56 YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 67, 21 March 1933, Page 9

56 YEARS AGO

ENGLISH CRICKETERS

VISIT WELLINGTON

LILLYWHITE'S TEAM

Although.the first English team, came to New Zealand in 1864, its matches were confined to the South Island, and it was not till thirteen years later that Wellington first saw the representatives of the Motherland in action. This was James Lilly white's team, comprising the cream of England's professional talent, who had just concluded a tour of Australia, in the course of which they had played (and lost) the first of the long series of Test matches between. England and Australia. The members of the- team were:— James Lillywhite (captain), James , Southerton and H. Charlwood (Sussex)\ Alfred Shaw and J. Selby (Notts), .Allen Hill, Luke Greenwood, Thomas Armitage, Tom Emmett, and George Ulyett (Yorkshire), and Harry Jupp and Edward Pooley (Surrey). James Lillywhite, the captain, was a left-handed batsman and bowle^ and a smart field in the slips and at midon. For Sussex against the M.C.C. in 1562, on his first appearance at Lord's, he took fourteen wickets for 57 runs, and amongst many other fine- performances were eight for 29 for the Players against the Gentlemen; fifteen for 55 for Players of the south against Gentlemen of the south; thirteen for 70 . for Sussex-Kent. In a later match against Kent ,he took eight for 43 in the first innings and sent down 10S balls for two runs in the second. On the New Zealand tour he took 56 wickets for 147 runs, including thirteen for 19 against Taranaki and thirteen for 22 against Wellington. Southerton was a slow right-hand bowler, coming. back from the off, and he and Lillywhite made a formidable combination, several times, for Sussex and other teams, bowling unchanged through an innings. He took 61 wickets in the New Zealand matches at a cost of 3.3 runs each. Charlwood was a fine batsman, and headed the batting averages for the New Zealand trip with 237 runs for nine completed innings. A DEADLY BOWLER. Alfred Shaw was the greatest length bowler of all time. With a beautifully easy delivery, he could keep going for hours without ever losing his length or sending down a loose ball. He could drop the ball on the proverbial sixpence time after time, and it used to be said that no matter how good a wicket might be Shaw, if he' could not find a spot, would soon make one. Spoff orth has said that it was when watchinjrJShaw that he madq up his mind to gi»e up fast bowling and go in for lengtll and spin. While in New Zealand he took 40 wickets for 95 runs, including 13 for 11 against Wellington, four of them with successive balls. Allen Hill was a fast bowler, whose average worked out the same as Shaw's, his 46 wickets costing him 109 runs. He took twelve for 17 against Canterbury, twelve for 17 against Southland, ana seven for 5 against Taranaki. In the Canterbury match the; Canterbury XVIII, requiring 109 runs to win, were in a good- position with twelve wickets down, but Hill, bowling very fast—if he had been playing today he might have been accused of body-line tactics —took the last five wickets in eight overs for no runs. ' ■ • ;■. , Greenwood, a good batsman, was born in the same Yorkshire village as Hill-Lascelles Hall, which produced so many great cricketers that it was said that if a whistle were blown in it a team, would come up fit to play any side in England. . Greenwood came second to Charlwood in. the batting, making 210 runs in ten completed inning's, his 82 against Nelson being the highest recorded on the tour. Jupp was a sound, careful bat, who made a great many runs in first-class cricket, including, curiously enough, scores of 99, 98, 97 (twice)j 96 (twice), 94 not out, 94, 93, 92 not out, 92, 91 not out, 91,. 90 not out, and 90. He was very smart between the wickets, and he and Humphrey, his great partner in the Surrey eleven, frequently used to get a run for a ball only a few feet in front of the wicket. Pooley was ■a, first-class wicket-keeper, and Selby and Armitage were useful batsmen. Always alert and cheerful, whether in the hot sun of Australia or on a cold, cheerless day in Sheffield, Tom Emmett, during the twenty years of his first-class career, was one of the most popular players in England. Although he got a tremendous number of wickets, he bowled a lot of bad balls, and wides were by no means uncommon. On one occasion Lord Hawke said to him:-"Tom, do you know you have bowled 44 wides this year?" "Have I, my lord?" said the irrepressible Tom, "then just give me the ball and I'll soon earn my talent money!" He took 22 wickets for 4.] runs each in the New Zealand matches, including four in successive balls against Auckland. '. George "Ulyett ("Happy Jack") "was a typical Yorkshireman, of larga build, ruddy countenance, and cheery disposition. A good field, fast bowler, and splendid forcing bat, he was one of England's best all-rounders. His figures in New Zealand were 12 wickets for 50 and 171 runs in nine completed innings!, MET BYtBAND AND 4000. Arriving by steames from Auckland the Englishmen were met at the wharf by the Artillery Band and a crowd of 4000 people, and were driven to their headquarters, the Panama Hotel, in Andrew Young's coach and four. The match was played at. the Basin Beserve, the charges for admission being ground 2s, grandstand 2s 6d, carriages os, each person in same 2s. Play extended over four days, but this was due to frequent interruptions through rain and not to any resistance offered by the local XXII, which was: Macs (captain), W. J. Salmon, I. J. Salmon, J. A. Salmon, Eusscll, Kennedy, Lister-Kaye, Parrington, Cross, Knapp, Edmonds, Garwood, Blacklock, Anson, Armitage, Horwood, Lockett, Foley, Evans, Mason. Hood, and Speed. LOCAL TEAM OUTPLAYED.. The match itself calls for little description. Lillywhite won the toss and .sent Wellington in. W. J. Salmon was bowled by Southerton's first ball, and the procession commenced. With seven wickets down for 20, Shaw took the wickets of Knapp, Edmonds, Garwood, and Blacklock with, successive balls, Knapp caught in the slips and the other three clean-bowled. The total was 31, Shaw taking thirteen wickets for 11 and Southerton eight for 14. England made 190. Charlwood, going in first wicket down after Shaw and Selby had made 46, was seventh out at 148, his share being 56. He was well caught in the long field by Anson, and was carried shoul-der-high off the ground in recognition of a fine innings, of which some good leg hitting and cutting were the prominent features. Shaw' made 25, Selby 20, Pooley 18 not out, and Ulyett 16. Cross bowled well to take five wickets for 61. He bowled six wides, Knapp three, and Armitage three.

. With four absentees "Wellington in their second innings made 38 (Mace 11) and were defeated by an innings and 121 runs. Lillywhite (thirteen for. 22) and Hill (four for 14) bowled unchanged.