John and James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1882

ilanbom |lcco!lcctions. 15 y T he R ev . J. PYCROFT , A u t h o r o f “ T h e ( ' t i c k e t F i e l d . " T IS NOW F IFTY YEARS SINCE I first joined tlic club at Oxford, whose head-quarters were on Cowley jMarsh, called then, the ^Magdalen ground, hecausemadc by W . W a l k e r , of Magdalen College. Hulliug- don, the original ground, had by that time become devoted principally to races and festivity, and only nominally to cricket. It is forty-live years since the Rev. J ohn M itford , o f Henhall, in Suffolk, who had retained F uller P ilch ' s celebrated tutor, F enn e x , as liis gardener, and by liis help had collected some valuable information as to the game in olden time, presented me with a manuscript, tlie nucleus of my Cricket Field . My friend had written several papers on cricket in the Gentleman s Magazine, of which he was editor. He suggested that before time had rendered any history of cricket impossible I should follow out the clues he had given me, and spare no pains to produce a work befitting such a subject as our national game. The last Edition has had the benefit of foriy years of research and obser­ vation, I may. hope, therefore, to amuse my readers by a few random recollections, after observation and experience extending over about half a century. I began to play when the old underhand bowling was going out, and when the round-arm was spoken of as a novelty. The invention o f this new style is commonly attributed to one W il l e s , a Kent farmer, who took the idea from the attitude of his sister, who bowled to him for practice in the winter in a barn. Hut a good authority claims the honour for Mr. K n ight , of Alton, and two ladies, his sisters, who were rendering him the same assistance. It is well known that Mr. K n ig iit had more to do than any other Member in introducing the new rule of “ hand over e lbow ’ ’ into the Laws of the M arylerone C li ; h . The Sporting Magazines o f about 1625 had many letters and much controversy on the subject. One writer, 1 remember, argued that no such law could be carried out, as no umpire could say where bowling ended and throwing began. Mr. K nigiit replied, that in "horsemanship no one could define where a trot ended and a canter began, but the terms had a conven­ tional meaning notwithstanding. I cannot say Mr. K nigiit had the best of the argument. Old Mr. W a r d , a man of the best common sense as well as cricket, remarked, “ A ll I can say is, cricketers must be a very peaceable class o f men, for no match is played, with the new style of delivery, which might not end in a wrangle.” Hut there is a third claimant for the honour o f this discovery. An° old Midhur-t man—and there was good cricket at Midhurst School in days when Sussex was the best cricket county— claims the honour for, save the mark !