COUNTY CRICKET
By W. J. FORD
It has been always cast in the teeth of us Englishmen by our
Continental critics that we take our amusements seriously—that our
idea of recreation is to go forth and kill something, and that anything
of the nature of excitement is unknown to us; even our wars seem to
them to be conducted by us in a cold-blooded, business-like, almost
saturnine fashion, such as the foreigner cannot understand. Our almost
fanatical excitement over the relief of Mafeking and of Ladysmith might
have served to disenlighten our neighbours to a certain degree, but
they probably regarded those wild bursts of enthusiasm as a mere phase
of a fever, as one of the periodic alternations of heat and cold that
are characteristic of a severe attack of ague. It is for the historian
and the student of human nature to decide whether our nature is
phlegmatic or merely proud, and whether these rare outbursts are not in
reality a genuine eruption of violent volcanic feelings which have long
smouldered beneath the crust of our real nature. The true account seems
to be that in matters of a public and, still more, of an international
character, insular pride does not allow us to reveal the fact that the
Englishman possesses a certain amount of that excitability which we
choose to attribute to the southern and the Latin races: it is only a
special stress that reveals this side of our nature. When, however,
the Englishman’s foot is on English soil, and when his only critics
are of the same blood as himself, then and only then does he allow
the true keenness of his disposition to run riot. The Englishman, in
short, only casts aside his phlegm, his reserve, and his pride when
he is in congenial society, and the presence of the necessary society
is in no place more apparent than on the scenes of those sports that
afford him the amusement and, in some cases, the means of life. Those
scenes may be narrowed down to the football field, the race-course, and
the cricket ground. It is with the last of these that our business at
present lies.
It would be impossible to lay down any cast-iron reason for the fact
that general interest in cricket has increased by leaps and bounds
in the last twenty years. The fact is incontrovertible, whatever the
cause may be, but to most of those who have watched the course of
cricket events, the progress of county cricket will present itself as
the primary cause of the progress of the game as a whole. At the same
time, there is a fair field left for those who choose to maintain that
the impetus given to county cricket is really due to the rapid spread
of the game itself and the attendant enthusiasm of its admirers; while
there is, as usual, a third course left to us, which is to maintain
that the two things, general cricket and county cricket, have advanced
_pari passu_, each owing much to the other. And at this point we may
abandon the question as one that will produce abundant controversy and
no conviction, especially as all the theorists can meet and agree as
to the one common effect, differ as they may as to the cause, namely,
that both players of the game and lovers of the game have increased by
innumerable multiples during the last fifteen or twenty years. There
are those who think it good to decry this desperate enthusiasm for a
pastime—who declare that it is a symptom of national decadence, and
declare that a mere game is an irrational thing, inasmuch as a rational
treatment of it at once destroys its existence as a game in the true
sense of the word. We are hardly prepared, however, to have our
pastimes handled in this Socratic manner. A game is a game, and if it
is a good game, we who love it consider that it deserves something more
than casual and ephemeral treatment; hence we throw ourselves into it
heart and soul, and those who like to see heart-and-soul work have only
to go to the nearest county ground on a match day to see how energy
and rivalry can, on the principle enunciated above, turn a game into a
no-game.
Nor is it illogical at this point to assume that county cricket is to
us the highest popular embodiment of our pastime; it is true that a
certain and a limited number of special matches attract more attention,
for sentimental reasons, than do mere county matches, but it is on
the latter class of games that genuine and general interest is mainly
expended, earning for those who exhibit it a certain amount of contempt
from those who hold that to lavish interest on a game is to squander
a valuable asset. Political economy and its votaries would doubtless
tell us—indeed, they do tell us—that such labour as is expended on
hitting, or on bowling, or on stopping, or on catching a mere ball,
is unproductive labour, and consequently labour lost, while they show
no limit to their contempt for those who, not being actual players
themselves, squander—so they call it—valuable time in watching other
people waste time that is equally valuable. However, the cynic and his
butt, like the poor, are always with us; all that we can desire and all
that we can hope for is that he will confine himself to his dwelling,
and leave us to enjoy ourselves in peace, while we may fairly ask him
to reflect in the recesses of his barrel as to what the watchers of
cricket would do with themselves if there were no cricket to watch.
That they would be better employed is possible; that they would be
worse employed is probable; and he would be a poor philosopher indeed
who would find fault with the open-air stage of Lord’s or the Oval,
and would yet allow the music-hall and the theatre to stifle their
nightly victims. The strictest of Puritans could hardly find fault with
bat and ball as being the inculcators of evil principles; rather, like
the study of the ingenuous arts, do they “soften our characters and
forbid them to be savage.” The cynic and the rhymer have had their say,
but cricket is still with us, and seems likely to stay, howl as they
will.
In connection with the game’s advance, it would be unjust not to
acknowledge the fillip that has been given to it by the periodical
visits of Australian elevens, the first of which occurred as far
back as 1878, combined with the return of their calls by our men. It
was a new truth to us that there was growing up in Greater Britain a
race of men who, taught by ourselves, profiting by our lessons, and
in the process of time perhaps improving on our methods, were able
to withstand us to our face, the pupil often proving the superior
of the master; and it may be that to this fact, and the perhaps
unconscious conviction that “the old man” must not be “beaten by the
boy” at cricket as at chess, is due the uprise of county cricket as
the readiest means of ascertaining our strength and organising our
resources, though it was not till several years after the first visit
of Australians that any real attempt to organise county cricket into
a formal competition succeeded. Such an attempt had been made in 1872
by the Marylebone Cricket Club, which offered a cup in that year for
competition among the counties, but the offer was coldly received, the
counties that entered were so few that such words as “competition” and
“championship” became misnomers, and the offer was withdrawn. Not that
the word “champion” had not been and still was applied to some county
or another as soon as the last ball of the season had been bowled, but
the expression was visionary; it was merely the outcome of the views
of the press or of individuals, and it naturally happened that when
these views conflicted there were “two Richmonds in the field,” both
styled champion by their respective supporters. It was not till the
representatives of counties met in peaceful conclave, coded laws and
bye-laws, with the request that the M.C.C. would exercise a fatherly
and presidential rule over county cricket, that the latter became
historical fact.
It seems to me that the growth and systematization of general cricket
are due to the growth and systematization of county cricket, and the
emulation which accompanied its increase. The counties, having set
their hands to the plough, were in no mood to look back; those which,
as exceptionally strong, were rated first-rate, set themselves to see
that no weakness on their part should cause them to be degraded to the
ranks; while the rank and file, on the other hand, spared no effort
to secure their own promotion. And at this point it is well to remind
those who profess to see a mere desire of money-making underlying the
expansion of county cricket, that the then junior counties, many of
which are now seniors, owed their existence and its prolongation not
to gate-money or speculating syndicates, as is the case with many
football clubs, but to the generous assistance of enthusiastic patrons,
whose only motive for liberality was their own love of the game, as a
game, and their desire to see it not merely extended, but perfected.
At the present day there are county clubs which rely mainly for their
existence on the voluntary subscriptions and donations of their
supporters, men whose only reward is the opportunity of seeing good
cricket brought home to their own doors, and the promotion, expansion,
and improvement of the game. Gate-money is of course an important
factor in a club’s receipts, but it is sheer nonsense, it is almost
mendacity, to declare that the county cricket of to-day is played for
gate-money and for nothing else. Yet such assertions have been made,
and are still made, by men who do not reflect that the patrons who
subscribe to a club do not do so with the idea of providing the public
with a gratis entertainment, though—I am thinking of one patron in
particular—such an act would not be without precedent: their idea is,
as stated before, to provide amusement for themselves, encourage the
game, and help those who help themselves. The last people to grumble at
the payment of gate-money are the payers themselves, who are not slow
to recognise that sixpence is not a large sum to expend for a day in
the open air, with a display of skill and activity thrown in, for which
the spectator pays at the rate of about one penny per hour! Lastly,
and briefly—for there is no satisfaction gained by dealing with
misstatements—when accounts are balanced, the surplus that remains,
if any, does not go to swell the speculator’s income, but is devoted to
the improvement of accommodation, the advancement of the game, or that
prudent economy that provides against the cricketer’s bugbear, in every
sense of the word—a rainy day.
I have suggested that we owe the increase of cricket to the growth
of county cricket, and the reasons are not far to seek. When once a
county is included in the first class, or aspires to it, its first
effort is to enlist all its available talent, and as the reward of the
great cricketer is no mean one, whether that reward come in the shape
of reputation and amusement to the amateur, or of good red gold to the
professional, the aim and ambition of every promising player and of the
club to which he belongs is to get at least a fair trial in the higher
spheres of the game. Further than that, the executive does not merely
wait to receive the applications of the ambitious, but, like Porsena
of Clusium, it “bids its messengers ride forth, east and west and
south and north,” not exactly “to summon its array,” but to ascertain
what fighting blood there is in the county ready for immediate action,
and what recruits there are whose early promise may be developed into
disciplined effectiveness. In other words, the cricketing pulse of
the county at once begins to throb, and the executive, like a wise
physician, keeps its finger on that organ, to ascertain the condition
of the patient. But it is not merely by inquisition into the talent
that is available that the ranks of a county eleven are filled up:
the promising players are invited to attend at the county ground for
inspection, practice, and tuition, being drafted into the company of
the “ground” bowlers, and given opportunities in minor matches of
exhibiting their natural and their trained powers, a further impulse
being given to cricket by the distribution of the big matches among
different centres, where such distribution is possible, and by the
mission of so-called second elevens to the most distant bounds, to
play matches and to discover talent. These trips may well be compared
to the marches of different regiments through those districts from
which, under the territorial system, they hope to draw their recruits.
When to these different forms of encouragement we add the sums spent
in occasional subsidies, to say nothing of the salaries of players and
officials, and of the expenses entailed by the upkeep of the club’s
ground and property, it will be seen that, though the sour may sneer,
it would be and is impossible for a crack county to maintain its
position unless its assured income from subscriptions were augmented
by the humble sixpence of gate-money. It is not, of course, every
county that can manage its cricket _en prince_ in the way indicated:
that implies a heavy rent-roll, a handsome and dependable income, and
perhaps a snug little sum in the 2-3/4 per cents; only rich counties
can do things with a lavish hand, and find themselves able to spare
a lucrative match that will produce a bouncing benefit for some
deserving professional. Others have to look rather wistfully at the
small roll of cloth from which their coat has to be cut, and have to
curtail expenses accordingly; but the county cricket club, even if run
upon humble lines, recollects that Rome was not completed within the
twenty-four hours, and that as nothing succeeds like success, its first
and primary duty is to be successful, if possible; that it is only by
pains and patience that the best men are to be discovered and utilised,
and that its turn can only be served by inoculating as many people and
clubs as possible with the most virulent type of cricket fever.
I am disposed to think that that county is likely to prosper which
can find two or three grounds within its borders which are suitable
for county cricket, and are in the centre of fairly populous
districts; to which fact I attribute, in no small degree, the success
of the Yorkshire County C.C. as an institution, and of its eleven
as a fighting body. Not that the side has always had the pleasant
experiences of 1900, 1901, and 1902, when in a series of eighty-three
matches only two resulted in failure, for as recently as 1889 the big
county and Sussex met at the fag-end of the season in an encounter
which was to decide whether the northern or the southern county was
to find its name at the bottom of the roll; but the county of so
many acres has not only a large field of selection, but has also, in
Sheffield, Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford, Scarborough, York, Hull, and
Dewsbury, so many centres of action that she can display her powers to
tens of thousands, where other counties can only muster thousands, and
can thus command a very large and consistent income. But in strict
and strong relief stands out the figure of Nottingham, a county that,
to the best of my knowledge, has never played a “home” match away from
the Trent Bridge ground, and has never been blest with a superabundance
of this world’s goods, yet has for many years not only possessed a
formidable eleven of its own, but has also been able to send out a full
and steady stream of professional players of all classes, some of whom,
though not exactly thankless children, have proved a veritable set of
serpent’s teeth when arrayed against the mother county. Nottinghamshire
is a standing exception to the rule that great elevens are the outcome
of great incomes.
There is no doubt that the true nucleus of a county eleven lies in the
body of professional players that the executive has at its disposal.
As men who are in receipt of a definite wage for their services, and
as men who, by reason of their skill, obedience, and civility, have
something like a right to expect a benefit match after some ten or
twelve years of service, they find it a duty as well as a pleasure
to keep themselves in good condition as well as in good practice,
and, their services being always available, they are in the long run
of more general use than the amateurs, many of whom, having other
avocations, are unable to play regularly. Not that any eleven is
complete without its amateurs. Among professionals a certain amount
of professional jealousy is sure to arise, which sometimes grows into
something stronger; while it has been proved by actual experience
that in an eleven entirely composed of paid players, and of course
captained by a professional, difficulties of discipline will occur,
the management of the eleven being acridly criticised by those who
think that in some form or other their abilities have not been duly
recognised, which lack of recognition is attributable to the worst and
meanest of motives. There is no such thing, fortunately, as a cricket
trade-union, nor is there any place for it, but as a matter of history
it is right to record that various secessions, almost amounting to
mutinies, have occurred in the professional ranks at different times,
which have sometimes taken the form of a strike, based either on a
claim for higher pay, or on a demand that certain players who are
regarded as obnoxious—almost as blacklegs—by their comrades should
not take part in a given match, under no less a penalty than the
refusal of the protestants to appear themselves. All these things have
occurred, but just as the intestine disputes of bees may, according
to Virgil, be allayed by the flinging down of a handful of dust, so
a little diplomatic negotiation has settled the dispute. But nothing
tends so much to bind a team together in the bonds of amity as well
as of discipline as the presence of capable amateurs—men of tact
and education as well as efficient cricketers, one of whom, acting
as captain and supreme controller, can readily check the earlier
symptoms of discontent, or, better still, by his wise administration
of his office prevent the incubation of a disease so disastrous as
indiscipline. The moral effect of the presence of amateurs is no whit
less than their value as players, preventing as it does the somewhat
sordid troubles that are apt to arise among those to whom cricket
is a livelihood, and not merely a pastime. Further, a great deal
has been said and written—mainly by those who know nothing of the
subject—as to the exact relations existing between the amateur and
the professional. Only ignorance permits a man to apply such a word
as “snobbish” to the custom of providing separate accommodation for
the two classes of players; worse is it when such a one hints at such
a thing as stand-offishness on the part of the amateurs. There are
certain differences in the education and the social position of the two
classes that makes the closer intimacy of the pavilion undesirable, and
undesired also by both parties. At any rate, cricketers are perfectly
capable of making all such arrangements for themselves, without
the intrusion and interference of others. They have their own code
and their own method, nor does there exist any analogy between the
regulations, especially as to the amateur _status_, of cricket and of
other games. Cricket stands on its own pedestal, and it is good that it
should.
[Illustration: _A CRICKET MATCH (about 1750)._]
One of the troublous parts of cricket legislation has been the question
of the residential qualification of cricketers for their counties,
and the manner of defining what _bona fide_ residence is. It has been
always recognised, I believe, that a man may play for the county in
which he was born, or for the county in which he resides, though for
“or” might have been written “and” as recently as 1873. Up to that
date a man might, and many men did, play for two counties in one
and the same season, under the two qualifications, while it was an
understood thing that when those two counties met he represented the
county of his birth. There were, however, obvious objections to this
dual license, though they only first took shape in the form of proposed
regulation in 1868. Five years later it was made law that a man who was
doubly qualified must elect at the beginning of each season to play
for one of these counties, and for no other. It was undoubtedly an
abuse that such a state of things should exist, but it must have been
a convenient source of revenue to a few professionals in the days when
fees were low and matches few. But the accurate definition of _bona
fide_ residence is still a difficulty: in some cases a man has taken
a room, or a room has been taken for him, in the county for which he
is desired to qualify, and he has, as occasion suited, occupied it
for a night or two, while similar evasions or elastic interpretations
of the law have existed; but the present solution of the question
is probably the best one, _i.e._ to fall back on the patient and
ever-willing committee of the M.C.C., which consents to adjudicate on
all such questions as they arise. It should be added that proposals
have been made several times, notably by Lord Harris in 1880, that
the residential period should be reduced to one year; but though this
reduction would have acted well in certain cases, especially in those
of Colonial and army players who took up their residence in England,
it has been held that objections outweigh the advantages, and the tale
of years has not been reduced.
Some men consider that only the qualification of birth should be
considered, so that only natives of a county should represent it;
but, after all, this qualification is a mere accident as far as the
individual himself is concerned; it would act hardly on a man born
in a poor county—poor, that is, as a cricket-playing county; it
would condemn many a first-class player to take little or no part in
first-class cricket, which is the same thing as county cricket, and we
might even have the anomaly of a county desiring, owing to its plethora
of great players, to put two teams into the competition. As long as
one county does not attempt to lure away men from its neighbours, as
long as every club keeps its eyes wide open in its quest for its own
young blood, and as long as every man feels that it is a primary duty
to keep his allegiance to his native county, so long will the present
rule be thoroughly satisfactory, and the “sporting spirit” must be
trusted to see that the unwritten laws are not transgressed. At the
same time, a hard case may readily be stated, the case of the man of
true and tried merit, who has only the prospect of a small income and
a small benefit as the reward his birth-county can give him, while
by naturalising himself with its neighbour he may look for a large
pecuniary reward. As a general rule, however, the present system works
well: useful men are sometimes overlooked, and allowed, so to speak,
to take foreign service as soldiers of fortune, but as the process is
largely reciprocal, it reacts, to some extent, on all counties alike.
To Yorkshire, and I believe to Yorkshire alone, belongs the credit of
having been represented for many years by Yorkshiremen alone; but then
Yorkshire is a very big land.
[Illustration: _A CURIOUS COUNTY CLUB ADVERTISEMENT._]
[Illustration]
As soon as cricket became a part and parcel of English sporting life,
the contesting sides naturally ranged themselves, in some cases at
least, under the political subdivisions of England, viz. the counties,
and consequently we find county cricket existing in a form as far back
as 1730, when “a great match was played on Richmond Green, between
Surrey and Middlesex, which was won by the former” (I quote from T.
Waghorn’s _Cricket Scores_). It is interesting, by the way, to note
that two of the keenest rivals of to-day met in friendly combat some
130 years before Middlesex could boast of a county club, while the
Surrey Club did not really come into existence till 1845. It may be
added that Middlesex had its revenge three years later, _i.e._ in 1733,
and that the then Prince of Wales, a great patron of cricket, was so
pleased with the skill and zeal of the players, that he presented them
with a guinea apiece. Organisation, classification, championships,
and all the paraphernalia of modern county cricket did not exist,
of course, in the times when locomotion was difficult and matches
consequently few, except among near neighbours; but it may not, on
the whole, have been bad for cricket that at the outset many matches
were made for money, and that all contests of importance were vehicles
for universal and heavy betting. It may seem heterodox to approve of
wagers and stakes, when nowadays it is the pride of those interested in
cricket that it rises above such things, but it must not be forgotten
that customs change with the times; that betting was universal in the
eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth among all men
who wished to be considered “smart”; and also that, but for the support
and encouragement given to the game by “sportsmen” and “Corinthians,”
it would never have flourished in the fashion in which it flourishes
to-day: indeed, there was nothing more absurd in Kent playing Hampshire
for 500 guineas, than that the representatives of the two counties
should fight a main of cocks for the same sum. We naturally find
certain abuses which are due to the betting system, but on the whole,
it kept the game alive, and soon quickened it into a more vigorous
existence. Money had to be found somehow; gate-money was out of the
question in the days when most matches, even the very greatest, were
played on village greens or open commons; hence the natural sequence
that in the men who found the stakes and laid the wagers cricket
found its best and keenest patrons. To the love of betting we may
probably attribute the formation of various matches in which curious
combinations of numbers were made, or when certain men were played as
“given” men, so that the strength of the contending parties might be
equalised. Who, however, would care to go nowadays to see twenty-two
of Surrey play twenty-two of Middlesex, a game that took place in
1802, and again in 1803? In 1797 we find that England played against
_thirty-three_ of Norfolk, and won in a single innings by 14 runs.
Again, in 1800, twelve of England play nineteen of Kent, and we find
about this period such matches as “Middlesex, with two of Berkshire and
one of Kent _v._ Essex, with two ‘given’ men”; but a special interest
attaches to this match, as being the first ever played on Lord’s
ground, the old “Lord’s” of Dorset Square, in 1787. Perhaps it is not
unfair to conjecture that the original match was to be between the two
counties, but that the sides had to be patched up owing to defections.
It seems hardly probable that monetary or other reasons would prompt
such curious combinations of men and counties. Proper qualification
can hardly have been insisted upon; indeed, we find that the famous
Hambledon Club, practically Hampshire county, was largely composed of
Surrey men who received enthusiastic invitations to visit the famous
Broad Halfpenny Down. Harking back to some stray scraps of historical
interest, we read that in 1739 Kent, “the unconquerable county,” played
England in the presence of 1000 spectators, but the match ended in a
fiasco, owing to disputes; indeed, such terminations were not very
uncommon when party feeling ran high and betting was rampant. In 1746
Kent again plays England, and wins by a short neck, _i.e._ by one
wicket, while Sussex and Surrey seem great rivals; Surrey, indeed,
beats England three years later, and in 1750 loses to Kent by 3 runs,
but wins the return by nine wickets. From the names quoted, it is
evident that cricket flourished in the south rather than in the north;
but cricket was not unknown in the big manufacturing shires, for we
find that Manchester and Liverpool were then, as now, desperate rivals,
as were Sheffield and Nottingham. Sheffield, indeed, was so strong that
it could play, and used to play, the rest of Yorkshire single-handed.
In a note to a match played between Hants and England in 1772, we find
that “Lumpy,” for England, bowled out Small, “which thing had not
happened for some years”! Perhaps “Lumpy” had secured one of those
wickets on which he could bowl—
For honest Lumpy did allow
He ne’er could bowl but o’er a brow.
Hence if the wicket had a “brow,” and Lumpy pitched one of his
“shooters” on it, Small’s downfall is not remarkable. However, though
Hambledon was the best club and Hants the best county, England was too
strong to be tackled single-handed. Surrey first met Kent in 1772,
and beat the county of cherries and hops, having previously done the
same for Hants, though in the latter case the nuisance of “given men”
crops up on both sides; yet such games were clearly popular, strength
being thereby equalised, for we find numerous matches between Hambledon
and England in which the former club was supported by the presence of
outsiders. However, the Hambledon Club, “the cradle of cricket,” with
its “ale that would flare like turpentine”—what a use to put good
“October” to!—“a viand (for it was more than liquor)” that was “vended
at 2d. per pint,” collapsed towards the end of the century, and it
was many a long year before Hants became great again. Alas, too, for
Hambledon cricketers! They were not content to play cricket for love
or for glory, but for stakes, the stakes being pints, doubtless of the
famous “viand”!
A few stray notes on the early half of the century may be not
inappropriate, and most interesting seem to be the trio of matches
played between England and Sussex in 1826. No such contest had ever
taken place before, and the series was really arranged to test
the relative merits of underhand bowling and the then new-fangled
roundhand. The results may be regarded as conclusive. Not only did
Sussex win the first match by seven wickets and the second by three
wickets, but the third match was lost by the county by as few as 24
runs. More conclusive was the action of nine of the professionals,
who refused, after the second match was over, to play in the third
game, “unless the Sussex bowlers bowl fair—that is, abstain from
throwing.” The triumph of the new style was complete, though five of
the recalcitrants played in the third match after all. It was in the
Kent-Sussex match of this year, Kent having some given men, that wides
were first counted, though they did not appear as a separate item.
Three years later no-balls received a similar distinction, the match
being, nominally, between Middlesex and the M.C.C.; but the county had
no regular organisation till five-and-thirty years later. Indeed, it is
illustrative of the then condition of some so-called “county elevens,”
that “Yorkshire” plays the Sheffield Wednesday C.C. and is beaten in
1830, while in 1832 Sheffield plays twenty-two of Yorkshire! However,
in 1834 an eleven, called Yorkshire, consisting mainly of Sheffielders,
lost to Norfolk by no less than 272 runs, Fuller Pilch contributing
87 not out and 73; yet Pilch was a Suffolk man, who was eventually
induced to settle in Kent, though in this year he played for England
and against Kent, which at this time was easily the strongest county.
Next year Yorkshire had its revenge on Norfolk, as, though Pilch made
153 not out in the second innings, the Norfolk men surrendered, the
game being hopeless, probably to avoid the necessity of coming up on
the third day.
[Illustration:
_From a Drawing by_ _G. F. Watts, R.A._
_THE BATSMAN._
(_Fuller Pilch_).]
It is unnecessary to dive more deeply into dates, figures, and facts,
beyond the important fact that early in the last century there were
many counties that played cricket between themselves, and in certain
cases could challenge the rest of England, though they did not exist
as regularly organised societies. The matches were arranged by the
patrons of cricket, as an exciting form of contest in which money
was to be won or lost by betting, and with a view to the increase of
the excitement, men were given to one side or barred from another,
or else extra numbers were allowed as a counterpoise to extra skill,
till in due course counties began to exist as organisations of
themselves, with a view to county cricket pure and simple. Their
establishment, however, was a matter of time. Sussex led the way in
1839; Kent seems to have followed the lead in 1842, the year when the
first Canterbury “Week” was held, under similar conditions to those
that now exist; while the year 1845 saw the birth of the Surrey Club,
with the Oval as its cradle. Then came a gap, but in the ‘sixties
county clubs sprang rapidly into existence—Notts in 1859 or 1860,
Yorkshire in 1862, Hants in 1863 (though the club collapsed early,
and was resuscitated in 1874). Middlesex saw the light in 1864, and
so did Lancashire. Leicestershire dates back to 1878, Derbyshire to
1870, while Gloucestershire is only a year younger, being followed by
Somerset in 1875, by Essex in 1876, and by Warwickshire in 1882. With
the appearance of Worcestershire on the scene in 1899, at least as a
first-class county, we have reached the last-joined of the present big
cricketing counties; but it should be clearly understood that the dates
given are as a rule only those of the years in which the clubs were
originally formed. Their pretensions to be included in the privileged
list of those who are entitled, as being “first-class,” to take part
in the championship competition were only gratified when they had by
active service and doughty deeds established a claim to promotion.
The formation of county clubs, especially in the middle of last
century, may fairly be traced directly to the success, in finance as
well as in cricket, of those famous organisations, the All England
and the United All England elevens. Originally founded as purely
financial speculations, for the promotion and success of which the
best cricketing talent of the country was enlisted, they made annual
progresses through England, meeting the picked local talent of all
cricketing centres, generally reinforced by imported men, and meeting
each other at Lord’s on Whit-Monday, this last match being regarded as
at least the equal of the Gentlemen and Players fixture as a display of
scientific cricket. The periodical visits of these skilled _troupes_
not only excited the interest and improved the cricket of the local
centres—Dr. Grace himself bears ample testimony to the keenness caused
by their presence—but they also opened the eyes of cricket-lovers to
the fact that good cricket could be made self-supporting. Further, they
saw the immense progress that the game would make, and the enormous
facilities that would be offered to that progress, in every county
which had a club and a centre of its own. It may be said, indeed,
that the success of these peripatetic teams, while it conduced to
their own collapse, suggested and promoted the foundation of county
cricket as it is played nowadays. The two great elevens did their work
well and thoroughly, both for themselves and for the game, and when
they dispersed, and their constituent members were drafted into the
county elevens, they could at least claim that they had popularised
the game, had improved the methods in which it was played, and had
left behind them a valuable legacy to all those who either played or
admired cricket. Think of this, all of you who are apt to remember only
the pettinesses and schisms of those two great elevens! There were
pettinesses, and there were schisms, but these must be forgotten in the
recollection that the men who erred were likewise the men who put our
first-class cricket on its present basis, who made the existence of
county cricket feasible, possible, and profitable.
It should here be noted that though only fifteen counties have been
enumerated, the cricket-playing counties are by no means restricted to
that number. Norfolk and Suffolk have for many years been cricketing
counties. Cambridgeshire was at one time, thanks to Hayward, Carpenter,
and Tarrant, one of the strongest of counties. Northamptonshire,
Durham, Northumberland, Lincolnshire, and many others, _quos nunc
perscribere longum est_, have all fostered cricket and cricketers,
and if they have not come into the forefront of the battle yet, there
is no reason why they should not yet figure as champions, considering
the vigour and keenness with which the game is played and watched.
In fact, the question of classification is an extremely hard one,
the uncertainty of cricket and the part that luck plays adding most
materially to the difficulties. By the present system the general
results pan out pretty well, and harmonise, as a rule, with public
opinion, but accurate organisation and registration, with due regard
to merit, is impossible in a game at which such curious results
are possible as were seen in the Yorkshire-Somerset match of 1901.
Yorkshire, undefeated, was at the head of the list then, as at the
end of the year. Somerset, at the time the match was played, had won
but one match out of eight; further, the game in question was played
on Yorkshire territory, and Somerset, dismissed for 97, was headed
on the first innings by 238 runs. In the end, Somerset won by 279!
Who can classify, who promote, who degrade, when such extraordinary
fluctuations are possible? It is clearly no solution of the promotion
question to suggest that the lowest of the first-class counties should
play the highest of the minor counties, the first-class certificate
being the stake. Nor are matters facilitated when we remember that,
for financial and other reasons, the minor counties contend in a
competition in which only two days are allotted to a match instead of
three. Doubtless public opinion, _i.e._ the opinion of the players who
are before the public, offered the best solution of the difficulty of
promotion by co-opting Worcestershire into their ranks, the formality
being of the simplest nature; for Worcestershire, the fresh claimant
for the highest honours, simply announced at the Counties’ meeting
that they had arranged to play the minimum number of matches that
qualify for the first class with the requisite number of counties.
The first-class counties co-opted Worcestershire; arbitration and
adjudication were unnecessary.
In the infancy of county cricket the meetings of the different
clubs were arranged by a sort of process which we may appropriately
describe as natural selection. What could be more natural than the
rivalry between the great professional sides—I am writing of the
‘seventies—of Yorkshire and Nottingham, and of both with Lancashire,
and of the amateur elevens of Middlesex and Gloucestershire?
Geographical convenience brought certain counties into close contact,
and pre-eminent strength tempted others to ignore all difficulties,
geographical and sentimental, and to fight the good fight to the
bitter end. All things, indeed, seemed to be working up for some form
of county competition, when the M.C.C., in 1872, offered a challenge
cup to be held by the leading county of the year. The conditions, put
in an abbreviated form, were that a certain number of counties, not
exceeding six, were to be selected by the M.C.C. as the competitors;
that the matches were to be played at Lord’s, and apparently on the
“knock-out” principle; in the event of a draw, the match was to be
replayed; the cup to be retained by any county that could win it three
years in succession. The competition, however, fell through, several
of the counties withdrawing their entries, and the Marylebone Club
consequently withdrawing its offer. Kent, however, played Sussex at
Lord’s for perhaps the only time, and on “dangerously rough wickets,”
Kent winning by 52 runs.
It is not possible to give a list of champion counties that is
absolutely accurate, as, until the competition was regulated by proper
laws, and a recognised system of scoring points existed, the champions
were selected partly by popular opinion, partly by the written opinions
of the press, the two often differing, especially when party feeling
ran high. In the following list, however, the opinion expressed by Dr.
W. G. Grace in his _Cricket_ has generally been regarded as paramount,
and few will venture to dispute his authority.
CHAMPION COUNTIES, 1864-1901
1864. Surrey. 1883. Yorkshire.
1865. Notts. 1884. Notts.
1866. Middlesex. 1885. Notts.
1867. Yorkshire. 1886. Notts.
1868. Yorkshire. 1887. Surrey.
1869. Notts. 1888. Surrey.
1870. Yorkshire. { Notts }
1871. Notts. 1889. { Lancashire } equal.
1872. Surrey. { Surrey }
{ Gloucestershire } 1890. Surrey.
1873. { Notts } equal. 1891. Surrey.
1874. Gloucestershire. 1892. Surrey.
1875. Notts. 1893. Yorkshire.
1876. Gloucestershire. 1894. Surrey.
1877. Gloucestershire. 1895. Surrey.
1878. Notts. 1896. Yorkshire.
{ Lancashire } 1897. Lancashire.
1879. { Notts } equal. 1898. Yorkshire.
1880. Notts. 1899. Surrey.
1881. Lancashire. 1900. Yorkshire.
{ Lancashire } 1901. Yorkshire.
1882. { Notts } equal. 1902. Yorkshire.
Thus in the last thirty-eight years, if we reckon in the occasions when
two or more counties have tied for the first place, we find that the
championship has been held by Nottinghamshire thirteen times, by Surrey
eleven times, by Yorkshire ten times, by Lancashire five times, by
Gloucestershire four times, and by Middlesex once. Sussex did not lose
a match in 1871, but only played its neighbours of Kent and Surrey,
in a year when the three northern counties were particularly strong.
The above list is of course given for what it is worth, but may be
regarded as fairly accurate, though the conditions and the methods of
calculation have differed so widely at various periods. Up to 1888, no
special system for reckoning the “order” seems to have obtained, the
results being practically arrived at “by inspection”; in that year and
in 1889 the proportion of wins to the matches played was the accepted
process, losses being ignored, and drawn games counting half a point,
so that Notts, with nine wins and three draws in fourteen games, tied
with Surrey and Lancashire, both of which had ten wins and one draw,
ten points and a half, in the same number of matches. Next year, and
till 1895, defeats were deducted from victories, and the points thus
obtained decided the award, but in the latter year the present system
was adopted: a win counts a point for, and a defeat counts a point
against; losses are deducted from wins, and a ratio is calculated
between the figure thus obtained and the number of finished matches,
draws being ignored. Thus, if a county plays 20 matches, wins 11, loses
4, and draws 5, the figure is 11-4, _i.e._ 7; the proportional fraction
is 7/15 (15 being the number of completed matches), and the figure
of merit 46.66, the original vulgar fraction being, for the sake of
convenience, multiplied by 100 and reduced to a decimal.
Referring back to the list once more, we note that Gloucestershire was
not beaten in 1876 or 1877. Lancashire lost no match in 1881, and won
six games with an innings to spare. Lancashire and Notts had identical
figures in 1882; but critics were inclined to favour the superiority
of Lancashire, as having beaten Notts on one of the occasions when the
two counties met, while the other match was drawn. Notts in 1884 won
nine games out of ten, and drew the tenth—a great record, eclipsed by
Yorkshire, who lost no match in 1900, and only one in both 1901 and
1902. Yorkshire’s career since 1889 has been curious: in that year
she played Sussex at the very end of the season, the “wooden spoon”
depending on the result; however, Yorkshire won. In 1890 she was third.
Then followed two bad years, but in 1893 the big county was at the top,
and also in five of the next nine years, her lowest place being fourth
in 1897. Surrey has a fine sequence of six headships, beginning with
1886, by far the largest series on the list.
A word may here be added on the connection between the Marylebone
Club and the counties. The club has always religiously abstained
from interfering in county matters unasked, though reserving to
itself the sole right of deciding all questions connected with
the game in general. But at times there seem to have been signs
of a little petulance on the part of some of the counties, or
their representatives, kindly patronage having been mistaken for
interference. Nothing, however, could be more satisfactory than the
present state of things, the M.C.C. being regarded, as it rightly
should be regarded, as the supreme _junta_ of cricket, and consequently
as the oracle to be consulted in case of difficulty, and the arbiter
in the event of difference. The county delegates discuss all county
matters, and refer the results of their deliberations to the M.C.C.,
with a request that the club will duly hall-mark them, and settle any
disputes or questions that may arise out of them. A powerful neutral is
indeed necessary as arbitrator, seeing that the County Cricket Council,
which was born in 1887, proclaimed its own dissolution in 1890, having
shown no great capacity for managing its own affairs.
We may now note a few of the more important landmarks in the history
of county cricket. The question of qualification, as already stated,
was raised as early as in 1868, for it was felt to be an abuse, as well
as unfair to certain counties, that men should be allowed to represent
two counties in one year; it was, however, an unwritten law that a man
did not play against the county of his birth, even if he did not play
for it. Thus Howitt, who was practically identified with Middlesex,
did not play against his native Notts. Southerton, however, who
played regularly for Surrey by the residential qualification, always
represented Sussex against Surrey, often to the discomfiture of his
foster-county. However, it was not till 1872 that formal legislation
took place, when the following arrangements were made:—
(1) No man to play for more than one county in the same year.
(2) Any player with a double qualification to state at the beginning
of each season for which of the counties he proposed to play.
(3) Three years’ _bona fide_ residence to qualify professionals; two
years sufficient for amateurs.
These regulations were passed at Lord’s, but next year a meeting, held
at the Oval, asked that the Lord’s authorities would put professionals
and amateurs on the same footing, and two years of residence are
now required of both alike. It was also enacted that under the term
“residence” was included the parental roof, provided that it was open
to a man as an occasional home. Lord Harris proposed in 1880 that the
two years should be reduced to one, but did not carry his motion,
though it was and is felt that in certain cases, _e.g._ in that of an
Englishman born in India, or of an officer home on furlough, the rule
bears rather hardly. It was further passed in 1898 that a man who had
played for a particular county for five years was permanently qualified
for it, provided that the series had not been broken by his playing for
another.
It seems hardly credible, considering what county cricket has grown
to be, to hear that not till 1890 was any real classification of
counties undertaken; however, it was at a meeting of the moribund
Cricket Council, held at the Oval on 11th August, that eight counties
were pronounced to be first-class, and to be the competitors for the
championship in 1891. The sacred eight were:—
Notts. Kent. Yorkshire.
Lancashire. Middlesex. Sussex.
Surrey. Gloucestershire.
And these were to play home and home matches with each other. In
1892—prospective legislation this—the lowest of the first-class
counties was to play the highest of the second-class for its place,
and various details were worked out in connection with this scheme,
but when the Council assembled at Lord’s on 8th December of the same
year, so much difficulty and trouble occurred over the question of
classification that it was felt to be a relief when a representative of
Middlesex jumped up and proposed that “this Council do adjourn _sine
die_.” The resolution was accepted with gratitude, and the County
Cricket Council was no more.
Next year Somersetshire, having arranged a purely first-class
programme, announced the fact at the annual meeting of county
secretaries, and was duly recognised as a first-class county. In
1894 the matches played by Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire,
Leicestershire, and Essex were recognised as first-class, though for
convenience the counties were considered to be outside the competition
for that year. In 1899 Worcestershire made a similar announcement to
that of Somerset, and was admitted into the sacred circle, thus making
the number of first-class counties up to fifteen. With these increases
in the number of competitors, it was clearly impossible to maintain
the original principle that each county should play home and home
matches with every other, especially in those years when an Australian
eleven was in England. Some of the larger and richer counties manage to
get through so huge a programme, even with Australian matches thrown
in, but in ordinary years the original number of eight is retained as
the qualifying number, reducible by decree of the M.C.C. in those years
when reduction is necessary. It was in consequence of the increase in
the number of the playing counties that the proportional system of 1895
was introduced.
We may now glance at the history of the various first-class counties,
taking them seriatim; and I must here express my indebtedness to K. S.
Ranjitsinhji’s _Jubilee Book of Cricket_, which is a perfect mine of
information on the subject.
_Derbyshire._—Though the county club only came to its birth in 1870,
cricket had long flourished in the land, fostered largely, as one
authority tells us, by the clergy. “The game in Derbyshire,” he tells
us, “owes much at one time and another to the parsons—a fact that is
perhaps worthy of more general recognition than is sometimes allowed.”
The first appearance of the new county was remarkable, as on the Old
Trafford ground, in its very first match, it defeated no less a side
than Lancashire by an innings and 11 runs, the home county mustering
no more than 25 notches in its first innings, when Gregory actually
had six wickets for 9 runs. So strong was the county attack in its
early days, Gregory being reinforced by Platts and Hickton, Flint, W.
Mycroft, and Hay, that the eleven was jestingly described as consisting
of ten bowlers and a wicket-keeper, the batting being by no means
powerful. Mycroft was one of the most formidable bowlers in England,
but with the decadence of himself and the rest of the band, the bowling
weakened as the batting improved, though at last the latter, thanks
partly to the transfer of good men to other counties, failed so sadly
that in 1887 the county was reduced to the second class, only to be
restored in 1895, and in that year to reach as high a place as fifth
in the championship competition. Fine bowling was again the chief
contributory to this success, G. G. Walker, George Davidson, Porter,
and Hume, with Storer to keep wicket, being backed by such good
batsmen as S. H. Evershed, L. G. Wright, and Chatterton. In Davidson
and Storer, indeed, Derbyshire possessed a pair of wonderfully fine
all-round men, Davidson’s premature death being a grievous loss. Last
year (1902) the fortunes of Derbyshire were not particularly brilliant,
but the county, always a by-word for bad luck, especially at one period
when it seemed impossible for its captain to win the toss, made a good
step forward. It is unfortunate for a hard-working and enthusiastic
committee that the Derby public gives to cricket but one tithe of the
support that it lavishes on football; however, there are plenty of
liberal supporters of the club, which has also, in its times of need,
proved its ability for raising the necessary funds by means of bazaars
and the like. The ground, which is at Derby, has a total extent of
eleven acres, with a good pavilion and an excellent pitch.
Essex, founded in 1874, originally settled at Brentwood, but migrated
to Leyton, as a more accessible place. The county has had a hard fight
in the past to make both ends meet; indeed, at one time the end seemed
to be at hand, but kindly friends, chiefly in the persons of C. M.
Tebbut and C. E. Green, helped it out of its trouble. To the latter’s
enthusiasm the very existence of the club is largely due. Created
first-class in 1895, Essex has never achieved the championship, though
it has more than once knocked possible champions out, especially in its
earlier years, when the ground was not all that a batsman could desire;
but in 1901, thanks to some of the modern patent “mixtures” used in
dressing the pitch, so easy was the wicket that it was impossible,
apparently, to get batsmen out, and the scoring was in consequence
abnormally large. By way of revenge, when the ground is spoilt by
rain, it is absolutely unplayable. In cricketers Essex has been rich:
C. J. Kortright is one of the fastest bowlers of this age or any
other, and in the days of rough pitches was a terror to the county’s
opponents; C. M’Gahey and P. Perrin, known as “the Essex twins,” have
helped to win or save many a match; while in Young, an ex-sailor, the
county unearthed a bowler who was good enough to play for England in
1899, but has done little or nothing since. The name of A. P. Lucas
must not be omitted, as, though he is now some forty-six years old,
he plays cricket in as sound and stylish a fashion as when he was an
undergraduate at Cambridge. As before hinted, though Essex has never
been close up for the championship, it has always been a factor to be
reckoned with.
Gloucestershire is, of course, “the county of the Graces,” which
is synonymous with stating that its fortunes have been watched and
assisted by three of the most talented and experienced cricketers
who have ever taken the field. In the early days, it seemed to exist
by them and for them; but though professional talent appeared but
slowly, a sturdy band of amateurs soon gathered round the brotherhood,
and showed that good batting, especially when attended by superb
fielding, can compensate for only fair bowling. Such men as W. O.
Moberley, F. Townsend, W. Fairbanks, W. R. Gilbert, and J. A. Bush (the
wicket-keeper) were both scorers and savers of runs. Of the Graces it
is needless to say anything; they were batsmen, bowlers, and fieldsmen,
all of different types, but all of one class. E. M.’s fielding at point
was only to be matched by G. F.’s at long-leg and W. G.’s anywhere,
while it was mainly in county cricket that the Doctor’s famous leg-trap
was so successful. Pages might be devoted to what the champion did for
Gloucestershire, but probably no individual triumph ever delighted him
so much as that it should, in 1874, four years after its foundation,
be the champion county of England. It was in a Gloucestershire match
that Grace scored his hundredth century, completed the 1000 runs that
he made in the single month of May 1895, and twice scored a double
century, _v._ Kent in 1887 and _v._ Yorkshire in 1888. To pry deeper
with the pen into the great man’s performance would be to write,
what has been written before, a history of modern cricket or his own
biography: the works would be almost identical. Woof is undoubtedly
the best professional bowler that the county has unearthed, just as
Board is the best wicket-keeper, but Midwinter, the Anglo-Australian,
Paish, and Roberts have all done good service with the ball. Ferris,
however, another Australian who settled in Gloucestershire, quite lost
his bowling as his batting improved. Of more recent players the most
prominent are undoubtedly Charles Townsend, son of the aforementioned
Frank Townsend, and G. L. Jessop. Like Ferris, the former lost a little
of his bowling when he became—he has now apparently retired—the best
left-handed batsman in England. Of Jessop’s hurricane hitting and
rapid scoring the whole cricket world has heard and talked. The county
ground is at Bristol, and is well equipped for its purpose, but the
more famous cricket used to be played on the grounds of Clifton and
Cheltenham Colleges, the Cheltenham “Week” being one of the events of
the season. One hears, however, that the Clifton cricket ground will be
used no more for county matches, owing to the lack of local support. In
the early days the matches between Middlesex and Gloucestershire, two
teams of powerful amateur batsmen, were famous for the long scoring
that prevailed.
Hampshire, as already stated, was the champion county as far back as,
roughly speaking, 1780, its famous downs, Windmill Down and Broad
Halfpenny Down, having been the scene of many great contests in the
days when the Hambledon Club was the champion of England. The history
of those days and of the heroes of those days has been so often and
so admirably written, besides being somewhat foreign to the scope of
this chapter, that one need do little more than record the names of
David Harris and William Beldham, as the champion bowler and batsman of
their day. But Hampshire found that cricket, like everything else, is
transient and ephemeral, and almost a century after the championship
days, in 1874, to be accurate, the old Cambridge captain, Clement
Booth, worked hard to restore the county’s old prestige. Even his
energy failed, for, as already noted, it was not till 1894 that the
county was recognised as being of first-class merit. Hampshire has
naturally been the county of the soldier cricketer, and can boast of
E. G. Wynyard and R. M. Poore as being probably the best batsmen that
ever wore the King’s uniform, J. E. Greig, another soldier, being but
little behind them. What the value of these men was to the county is
amply demonstrated by the fact that in the absence of the first two
Hants won never a match in 1900, but with Greig’s appearance next year
the county, with six each of wins, losses, and draws, at least gave as
good as she got. In E. I. M. Barrett and the professional Barton the
army is still further represented in the Hampshire ranks, with a new
and valuable civilian recruit in Llewelyn. In fact, now that the piping
times of peace have arrived, and the soldier cricketers listen for the
pavilion’s bell rather than the _réveillé_ of the bugle, Hants may
well hope to find herself higher up the ladder of cricket. Other good
names are those of the two Cantabs, A. J. L. Hill and F. E. Lacey, the
present secretary of the M.C.C. The ground, a very fine one, is in, or
rather near, Southampton, the club having bought the freehold of it,
and it is a great improvement on the classical but unsuitable Antelope
ground, situated in the middle of the town.
[Illustration: _AN OLD “PLAY” BILL._]
Kent was one of the pioneers of cricket, the earliest match which she
played as a county dating back to 1711, nearly two hundred years ago,
when she tackled an eleven of All England. It was, however, a full
century later when she was at her prime, supported by such famous
performers as Alfred Mynn, Fuller Pilch, Adams, Wenman, “Felix,” and
others; but of these Pilch was a Suffolk man, who was induced to settle
in Kent and give his services to the county. Mynn was probably one of
the finest all-round cricketers that ever lived—a fine bat, tremendous
hitter, and a grand bowler of the very fast type; yet it is recorded
that “off one of Mr. Mynn’s tremendous shooters” T. A. Anson, a Cantab
wicket-keeper, stumped a man, “using the left hand only”! In later days
Kent has continued to flourish exceedingly, but has never achieved
champion honours, being, as a rule, like most of the southern counties,
deficient in bowling, though Willsher, whose career terminated in the
early ‘seventies, was a left-handed bowler who was second to none.
He was also the hero of the first great no-balling incident. No one
has worked harder for Kent cricket, and cricket in general, than Lord
Harris, to whose vigour, and to whose enthusiastic efforts to enforce
the proper spirit in which the game should be played, the county owes
a deep debt of gratitude. The headquarters of the county club, which
was established in 1842, the year of the first Canterbury “Week,” are
at Canterbury, but the executive rightly believes in the distribution
of matches throughout the county, and we find that county games have
been played, and are still played, not merely at Canterbury, but at
Gravesend, Catford Bridge, Beckenham, Tonbridge—where there is also
a “week,”—Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, and Blackheath—truly a goodly
list for a county that is not abnormally large. The Mote ground at
Maidstone probably possesses a greater slope than any other ground on
which great games are played. Among the more famous Kent cricketers we
may quote the names of W. Yardley, W. H. Patterson, J. R. Mason, F.
Marchant, W. Rashleigh, E. F. S. Tylecote, Stanley Christopherson, the
brothers Penn, W. M. Bradley, C. J. Burnup, and Hearnes innumerable.
Than J. R. Mason, the late captain, there are few finer all-round men.
Lancashire dates back to 1864 as a county club, but Liverpool and
Manchester had long had strong clubs of their own, and at present the
whole county is a perfect hotbed of cricket. Nowhere is a more critical
and enthusiastic body of spectators to be found, though cricket “caught
on” later in Lancashire, as in other northern counties, than in the
south. The bulk of the big matches, including one test match when the
Australians are in evidence, are played at the Old Trafford ground in
Manchester, where there is huge accommodation and a capital pavilion,
a reduced facsimile of that at Lord’s; but the wicket, though the turf
is excellent, is often on the slow side, as Manchester is a rainy spot.
A certain number of big matches are also allotted to the Aigburth
ground, Liverpool. It would be hard to say who is the finest player
that the county has produced, but it is easy to name the most popular
and the most famous, namely, A. N. Hornby, the present president, who
played his first county match in 1867, and has only recently retired
from county cricket. He was for many years the captain of the team and
has probably stolen more runs (and run more partners out) than any
other cricketer. From a mere cricket point of view, A. G. Steel is
doubtless the greatest of Lancastrians as an all-round player, but his
career was all too short, while another equally famous Lancastrian, A.
C. Maclaren, holds the record for the highest individual score made
in big cricket, to wit, his 424, made against Somerset in 1895. Like
Hornby, he is a Harrovian, while Steel, as all the world knows, or
ought to know, hails from Marlborough. Among other great amateurs who
have played for the county should be mentioned the names of Appleby,
Rowley, Makinson, F. W. Wright, Eccles, and Crossfield, while the roll
of professionals is equally famous—Barlow, Briggs, Watson, Mold,
Crossland, Albert Ward, Tyldesley, Pilling (prince of wicket-keepers),
Frank Sugg, and others. It is a curious fact, however, that no less
than four of the great Lancashire bowlers have, rightly or wrongly,
been severely criticised, and even penalised, for throwing when they
were supposed to be bowling.
Leicestershire took to itself a county club in 1878, the very first
match being played against the first Australian eleven, and a very
fair fight being made against that strong team. Matches had, however,
been played under the title of “Leicestershire” between the years 1789
and 1829. Like other counties, Leicestershire has had some hard times,
pecuniarily, to pass through, but now that the storm has been safely
weathered and a permanent home found, greater prosperity in every sense
may be hoped for. It cannot be said that the county has hitherto had
great success in the county contests, as eleventh is the highest place
it has yet reached; but the 1902 eleven was considered to be much
stronger than any other that had represented the county, so that, as
there is plenty of fight left in the men, better results may be looked
for. Pougher is probably the best all-round man that Leicestershire has
produced, the bright, particular star in his career being the bowling
down of five Australian wickets for _no_ runs. This occurred at Lord’s
in 1896. In C. E. de Trafford, the present captain, Leicestershire
possesses one of the hardest hitters and fastest scorers in England,
and in Woodcock one of the fastest bowlers. Among its amateur players
have been numbered, or are numbered, R. A. H. Mitchell, T. S. Pearson,
H. P. Arnall Thompson, G. S. and C. Marriott, C. J. B. Wood, and Dr.
R. Macdonald, and, of professionals, King, Knight, Geeson, Whiteside,
Parnham, Rylott, Wheeler, Warren, and Tomlin.
The Middlesex County Club first saw the light in 1864, the year of
Lancashire’s birth, but, like all other counties, had played matches
long anterior to that year under the style and title of “Middlesex”; in
fact, in 1802 and 1803, as mentioned before, twenty-two of Middlesex
encountered twenty-two of Surrey. Middlesex is as much “the county of
the Walkers” as Gloucestershire is “the county of the Graces,” for the
name of John Walker is identified with the county as closely as are the
initials V. E., R. D., and I. D. Indeed, it is to their perseverance
and enthusiasm, to say nothing of their unbounded generosity, that the
club ever existed or continued to exist. The first home of the club
was a ground near the Cattle Market, in Islington. It then migrated to
the Athletic Club’s ground at Lillie Bridge, and was nearly dissolved
for want of funds. A migration to Prince’s ground in Chelsea helped to
replenish the treasury, and a final resting-place—at least all hope it
will prove to be final—was found at Lord’s in 1877. It is noteworthy
that in 1866, only two years after the club’s foundation, Middlesex
was the champion county, and was specially invited to play All England
next year; but the result was disastrous. The weakness of Middlesex was
always due to a dearth of bowling; in amateur batting Gloucestershire
itself was hardly its superior; but of late years J. T. Hearne was in
the very first flight of bowlers, as also A. E. Trott, the Australian
professional. Howitt, of Nottingham, long did good service, as also
Burton, Clarke, Phillips, and Rawlin, most of whom—one blushes to
say it—were aliens. Several brotherhoods have done good service to
Middlesex—in triads, the Walkers, Studds, and Fords, and in pairs, the
Lytteltons, Webbes, and Douglases; while of the individuals who have
been at the very top of the tree may be mentioned especially the three
Walkers, C. T. Studd, A. J. Webbe, Sir T. C. O’Brien, A. W. Ridley, T.
S. Pearson, G. F. Vernon, A. E. Stoddart, F. G. J. Ford, S. W. Scott,
C. I. Thornton, G. MacGregor, E. A. Nepean, and a host of others who
are only in a sense of the word “minor lights.” To attempt to single
out individuals for comparison would be equally hopeless and invidious;
it is only when we recall the weakness of the Middlesex bowling that
we appreciate the strength of the batting that has enabled it to hold
its own, though since 1866 championship honours have not come the
metropolitan county’s way. It has, however, till last year, 1902,
held a high place. Among its amateur bowlers should be mentioned the
Walkers—of course,—J. Robertson, A. F. J. Ford, E. A. Nepean, C. K.
Francis, A. W. Ridley, and E. Rutter, while no county has produced such
a trio of amateur wicket-keepers as M. Turner, Hon. A. Lyttelton, and
Gregor MacGregor, the present captain of the side.
Nottinghamshire played its first match in 1771, but the Trent Bridge
ground was not opened till 1839, nor the club formed till 1859 or 1860;
but it is safe to say that no club has sent forth such a stream of
great cricketers, some to play for their own county, and some to take
out naturalisation papers in others, to say nothing of hosts of useful
second-class players and practice-bowlers. The Trent Bridge ground,
originally opened by the famous slow bowler William Clarke, is rather
larger than most grounds, and tries the batsman’s powers of endurance
rather severely, but the pavilion and the other appointments of the
ground are inferior to none, Lord’s alone and the Oval being excepted.
Of the famous players the name is legion; posterity and contemporaries
must settle among themselves as to whether George Parr (the great
leg-hitter), Daft (the stylist), Shrewsbury (the all-patient), W. Gunn
(the personification of style and patience combined), or Barnes were
the greatest, not forgetting that among Notts batsmen were such men
as A. O. Jones, J. A. Dixon, and J. G. Beevor, with William Oscroft,
Selby, Wild, Summers, Flowers, and Guy, while the bowling names are a
dazzling array of talent—Clarke, Tinley, Jackson, Grundy, Alfred Shaw,
J. C. Shaw, Morley, Flowers, Martin M’Intyre, Attewell, and John Gunn,
with Biddulph, Sherwin, and Wild as wicket-keepers; while to the best
of bowlers should be added the name of Lockwood, who, unsuccessful for
his native county, has done wonderful work for his adopted county,
Surrey. Notts has been champion in no less than thirteen years, and
thus heads the list.
Somersetshire can boast of no recorded antiquity as a cricketing
society, the county club only being inaugurated in 1875. Curiously
enough, the first meeting to consider the proposed club was held
at Sidmouth, and the first circular issued from Ilfracombe, both
Devonshire towns. It was not till 1891 that Somerset, having defeated
all the other second-class counties, passed into the upper ranks, being
then almost as strong as it ever has been since. The county ground at
Taunton is a gem, but rather a small gem; hence hits into churchyard
and river are not infrequent, and scoring rules high. Further, it is
a tradition of the county that it generally beats Surrey, and not
seldom Yorkshire, in the Taunton match. Of its players, H. T. Hewett
was a splendid left-handed forcing player; L. C. H. Palairet is a
grand player and a stylist that has no rival; his brother, R. C. N.,
who has partly retired, was always valuable, but inferior to his
elder brother; S. M. J. Woods has lost his wonderful bowling, but is
a fine and scoring batsman; V. T. Hill was a wonderful hitter, while
J. B. Challen, C. E. Dunlop, W. C. Hadley, and G. Fowler were all
useful men. No great professional players have as yet been unearthed,
as Braund is a Surrey man who has cast in his lot with the western
county, though Tyler, Nicholls, Cranfield, and Gill were, or are, a
fairly good quartette of bowlers; but bowling has always been a weak
point, ever since Woods strained his side. There has never been a
dearth of wicket-keeping, all amateur, such names as A. E. Newton,
Rev. A. P. Wickham, and L. H. Gay being famous. It must be admitted,
however, that, with its crack players ageing, and new blood not being
forthcoming, the prospects of Somersetshire are not at their brightest;
but whatever the brilliancy of the prospects, there can be no question
as to the brilliancy of the cricket as played both in the present and
in the past. No side has been more exhilarating in its methods than the
sides captained successively by Hewett and Woods.
[Illustration:
_From a Drawing by_ _Thos. Rowlandson._
_RURAL SPORTS OR A CRICKET MATCH EXTRAORDINARY AT BALL’S POND,
NEWINGTON, ON OCT. 3rd, 1811._
(_Probably the return Match to that
mentioned in the advertisement facing page 152._)]
Though Surrey has only been champion eleven times to Nottinghamshire’s
thirteen, yet she might quite fairly assume the words _nulli secunda_
as her motto. Not that unbroken success has been the law of her
existence, for there were times when Surrey’s fortunes were at a
very low ebb, but patience and perseverance have enabled the county
to win its way upward, while in the list of brilliant cricketers few
counties, perhaps none, can claim the right to enrol more names. The
foundation of the club dates back to 1845, the first match between
Surrey and England to 1747, and by the end of that century, when the
dispersion of the Hambledon Club set several Surrey players—Beldham
(“Silver Billy”) among them—free to return to their native shire,
the county was actually strong enough to play fourteen of England,
but then almost collapsed, as far as organised cricket was concerned,
for over thirty years. With resuscitation came success, and for
three consecutive years, 1849-51, Surrey was unbeaten, her successes
continuing till the ‘seventies, and being due to such fine amateurs
as F. P. Miller, C. G. Lane, and F. Burbridge, supported by H. H.
Stephenson, Lockyer, Southerton, Griffith, Mortlock, Julius Cæsar,
Jupp, the brothers Humphrey, Caffyn, Street, and Pooley. But as these
men passed into the veteran stage, no others of equal merit arose
to take their place, and with the bowling sadly deteriorated, the
position of Surrey was quite unworthy of its name and fame, though by
a kind of spurt she was champion county in 1872, Jupp, the Humphreys,
Pooley, and Southerton being the chief factors in this success, which
was not repeated for fifteen years, when for six consecutive seasons
Surrey headed the table. It was mainly the stubborn discipline of
John Shuter, the Winchester cricketer, that kept the eleven together
during its period of depression, and he had his reward when Lohmann,
Bowley, Beaumont, and Sharpe, by their excellent bowling, did much to
make their foster-county—none of these were natives of Surrey—forge
ahead and stay ahead. In later days Richardson and W. Lockwood (the
discarded Nottinghamshire player) bore the brunt of the bowling.
It is instructive to note that so many of the Surrey bowlers have
been born in other counties, but if even the fact lends itself to
criticism from one point of view, it at least throws excellent light
on the Surrey system of selection and training where young players are
concerned. Surrey’s wicket-keepers have been Lockyer, Pooley, and Wood
in practically unbroken succession, and all three were of the best,
Lockyer’s name being worthy of classification with those of Pilling
and Blackham. Of her batsmen, the names of some of her professionals
have already been mentioned, but there are others who are and will be
equally, or more, famous—those, to wit, of Abel and Hayward, Maurice
Read and Brockwell, and in a less degree Lockwood and Holland. Among
amateur batsmen the name of W. W. Read is a name that will never be
forgotten, nor those of the successive captains—J. Shuter, K. J. Key,
and D. L. A. Jephson, while we may add those of W. E. Roller, H. D. G.
Leveson-Gower, F. H. Boult, C. W. Burls, V. F. S. Crawford, as those of
men who have at different periods rendered good service to the county.
Though not situated amid picturesque scenery, the Oval is _qua_ cricket
ground perfect, the accommodation being ample and the wickets superb.
The new pavilion alone cost from £25,000 to £30,000. The Prince of
Wales is the county’s landlord.
Sussex can boast a venerable antiquity and the royal patronage of
George IV. when he was Prince of Wales, these being the days of William
Lillywhite, the “Nonpareil,” Box and the Broadbridges, to say nothing
of C. G. Taylor, the Cantab “crack.” The county club was formed in
1839 on Brown’s ground, the said Brown being the famous fast bowler,
who is said to have bowled through a coat, and to have killed a dog on
the other side! But the builder was inexorable in Brighton, and the
county was hustled from place to place, till it settled finally—it
is hoped—in its present splendid ground at Hove, which is, however,
save in the comfort of its appointment, not one whit better for cricket
purposes than the Brunswick ground, which the county used between 1847
and 1871. In modern times the names of great Sussex bowlers are few,
Southerton playing but rarely, and the others being Tate, the brothers
Hide, Parris, and Walter Humphreys, the “Lobster.” The earlier names
include those of several Lillywhites, Wisden, Brown, and Dean, while
of wicket-keepers we may quote those of Box and Ellis, Harry Phillips,
and Harry Butt. One is almost bewildered by the dazzling list of great
batsmen who have represented Sussex—C. G. Taylor, Wisden, J. M.
Cotterill, L. Winslow, R. T. Ellis, W. Newham, G. Brann, F. M. Lucas,
Bean, Killick, and Marlow, to say nothing of the great Anglo-Australian
player, W. L. Murdoch, who settled in Sussex and was at once invited
to captain the eleven. But great as these names are, the names of
C. B. Fry and K. S. Ranjitsinhji are perhaps even greater. They are
household words at present, as are their wonderful feats with the bat,
which—as the tale is not yet complete—may be left to be chronicled by
posterity. At the present day, were the Sussex bowling in any sense
on a par with its batting, the county would probably carry all before
it. One record of Fry’s should, however, be recorded, as it is so far
ahead of any similar feat. In 1901 he actually scored six successive
centuries, the scores being: 106 _v._ Hants, 209 _v._ Yorks, 149 _v._
Middlesex, 105 _v._ Surrey, 140 _v._ Kent, and 105 _v._ Yorkshire. The
last of these was made for an Eleven of England, all the others for
Sussex. No one else, not even W. G. Grace, has ever made more than
three hundreds in succession.
The Warwickshire County C.C. only dates back to 1882, but it was some
years before it “caught on,” though it was the energy of William Ansell
in pushing the club that led not only to its recognition, but, more or
less directly, to the dissolution of the County Cricket Council. Being
first of the second-class counties in 1892 and 1893—bracketed with
Derbyshire in the latter year—it was duly promoted to higher rank, and
opened the 1894 season in sensational fashion by defeating, in rapid
succession, Notts, Surrey, and Kent, no other county being successful
that year in beating Surrey at the Oval. The county has always held its
own well, even though, with the exception of the internationals, Lilley
and W. G. Quaife, it has produced no very prominent men: it has won
its way by steady and consistent cricket, rather than by brilliancy.
The Quaifes—there are two of them—were originally Sussex men, and
it is but right to record that a good deal of feeling was caused by
the manner of their secession. The present[2] and the only captain of
the club is an old Eton and Cambridge captain, H. W. Bainbridge, who
has been blessed in having so superlative a wicket-keeper as Lilley,
and such prodigies of steadiness as Quaife and Kinneir, to serve under
him. L. C. Docker, the brothers Hill, and T. S. Fishwick are the
better-known amateurs, with Devey, Charlesworth, Santall, Hargreave,
Field, Pallett, Shilton, Diver, and Whitehead among the professionals,
few or none of whom have made a great stir in the cricket world. The
county ground is at Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham, and being well
equipped in every way, was selected as the scene of the first test
match played in 1902, a match that is dealt with in a later chapter.
The existence of Worcestershire, the latest recruit to the first
class, may be considered as due to the superlative excellence of three
brothers, the brothers Foster of Malvern College, whose initials, W.
L., H. K., and R. E., are as familiar as are those of the Studds,
Graces, or Walkers; indeed, some wit, with a keen ear for assonance,
has dubbed the county “Fostershire.” Splendid batsmen as they all are,
no one of them is a bowler, wherein they fall behind the three great
fraternities quoted above. The family has, however, a record of its
own, as in 1899, playing against Hampshire, R. E. scored 134 and 101
not out, and W. L. 140 and 172 not out; further, R. E. has a private
record of _his_ own, having made 102 not out and 136 against the
Players at Lord’s in 1900. In Burrows, Wilson, Arnold, and Bowley, with
Straw to keep wicket, Worcestershire has put some useful professionals
into the field, while the other better-known amateurs are W. W. Lowe,
G. Simpson-Hayward, and the Bromley-Martins. The county ground is to
be found at Worcester, and, like most of its sort, is in all respects
excellent.
On Yorkshire cricket, and especially on Yorkshire bowlers, volumes
might be written, but powerful as the county is now in the present,
and has been in the past, it has not been free from the ordinary
vicissitudes of life in general and of cricket in particular, to which
fact allusion has been made earlier in this chapter. It has also
been stated before that Sheffield was the original home of Yorkshire
cricket, being a club strong enough to play the rest of the county and
beat it, and boasting in Dearman and Marsden, the famous left-hander,
two of the great stars of the early nineteenth century. However,
the county club was organised in 1862, with the Sheffield ground at
Bramall Lane as its headquarters, though the big county is so rich in
fine grounds that it distributes its favours among many towns. In the
plethora of great professionals the amateur element has always been
in a minority in the county eleven, though the names of Lord Hawke,
T. L. Taylor, Frank Mitchell, and F. S. Jackson, and in a quieter way
of George Savile, Rev. E. S. Carter, A. Sellers, F. W. Milligan, E.
T. Hirst, and R. W. Frank, will always be familiar to cricketers, to
which may be added that of G. A. B. Leatham, whose wicket-keeping
powers would have found him a place in many a good county eleven; but
the county of Pinder and the two Hunters has not been hard up for a
custodian for many years. Of the amateurs, be it said that no more
brilliant all-round cricketer has walked out of a pavilion than F. S.
Jackson, and that in Lord Hawke the county found an ideal man, apart
from his batting powers, to command its side, a side, too, that has
for many years been composed exclusively of Yorkshire-born men. Lord
Hawke found the county at a low ebb, shared its struggle upward, and
is finally the proud leader of a body of men that lost but two county
matches in three years, and he has had the additional satisfaction of
helping to raise the county to such admirable financial condition,
that it is able to treat its professionals with a liberality that but
few other counties can emulate or even approach. It is not unnatural
in consequence that the Yorkshire eleven should be practically a band
of very happy and contented brothers. The names of the great county
bowlers are legion: every one has read of Freeman and Emmett, Ulyett
and Bates and Peate, Hirst and Rhodes, Slinn, Atkinson, Allan Hill,
Peel, Haigh, Ulyett and Wainwright, but one notes with interest how
many of these have been left-handers. Then the batsmen—Stephenson
(E.), Rowbotham, Iddison (a lob bowler of much merit), the Greenwoods
(Luke and Andrew), Ephraim Lockwood (of wonderful cutting powers),
Bates, Louis Hall (the pioneer of stickers), Peel, Brown and
Tunnicliffe, Denton and Wainwright, _cum multis aliis_. It is indeed
a wonderful list of names, names of cricketers of all sorts and
conditions, as versatile as they are numerous. One wonders, considering
the years that they cover, that Yorkshire has ever been anything but
champion county, especially as the names excluded are only a whit less
well known than those that are included.
[Illustration: _THE CRICKET GROUND AT DARNALL, NEAR SHEFFIELD._]
Such in brief is the history, a mere sketch, of our more important
counties, their rise and their fall: a full and complete account of
them would fill the whole of a goodly volume, which would be replete
with interest and anecdote, but which would require the patience and
the genius of a Macaulay or a Froude for its adequate and comprehensive
compilation. Cricket may indeed be but a mere pastime, but it is a
pastime that has come home to the hearts of Englishmen, or at least
to the hearts of a goodly number of Englishmen, during a period of
some two hundred years. He who would write that history must be a man
of infinite patience and vast perseverance. He will not find cricket
history writ large in columns of big print, but, for the earlier days
at least, often packed away in obscure corners of local journals.
Thirty years ago there was no daily sporting paper, while the big
“dailies” took but little notice of cricket matches. Add a hundred
years on to the thirty, and only local papers record a great match.
Consequently, he who would write a full and accurate account of the
cricket played by the counties, must rummage even more painfully than
the recorder of political facts, and in journals that are far less
accessible and that give less prominence to the special facts of which
the writer is in quest. The great work may yet be written, but the
writing thereof will be largely a labour of love, for the divers into
cricket lore are but few, and the writer will naturally wonder whether
the game will be worth the candle.
[Illustration:
_From a Painting by_ _J. Lush._
_THE EARL OF MARCH._]
[Illustration]