CURIOSITIES OF CRICKET.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1699, 17 June 1884, Page 3

CURIOSITIES OF CRICKET.

Cbicket itself is a curiosity to most foreigners. Fi'ench, Spanish, and Portuguese writers, besides those of other countries, have described it with bewildering vagueness and misleading exaggerations. A Spaniard, who desired to make his fellow-countrymen familiar with the game, said : — "Two posts are placed at a great distance from one another. The player Agl£pe%i one of those posts throws a large'ball *xb jthe other party, who awaits the ball, to eend it far with, a small stick with whioh he is armed ; the other players tlien run to look for the ball, and while the search is going on, the, party who struck it runs incessantly from post to post." This is only part of the description; but the rest is much like it. If we did not know that cricket was the subject of the sketob, we should think the writer was explaining some game with which we are not familiar in this country. ; Butorioket has its curiosities, and scarcely a season passes-witbout someiihing happening which, .adds tp the list of novelties. The frontispiece to Parry's Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage represents a cricket match being played on the ice between . the crews of the Hecla and the Fury. This was in March, 1823, a month, when it is not customary to play cricket in England. Cricket v has also been played where grass = would not grow, and where sand or gravel has fceeir a substitute for the gpreentiirf which the cricketer loves* It must have been very hot at:. Hongkong in Ootober, 1874, when, during a match, the middle stump was bowled ,out, but the two bails remained in their original piosition. The varnish had glued.the bails together. This has happened even -ia milder, latitudes. Mafches between women aw not very common, but a number of t them havo been played. They Save generally been either for sums of money or oh behalf of publio charities. In 1823, a matehjwas played in Norfolk between eleven married, women and eleven single ones. The stakes were, a pair of gloves each j and the married "wpmen won.' Among peculiar sides, the family Elevens may be mentioned. Some families are very famous for 4 their cricketing abilities, but it does ,not often happen that eleven of their members are prepared to take the field against, opponents. In 1867, eleven of Lord Lyttelton' a family played the Bromsgrove Grammar School. The family was victorious by ten. wickets. The Caesars, the Lubbocks, and others with well-known names, have played family matches. -. • Ai;' one time, the famous B. Eleven were able to meet the best. of England. These flayers all had names which begin with B. 'Rom" '1805 to 18*37. twelve matches were playecfby'the Bs. Players came and players went, but the pre-eminence of the celebrated initial continued. Such names as Beauclerk, Budd, Beldham, Beagley, and Broadbridge, will, suggest the strength of the side. When matches were played for money, single wicket was far more common than it is now. Sometimes a . celebrated player would have two. or.three opponents, and occasionally one man fwould play an eleven, - This happened,: in. 1836 at Nottingham, when S. Redgate met and defeated eleven of the Kensingfcm Club. Redgate made twenty-four in his two. innings; but the other side made only tep.

There have been many expedients tried for the purpose of equalising the chances of two sides, when one set of players were known to he superior to the others. Matches against odds are well known. At one time the AllEngland Eleven were constantly meeting • eighteens and twenty-twos. Tliis custom is fast passing- away. County Cricket is taking its place. In the year 1834, a novol expedient was tried .at Nottingham. Eleven of that town met' thirteen of Bingham. Not-ting-ham was to have the ordinary twp innings, and Bingham was* to have. four.. Nottingham won by eigh,t wickets. It is said that this &hd the -return, match were the only ones'ever'piayed'ih which the odds were four innings to two. , ( .',.t - . Some" years ago, there were two wandering Elevens consisting of one-armed and onelegged " men. The first match between cricketers of this kind took place in 1811. It was for one thousand guineas, and all the men were pensioners of Greenwich Hospital. The one-arm side won. Their opponents were continually breaking or losing their , wooden supports. Sometimes the matches for money were genuine ; hut frequently the money was only pretended to be staked, in order to increase the interest in the public mind. Old advertisements of cricket matches often state that a great deal of money depends upon the game. It was thought that players would be more likely to do their best if they were playing for monoy. This, however, was a great mistake. Matches are now contested as keenly as possible^ when nothing but honor is played for. ! At the present time, left-ann would have a poor chance against the best right-arm eleven which ■ coidd be put in the field. The left-arm would do very well for bowling, but the batting would be weak. ■ But the match has 'been played, and the full strength of the country has been* divided between the two elevens. Another distinction between sides is married and single. The beginning of the alphabet has been pitted against the latter part — A to K against Lto Z. During tiie last few years, a good match was made between Over thirty and Under thirty. In 1810, a similar match was played, but it was between Over thirty-eight and IJnder thirtyeight. .•- * ' -- *-

' Single counties have played the rest of Sngiand ; just as in tho early days of cricket. i single club would hold its own against .'verybody olse. Hamhledou against Eng- ' :i.tid, with Hambledon victorious, is recorded ;\ m fche early annals of cricket. The time has ■ gone when any single county is strong enough 1 to contend against all the others. 1 Some wonderful scores have been made at ' cricket; but in 1882 the Orleans Club beat . all previous records. Against Rickling , I Green, they scpred 920 in one innings. There i are many cases known' in whioh nothing has been scored in an innings; so that is a record which cannot be beaten. One of ' the. highest individual innings ever played is th&fc of Mr * W. N. Roe, 415, for Emmanuel Long "Vacation Club, against Caius Long Vacation Club, on July 12/1881. There are peculiar ways in which a man can . be ■ out . at cricket. In a-match between England and Sussex, J. Broadbridge threw his bat at an off-ball ; he hit the ball, and was caught. This is said to have have lost ' the' match* for Sussex. Several times it has happened that batsmen have played the ball into their own pookets. Batsmen have been out because their hats or caps fell upon fche wicket and knocked the bails off. But batsmen have been in as wonderfully as thej have been out. The ball has been seen to go between the stumps without removing the bails, and yet when the ball has been placed between them, it has seemed impossible for this to happen. Bails have been known to be knocked off, and to have fallen back upon the wickets. But this is an event which very seldom happens. A long list of extras does not look well in a cricket score. Some years ago, in a match at Chatham between the Royal Engineers and The Establishment, there were 101 extras. In 1842, the Gentlemen of Kent played the Gentlemen of England at Canterbury, and there were 159 extras in the match. j In Australia it is common- to adjourn | matches over Sunday, and play them out j during the following week. This has seldom I been done in England. In country matches ; there is sometimes an -adjornment from Saturday to Saturday. But perhaps the longest adjournment ever known was at Stoke Down, in Hampshire. A match was commenced on July 23rd, and adjourned, aftet three days' playing, till June 28th of the following, year. This was in the last century. One of the most remarkable matohes ever played took place at Shillinglee Park in 1843. Jn one side vvere the Earl of Wintert&n's Eleven, and thirty-seven labourers on the oilaer. Tlie Eleven vron by five 'wickets.' ' But this match , was outdone three years after, When* 1 tHd same' 'Eleven- - contended . against fifty-six labourers. This time, however, the match was not finished. — Chambers's Journal.

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