colombo, on June 24, 1869. and was educated at St. Edmund’s School, Canterbury, where he got his colours. Going into business, he played little cricket for some years after leaving school ; but the call of the good greensward was too powerful to be resisted, and eventually he took up the game professionally. His first appearance for Hampshire was against Warwickshire at Birmingham in 1894, the year in which the mistake was made of leaving Hants second-class while promoting Derby, Leicester, Essex and Warwick. In his first innings the future secretary ran up 114 in tip-top style, and made his place in the team for some time to come a certainty. In the return match at Southampton his nerve at a critical juncture was mainly responsible for his side’s narrow victory by two wickets. Undoubtedly his best performance of the next season was in the first match, at Taunton. Hants had followed-on nearly 130 runs in arrear, and it was the stand of 131 made by Bacon (92) and the late H. F. Ward (71), coupled with the bowling of Tom Soar, which enabled the side to win by 11 runs in the end. In the next two seasons Mr. Bacon did little, and he was dropped from the team—too early in the opinion of many good judges. In view of the promise he had shown, and the manner in which he had faced difficult situations, it would surely have paid to give him further chances. But M r. F . H. BACON. Reproduced by kind permission oj “ Fry's Magazine," Ltd. here one speaks without the book ; it is possible that Mr. Bacon himself had changed his mind as to the charms of cricket as a means of livelihood. Anyway, it was not until 1903, when he had become secretary, that he reappeared, playing then and since as an, amateur. He figured in twelve matches that season, and without ever making a big score averaged nearly 19. In 1904 he did little ; but in 1905 his average was 20, and among his innings were 66 v. Northants at Southampton (highest score for his side), 41 v. Surrey at the Oval, a rare fighting innings, and 39 (highest score) in the second hands of a game lost in an innings to Sussex at Hastings. In 1906, playing in 8 matches, he averaged over 23, with scores of 60 v. Somerset at Taunton, 53 v. Derbyshire at Derby, 50 v. Worcestershire at Worcester, and 47 v. Leicestershire at Leicester—all away from home, it will be noticed. Probably the county authorities found that it hardly paid to send their hard working secretary on tour, even with ihe object of strengthening the team. It must have become apparent that his value on the ground was more than his value in the field, considerable though that was. His best innings in 1907 was played at Southampton. Against Leicestershire he ran up 110, a really admirable display, apart from its two chances. Since then Mr. Bacon has played comparatively little, though he keeps himself fit enough to do well if called upon. It does not seem likely that he will play much more, not because he is past doing good work, but because he has too much to do elsewhere. One must not close this article without mention of the project for a knock-out competition, the scheme of Mr. Bacon’s to which Mr. Charles Fry stood sponsor a few years ago. Its author still believes in it, and thinks that sooner or later it will be given a trial. A paragraph or two in “ Pavilion Gossip ” is devoted to its possibilities. J. N. P e n t e i . o w . LONDON SCOTTISH v. M ILL H IL L P A R K .—Played at Brondesbury on June 24. S core:— L ondon S cottish . C. Powell, b S m it h ............................... 3 S. Lienard, c Castor, b C roft............. 92 H. G. V. Hom er, lbw , b Sm ith ... 12 E. Hogg, b Croft ............................. 16 E. A. Hom er, b Croft ............. 0 A. H. Read, not o u t ............................ 48 R. A. Bennett, c Croft, b Sm ith ... 1 A. A. Thomas, c Croft, b S m ith ... 0 F. R. Connell, b Sm ith ... ............ 4 B y e s ................................................. 26 Total (8 wkts)* ... 202 * Innings declared closed. C. Jackson and H . J. R. P ope did not bat. M ill H ill P a r k . J. W. Jarvis, b Lienard.............. 3 C. E. Dalton, b Read ............. 1 B. K. Castor, b Lienard.............. 6 J. W. Kahrel, b Read .............. 5 A. E. Sharp, c R. G. V. Homer, b Read.......................................... 0 W. P. Williams, c H. G. V. Homer, b Lienard ............................ 8 H. Winch, b Read ...................... 0 H. S. Wheatley, b Read............... 2 A. J. Smith, b Thomas............... 12 "W. A. Croft, notout ............... 22 C. R. Snow, b Thomas............... 1 Byes, &c....................... 0 Total ...................... 60 H AM PSTEAD v. G U Y’S H O SPITAL.— Played at Hampstead on June 21. S core:— G u y ’ s H ospital . A. B. Bond, b Brachi ............... 62 A. C. Hancock, b Tanner ......... 9 A. H. Birks, c Whinney, b Ash ... 41 G. Dinan, b Pawling ............... 5 — Harris, b Hickson ............... 8 G. W. M. Andrew, b Tanner......... 9 A. H. Harkness, b Tanner ......... 27 R. Curnow, b Pawling ............... 1 H.W.Purdon, st Beaton, b Pawling 2 R. A. Fawans, not out ............... 7 G. Gripper, b Tanner ............... 3 B 34, Lb 1, w 1 ............... 36 Tatal ......................210 H am pstead . A. R. Tanner, b Harkness ......... 64 G. S. Hickson, e Birks, b Curnow 74 R. G. Howell, b Curnow ......... o G. M. Hodgson, c Curnow, b Hark­ ness '......................................... 4 E. W. H. Beaton, run out ........ 14 A. G. Saunders, c Andrew, b Harkness ........................... 10 L. Brachi, not o u t...................... 35 J. T. Ash, b Harris...................... 3 A. R. Trimen, b Harris.............. 5 E. Whinney, b Harris ............... 6 S.S.Pawling, cHarkness,bCurnow 3 B 11, w 1 ...................... 12 Total ............... 230 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. R. G. F oster .— Many thanks. B. H. C ampbell . —On Surrey by Longmans, 5/-; on Yorkshire by Constable, 5 / - ; on Kent by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 21/-; on Middlesex by Longmans, 10/6; on Notts., by C. H. Richards (Nottingham). “ C ardinal .” - -P. F. Warner 14,699 (commencing 1894) and Tarrant 6,274 (commencing 1905).