James Lillywhiite's Cricketers' Annual 1874

2 1 h i m" run out." If not, I think I should let himoff and call a " no-ball ." I pause for corrections , for I wish to elicit the opinion of competent and practical cricketers , rather than to air m yown crochets : the point is really curious and w o r t hdiscussion. I do not meanfor a momentto say that the sundry mares' -nests just over- hauled are of m yown private finding . Most if not all of them, and plenty of others to boot, are known to those initiated in the inner mysteries of cricket . I have only put these few together to vary the contents of the present work a little in the year of grace 1874. C H A P T E R V. O U RT W O-D A Y SM A T C HA T G U M B L E Τ Ο Ν . B Y SIR R A N D A LROBERTS, B A R T. OURSis a country club . We've got no particular colours that I'm aware of ; in fact , we wear anything we like in the shape of distinguishing badges . Of course we've got our fast bowler and our slow one ; we also possess a very useful individual , who trundles what we used to call at school " sneaks ," but now-a-days , irreverently no doubt, better knownas " Thorntons ." Ours is not an aristocratic club, and we read with wonder and awe that awful sheet in the Field headed " Cricket ." W ebelieve in Grace, and dream of him as a sort of nightmare. Occasionally a professional comes downour way, and is, of course , made muchof ; until , on a certain day, one of them informed us w e knewnothing about cricket . Well, Gumbleton(that is the nameof our village ) is a rather out-of-the-way place . It is eight miles from a railway station , and in the most inaccessible part of the midland counties . The cricket ground of the G. C. C. is on the village green in the middle of Gumbleton : on a match daythe whole of Gumbleton turns out as one man. Gumbleton has got a mayorand alderman , together with other civic dignitaries , and many good old English customs have been kept up in Gumbleton , the game of cricket being amongst the mostprominent. N o w henweheard , in the sanded parlour of the " Chequers ," from the lips of the before -mentioned professional , that we knewnothing about cricket , there was consternation amongst us. Whatwas to be done ? "Well ! " says the landlord , removing his long clay from his lips , " I believe it be along of m yhaving bouled he out twice runnin'." N o w, the landlord of the Chequers happened to be our Thornton. He re- joiced in the name of " Cuttles ." He stood by the G. C. C. through good report and through evil report . For years he had been the terror of the surrounding village teams, and manywas the gallon of beer that had gone downthirsty throats on a broiling midsummer's day on Gumbleton Green , that " Cutty was owed for," and what is more, never expected to be paid for .