Lives in Cricket No 24 - Edgar Willsher

71 on their $1,000. A much sterner test awaited in Boston, which the party reached at nine o’clock on Saturday after a pleasant overnight trip. The gentle nature of the hospitality on the whole trip was reinforced by a visit that afternoon to the city of Cambridge to see the universities of Harvard and Brown playing baseball, where, although clearly following carefully, the visitors displayed their ignorance through asking questions, according to the Boston Herald , that ‘showed plainly that they had still a very imperfect idea of the rules.’ Any chance of having a sneak preview of the wicket for Monday’s match was ruined by a torrential downpour on the Sunday, which was spent attending church and listening to an organ recital at the city’s Music Hall, concluded diplomatically by the playing of the two countries’ national anthems. In Boston, as in all other cities visited, there is no record of the banqueting and speech-making so prevalent on tours of the time, no doubt much to the relief of the England captain, who, although generous to a fault and universally popular, would probably have been a reluctant speech- maker and keen to avoid the limelight. Riverside Park, venue for a further three-day game against a twenty-two made up of 16 local players supplemented by the likes of George Wright and Norley from St George’s, and two of Philadelphia’s Newhall brothers, was actually a ‘trotting’, or harness-racing, racecourse situated in Allston, about three miles from the middle of Boston. Opened in 1865, it was the scene of a world record when ‘Captain McGowan’ trotted no less than 20 miles in just 56 minutes and 25 seconds, netting its owner a purse of $5,500. Little wonder that the cricket pitch, prepared at little more than a month’s notice, was by far the worst experienced on tour. Draper, Boston’s captain, won the toss and decided, given the state of the wicket, to insert the Englishmen. The ground was not dry enough to start until 2.30, and when play did finally commence, Humphrey and Jupp were even more cautious than usual. They were up against probably America’s finest opening pair in Norley and Charles Newhall (of whom more later) and had scratched about for three in eight overs when Newhall removed Humphrey, caught at slip. Despite the late start, in time-honoured fashion lunch was taken after just forty-five minutes of play, with England 20 for one. On the resumption, John Smith dominated the scoring to the extent that, when Jupp was bowled by Norley for three, the total had already advanced to 30. Smith was soon out himself Cricket on the Brain