Cricket 1913

104 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M a y 17, 1913 T h e G r a v e of a G r e a t Cricketer. O n Monday next, May 19, ten years will have passed since Arthur Shrewsbury, one o f the greatest batsmen of any age, died by his own hand, believing the disease from which he suffered incurable, and, broken-hearted to think that he would never again play the game he had loved so well. Poor William Scotton, Shrewsbury’s old school-fellow and partner in many a great stand, came to a similar sad end. The photograph above shows Shrews­ bury’ s tomb in the churchyard at Gedling, Notts, where also lies in his last sleep that most worthy o f bowlers, Alfred Shaw, long-time partner and always friend of Shrewsbury. A g r e a t couple, A lfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury, a couple who stamped their marks deeply upon Notts cricket. Good length bowling became a tradition because o f Shaw, and defensive batsmanship was adopted by men who could never be Shrewsburys, and would have done far better to play their own natural game. S h r e w s b u r y ’ s wonderful back play lives in the minds o f all who saw it and had the knowledge to understand it. There was none like him on a really sticky wicket— [ no, not one in all the glorious roll o f great batsmen He first appeared for Notts in 1875, and he played up to the year before his death, though 1888 and 1894 are blank years in his records. According to my calculation, he scored in all first-class matches at home and abroad 26,575 runs in 817 innings, 91 not outs (I include the match v. West Indians in 1900), average 36.60, and he made 59 centuries, 10 o f them scores o f over 200. S ta ffo r d sh ir e has suffered a tremendous loss indeed in the resignation o f Mr. W. C. Hancock, the man who has done more than anyone else to bring the county club from a very mediocre position to a prominent and | honoured one. W. C. H a n c o c k is a personal friend of mine, but I | do not see why that fact should tie my pen. It. is not he who has told me o f all he has accomplished1, all the | sacrifices he has made, for Staffordshire cricket. Others have done that. There is no man more generally loved and respected in Staffordshire cricket circles, and every­ body understands that only urgent pressure o f business is responsible for his vacating the honorary secretaryship. G r ea t things or little things, none was too big, none too small for his attention. It was he who rung the bell \ for luncheon and again for the players to take the. field after the interval at Stoke. That is a small thing, but it j is striking evidence o f his keenness. Staffordshire will doubless get a good man in his place.. It is impossible j that a better one should lie found, most unlikely that one j so good as he. E v e r y o n e will regret to hear that R. E . Foster, who. | it was hoped, would be playing for Worcestershire before. | the end o f ithis month, is in such indifferent health that he has had to take a voyage to South Africa. May he ! return in tip-top form ! S u s s e x have a rare good new man in H . L. Wilson, the former captain o f Suffolk, who is now living at South- water. Suffolk will suffer, but, as in the case o f A. H Lang, loss to Suffolk is gain to Sussex. H e r b e r t L an g fo rd W ilso n is— it will be news to many, doubtless— a Norihants man by birth. It was at Framlingham College that he first won his spurs. H e played for Suffolk from 1905 to 19M, and during that period scored close on 2,000 runs for the county with an average, o f thereabouts 25. I.ast year he was at the top o f his form, averaging nearly 60, and being the only man to score two centuries in the Minor Counties’ Cham pionship matches. T h a n k s to the fine efforts m ade by those in authority, backed by good friends in all quarters, Leicestershire will start the season practically fre e from debt.