Cricket 1914

THE WORLD OF CRICKET. M a y 30, 1914. too thin ; there isn’t sufficient resistance to the ball. Now I ’ll tell you where I always could make her swing— at Hastings. The ground V very near the sea, of course, and often there’s a b it of a sea mist, not enough to spoil the light, but enough to^help one’s swerve. On the matting I relied principally upon variation of pace and pitch. I only played in club games, you know. In fact, I rjgver saw a big match in South Africa. The two Currie Cup games while I was in Durban were played away, and the two home matches were at E a ste r after I left for England.” “ Club cricket in Durban pretty good, I believe ? ” " V ery good indeed. Herbert Taylor first, of course ; but he 1 is not the only one who ought to make a big name. Chapman I thought very highly o f ; I wish they had played him in all the tests. Never mind about his not seeming to be in form ; he is yo'ung yet, and, mark my words, he’s got it in him. Beningfield ? Most promising ; I ’m sorry to hear th at he’s going on the land and will have to give up big cricket. Others ? The Siedles— K arl and Basil— both good, Basil the best to my mind, though others put his elder brother first. Then there’s Easter- brook— the eldest one, J. W ., is it ?— a capital bowler and a good bat too. Nicol ?— one of the best wicket-keepers I ’ve seen ; does all his work neatly ; no snatching at them. I was surprised he did not play for South A frica.” " He had rather a bad match for N atal before the tests, you know .” " Yes, that would account for it. And, of course, W ard’s a better bat, though I don’t think he’s as good behind the stumps. Nicol will never score many runs. I had him at the nets p retty regularly ; but he lacks strokes, and there are holes in his defence. He won’t mind my saying it. He will be none the worse for not being a run- getter, for he is not a robust man, and the Aunt Sally trade is pretty trying— eh, Street ? ” Street grinned acquiescence. “ N icol’s in England now, b y the way. No, I never saw Zulch. I should have liked to, for they tell me he’s second only to Taylor. I saw Commaille, of Western Province, a t the nets. V ery solid indeed— a capital man to go in first. “ Do you know ' Cypher,’ of The Latest ? Bu t of course you do ; I remember him talking about you. There’s a man for figures ; he had all m y doings w ith bat and ball totted ligh t up to date. The journalists there were all very kind to me— so was everybody, for th at matter.” “ Tell me something about your early days,” I suggested. “ W hat for ? Y o u know it all. A t least, Mr. Ho— ‘ Cypher,’ I should say— says if you don’t nobody does. Y es, I’m the senior member of the Sussex team, now Harry B u tt’s gone. F irst played in ’95— one match, a duck, and one for 70 or thereabouts. Joe Vine’s first game was in ’96. He was on the fringe of the eleven till ’99 ; I did not p lay regularly till two or three years after that. The seasons of 1904 and 1905 were my best w ith the b a ll; I took well over 100 wickets in each. Then the ball that used to go with my arm went altogether, and I have never been anything but a change bowler since. I shan’t get many more wickets, I suppose.” " W ait till you get a batter-pudding pitch, Cox. And, anyway, you’ve a thousand odd to your credit in big cricket.” The genial eyes twinkled. “ Yes, I can still do a b it when the w icket helps. But so can anyone who can bowl at all, you know— and even some whom I shouldn’t call bowlers. Several of us in the Sussex team aren’t as young as we were. B u t Joe Vine seems as good as ever ; and A lbert R elf’s simply wonderful. He doesn’s mind bowling all day— not he ! England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, the West Indies— A lbert only needs a trip to the States and Canada and one to the Argentine to be able to say that he’s played in all the chief cricket countries. Robert R elf ?— -a rare fine bat, and a capital bowler too. No, he hasn’t made quite as many runs lately as we expected of him ; but then we expected a good deal, you know. That 200 at East- bourhe ? Yes, it was b eau tifu l; but I think even better was the 200 at Canterbury in ail earlier year, just after he had been left out of the team. '* I should like to say that Mr. Charles F ry was a very good friend to me. He believed in m y bowling and gave me every chance. Yes, I have played under several Sussex captains— Mr. Murdoch, Prince Ranjitsinhji, Mr. Fry, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Chaplin. Not being among the lucky few who get selected for England or the Players, I haven’t much experience outside the county and M.C.C. matches ; but men who have played under him say Mr. Archie MacLaren was about the best of the lot, and I should have liked one match w ith him. Mr. Murdoch was very good, of course ; always cheerful, and up to every move in the game.” " What ground do you prefer as a batsman ? ” “ Hove. I don’t mean that it’s the easiest. W e don’t get the plumb wickets there they used to have fifteen or twenty years ago. Others are far easier now— Trent Bridge, Worcester, Leyton, for instance. No, we don’t do well a t Leyton as a rule. Bu t we got a little of our own back against Essex a few days ago, didn’t we ? I never made a century for the county a t Hove. My only hundred, in a championship match was against Hampshire at Chichester. The other for Sussex was at Fenner’s against the University.” “ W hat of your benefit ? ” “ They gave me the choice of the two matches of the Brighton Week— Yorkshire and Surrey— I took the Surrey game. Yes, Surrey at Horsham m ight have suited me better. B u t I ’m satisfied. I t’s rather late in the season, but th a t’s to the good where Brighton is concerned. We never get anything like a crowd there early. Do I like playing to empty benches ? No, I don’t ! No cricketer does. A good crowd puts heart into one. We ought to be grateful to the members ; they do turn up, anyw ay, and it’s queer sometimes to see the pavilion and the stand close b y p retty full— ladies’ enclosure, too— and people only dotted b y twos and threes round the ground.” “ W hat of the young players ? ” “ Well, you can count Jupp out. He is one of us now, with a place assured. Bow ley is already a very good batsman indeed, w ith a nice style and plenty of pluck ; he should go far. T ate is a most promising bowler. Roberts is useful too, but would be more so w ith an extra yard or two of pace. Ernest R elf isn’t the equal of his brothers y e t ; I ’m not sure that he ever will be, but he has cricket in him. So has Charlwood. Yes, th ey’re a promising lot, on the whole.” “ When is Mr. Heygate going to play again ? ” “ Never hear anything of him now. Busy doctoring, I suppose. There was his brother— a really good bat— he played one lovely innings for us. W h at’s become of him ? ” I was able to answer that, for I occasionally hear from H. J. Heygate, who is busy on railway construction in Canada and has had no cricket for three or four years past. He hopes to be home for a holiday this summer. “ Is it true that gardening is your hobby ? ” " No, sir, it isn’t. Gardening was m y trade, before I took to cric k e t; but I can’t say I do much now. Not a lot of time, w ith two matches most weeks, is there ? ” The train slowed down. On the busy platform at Victoria I wished Cox and the silent Street good luck. Bu t neither they nor Sussex had much luck a t Lord’s. L et us hope it will come later ! J. N . P.