Cricket 1914

One of the Greatest. F o r tw enty years the Foster brotherhood has played a big part in first-class cricket. I t was as far back as 1894 that H. K . the eldest of the seven brothers, won his blue at Oxford. Last year he captained the Worcestershire eleven, resuming the leader­ ship after a lapse— not the first— at the urgent solicita­ tion of his county club’s committee. A few months ago he resigned, intimating that in future he could play but seldom, if a t all, as the calls of business necessitated his living in town. Most of us recognised this as the beginning of the end. The star of the Fosters had not quite set. There still remained some of the younger members o f the clan, to carry on the fam ily traditions of fine batsmanship and fine sportsmanship ; but their appearances were likely to be made at irregular intervals, and the greatest of the seven — H. K ., Major W . L ., and R .E .— were to be counted among the warriors of the past. Worcestershire could no longer be called " Foster­ shire.” Y e t few could have sus­ pected th at in so short a time after H. K .’s retirement the death of R. E .— the flower of the flock, from a cricket standpoint— would sadden the hearts of thousands who may never even have clasped his hand or spoken w ith him. R. E . Foster was for a brief space one of the public’s idols, and though for some years past little had been seen of him, he was better remembered than most popular favourites are. For his cricket individu­ ality was strong. He possessed both grace and power. He had strokes which only he and some of his brothers, with, perhaps another Malvern man or two, made ; and he made them better than any of the others. He scored fast, yet was never a slogger— never exactly a hitter, in the sense in which the term is sometimes used— no mere puncher, but a man who used his brains in his batting. Lithe, loose-limbed, hand­ some, doing all that he did as though it came easily to him, he satisfied the public’s long­ ing for the picturesque in sport. In one season during which he captained Worcester shire it was R . E. first and the rest nowhere as far as t h e loyal followers of cricket in the Faithful C ity were con­ cerned. Some of the more enthusiastic among them, one has heard, used to pray for his success. If this be true— it seems to need a grain of salt-— their prayers were answered. That year-— 1901 — was a great one for him. The Rev. Henry Foster, senior house master when he retired at the school on the hills which overlook the wide and fertile vale of Evesham , was in his day a good cricketer w ithout any pretensions to greatness. His sons were seven— H. K ., W . L., R. E., G. J. A., in order of birth. Six of them got their colours at Malvern ; six of them played for Worcestershire; three were Oxford blues. The youngest was handicapped b y ill-health, but though he has never been prom inently before the public, it is understood that .he possesses a fair share of the family ability. A t Worcester they used to say th at “ the soldier was the soundest bat of the lo t.” Some few swore b y H. K . as the best to watch when he got fairly going. B u t H. K. could p lay a solid defensive game when he chose ; and R. E ., B. S., N. Photo by] [ Messrs. E. Hawkins & Co., Brighton. T h e L a t e M r. R. E. F o s t e r .