Cricket 1913

C R IC K E T : A Weekly Record of the Game.— AUGUST 30 th , 1 Q 13 . “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. S A T U R D A Y , A U G U S T 30 , 1 9 1 3 . [ « ~ ^ £ P0-] A Chat with Joe Vine. P e rh a p s m y c ritic s— I h a v e p len ty , th o u g h m o st of them a re k in d ly e n o u g h in th e m ain— w ill e x c u s e the “ J o e .” N o S u s se x m an— n a tiv e o r b y electio n— w o u ld th in k o f c a llin g V in e “ J o s e p h .” It w o u ld sound a s a b su rd as “ T h o m a s E m m e t t ” w o u ld h a v e sounded to a Y o rk sh irem a n o f th irty y e a rs a g o . S om e— m o re in s o rro w th an in a n g e r— o r sh ou ld it be “ v ice v e r s a ” ?— h a v e called him “ J o b .” V in e does n ot m ind th a t so rt o f th in g . G ib e s a t h is m eth od s leave him unruffled. H e d o es n ot b elie ve th a t it w o u ld be fo r th e g o o d o f h is sid e or h im se lf to a ttem p t, a t this s ta g e o f h is ca re e r, to fo rs a k e th e p a th o f sa fe ty , and h e h a s n o in ten tion o f d o in g so . B u t th ere ca n n o t b e a m u ch b ig g e r m is ta k e th an to su p p ose him in­ c ap a b le o f sc o rin g fa s t w h en circ um sta n c e s seem to him fa v o u ra b le . T h e re is g o o d h o n est E n g lish th ew and sin ew in b ro a d -ch ested Joe V in e , and h e can put p len ty o f b e e f beh ind h is stro k e s. H e d o es th a t, even w hen he is sc o rin g slo w ly . H e sco res slo w ly , a s a rule, n ot b e c a u se h e fa ils to g e t the b a t a g a in s t the ball h a rd , b u t b e ca u se he w a its upon th e sa fe fou r. It is a trium p h o f tem p eram en t. It m ay b o re y o u — th a t d ep en d s on y o u rs e lf la r g e ly ; b u t y o u h a v e no rig h t to je e r a t it. Q u ite at th e b e g in n in g o f th e sea so n I fixed up a ta lk w ith V in e . “ Y o u w ill find m e ra th er d en se, I ’m a fr a id ,” h e w ro te . I h a d n o fe a r o f th at. V in e is a tru e S u s s e x y e om a n , and th e tru e S u s se x y eom a n is no g lib s p e a k e r ; b u t th a t is n o t b e ca u se h e la c k s sen se. R a th e r is it b e c a u se he h a s b a la n ce . B u t I did find m y q u a rry sin g u la rly elu sive . W h e n I w a s on th e g ro u n d a t H o v e— n ev e r ab le to sta y ou t a d a y ’s p la y , o w in g to th e p re ssu re o f w o rk — he w a s a lw a y s e ith er b a ttin g r>r field in g. I ran him to earth a t la st on th e S a ffro n s, and even then th e la st tw o S u s se x b a tsm e n w e re a t th e w ic k e ts , and th ere w a s no ch a n ce o f a lo n g ta lk . A s I to ld V in e , h o w e v e r, I ra th e r fan cied I k n ew a s m u ch a b o u t his d o in g s fo r S u s se x a s he did . W h ic h tu rn ed o u t to be n o t q u ite a cc u ra te , fo r I did n o t k n o w th a t he w o u ld be g o in g in fo r th e secon d tim e in th a t g am e n ee d in g o n ly 20 or 30 ru n s to com p lete his 20,000 fo r th e co u n ty . H e did n o t g e t them . H e w a s ou t fo r a d u ck . I ca n n o t rem em b er h a v in g seen V in e o u t fo r a d u ck b e fo re , th o u g h , o f c o u rse , he h a s been , J . V I N E . and I m a y h a v e been th ere. H e h a s , in fa c t, been ou t fo r a d u ck 64 tim es in first-cla ss c ric k e t. A s a g a in s t th ese fa ilu re s he h a s to d a te (A u g u st 23) re­ c o rd ed 28 c en tu rie s (tw o o f th em e x c e e d in g 150), 8