A MOST EXTRAORDINARY CRICKET MATCH.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 15, Issue 2013, 13 December 1870, Page 3

A MOST EXTRAORDINARY CRICKET MATCH.

: ~ '.". ■"-:-'-:, ' (Prom "london ; S6M^^|^J^i|| I am not a cricketer, jS manly game in which the b;l4^fegf|rtid|t|iS |jj welsher take, I am glad to say, bdfciite $00; faintest interest.. The reasonjifl^n^l^lv being an active disciple of;^ml^^^c^^ neus—'l don*6 know that that^Mm^fils^ beeri'given to it before— is thafem^ cd&i^e^i is not of such a character as any circumstances, make me a\lvrarni)fcS: When I see-a ball driven fropi-^Jei^n^aj^ Mr. Grace's bat — near the ; spot i.^^ejP^tjiN stand on the ground at the Oval, I "feel lijtef^ the soldier who said it would require mucli;; more courage to run away than to advaptfev -! to the encounter or stand his ground, in jtoei : : ranks. I purpose merely, to givejtypq, ■'--_-[ briefly, an account of what I consider to^be : ; the most remarkable cricket m&foh*lio££ }* played. I know that cricket 5 has had|its^ historians who have described. ia ;.. viyidi : ■ diction all the mysteries, to the uoiniMas|Jij^ J of " overs," " square legs," and^"^aideig^|l>: V They have had for their subjects, for the;; most part, acts of brilliant skill and nwscul^r >/" endurance; and I can only,,reeajijone^event . amongst the cricket matches'- £HHa€esi^jyi which was calculated to give pain tor- those who were witnesses of its progress!, ! ? Thai was the match I once witnessed at Kennington Oval, when the pensioners of Greenwich Hospital contended against each pttier — when eleven, men with one. arm each played against eleven who haS¥i>ut oliie leg. Surely there can be no sadder refle^i*' tion than to think that amusement can be derived from the infirmities of our fellows! And when it is remembered that in the case I have specified those who took part in the game were ralica of .".those;, who..-, i manned the navy of England when 7 the peace of Europe was broken and the security of our empire threatened, I think"; Oaf e ' said enough to convince those who speculate commercially on this distressing contest that its, omission from the annual pro* .. gramme would be advisable. If these gallan fc old tars — for they still preserve all their honest attributes — want to have their recreation in the open air, surely they can do so in some private ground, where their movements can be seen by those' who sympathise with their condition, not with. those who speculate on their afflictions. I have not read much of the literature of cricket beyond that which appears in the columns of what are called the morning journals, which, without any logical reason, are understood to be the daily papers. Perhaps some of the authors, whose names are as dear to muscular Young Eton and Harrow as John Stuart Mill is to Miss Becker, or "Quain's Anatomy" to- Dr. Mary Walker, have related the. incidents of the match which I mean to describe succinctly ; but at present I can only say that I have hunted it up in an old chronicle-r---very scarce, I may say, in the laconic language of the booksellers. Even if I have unwittingly repeated a. story which has been already told, I can appeal to Mr. Godfrey Turner, whose thoughtfully-deli-cious verses (good phrase that !) have often charmed your readers, for an ingenious and conclusive defence. In the pages of a periodical conventionally known as "Our facetious contemporary," that gentleman has - . already defended another friend who inadvertently repeated a moral idea previously conceived and expressed by the late Dr. Watts; and if I go over ground which has been already traversed, I shall, as I have said, confidently confide myself to; his literary guardianship. But I am forgetting this wonderful story, which is— at least in its most remarkable points — all about a dog. We have not' been sufficiently grateful to this useful and ■'■. sagacious animal. Whenever we wish to i describe things as false or counterfeit, we recklessly prefix its appellation with what a gentleman of the press would designate as " a canine adjective." Thus — as the grammarians say — we have dog-Latin, dogsleep, dog- wheat, dog-rose, dog-grass, and dog-gerel. I should call my little story— dog-cricket, were it not that I am afraid: my prefix would suggest some unfavourable ; consideration. . The reader is probably wishing that I should come to the pomt — and here I am at it. Some forty years ago a game of cricket was played for a considerable sjake at Harefield Common, nearßickmanswprtb, between two gentlemen of Middlesex, on one side, and Mr. Francis Trumper, a farmer, residing at Harefield, and. a t&oroughbred sheep dog in his possessj&ijl.iQtettie other. Before the game began the odds were five to one against Mr. Trumper arid his faithful companion, but as the match proceeded, four to one was laid on the quadrupedic wicket-keeper. In the first innings, the two gentlemen got three run 9 with the greatest difficulty. The dog stood near his master when he was going to bowl, and the moment the ball was hit, off started Fido after it in full speed and carried it back in his mouth to his master with equal velocity. Though the two, who had the first innings, made several long hits,, the dog fielded so well that they never made more at a time than a single run. Mr. Trumper and his mate then went in, and the dog stood to his wicket * like a man* until, he saw that it was advisable to run. Then he cantered past his master at a judiciouslyconsidered pace. The result of the Jijrsl ; innings for 'man and dog* was a grand total. •; of five. After luncheon," the two"gentlej|ieV r"_' again scored three in their second fnnlrigs, one of them having been splendidly fqaughfc out 1 by Fido ; when their competitors went to the wickets the betting being odds on. „ " 'the shepherd.' Two runs were scored Jfpr.; r ? t the long-tailecTatyete, and the game^was ; -*". won with two wicketa standing. Appended is the score :— _ ' . -. . -.*• ; :