Cricket 1914

No. i i , Vol. I. SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1914. pRICE 3 d. never saw him make any runs worth speaking of here," says the man in the crowd. It is a wrong view, a p artial view, of course ; but most human views are partial, and it is only human nature to rank the century or the hat trick seen before the centuries and the bowling performances merely read of. More imagination than can safely be counted upon in the man in the street is needed to adjust the balance. And, after all, perhaps it is better to trust to ocular demonstration than to attem pt weighing up bats­ men or bowlers on terms of their figures in the average lists. Major J. G. Greig was born on October 24, 1871. He was educated a t Ushaw and Downside, but he did not take to cricket very seriously there, and owes little to his school training. To Sandhurst— and to Captain W ynyard’s coaching there— he admits, on the other hand, a debt of obligation. He went out to India as a subaltern in 1893, and, save for visits home on leave, he has been in India ever since. This means, of course, th a t his opportunities for first-class cricket have been limited. Only in 1897, 1901, 1905, 1906, 1910, and this year has he taken any part in home first-class cricket. B u t he has played season after season in the Bombay Presidency matches against the Parsis (which began in 1892), and more recently in the games against the Hindus and Mahommedans, for the Parsis, who got a long lead in the cricket race, though they are still ahead, have been challenged in good earnest b y the other two races of late years. Some authorities would cavil a t the inclusion of these matches among first-class fixtures. I t is scarcely worth while to argue the point here. First-class or not, th ey are the chief matches of the year in India, for the difficulties of raising representative teams to go away render matches between the various Presidencies infrequent. Some such there have been; how many, or when they were played, the present deponent knoweth not, and that is scarcely his fault, for he has made fruitless enquiries. He cannot be certain, therefore, that Major Greig’s record (as given here) in important matches in India is absolutely complete. More than head and shoulders above the rest, the Major has not lacked the competition of other first-class players, though none o f the better-known o f them has pu t in so much cricket in India as he has. Among players for Bom­ bay Presidency a t various times one notes the names o M. R. Jardine, Col. R. M. Poore, Major A . H. T. Newnham H a m p s h ir e has owed much to the assistance of Arm y men for many years past. The names of Poore, Wynyard, Greig, Quinton, Tennyson, and others will readily occur to those who follow first-class cricket. O f recent years the senior service has contributed good men in Aber­ crombie and Harrison to the county’s ranks, too. Of all these, despite the greatness of Poore and W ynyard a t their best, one is inclined to think th at Major J. G. Greig, if not actu ally first, must be reckoned at least the equal of the best among his service comrades. He is such a consistent scorer, and he gets his runs so well. When he is batting, early dismissal looks a very unlikely contingency. He is a rare man for a crisis ; again and again he has shown his capacity to stay and to score while others come and go. More especially has this been the case in his Indian cricket. It is likely th at the enthusiastic cricketers of the native races— such of them, a t least, as are home-stayers, and have had no chance of seeing most of the English cracks perform— look upon the Major as the world’s greatest batsman. To those who have not followed Indian cricket closely this m ay seem the language of hyperbole. B u t it is not so. Everyone who has experience of cricket crowds knows to how great an extent they base their judgment of a man on what they have seen him do. “ Don’t think much of him— MajorJ.G. Greig Hampshire and India.