DR. W. G. GRACE ON CRICKET.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 54, 31 August 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

DR. W. G. GRACE ON CRICKET.

The Gloucestershire team on tho 17th of June began a match with Warwickshire on the county ground 'at Egdbaston, and a representative of the 'Birmingham Daily Post interviewed Dr. W\ G. Grace at the i Grand Hotel. To see Dr. Grace (he writes) stretched upon a -chair 'after a hard day's i cricket, with, the serious, straightforward, and alert, .expression 'that fib so well his i build and.faoialjwntonr, one would imagine that it had never. ,ooourred to him to count i his list of centuries, and that the mention I of a national testimonial would find him , perfectly incredulous. v Stability is the first . and most persistent impression which , he . makes on a'oasual observer— he would be a , very difficult man to knock over. And, t" after a few minutes' ohat, the idea takes a t mental as well as a physical colour ; shrewd . hard-headed sense,' flanked with determinai tion and modesty, orowningthe hardest of ) muscles and the soundest of constitutions, i ' "I will ask you a, question whioh you s have, doubtless answered before. Are we c entitled to flatter ourselves, as we genorally d do, that orioket -is improving in all its t branches?" — "There~'is, of . course,, some - improvement in orioket, bnt in comparing t the cricketers of to-day and those "of 30 c years ago, you must always remember the r, larger number, who play now and. the ; number ot good grounds which they have s to play upon." "Leaving your own achievements out of i account for a momenr, beoauso they belong a to two generations, do you think' the old . worthies could have matched our leading n men to-day ?"— " Wellj.as I have said, we c have a greater number of good players at c the present time ; but still I think the best a of the old players would have held their a own with them." i "What of the bowlers? Weareaoeus* c tomed to think of them as more scientific and deadly?" — "The bowlers, as a rule, j are more accurate than they were years ago, f but I do not think they are any better. b The best bowlers that I can call to mind, i and against whom I used to play," :Dr. i Grace proceeded musingly, ,and with a r perfect intuition. of the question that: had 1 been coming, "were Freeman, ■ Tarrant,

I Willsher, J. O. Shaw, Emmett, Alfred I Shaw, and Peate. The best bowlers of the , present day compare favourably with these i names, but certainly are not better." 1 " Are there are any blemishes in modern I orieket ng-aiunt which you would feel inolinod I to give a warning?" — "I think young , batsmen, as a rule, play too slow a gamo They should hit more, nrd not play bo 'steady.' Of course, come batsmen are i not made for hitting, and it would be fatal for them to try it ; but, on the other hand, good free orickefc should certainly be ' encouraged." "There are just one or two points on which I should like to trouble you. Do i you think the new 'follow-on' rule' will be a satisfactory settlement?"— " Yes —that is, i for a few years." "Can you suggest any means for reducing i the number of drawn games, with the . annoyance they often provoke when they are brought about by high scoring?" — ; "Well, I must -say many of these drawn i games are due to the' great amount of time wasted during the whole three days and on i every day of the three. Punctuality would do a great deal ; punctuality in starting, punctuality between the innings, and punctuality with regard to the Tunoheon interval— all these should be insisted upon ; and strictly observed." " What do you think of the Australian system of playing to a finish ? Would it not be a desirable innovation in big matches in this country, Bay Fngland' v. Australia matches ?" — "I should like every England v. Australia match to be played to a finish; but it would not be practicable in England unless all county matches were given up during the Australian visit." The final question was hardly ingenuous. It had been carefully constructed with a* view to making it look as abstract as possible, and it was delivered in the tone of a theoretical enthusiast. " I should like to ask your opinion of a case like this : Supposing there were a good fast wicket, what would be your best advice to the captain of a team which had no fast bowlers ? Only the suggestion of a twinkle crossed the veteran 8 face as he shook hands and answered, " I should advise him to win the toss."