Cricket 1912

Nov. 16, 1912. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 573 Farewell to the Bedfordshire Captain. On the 14th of last m onth a large gathering of the supporters of the Bedfordshire Cricket Club m et at the Central Restaurant to bid good-bye to Mr. H . R . Orr, who has done splendid service for the county, captaining its team ever since 1900, and very rarely, if ever, missing a match. Mr. R . E. Prothero, M .V.O., presided, and among those who assembled were Messrs. R . W . Allen and W . W . Marks (joint H on. Secs., Beds. C.C.), Mr. H. O. Stockburn (Asst. Sec.), the R ev. Canon W oodard, Col. W eller, M ajor Steven (Chief Constable of the county), the R ev. F. C. Farrar, Drs. Bower and C olley Sharplin, and Messrs. R . W . R ice, C. F. Timseus, J. A. W hitchurch, F. R . H ock- liffe, and J. P. W hite. Dinner over, a gold watch, suitably inscribed, and a purse of sixty guineas were presented to Mr. Orr, in recognition o f the Bedfordshire cricket public’s appreciation of his loyal services. H e has now left Bedford, where he held a mastership at Elstow School, for Canada. F or over thirty years Mr. Orr has played the game. He was in the Bedford Grammar School elevens of 1881-2-3-4, captaining Photo, by ]j [ Kingham, Bedford. Mr. H. R. ORR (Bedfordshire). the side in his last season, when he averaged 25 per innings (highest score 63*), and took 43 wickets at 13-33 each. He was a freshman at Cambridge in 1886, and played once for the University X I. in that year, and once in 1887. A fter com ing down, he went to A us­ tralia, and in 1892-3 was a member of the W est Australian team in the first m atch ever played by the colony v. South Australia at Adelaide. When he had left England, his cou nty’s club was m ori­ bund ; but at the end o f the nineties, thanks mainly to the energy of Mr. L. C. R . Thring, it was resuscitated, and from 1900 to 1912 Mr. Orr was the captain of its X I. In those 13 seasons he played 203 innings, 10 not out, for the county, and totalled 4,443 runs, with an average o f 23-03. Included were at least three centuries— in 1904, 1909, and 1910. M oreover, he did a good deal of work with the ball, taking 190 wickets at 22-73 each, and, though the cost per wicket is not light, his slowish bow ling was of great value to the side, seldom very strong in that department. A veteran now, H. R. Orr is scarcely likely to give up the game yet, if any opportunity for continuing it is given him, and we shall hope to hear of his helping to push it along in Canada. G ood luck to him, anyw ay ! —....................... ------------------------------ Cricketers Under Canvas. This is the narrative of a novel cricket tour, the participants in which, scorning the conventional hotel, enjoyed no other protection at night than was afforded by an Arm y bell tent, and 110 sustenance by day other than what they bought and cooked themselves, refresh­ ments at matches excepted. The idea, originally conceived and well talked over during the winter months, was as follow s :— T o collect not more than eleven friends, with some previous knowledge of camping, who could be relied on to see the matter through, transport them and the necessary tents to a remote village in a cricketing county, and challenge all comers. After some trouble a village was found which satisfied our some­ what exacting requirements, that is to say, it was near the sea, not too near the railway (all travelling was to be done by brake), and in the midst of villages where the game is played. This ideal village, be it known, is in Dorsetshire ; but in the interests of future tours the exact locality will be kept a close secret. The spot found, it was necessary to find the men, arrange fixtures, hire a cam ping ground and do the thousand and one other things incidental to the tour. Here we were fortunate in having the services o f an invaluable secretary, who not only organised and managed the whole affair, but also made runs and took wickets. Fixtures extending over a fortnight in August were arranged, and all the team “ signed on.” A t a meeting held in the spring, it was decided to use the cam p as a fixed headquarters, as we did n ot feel equal to shifting three A rm y bell tents and all our equipm ent every day. Thus it was that one of the early Saturdays in August saw the team gathered on Paddington Station, and Dorsetshire was reached without mishap. On arriving at the chosen village, Fortune at once comm enced to smile upon us. The village butcher, who, as we afterwards discovered, w'as also the village autocrat, was sick of a fever, which quickly yielded to the persuasions of our captain, who devotes such time as he can spare from cricket to a m edical practice near London. Needless to say, the butcher at once became our friend for life, and with so powerful an ally the process of settling down was com para­ tively simple. He supplied straw for our palliasses, sent men to put up the tents and took charge of our entire catering arrangements. Possibly the latter action m ay not have been quite disinterested ! Be that as it may, we never had any need to worry as to whether we had enough bacon, etc., for breakfast. The next day, being a Sunday, afforded an excellent opportunity for taking our bearings, and enlisting a few cricketing recruits in case of need. A t lunch time the wicket-keeper nobly volunteered to cook a vegetable marrow for the comm on good, and having obtained a large pot proceeded to boil the marrow whole and unskinned. Half an hour of this treatment having effected no material change, it was cut in slices and fried. B y unanimous vote of the whole team , the resulting taste was declared to resemble that of stale seaweed, and a rider to the verdict was added, to the effect that the wicket-keeper be deposed from his self-appointed lole of cook. This was carried nem. com. On the M onday we m et our first opponents, and defeated them somewhat easily, although the cricket wras better class than we had expected. The secretary obliged with a useful 38. On the following day, we ran against an umpire who will always be held in the deepest respect by the team, though we are still wondering whether he had a sufficient sense of humour or merely an insufficient knowledge of the laws of cricket. Our opponents were getting rather the worst o f the game, and broke out into a sharp attack of “ appeal fever.” The village B lythe bowled his slow head ball somewhere between the batsman and the square-leg umpire. The form er, impatient for a boundary, chased it but received it on the pad. “ ’Sthat,” yelled the bowler. The umpire answered him n ot a word, but extended his arms toward the scorer and cried, “ W ide ! ” This remarkable decision had a sobering effect and the runs were hit off without further appeal. The cricketer-campers were now beginning to think themselves no end good, but a fall was in store for them. The next match proved anything but a “ sitter.” A couple of Free Foresters and a sprinkling of Dorsetshire county men form ed the nucleus of a team that disposed of us for 52 ; but our damaged reputation was