Cricket 1914

130 THE WORLD OF CRICKET. M a y g, 1914. A Voice from th e Pas t. C a m b r id g e U n iv e r s it y . To the columns of the Ceylon Observer Mr. W. M. Leake lately contributed some reminiscences of bygone ’Varsity cricket. All that has to do with the battles of the blues is full of interest to thousands, . and on that account the article is quoted here in extenso. 17th Oct., 1913. The announcement of the death at Tunbridge Wells on Sunday last of the Rev. Christopher Cyprian Fenn, at the age of 90, sends my memory back fifty, sixty, aye even seventy years, to Colombo, to Cambridge, and to Blackheath, respectively. Mr Fenn was for some 12 years in Ceylon in the service of the C.M.S., principally, I believe, at Cotta, and as it is as nearly as possible fifty years since he left there can be few present residents in Colombo who knew him. I myself only met him once in Ceylon, but it was on an interesting occasion. In July, 1862, he officiated at Galle Face Church, Colombo, at the marriage of my then partner, George Denis Browne Harrison, with Frances Tazeena Waller (niece of Dr. Dane, Principal Military Medical Officer), the romance of whose birth on the banks of the River Tazeena during the captivity of her parents in Afghanistan has been an oft-told tale. I was best man on the occasion, and both in the vestry and afterwards at the sumptuous feast at Dr. Dane’s house in Colpettv I had ample opportunity of conversation with Mr. Fenn. As to-day the death of this aged cleric reminds me of the happy event of fifty years ago, so our meeting then recalled happenings of 10 and 20 years earlier. A few words of explanation may be useful Mr. Fenn’s father, Rev. Joseph Fenn, who for fifty years was the incumbent of Black­ heath Park Church, had many sons, all of whom were educated as day boys at the Old Proprietary School, a school which still holds its own. The Fenns were cricketers all, for years the mainstay of their school eleven. With Blackheath schoolboys in those days cricket was a passion. They were the days when Kent v. England was the great match of the year at Lord’s, the days of Fuller Pilch, the brothers Mynn, and Felix, himself a Blackheath schoolmaster, and the glamour of the deeds of these mighty ones cast a spell over the .youthful imagination. How great was the fame of those deeds may be judged by the fact that to-day he who played against Alfred Mynn’s bowling is surrounded by a halo of reflected glory. Only last month aged correspondents were tumbling over one another in the columns of The Times putting forward each his particular claim to share therein. Such were the days when in 1840 I went as a boarder to the Black­ heath New Proprietary School, a rival establishment (long since defunct), standing only a couple of hundred yards or so away. At that date Christopher Fenn was still at school with four or five younger brothers, among them two named Mason and Sam, of whom I have more to say. Christopher went up#to Cambridge in 1842, was a scholar of Trinity and got his first in Classics in 1846 and had long passed away to other scenes when I went up in 1850. I do not think that he played at all in the University eleven. I11 1850 Mason and Sam were both well advanced in their College course. I went up, having my own private hopes as to a cricket career. These were not discouraged on learning that the Captain for 1851 was to be " Billy ” Blore, a fellow-boarder with me at Blackheath, who had since blossomed into one of the most distinguished Etonians of the day. He was in his fourth year and had just got his double First in Mathematics and Classics. Let us pass to Lord’s, where in 1851 the first of the long unbroken series of ’Varsity matches was played. “ Billy ” Blore won the toss and sent in Mason Fenn and myself. With the help of an inordinate number of extras we put together a nice lot of runs before Mason left, having made 25. Sam came next and we repeated the dose. Then came Henry Vernon of Harrow, reputed the best amateur bats­ man of the day. I was the third man out (run out), and by that time the runs had been piled up so that in view of the scoring usual in those days all hope for Oxford was gone. We had as bowlers, beside our Captain, Charles Pontifex, a native and resident of Blackheath, and Mat Kempson of Cheltenham, who, with Sir Charles Bathurst, effectually disposed of the Players at Lord's in the famous Gentlemen and Players match of 1853. Oxford could make little headway against this combination, and early on the second day Cambridge had won in one innings. The match was a triumph fot* Blackheath and its schools. The younger Fenns both died manv vears ago. Blore lived to be Vice-Master of Trinitv and President of C.U.C.C., dying in the ’nineties. Pontifex alone survived till last year when I attended his funeral service at St. James', Piccadilly, that grand old Cambridge athlete. Canon McCormick, being the officiating minister. I am left the sole survivor of the victorious Cambridge team : and now that Christopher Fenn is gone, it is probable that the same holds good in respect of the guests at the Harrison wedding. vV. M. L. It seems worthwhile to reproduce the score of the match referred to. Apparently Mr. Leake’s memory is at fault in some details (as is only natural after sixty-odd years, if he had 110 score to consult), for it was S. Fenn who went in first, and his brother only scored a single. Sir Frederick, not Sir Charles, Bathurst was the bowler in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord's in 1853. W. M. Leake, run out S. Fenn, c Longe, b Cazenove W. M. Fenn, b Cazenove .. H. Vernon, b Eden F. Walker, b Marsham H. K. Boldero, b Marsham C. Pontifex, run out E. W. Blore, b Eden 66 25 33 S. M. E. Kempson, c Hore, b Cazenove .. . • 4 & W. A. Norris, c Peel, b Hore 12 J. S. Weston, not out .. o B 29, lb 5, w 21, nb 1 .. 56 Total 266 O x f o r d U n iv e r s it y . First Innings. A. Wallace, c Blore, b Pontifex . . 5 H. Wyatt, c W. M. Fenn, b Pontifex o F. M. Eden, c S. Fenn, b Pontifex 6 F. D. Longe, b Blore . . . . 46 C. S. Bere, c S. Fenn, bBlore .. o T. W. Hale, run out .. .. 5 H. R. Peel, c Vernon, bBlore .. 8 A. Cazenove, hit w., bPontifex .. 27 C. J. Marsham, b Pontifex .. 13 A. Hore, b Blore ...... 2 H. Taswell, not out .. .. 1 B 1, lb 3,w 5 .. .. 9 Total .. .. .. 122 Second Innings, b Blore c Walker, b Pontifex b Blore b Blore b Pontifex b Pontifex run out c Walker, b Blore b Pontifex not out b Pontifex B 7, lb 5, w 6, nb 1 Total i(y 14 20 22 13 19 A P la y e r of t h e P a s t . If I were blind I would pray for sight, To watch the old game once more, Full-fronted to sit in the blazing sun, And then to crawl home when m y day is done, Sightless as before. D. L. A. J e p h so n . M e n tio n is made on another page of this number of a cricketer wrho once played for Australia— Sam Morris, a W est Indian man of colour. He was never international form ; but he was a rare good club cricketer, and did useful service to Victoria in some matches. Now the poor fellow is totally blind; but he still goes to the South Melbourne ground, and they say that by sound he can tell a good stroke from a bad one, and that no one on the ground is keener than he. Sympathisers are glad to sit by him and' tell him how the game goes, and he is seldom without company. His usual place is the entrance to the members’ pavilion, where he stands upright like a soldier on guard. Morris was born in the West Indies in 1856. He first made a name as a cricketer at Daylesford, Victoria. In those days he was a wicket-keeper, and he still tells with glee how he stumped the m ighty Bonnor twice in a match when the Australian Eleven (1880) visited the district. Soon after that he was engaged as curator of the Richmond ground at Melbourne, whence he went to Melbourne University, and in 1887 to South Melbourne (Harry T rott’s club), with whcm he was still associated when in 1907-8 he became totally blind through decay of the optic nerve. The last bit of work he ever did was to prepare the pitch on which the M.C.C. Team and Eleven of Victoria totalled 991 at an average of 55 per wicket ! That must have been a toler­ ably wrell-done job, too. Morris’s biggest score in any match was 280 for Richmond v. St. Kilda, some thirty-odd years ago. In first-class cricket his best feats included 64* for Victoria v. South Australia at Adelaide in 1883-4, 54* against the English Team in 1886-7, 4 ^ v• Tasmania at East Melbourne in 1888-9, 50 and 36 v. South Australia at Adelaide in 1889-90, and 58 v. Tasmania at Launceston in 1892-3. As a bowler he was usually no more than a serviceable change ; but once or twice he rose above his ordinary level. Against South Australia at Melbourne in 1886-7 he took 4 for 59 and 5 for 21 ; and in the match v. New South Wales on the same ground in the same season he had 6 for 82. His chief pride is in his collection of cricket trophies, and his grief was great wrhen some time back a number of them were stolen from his house. For most of the information here given we are indebted to the Melbourne Herald. T h e R e v M. H. O ’ B e ir n e , curate of St. Thomas’s, who is very popular in cricket and football circles in Hove, met with a nasty accident on Saturday last, while keeping wicket for the St. Thomas's team v. Railway Athletic 011 the Hove Recreation Ground. A rising ball struck him between the eyes and all but knocked him senseless. He bled profusely, and at first it was believed that his nose was broken. His first concern when able to speak was with his church duties of the next daw