A CKICKET CROWD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 8, 10 January 1912, Page 10

A CKICKET CROWD.

SPECTATORS' LUNCH BAGS. SIDELIGHTS ON THE SECOND TEST GAME. A foreigner (says the Melbourne Argus of the Ist instant) would have wondered on Saturday morning whither all the men and boys were Tushing with brief bags in their hands or parcels under their arms. At first he might havo been inclined to believe that they were rushing to work, but after close observation he would have noticed an eagerness and an air of anticipation about men and boys alike which would have convinced him that the humdrum of business was not the attraction. They were not going to work —they were hurrying to the Test match on the Melbourne Cricket Ground.' Hundreds were there on Saturday morning over an hour before' the time of starting, and the stream of men and boys flowed on through the gates' into the outer enclosure until the afternoon, was well advanced. Ninetenths of them carried brief bags or kit bags or brown paper parcels, for they were not going home to lunch. They were the cricket enthusiasts who had come to watch every ball bowled from midday to 6 o'clock^ and -who were not going to miss a single' stroke in the great game. There were sedate elderly gentlemen, not in the least enthusiastic or excitable in appearance, trudging along with their lunch bags in, hand, and with serious looks on their faces, as befitted a most momentous occasion. And there were schoolboys in galatea sailor suits^ with neat packages under their arms —little parcels of sandwiches and cake made up by their mothers or sisters. Yonng or old they were all going to stay the day. The ladies were as few among the outside crowd as daisies on a well-trimmed lawn. Tall-men came with little brown paper parcels just a little too large for their coat pockets, while, little men walked lopsided under the weight of kit bag«, which must have been packed from top to bottom with things to eat and drink. In the afternoon enterprising boys went round the ground collecting bottles. They tied the' necks to string, slung the booty over their shoulders, and carried it underneath the Btand/», -where they packed it in bags. LITERARY TASTE. But cricket crowds do not only eat and drink and. talk during the intervals of play. They also display a literary taste.' Men staggered on to the ground with loads of illustrated London papers of old issues, and .the cry re-echoed through the stands, "Here y'are/ The best London lileratooi' by .-the greatest living writers. Only a penny each 1" Early-comers eagerly bought- these illustrated papers to pass away the time, and the men in the stands, with their book"? open in front of them, heads down, and all attention, bore the appearance of huge classes of schoolboys intent on their lessons. Score-books were also bought' in hundreds. The very greatest enthusiasts keep their own scores. They record every ball bowled during the day, even if they have" to stand up in the sun without free play for their elbows. The equipment of the expert onlooker consists of a brief bag (containing lunch and a bottle of something), a pair of , field-glasses slung over the shoulders, a pipe, and a newspaper, magazine, 'or book under his. arm. He "also wears the softest and oldest hat. in hie possession and a light coat. , The expert onlooker, in short, looks exactly like an angler out for a long day's fishing, with this one difference —he does not carry a rod. His favourite seat is in front of the iron railings circling the green, but he is quite content if he gets a seat in the Harrison or Wardill stand, and if he arrives 1 late he does not growl if he has to stand. He puts his precious bag on the asphalt between his feet, and concentrates his whole attention on the game/ The^schoc-lboyg and the ofticb boys generally manage to get seats, no matter at what hour they arrive, and it is noticeable that Jong before the lunch hour 1 comes they have absentmindedly or purposely torn open" the paper parcels resting on their kn«fi and' are nibbling at their sandwiches and cakes. A LONG SITTING. Many of these spectators never left their seats on Saturday. The fierce sun in the early afternoon could not drive i them away. They took off their coatsand fixed their handkerchiefs under their hate to shelter their necks, and kept their faces turned towards the figures in white playing the game on the green turf. Was' it any wonder that they sometimes grew a little impatient when play was slow or time was wasted' A few drops of rain fell—a vestige of a shower—and the players slowly,, very slowly, sauntered off the field, and the umpires, at the tail-end of the cricketers, had scarcely reached the shelter of the stand when the rain ceased. The umpires walked out again on to the green, and after them, at a very respectful distance, reluctantly strolled the players An irreverent person perched on a stand cried in a voice that parried right across tho ground, "Why didn't yer 'bring yer umbrellas, with yer?" Most of the crowd had the temerity to laugh at such irrever&nce, and good humour took the place of a growing impatience. It would be a sorry crowd which did not indulge in a little barra eking, arid the best way for the victim to treat the barrackers is either to take no notice of them or to laugh with them. To get annoyed as Barnes did, urider some provocation, only has the effect of making-the barrackers mischievous,' and " crowds, it should always be remembered, have long memories as well as long tongues. FACES LONG AND BLANK. It was fine to watch th& faces of the men and boys arriving half an hour or so after the start as they stared at the scorinsjboard and read on its expressive face th© news of Australia's downfall. Tho faces were long and blank for a moment, /and then they brightened. The common temark was, "Serve them right!" The crowd havo the impression that there should be more new and young ir|Pn in the Australian team, and they regarded the figures on the,scor-ing-boards a? a tribute to thoir judgment. But at the back of this cynicism was a very strong belief in the ability and pluck of the Australians, no matter how popr might be their display in the first innings, to put up a good fighfc to the end. "The wicket must be bad," some downcast Australian would mutter gloomily. "Look at it and see!" an eager, onlooker would say, gloating in the momentary downfall of his idols, and he would hand over his field-glasses. "Like a bflliard rtable, isn't it?" And the newcomer Would admit that there did no^ appear to be anything wrong with the brown strip of turf. The old cricketing autnoritiej who always stan-J on the asphalt in a line with the wicket —-under the shade of the elms in fo,rmei years, but, alas! the trees are gone now —were the centres of little groups of wondering enthusiasts as the Australians early in the day fell before the onslaught of Barnes, and the opinions of the veterans were eagerly listened to. "WHAT ABAHT THEM NOW?" The Englishmen had probably more direct supporters than they have ever been cheered by at any previous Test match played in Melbourne. Here and there immigrants, newly come' from [ Great Brjtaui, disclosed, thjgjselyes by