Cricket 1913

238 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. May 31, 1913. but seldom . In 1891 we find him grow n in grace, accord­ in g to L illy w h ite : “ A very sound bat, w ith good s t y le ; excellen t field at p o in t,” A ve ra g e over 37 that year, on ly W h ittin g h ead in g him , and one very long score o f 177 not ou t v. F ree Foresters. “ A thorough crick eter; bats in almost fau ltle ss style, and can h it very h ard on the off s id e ; was never able to do h im self justice, ow ing to a severe stra in ,” we read o f him in 18 9 1. D esp ite which h an dicap he headed the averages, w ith over 24 per innings, highest score 97. A t the head again in 1892, w ith average 28, and “ c h a ra c te r” : “ A re a lly first-class bat, w ith p erfect and finished style, e sp ecia lly strong on the off, but o fte n too gen tle on the le g s id e ; m oderate bow ler and sm art fie ld ; as cap tain , deserves great p raise fo r his e n e rg y .” T h e R u g b y chapter closes. D u rin g his fo u r seasons in the eleven there he to ta lled 1,499 runs in 5 7 com pleted innings (average 26.29), and took 31 w ickets fo r 700 runs. It is eviden t, too, th at his form was better than his figures. T h a t w as no mean c ritic who w rote him dow n “ a thorough cric k e te r.” P erh ap s it w as o n ly one o f those stereotyped phrases w h ich w e are all prone to u s e ; bu t now and then those same phrases gain an eloquence o f their own from circum stance. T h e next scene is O x fo rd . In the F reshm en ’ s M atch o f 1893 he scored 17 and 34. T h is w as sm all beer in a m atch such as this— F . G . H . C la y to n m ade 300 in it, G . J. M ordaun t 184, G . O . Sm ith 13 7, G . B . R aik es 1 1 7 , H . D . G . Leveson G ow er 1 1 4 ! F o r X V I . Freshm en v. the X I . — 4. D id not p la y in the final tria l, and got no chance in the ’ V a rsity team th at season. In the S en iors’ M atch o f 1894, 53 and 3, the 53 h igh est in d ivid u al score fo r his side. For the N ext X V I . v. the X I I ., on ly 2— and W isden has him P . S. W arn er ! A fte r the ’ V a rsity m atch h e p la ye d fo r O x fo rd v. E ssex, m akin g 12 and 50. B u t th is w as not his in itial ap p ear­ ance in first-class crick et, which was fo r M .C .C . v. O x fo rd on June 7 and 8— scores o and 18. On J u ly 27 he appeared fo r M id d lesex I I . v. K e n t I I . at L o rd ’ s. I believe th at w as his o n ly m atch fo r M id d le­ sex I I . In it he scored 163 and 70 n ot out. On A u g u st 6 he p la y e d fo r M idd lesex at T au n ton , m akin g on ly 6 and 4. H is blu e cam e in 1895, and he p la ye d fo r the county j du rin g the L o n g V a ca tio n , though w ith sm all success. In 1896 he on ly appeared in fo u r m atches fo r M iddlesex. B u t in 18 97, a fte r goin g down from O x fo rd , he began to p la y regu larly, and to ta lled over 900 runs fo r the side that | season. H e has been one o f its forem ost men ever since, J dep u ty-cap tain from 1900 to 1907, cap tain from 1908 on, o f late years the great p illa r o f the team . I have d ealt at some length w ith his early career, because I b elieve th at m any readers who knew all about w h at he has done fo r M idd lesex are not so w ell acquainted w ith that. I do not purpose to give any detailed account from 1895 on. T h e figures which fo llo w must speak fo r them ­ selves. T h e long list o f fou r-figu re to tals, the array o f centuries, tell th eir own tale. B u t som ething must be said o f P elh am W arner as a crick et tourist. I t is easier to enum erate the cricket- p la y in g communities w h ich he has not visited than those which he has. H e has not been (as a member o f a cricket team ) to In d ia, the A rgen tin e, or E g y p t. H e has been to A u stralia , South A fr ic a , N ew Z ealan d , the W est Ind ies, the U n ited States, C an a d a , and (though this, o f course, w as a m inor touri) P o rtu gal. T h e re are at least three other prom inent amateurs who can la y claim to very extensive travels fo r crick et’s sa k e ; but the M idd lesex cap tain outdoes them a ll, I believe. Lo rd H aw k e visited Australia, S ou th A fr ic a , In d ia, the W est Ind ies, the States, C an a d a , and the Argentine. G. H . Sim p so n -H ayw ard has been to South A fr ic a , New Z ealan d , In d ia, the W est Ind ies, the States, C an a d a , and E g y p t; and F . L . F a n e ’s travels in clu de A u stra lia , South A frica , N ew Z ealan d , and the. W est Ind ies. O f pro­ fessionals, the late John B rigg s, w ith six visits to A ustralia and one to South Africa, also visitin g N ew Z ealan d with one o f the teams to A u stralia, p ro b ab ly comes first, though among others very near his record m ay be mentioned A rthur S hrew sbury, G eorge U ly e tt, and A lfr e d Shaw— all, lik e him , passed over to the great m ajority. D escription o f P . F . W arn er’ s battin g style is scarcely needed. H e is n ot a spectacular batsm an in the sense that G ilbert Jessop is, or that the Jam saheb is, or th at V ictor T rum per is— perhaps in all those cases “ w as ” w ould be as correct as “ is ,” fo r all o f these great origin als have to some extent m odified their gam e. H e is not such a model o f grace as Lion el P a la ire t or A . P . L u cas. H e has not the versatility o f John H obbs or R . H . Spooner. T h ere are batsmen who give more evidence o f native genius fo r the gam e. H e is perhaps o f the school o f F ry , which is to say o f the ty p e that is m ade b y hard th in king and constant practice, rather than o f the school o f M acL aren , which is to say o f the typ e th at possesses innate genius for the art o f batsm anship. Y e t the genius does not attain great and continued success w ithout the takin g o f p a in s ; and the attainm ent o f great and continued success m ay fa irly be held to prove some innate genius in any case. MR. P. F. WARNER'S RECORD IN IMPORTANT CRICKET TO END OF 1912. I n E n g l a n d , S e a so n b y S e a s o n . Season. Ins. N.O. R. A. H.S. Season. Ins. N.O 1 . R. A. H.S. 1894 8 2 133 22-16 50 1904 39 5 1390 40-88 163 1895 28 O 658 23'50 90 1905 35 0 1537 43-91 204 1896 21 O 562 26-76 77 1906 33 2 1299 41-90 137 1897 40 I 1137 29-15 176 1907 47 6 1891 46-12 I 49 1898 3 ° 3 848 3 I ' 4 ° 88 1908 45 5 1822 45-55 120 1899 42 3 1140 29-23 150 1909 44 6 1333 35-07 I 27 * 1900 40 1 1840 47-17 170 1910 44 4 - 1646 4 I-I 5 I 5 °* 1901 39 2 1680 454 ° 197 * 1911 /- 5 1 5 2123 4®'r5 244 1902 28 1 832 3 °- 8 r 139 1912 20 4 533 33-31 13 ° 1903 33 4 1141 39-34 / Totals 667 54 23,545 38-40 244 I n E n g l a n d , A v e r a g e s C l a s s if ie d . For Middlesex in County M. Inns. N.O. R. A. H.S. Championship 270 460 36 16,330 3851 197* For Middlesex inother matches 11 18 3 6 3 4 42-26 127* For Oxford University ... 18 32 0 966 3 ° - i 8 90 For M.C.C. ......................... 3 7 67 8 2398 40-64 204 For England (Test matches) ... 3 4 0 7 7 19-25 3 9 For Gentlemen v. Players 17 34 1 1040 3 i- 5 i 91 In Test Trials and other Rep. matches 27 4 4 5 1871 4 7 -9 7 2 4 4 In other important games 5 8 1 229 32-71 H 3 Totals 388 667 5 4 2 3 .5 4 5 38-40 2 44 A b r o a d . M. Inns. N.O. R. A. H.S. In Australia (1902, ’03-4, '11-2) 18 31 2 1001 3 4 -5 1 151 In S. Africa (1898-9,1905-6) ... 18 31 4 546 20-22 132* In the West Indies (1896-7) ... 8 M 3 526 47-81 119 In America (1897,1898) 8 13 0 2 5 7 19-76 5 i In New Zealand (1902-3) 7 10 1 615 68-33 211 Totals ... 5 9 9 9 10 2 9 4 5 33 -o 8 211 Grand total, 447 matches, 766 innings, 64 not outs, 26,490 rims, average 37-73.