GRIMMETT – ARTFUL DODGER

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 6 October 1934, Page 8

GRIMMETT - ARTFUL DODGER

Unobtrusive Little Man Bowls Like a Miser Greatest Spin Bowler of Our Period K • A 'Master of Arts '

He is an. unoqfstrusive little man, with a face that- .-says nothing ty you at all; seldom is lie heard by the crowd when lie appeals foi leg-before-wipket. He walks about the field on dainty feet which step as., though with the soft fastidiousness of a cat treading a wet pavement. He is a master of surreptitious arts; Jie bides bis skill, and sometimes, when : he is on, guard ■ at hover, he seems . to .hide himself. He i trick of getting himself tin- ; observed, and he darts forward to run a man. out like somebody : emerging « from an ambush (writes Seville Car- :, in the “Manchester Guardian”), ■ on Glarrie Grimmett, the famous slow bowler. . wvi. “Gamp is my name and gamp i,a my natur’.’’ That is a dark metaphysical saying;. the meaning cannot be put into words,- but none the less we can j, grasp • it by the instinct f,or eternal r ; - substances. - It is like that with Grim- - ’inett; the name penetrates to . the 'Quiddity:,’ like “curl,” .‘.‘twisV’ “slithery”; his name is onomatopaeic. I jlove to see him bowl a man out behind 'his back, so to say—round the legs ; - the ball gently touches the. stumps and removes, perhaps, only one bail. The ■ humorous cunning of it rejninds me 1 that:;the Artful Dodger used, to walk stealthily behind his master and extract the handkerchief from, the, coattails without making a tinkle on the little bell! Compare Grimmett with

a batsman’s smooth lawn into a f ‘sticky clog-. ’ ’ By: siteci- craftsmazislii|) he overthrew three 1 great batsmen; nothing to intimidate, no brute force (as George Dohmann called fast bowling of sorts); .nothing hut a slow spin - ning, ball bowled by a little man with an arm as lpiv.as my grandfather’s. The first sight, pf Grimmett bowling arouses mild laughter. His action recalls the ancient round-arm worthies, or it recalls cricket on the sands with a walking-stick for the wicket and a father of six playing for the first time for years. A few steps, a shuffle, and Grimmett’s arm seems to, creak. Rut watch his wrist and his fingers; they are sinuous and. beautiful. The wrist twirls and swivels; the fingers seem to adore and caress the ball, with the touch of a parent. Grimmett’s fingei-s a>e always,! light and wonderfully' tactile ; when ihe passes the salt at dinner he imparts the “ ’fluence.” He is, I believe, a signwriter by profession. Can’t you see his right wrist at, work, sweeping the brush along the ornamentation ? Can’t you see the fingers intimately putting the finishing flick to a full-stop,? Or, ; ean’t you see the skeleton key fit work, turning the lock;, finding- the way through the Bolted door .of. Sutcliffe’s bat? CONFIDENCE TRICKS.

Boris, as I say, a-master of surreptitious arts. , [His countenance expresses. no joy when he confounds his opponents. But I imagine that long after .close of play, as he lies in bed and thinks about it, he laughs far into the night. That apparent lituS-volley which Walters tried to drive; that obvious long-hop that Hendren tried to hook. Confidence tricks !—O my lungs and liver, the wickedness of the world! He seldom gets a man caught in the ■deep field. That is an open and a brazen way to rifle the English house. Better by far a swift catch at first slip, or at the wicket; best of all l.h.w.! — nobody knows anything about it away from the scene of the burglary. He is a , great character, not only a , great bowler. Sometimes he fancies himself as a batsman. He thrusts his left foot across and drives. Or he waits for it and cuts elegantly. Occasionally he plays, late and sees his stumps all awry. Then, and only then, does he wear, his heart on his sleeve. Everybody cherishes private ambitions; we all wish to be what we are not. Dan Leno sighed to. play Hamlet; Henry Irving enjoyed himself best when he sat on his top-hat and pretended-to be Jingle in a farce derived from “Pickwick.’-’, -Grimmett made fifty in a Test,.match at Nottingham in .June;, perhaps ,in his old age he will not. remember .Trent Bridge for his great bowling .0f,..1930,. but for his preposterously; stylish and first-class t half-century, .of 1934- The, rest of the 'world wdll, dwell; for ever on his spin, learned in:, Australia,,, where a slow bowler must,\<lo,-his own wprk and not depend on . Nature j and, friendly wickets. . .For my part I shall think of him always as .1 saw him at Worcester in Slay,, taking the cpunty’s . last wicket and winning the game. A catch was missed from him, arid in tlie same over another .lofty, chance was skied near cover. (■ Grimmett would trust nobody but Grimmett this time; he ran after the ball himself, and when he caught it he out it in his, pocket and glided from . .the field concealed entirely amongst ten other victorious Australians.

;tho wonderful leg-spin bowler .bo succeeded in the Australian . eleven, , Arthur Mailey. An. Australian wit once jsoid to me: “Mailey bowled the stuff likfe a millionaire; ‘Clarrie’ bowls it like a miser.” Mailey tossed up his spin with all the blandness in the world; his full-tosses were like a generous sort of fattening diet —before ‘ the killing and the roasting! j Mailey did his. tmigchief by daylight. •Grimmett goes to work with a dark lantern;his boots are rubbered. ’siwickets were like a practised %nd jolly angler’s “catch”; Grimmetfc’s wickets fire definitely “swag.” When the goes off the field after he has had seven for 57, I can see the hag he is carrying over his shoulder. ft THE GREATEST.

.i; He isj the greatest right-handed spin bowler of, our; period. , The comparison with Mailey- was employed not ’bp stress resemblance, but : difference. Grimmett “is less a “googly” than a leg-break bowler. He uses the “wrong” one sparsely; he is content to-thrive on the ball which breaks away.:and. leaves the hat; that is the best of ,all ballsA straight ball, wickedly masked, is Grimmett’s foil to the leg-break. He makes a virtue of a low qrm; fiis flight keeps so 'close to the mirth that only a ba*sraan oiiicJk of feet can fump to pitch of ..it.. And . thefi must he bfiware of ..Oldfield,,-.the most gentlemanly ; of .wicket-keepers-, - who stumps you with: courtesy; he does 1 not make a noise to the umpire, but.almost bows you. from the wicket. '. Or he is like a perfect dentist who says*. when your heart is,in your mouth: “It’s all over; I’ve already got it out; here it is.”

To play forward to Grimmett, to miss the . spin;- and then, to find yourself -stumped by Oldfield —why it is like an •amputation done under an anaesthetic! f. Momentsrrcome- to all. of us when we are - uplifted - heyopd the .ordinary; we become touched.with grace for a while; we ; -become • vessels of inspiration. Felicity, descended on Grimmett at •'Trent Bridge in. June, 1930, on the ..i first day of the Test match. I have ‘ never seen cleverer bowling on a good wicket against great players. Hammond was hatting.;. he.- made two of j his own great forcing off-side hits, off the back foot./ Tljeg© strokes told, us that Hammond ( was in form. . Grim, mett bowled him :a straight halLwhich sped .sinfully -from the beautiful turf. Hammond, !4>.w. jto Grimmett. {%:'; '; WOOLIsKY • NEXT, k Next came Woolley. > Left-handed batsmen love leg-spin bowlers; the 5 break turns .the. ball inwards to the ]:middle of the bat., , But, Grimmett did not send a leg-break. to .Woolley; he sent the “googly,” whipping away. ,cWoolley’s forward stroke was seduced bv. the fulsome length. Woolley was • stumped by Oldfield. A few minutes "■’afterwards Griinmett drew Hiendren a yard out of his crease like a mesmerS, • then, having got Hendren where f waptpd ■ him, not far enough down i pitch but yet. too far, he howled n v Grimmett will reinember in his old age how he spun and “floated” the ball that day; by the chimney corner he will babble of the way he turned