Cricket 1911

APRIL 22, 1 9 1 1. CRICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. 71 “ You have reached three figures once or twice, I believe, Mr. K elly?” “ Yes. My biggest score is 106 not out, for Knickerbocker A.C. v. S S. Etruria, nearly ten years ago. But a better innings was a level century for New Jersey A.C. v. Staten Island in 1897. And perhaps my best feat in the batting line was not a century at all. It was in 1895, and I was playing for a combined team of the New Jersey and Staten Island clubs against the crack Germantown club of Philadelphia. The batting order was changed, and I was sent in to play out time at the end of the first day, and next morning hit up 85 not out, the highest score for the side.” “ Can you recall any curious or humorous incidents in connection with the game ? ” “ What cricketer cannot, if he has kept eyes and ears open, and not mislaid his memory ? When I made my century against Staten Island I was given out for obstructing the field. It was like this. My partner played the ball down the pitch, and called me, and I ran over the ball as I bolted for the opposite wicket. I didn’t touch the leather; I didn’t touch the fieldsman; but I was given out for ‘ obstructing the field.’ ” “ That was curious certainly. Did it strike you as humorous ? ” “ Not at the time. But, after all, I had made my century—and my first century, at that—so I could bear it. In Chicago, I remember, an umpire gave a batsman out lbw without any appeal, and informed us afterwards that he had done it because the match was getting altogether too close a thing for his club ! I recall, too, an amusing story about Tyers. It is Archie Gunn’s story, really. Archie is a well-known artist and a very keen cricketer ; he and I have played 16 years on the same side, and in 14 of them have helped it to win the championship of the League.” “ The story, Mr. Kelly, the story, please ! ” “ I can’t tell it as Archie can. Tyers was our pro. for a long time, you know. He had a very old horse to draw the roller, and a small boy to lead the horse. The ancient quadruped dropped from exhaustion one day. Tyers came up, and fiercely demanded an explanation. His youthful aide had none to give. ‘ Why, you must have leaned up against him, you young rascal! ’ roared Tyers in wrath.” “ Any more yarns ? ” “ At Bayonne once I captained a side which included a man unknown to me, but who, so I had been told, was a very good cricketer. So I sent him in first. I saw him watching the other batsman, who was left-handed, and in the habit of wearing only one pad. Then the unknown man also put one pad on, and, like his partner, put it on the right leg—only, for him, being right-handed, it was the wrong leg, as he found when he got to the wicket.” “ He got out at once, I suppose ? ” “ No. He ran a bye first. I’m sure of that, because, as he crossed the left-hander in his run, he said to him, ‘ Say, did you hit that ball, or did I ? ’ He may have been a very good cricketer indeed, but he did not know a bye when he saw one.” “ Are such inaccurate estimates of ability common in the States ? ” “ Well, there are plenty of people there who don’t know the first thing about cricket, of course. And some of the things they see in the papers weren’t likely to help their education much. I have a ‘ cut ’ from the New York Tribune which is stated to represent a match between two crack New York teams. What it actually shows is a regiment of American soldiers going up San Juan H ill! The plates got mixed in the printing, no doubt. Calculated to give one the notion of a very dangerous game, though.” “ What is the lowest score for which you have helped to dismiss a side ? ” “ Five, and thereby hangs a tale. The side was the London Club of Camden, who claimed to be champions of the State of New Jersey. We took a strong team to play them, and weren’t at all satisfied with ourselves when we were out for 170 odd. But it proved enough. I had six wickets for one run that innings.” “ Who are the best cricketers you have met in America? ” “ The finest all-round player the Western Continent has ever produced is undoubtedly J. Barton King, of the Belmont Club of Philadelphia. Then George Stuart Patterson, J. A. Lester and Dr. E. R. Ogden were all exceptionally good. Ogden bats left and bowls right, an unusual thing. He was in England with the Canadian team of 1887, but has played most of his cricket Chicago way. A. M. W ood, who has been with you as a member of three Philadelphian teams, is as good a bat as any of them. In Canada the Rev. F. W. Terry, who used to play for Somerset, Dyce Saunders, George S. Lyon, J. M. Laing, a very fine bowler indeed, and W . A. Henry, of Halifax, have been among the best ? ” « “ But what of the New York men ? ” “ We have had some real good ones, too. I put M. R.Cobb first, a first-class all-rounder, the best man in the city for many years. Arthur Hoskings, J. L. Poyer and A. G. Laurie are allgood players, too. Then there have been C. Howell Clarke, whocame from Barbados, and E. H. Steinthal, besides Kortlang, J. H. Gordon, the Oxford blue, and A. F. Spooner, a brother of the Lancashire crack. Oh, and I must not forget Sydney Deane, who plays with me for the Veterans Club, and who was, twenty years ago or more, a New South Wales player.” Mr. Kelly’s activities as a cricketer have not been confined to the field of play. He'was for two years secretary of the Chicago Cricket Association, has for eleven years occupied the same post in the Metropolitan District Cricket League of New York, and this year, on the formation of the New York and New Jersey Cricket Association was persuaded to take the secretaryship of that also. The Brooklyn Eagle remarked that: “ Mr. Kelly holds the somewhat unique position of being secretary of two big cricket bodies, the interests of which are not exactly identical.” But one cannot quite picture Mr. F. F. Kelly, secretary to the M .D.C.L., writing angry letters to Mr. F. Fitzmaurice Kelly, secretary to the N.Y. and N.J.C.A., and one may fairly take it that the dual secretaryship will help the two bodies, whose antagonism is inferred, to keep the peace. Mr. Kelly has for years held the secretaryship of the Staten Island C.C., and fills the same post for the New York Veteran’s C.C. In connection with the latter body, he pays a special tribute to their captain, J. S. Bretz, who has lavished time and money in making the club a success. Fred Butler, of Notts, Tyers. Sydney Deane, F. J. Prendergast, and Archie Gunn are among the club’s players. In 1909 Deane averaged over 55 per innings, with a total of 723, and took 130 wickets; G. W. Hayman aggregated 760, at 22 per innings; and the genial captain himself played 31 innings for a double-figure average. The club played as many as 53 games. They have a new ground at Staten Island, and Butler has made a splendid wicket for them. Trophies are frequently given in American cricket, and Mr. Kelly has a fine array of these—gold, silver and bronze. Among them is a silver cup given by Mr. A. E. Rendle, a great supporter of the game, in 1903 for the most successful bowler against the Kent team. But the most prized of them all is a gold watch given him by his club-mates of the New Jersey A.C. in 1898. Mr. Kelly has constantly given valuable help to the editors of the American Cricketer, and has also assisted Cricket generously. In 1902 he published a most valuable little book giving a list of all centuries made up to that date in the States aud Canada. This year he is editing the American Cricket Gtiide, and no one who knows him will have any doubt about the work being well done. He has quite a big collection of cricket literature—probably the biggest in the Western Hemisphere. Apart from cricket, he has held his own at Rugby football. For the Wasps against Christ’s College, Finchley, he kicked ten goals from as many tries—a remarkable performance. To the fascination of baseball he has never succumbed. T he B eddington C.C. have two vacant dates in their Week, viz., Wednesday, August 2nd, and Thursday, August 3rd. Clubs desirous of arranging fixtures with them for those days should communicate with F. O. P. Harrison, Bonnybrook, Harcourt Road, Wallington, Surrey.