A CRICKET JUBILEE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 79, 15 November 1911, Page 2

A C RICKET JUBILEE.

r‘ I \ ' • , ,Qu tlw, ,QV&,,Qf,., the,,match, df the M.C.C. team’s tour in Australia, it is interesting to note that the. cricketer who howled the first ball for England against,,.o4l) Australian team still lives a?ul.-,jworks; This is Mr William Cafi'yn, , aji otcogenurian hairdresser, of Reigate, Surrey. Caffyn is one of. three survivors of the , Eleven that went out in 1861 to teach the Australians how to play cricket, and is naturally keenly interested in,the brilliant success of the descendants of.his .pupils. Tims this season is the jubilee of AngloAustralian cricket. Caffyn was one of the best all-round cricketers of his day. His serious cricket began after the top-hat period, but he • remembers seeing Lily.wldto play in flannels -and. Si tall hat. He was a member of the team that went to the United States and Canada in 1859. Tire team for Australia in 1861 was hard to collect, for of course in those days a journey to the colonies was a great undertaking. The cost of the tour was £7OOO, each man getting £l5O and expenses, a good deal less than is paid now. The Australians played surprisingly well considering their disadvantages, and profited as much by the instruction of their visitors that the next team, in 1863, noticed' a great improvement. Caffyn was also a member of tins team, and stayed behind in Australia for a few years to “coach” players. After three years he told them that they would soon lie good enough to play in England, and a few years, later his prediction was fulfilled. Caffyn was struck by the Australian players’ enterprise and their determination to excel. Nearly every member of the first Australian eleven,, that went to England owed something to his “coaching.” ' The old inai) it not one who laments the glories of the past in a degenerate age.- lie (old a correspondent ol the “Daily News” the other clay that tire standard of cricket was bettor, and the game.‘livelier and more interesting, then it used to ho. He regrets the boundary, scoring of to-day. “In my time each nm- really was a run, and ii you made sixty yon began to -feel- -pretty--tired -after ■ running ,fo)! your own score, and that of your part-, ner’s as well.” ■ Rut be does not regret the improvement in pitches; in his clay some players won* pads on their elbows as a protection against fast bowling on bad wickets. Few will remember Caffyn in this jubilee year, but that is onlv to be expected. Fifty yo, usis a long time in I sport, and the players of to-day dazzle, the younger generations.