CRICKET FOR LADIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 45, 8 November 1890, Page 18

CRICKET FOR LADIES.

T

HE ‘ lady cricketers ' who recently attracted a good deal of attention on the occasion of their visit to the Fairfield Athletic Grounds, and who are still exciting not a little somewhat amused admiration in various parts of the coentry, are not, as some have supposed. by any'means the first of their sex to wield the willow. though, doubtless, so well organised and trained a team has never before gone to the wicket. It is said by those who know that the sisters of the once so famous * Three Graces ' —for several years, alas ! but two—are admirable cricketers, and in any ordinary erieket company are fully able to hold their own, and there have been also recently heard of certain actresses whose prowess between the" stumps is hardly less distinguished than their beauty- and talent before the footlights. Perhaps the earliest instance on record of lady players of erieket, however, is that which has been unearthed by Mr Robert Black. This quaint record, an excerpt apparently from an early south country newspaper, chronicles what in the peculiar phraseology of the time is described as an • extraordinary cricket match between twenty-two females.’ The match, it appears, was made by two noblemen for five hundred snrineas a side. Noblemen were evidently more original in their sporting ideas in those days than now, for gambling and borserarrng are almost the only accepted mode of emptying noble pockets nowadays. The performers in this truly sporting contest, which began on October 2nd, 1811, in a neld at the back of Ball's Pond, Middlesex, represented respectively the counties of Hampshire and Surrey, both then preeminent in the cricket world. The • twenty-two females ’ were all of ages, from sixteen to sixty, the younger members

weawing shawls. while the old haul longeloak-. The Hampshire lasses wore * true blue,' while the Surrey girl- wore blue, surmounted with orange. Curious to relate, the best runner ami bowler on the Surrey side was one Ann Baker, sixty years of age, a tough old veteran who may very well have been one of the mothers whose sturdy sons thrasher! Napoleon's marshals out of the Peninsula, and afterwards won Waterloo. The match lasted five days, the Hampshire lasses winning. One of the Hampshire girts made forty-one runs before she was thrown out : and so little exhausted were the rivals by their five days' exertions that, there being some time to spare, they player! a single game in which the Hampshire team were also successful. Afterwards they all repaired to the famous * Angel ’ at Islington, where they were haadsomely regaled at the expense of the nrrbleman who had marie the wager. Crieket,

of course, was a very elementary sort of affair then compared to what it is now The wicket in thme days would be about three fee« bri md tww Uwad. the • pGeh • a MrM.fi of rough ground whieh would make Brigya or Lehmann faint, the bate a sort of tamed up dnb, like a hoekey stiek afflicted with elephantiasis, and the bowling under hand last or slow, but in either ease rendered extremely uncertain hr the roughness of the ground. To watch such a game for five days argues the possession bv our "raorifathers of a fund of patience to whieh their jeseendaats could -earcely make claim. We do most things fester than our forbears nowadays, aad our lady cricketers, if not sueh tough old girls aa Ann Baker, could probably give that histone dame ‘ points' in other respects. The * original ’ lady cricketers the other day played at the Zoological Gardens. Clifton. The match was between the Beds and the Bines. They are called the ■ original fed v criekecers, not because there is anything expressly original in their method of play, or because lady cricketer-- were unknown before their revest, bat to them as the firsc company who hare arranged to tour the country to give, in a systematic manner, a feminine veraoti of the national game. Ladies who do not play cricket, and school bovs wb-> ', - are probably the severest critics of ladies' play. Both classes are tolerably numerous, and both might feel themselves sotnewbat impressed if they saw the * original ladv cricketers' bowling, and finding. There is. there' tore, nothing conical about the words. 6 feminine version. ’ Those who are told the young ladies have been coached bv M. Head and George Hearne need not think they have learned in their eompara&velv short time of tuition to rival the briHiaat hitting and splendidly judged deep heading of the one or the steadv batting and the destructive fast bowling of the 'other. They have not learned all that these well-known professonafe could teach, but they have benefited much from their instruction, and in the course of a few years, if events in the whuhgig of time permit them to continue their de vocion to this harmless amusement, they will be able to make a good fight against an average team of masculine cricketers. This may not appear to be saving much. Amongst the spectators at the Zoological Gardens some of tae lady spectators seemed to think that if women chose to play games hitherto associated with the sterner sev they must be judged accordingly. The men made more allowance ; they remembered that the ladies from Eve downward have not played crieket. so far as history enables us to judge. A man throws with a swing of his whole arm, but a woman seems- to let the elbow and wrist do most of the work, and there is a kind of uneasy strangeness about the proceeding—a strangeness on the part of the thrower and an uneasiness on the part of the spectator, who doesn t quite know in what direction the ball is going. Miss Y. Westbrook, the captain of the Reds, throws capitally, so does Miss Sanders : many of the others still throw like women, but can aim pretty straight. Out of a great many whose names were submitted, after their cricketing skill had been tried, thirty were selected to form the touring company. They are the daughters of professional men and respectable tradesmen, have their travelling arrangements made by a business manager, and are accompanied by a responsbfe matron in their visits to various parts of the country. The average age fe 19, the tallest rirl is sft. IQin.. and the shortest sft sin. They appear to be a good-tempered lot of girls, look as if they enjoy the best of health, and are careless abAut being out in the bright sunshine without sunshades. They wear short skirts of white cricketing flannel, reaching about four inches below the knees, a sailor blouse of the same material, and a white cap. Crieket is evidently to be a thoroughly recognised sport and amusement for ladies now. About the suburbs already one is frequently coming across merry parries of girts in light summer dresses, armed with bats and wickets, just as we have been accustomed to seeing them, the last two or three years, with tennis rackets and shoes, hieing to or from the scene of action : and in the country, we do not think there is a doubt but that it will becosie mighty popular. One thing we see in favour of cricket ■■ervsfs tennis for ladies is. that we consider it may be played with far more grace, some of the actions of tennis-playing, in our estimation, showing up the feminine devotees to anything but advantage. We have given in our sketch a useful and suitable gown tor cricketing. It is made in cream or light biseait coloured tiannel. and is compwee*! of an all round gathered skirt, with good deep- hem. and about three inches from the ground all round : a loose straight Norfolk shirt with full sleeves and turn over ends and collar : these, if white, may he embroidered with bat and hall in blue. red. or vellow : if biscuit colour, in white : the dannei eap with peak should match of course, but where great exposure is likely to be incurred, we would suggest a broad brimmed sailor or other shape in white straw, as cool and light, as well as protecting the face and throat from the too burning kisses of the sun. and as little fringe as may be to become the wearer, and that crisp-ly curled, for in these outdoor sports the hair so easily gets out of order, and it gives such a wild, unkempt appearance when a quantity of short cat hair is uncurled, and straggling all over the forehead.