Cricket 1913

M ay 10, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OP THE GAME. 167 “ D id the P ortugu ese show any interest in your m atches? ” “ N o, except fo r a very few who had been educated or had lived fo r a w h ile in E n glan d . T h e Portuguese generally do not seem to understand the gam e in the least. O ccasion ally a fe w heads w ould appear above the w all o f the ground, but th ey d id n ’t stay there long. In Lisbon the local pap ers m ade quite a brave attempt at reporting the m atches, but w ithout grea t success. I have c a re fu lly preserved translations o f some paragraphs. T h e y m ake really fu n n y reading. In one report w e are described as ‘ the C lu b o f London P la y e rs ’ ; in another w e were ‘ the Players o f the C ou n ty o f E s se x .’ A s a rule, though, the jou rn alistic Portuguese— perhaps from m y name— associated us w ith Sw ansea. One h ad it ‘ the Sw ansea team o f the C ity o f L o n d o n .’ N o, I don ’t think cricket w ill ever attract the n ative o f P o r tu g a l; but I understand that there Is a good deal o f enthusiasm fo r A ssociation football in the c o u n try .” “ W h at is your view o f the C ou n ty Cham pionship trouble? ” “ A s fa r as E ssex is concerned, I m ay say th at we shall resist to th e utmost any attempt to deprive us o f our first-class status. T o depose three, fou r, or live counties by a m ajority vote, a fter a secret con clave, is anything but cricket. I cannot b elieve this w ill be done, however. As to a tw o-division scheme, I have quite an open m ind ; but a sine qua non w ould be th e recognition o f the equ ality o f status o f the tw o, and I w ould suggest that the leaders o f the second division sh ould have the righ t to challen ge the leaders o f the first fo r the cham pionship. R elegation and promotion ? B u t if you h a ve th at you cannot claim equality. I tak e it th e second division w ould be the smaller o f th e two. It m ight happen that a county in the first desirin g a shorter fixture list w ould be w illin g to changes places w ith one in the second. O r there m ight lie an annual m eeting to settle membership o f th e tw o div isions. I d o not think th at an autom atic, hard -and -fast rule o f ‘ one goes up, one d o w n ,’ w ould prove satis­ fa c to ry .” “ Som e one h as lately been sayin g that E ssex should emulate K e n t, and p la y matches all over the co u n ty .” “ Som e one ta lk in g out. o f the fuln ess o f h is ignorance, I should im agine ! L e t us g o into th at suggestion closely. In the first place, any comparison betw een E ssex and K ent in th is connection is grossly u n fair. K en t is a county w ith o ld cricket traditions, w ith imm easurable enthusiasm fo r c r ic k e t; itis a residential c o u n ty ; it has I many suitable grounds. Iw ill not sa y th at E ssex has no ! traditions, no enthusiasm ; but in either respect she lags far behind K e n t. T hen E ssex is not to any great extent j a county chosen b y the w ealth y as a p lace o f residence; and as to grounds— w ell, le t me run over those which j w igh t be thought o f.T h e C helm sfo rd ground is no ; m o re; the M arconi people h ave bu ilt a big factory upon it. B rentw ood is too near London to be at all su ita b le ; ! I know the o ld county clu b p layed its matches there, but conditions have changed since then. Southend has been tried. W e m ay try it again, fo r bad w eather handicapped form er experim ents. B ut I am not very h o p efu l o f sue- i '’ess th ere; the trippers and ho lid ay fo lk probably g rea tly prefer th e amusements o f the beach and th e pier to a cricket match. H a rw ic h ? N o ground at all suitable. 'V ith am ? A good ground, but sm a ll; even i f th ou gh t; la r g e enough, success on ly possible b y w ay o f m aking the match a society function. Saffron W ald en ? W ell, I cannot speak from personal k n ow le d g e ; but I do not think there is a ground in th at district suitable fo r first- class cricket. T h e re remains C olchester. G round and p avilio n accommodation there are g o o d ; but w e should have to enclose th e ground, which is in an open p ark , and I d o not th in k w e sh ou ld get a good gate. In any event, it w ould be a risky exp erim en t; and in the present position o f the C oun ty C lu b w e sim p ly c a n ’t afford exp eri­ ments. L e t the county giv e us a m em bership roll o f 2,500, and we m ay then be able to. W e w ould then, at all events, feel ourselves on a su re finan cial basis, and not la rgely dependent on gate-m oney. P e rso n a lly , I should very much like to see matches p la ye d in different districts o f the county, but fo r the reasons I h a ve just given I cann ot see th at it is w ithin th e range o f p ractical politics at present. Som e say L eyto n is not a su itab le county ground. W e hold that it is th e on ly possib le county ground. Just consider the peculiar situation o f E ssex. Som ething like 80 per cent, o f its p opulation m ust lie w ithin a h a lf­ circle o f, sa y , tw elve m iles in radius, w ith th e C ity as its base. T h e rest o f E ssex is a com p aratively sp arsely popu lated area, w ith 110 rea lly big town. I should never agree w ith ta k in g m atches from L eyto n to other grounds. I f w e p la yed elsewhere it must on ly be b y arran gin g extra m atches. ” “ Such, fo r instance, as frie n d ly gam es w ith sides in the other division, if the tw o-d ivision schem e w ere adopted ? ” “ Y es. A n d do you know , I b elieve th at, fo r all the ta lk o f interest being stim ulated b y th e stru ggle fo r points, such matches w ould soon be ait least as popular as— perhaps more p op u lar than— th e com petition games. Am ateurs cou ld be tried to a greater e x te n t; p la y w ould, I feel sure, be freer. A fte r a ll, the Cham pionship is not everything. I t cannot m ean m uch to some counties en­ gaged in it. T h e gam e’s th e th in g ! ” “ S p eakin g o f amateurs, I believe your p o licy is one o f encouragem ent o f them in county cricket ? ’ ’ “ M ost d ecid ed ly 1 T h e more amateurs w e can p la y the better I sh all be pleased . W e h ave same good young ones com in g on, notably F . W . H . N ich o las, late o f F orest Sch ool, G . B . D av ies, o f R o ssall, R . D . C la rk , the yo u th fu l w icket-keeper w ho appeared last year, E . R . P a lle tt, o f R ep ton , J G . D ixon , o f F e lste d , and O . C . B ristow e, w h o is, I believe, an E ton ian. Y es, I firm ly believe in th e amateur. W e h ave seen some re a lly sp arklin g crick et in the A u g u st trial m atches, which h ave la te ly grown in vogue— lif e and dash, p layers on their tiptoes, cricket from the w ord ‘ P la y 1 ’ to the d raw in g o f stumps. P ro fessio n als? W e ll, we h ave high hopes o f H ills , and W a lter M ead ’s boy m ay turn out a good one. B ut the fu tu re is chiefly w ith the am ateurs.” And so. I honestly th in k , it is elsewhere. Increase in the number o f am ateur p la yers w ill su it the members o f county club s b e tte r; it should not lessen th e g a te s ; it m ay p ossib ly augm ent them . “ L a s tly , o f your own cricket, M r. Sw’a n ? W hat is your highest score, fo r in stan ce? ” “ I rea lly c a n ’t remember. I h a ve never counted m y self much o f a p layer. I go in N o . 8, 9, 10, or i t , and slam at them , sometimes m aking a f e w ; but it never worries me whether I get a ‘ k n o ck .’ and I think I enjoy my cricket as much as most men. W h at I really enjoy even more, how ever; is th e organisin g sid e o f d ie game- I took to th at young, and it has never p a lled upon me. I suppose th at du rin g the course o f a season I u su ally either ‘ skipp er ’ or m anage som ething lik e 60 teams, so that m y time is fa irly w ell o ccu p ied .” T h e right man in the right p lace, I think 1 J. N . P .