CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 March 1926, Page 12

CRICKET

'v,: nodes. To-day saw practically the conclusion of the season officially. The great attraction to-day is- the match between South and North. " Another of. the famous Eton brotherhood of cricketers is' the Hon. It. H. Lyttelton, who is seventy-two. If not so prominent as some of his brothers (says a London writer), he was quite a useful cricketer, figuring in the vietorious Eton elevens of 1871 and 5 72, and he also played for Worcestershire. He has been a member of the M.C.C. for over half a century. An interesting reproduction in. a city paper is the picture of the “Sheffield cricket trophy;” a shield donated by Lord Sheffield in 1892 for the encouragement of first-class cricket in Austarlia. New South Wales have seventeen wins to their credit, Victoria ten and South Australia three. Cricketers from, all parts of Cambridgeshire assembled in the Guildhall, Cambridge, on November 23, at the dinner given ' in recognition of Jack Hofob’s recorddbfeaking feats of the last cricket season. The famous Surrey and England batsman was bom at the ’Varsity town, where his father was Custodian of Jesus ' College sports ground, and where Jack Hobbs learned the rudiments of the game. Proposing the principal .toast, Alderman M. V. J. Webber, chairman of the Cambridgeshire County Council, described Hobbs as the most distinguished batsman that Cambridge, Surrey,, and England, or the British Empire had ever produced. After recalling that Hobbs l learned his cricket at Parker’® Piece at Cambridge, the .speaker mentioned that a -committee had been formed to con* sider the provision of a permanent recognition of Hobbs’s record-breaking performances, and that it had been suggested that this should take the form of a pavfifcn on Parker’s Piece. In replying Hobbs referred to some amusing 'incidents which marked his early days of modest ambitions and high enjoyment. "Any old thing for a bat, a tennis racket for choice,” he said, "a Tamp post or three chalk marks on the wall for stumps. The street was my first playground, always with an eve on the ball and the other on the look-out for the policeman.” His greatest regret was that his father did not live to see that’ day. His father did not unduly encourage him in his younger days. Perhaps that wa>s a singular trait in the Hobbs family, since, although he (Jack Hobbs') had three' sons, he never tried to influence them towards cricket. “Perhaps my father thought as I do.” he added, “that if there is cricket, in a lad it will come out,”

GOOD WICKETS. £» Cricketers round here, says the. Napier Telegraph, occasionally grouse mildly on the class of wickets on which they have to play, which causes one to wonder what would happen if they had to perform on some of the pitches provided) elsewhere. In Wanganui one re- , cent Saturday an attempt was made to play a senior match on a new ground, recently opened. The wicket bumped so appallingly, however, that the game had to foe abandoned after only seven overs had been Ibowtled. Even in that short period, however, one player sustained a blow in the mouth which removed! several teeth. E. El. Mayue, iskipper of the Victoian team which visited Napier, had such a high opinion of the local wickets that he said that if ai test match were played here it would not finish in a .week, for it would Ibe impossible to'get a good side out for less than 1000 on a Napier .wicket. Vernon Ranaford, captain of the Australian colts team that was here in 1921, said that the Nlapier wicket was more like an Australian wicket than any they met anywhere else in New Zealand —a -high compliment indeed, considering the quality of the Australian wicket.

SELECTION OP ENGLISH TEAM

ADVICE BY YORKSHIRE MAN.

Speaking at an annual celebration in Halifax (Yorkshire), a leading man and enthusiast said: “They were naturally looking forward to next season when the Australians were v coining over with the Ashes in their pocket waiting for England to capture. They were going to wrest those Ashes from Australia, and they would ihiave to do as Roy Kilner said, have eleven men who could play hard from the first to the last ball, who were never giving up, who had the Test match temperament, who could play exactly the same before 10,000 people as before nobody. They wanted the eleven best cricketers in England, Whether professionals or amateurs', whether from favourite counties or not. That was the only way to win back the Ashes.” He went on to say that great difficulty would he experienced in choosing the team to defeat the Australians. The committee was going to have a very awkward job. He thought, however, that there was more at" stake in the selection of the M.C.O. selection committee than in the selection of a team.

There was -more at stake on the part of the M.O.C. in seeing that they would get the best men irrespective of names or anything, but gimiply on account of cricketing ability. 3t rwfus the only way to beat the Australians next soa- / son, for he was certain that there were eleven cricketers in England capable of winning at least three of the five Test matches. He urged young players to do all they could to make the game of cricket better. He did 1 not think cricket had yet reached its zenith.

ENGLAND'S SELECTORS. One of England’s cricket selectors, Percy Perrin, is not well known to Australians and yet he was wonderfully fine batsman, of higher class skill, for instance, than Warner. He flourished when, great batsmen were numerous in English cricket, but even so it was only his lack adaisioal manned and heaviness in the field that prevented the highest honours falling to his lot. A Londoner bom and bred, he graduated into the Essex eleven from club cricket, thus lacking the polish and ‘‘pep” in the field that is inculcated in the big Schools and unievrsities. He played with, and was the leading batsman for* Essex for over twenty consecu/tive seasons, making his 1000 runs, and many centuries, with the greatest regularity. His highest first-class score was 343 nob out for Essex, against Deibyshirej in 1904, when curiously '‘enough, this score notwithstanding, his side lost the match by nine wickets. Speaking on the evening of the match, he merely remarked about it, “Oh. that’s cricket all over.”

MEN WHO MADE THE GAME.

HISTORY IN PICTURES AT LORD’S

Cricket has always had a literature ox its own, but its attraction for ,irusts nas proved small m comparison ~ ltu otner sports oi equal antiquity, .-.evertneiess, txiere exists a complete illustrated History of tne game Horn the .inacue oi tne testa century uutn tne .invent or tne illustrated newspaper in recent years (writes a correspondent in me non don Observer). Owing to tne ellorts of the late Sir .jpencer Fons on by-r line, most of the larnous cricket paintings and _ prints nave found their way to Lord’s, where, oy the aid of Sir spencer’s catalogue, one may spend a wet afternoon- in tracing the game’s history from the time when only two stumps were used and the bat was curved like a hockey stick. There, too, one may trace the development of batting from the time when the bat was used as a scythe to, mow the ball away, to the upright style of play-—of which the classical examples are the drawings which G- E. Watts, R.A., executed to ' illustrate Felix’s book, “On th© Bat.” The originals of these drawings now adorn -&he walls of tlie Long Koom at Lord s. The oldest print was published in April, 1743, and is an engraving by ! lenoist entitled ‘ ‘Cricket: after the painting in Vauxhall Gardens,” by Francis- Hayman, R.A. It gives a good idea of the conditions . under which ci-icket was played in the 18th-century. A single wicket match is in progress on the edge of a common, -with-hilly ground in the distance. The players are dressed in white shirts, kneebreeches, and silk stockings. The wicket consists of two stumps with a third laid across; the bat is curved. The umpire was a person of importance even in those days, and the artist has dignified him with a fine cocked hat, while the scorer is also rendered conspicuous in the same wav, and he notches the runs on his stick—the early method of scoring. In those days, apparently, a hot summer was a thing not unknown, for the wicketkeeper (who is William Hogarth, the famous engraver), has discarded his wig for the sake of coolness. This picture is one of a series which Hayman painted in conjunction with Hogarth for one •Jonathan Tyers, for the purpose of decorating Vauxhall Gardens. _ It was this series of pictures that gained the artist his reputation as an historical painter.

Quaintly Attired. Another picture, published in November, 1743, is also worthy of notice. It is an engraving bv Henry Roberts, after L. P. Boitard, and claims to he “An Exact Representation of the Game of Cricket.” It is a quaint old print, and one which is seldom met with nowadays. The players are again dressed in flowing white shirts, kneebreeches, silk stockings, and buckled dioee, with the exception of one enthusiast who is barefooted ! Once again the umpires are clad in long coats and cocked hats—indeed, many years were to pass before the umpire’s cocked hat was to he abolished by the ruthless reformer. A curious feature of this picture is the expectant attitude of th© fielders, all of whom are holding their hands as though awaiting a catch. Perhaps the expression “to he on one’s toes” originated thus early in the 18th century. It was not until 1775 that the third stump was added to the wicket. The first picture showing three stumps is an engraving of the match between England and Hamhledon on Holt Common (near the famous Bro.ad-halfpenny Down) in 1776. The situation of the ground is most picturesque, beiug surrounded' by shady trees, while the spire, of Hambledon Church is just visible in the distance. As far as the writer knows, this is the only existing picture which shows a match actually in progress at Hambledon. “Manly Recreations.” There are a number of interesting engravings of the “Laws of Cricket,” which were published from time to time during the 18th and the beginning of the 19fh centuries. Of thesp the most important is a coloured engraving published in 1785, called “The Laws of the Noble Game of Cricket as established at the Star and Garter, Pall Mall, by a Committee of Noblemen and Gentlemen.” It shows a game of cricket, with - the laws printed underneath. Another and slightly different edition of this engraving was published infelßoo. Before the foundation of the M.C.C. in 1787, the leading London club was the White Conduit Club. In 1784 a coloured print was published by Bowles and Carrers, entitled “Cricket Played by the Gentleman’s Club, White Conduit House, 1784.” It is one of “Six Prints of Manly Recreations as practised in Public Places and about London.” A double-wicket match is shown in progress, hut the artist’s knowledge of cricket appears to have been slight; he has drawn a right-handed batsman grasping the shoulder of the bat with his left hand, which is placed below his right! Also the bails seem to balance themselves upon the stumps in a wonderful way, for there is no groove in which they can rest. However, it is not uncommon to find similar inaccuracies in old pictures; for example, there is a water-colour at- Lord’s dated 1793, in which the artist shows a match in progress at Lord’s first ground, hut he has drawn the wicket with only two stumps, whereas some 18'years had elapsed since the introduction of the third.

There .are many pictures of the three grounds which, in turn, have been known as Lord’s. Perhaps the most interesting of these is a view of the present uround in 1837, printed upon a silk handkerchief. To mark the occasion of the jubilee of the M.C.C. each of the men then employed on the ground was presented with one of these handkerchiefs. It is believed that there are only two of them now in existence; one is at Lord’s and the other at the Oval.

A Famous Picture. Though by no means among the most valuable cricket pictures, W. H. Mason’s engraving of the match "between Sussex and Kent at Ireland’s Royal Brighton Gardens (published 1849) is probably the most famous of all cricket pictures. As a matter of fact this match never actually took place, as the players shown in the picture never all played together in the same match, though all of them played for their respective counties between 1839-41. The picture shows the ground with the town of Brighton in the background. Sussex are in the field, and Pilch is facing Lillywhite, the famous “Nonpareil” howler, who is wearing the familiar top hat and hroad, cotton braces. Old Tom Box is behind the wicket, and C. G. Taylor at mid-off. In the foreground is a group of spectators who are facing not the match, hut the artist. Among the. group, all of whom are portraits from life, are the best known cricket patrons of the day. Conspicuous is the huge figure of Alfred Mynn—the “W.G.” of his day—Felix and John Wisden, the latter then quit© a hoy.