Reading for Everybody.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2366, 5 December 1908, Page 10 (Supplement)

Reading for Everybody.

“W. G.’ a

60 NOT OUT.

“W.G.” is sixty to-day. io , mc is seems fitting that the occasion should not be allowed to pass without a few comments on has marvellous and matchless cricket calmer. .J.no years ago he scored 74 lor tlie Gentlemen against the Players a,t Kennington Oval and in referring to that peiformance, I wrote, and still gom 0 strong at 58, he reaps a second glory iai this age. And lie is still going strong. Andrew Lang some time back said that “W.G. reckons not by years,” and upon my word I Relieve that Andrew Lang is aught, Tho great player was not quite h when ho made his first appearance foi the Gentlemen against the Players. That was in 1865, at Kennington Oval, and 41 years afterwards, on the same old oval, he made the 74 above mentiotnecl. Ho made the /4 on his oSth. birthdav, was captain of his side, and had played for Gentlemen against Players before any of his comrades or opponents in that 1906 match were born. In all, from 1565 to 1906, his figures, as given in Wisden, for Gentlemen v. Players matches are:—lnnings, 151; times not out, 10; most in an innings, 217; total runs, 6,008; average, 42.609. I was only a small boy when first 1 heard of W.G. In the early seventies there was some talk of his coming to Australia as captain of an English team. I was a colt in the Carlton club, and our captain, the veteran George Gibson, known of old as “Gibbie” or the “evergreen,” used to read to us from English papers the doings of the champion. Once old “Gibbie” chuckled, and said, “W. G. Grace, 268; why we’ll never get him out if he comes to Australia.” Two years afterwards (1873-4) he'did come, and he and his comrades gob a glorious welcome at Sandridge, and afterwards an the city. How the crowds flocked to see the bearded giant practice on the Melbourne ground, and then the opening match against Victoria. I shall never forget it. People came from all parts to see the champion of tlie world, and the good old ground was packed. When W. G. came out to bat lie got a great .reception, 'and every stroke he made was watched with almost breathless interest. He and the Surrey crack, Harry Jupp, did some splendid, stealing of "snort runs, and the colossal figure of the champion presented such a striking contrast to squat little Jupp, that the pair were called “the dong and short of .it.” At last, when “W.G.” had made .33, Boyle clean bowled him with a ball that .kept low on the leg side. Good Lord! You would think the heavens were .rent. I was fielding close in, and the cheers and wild hurrahs thrilled me through and through Boyle was a real hero, and ho was greeted with shouts, “more joyful than . the city roar that hail premier or king.” It was immense. In the second .innings W.G. made 51 not out, and played some superb bowling from Frank Allan, who shaved the champion’s wicket three times in one over of four balls. Indeed, at the close of the innings W.G. said to Aldan, “Well bowled; well bowled. You didn’t get me and I couldn’t knock you off, so it’s a, dead heat.” Sometimes now, in walking the streets of Melbourne, I meet the famous old player B. B. Cooper, who in his prime in England was reckoned second only to W.G. 8.8., by his fine batting for 84, hit wicket, b G. F. Grace, helped very much to win that match for Victoria. B. B. batted in several matches England! with W. G., and in 1869 the •pair put up 283 for first wicket for •Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South, at Kennington Oval. That 283 stood as the record for first wicket lor many years in first-class cricket. Only the other clay I had a, chat with “B.B.” in Elizabethstreet, and he informed me that, in his opinion, “W.G.” did not bat nearly up to his true English form in that match on the M.C.C. ground against 18 of Victoria. That was my first big match, and you can scarcely credit the absorbing interest I took in every stroke made by “W.G.” I was only a lad then, and now I have passed the half-way house. Yet, after .all the intervening years, the whole scene is present to mo now just as clear as it wa s in 1873. The great ivriter Thackeray once said that he would like to have been Shakespeare’s bootblack. lam not quite sure about the boot-black part of the business, but I know that in those days I would willingly have carried “W.G.’s” cric-ket-bag from Melbourne to Bendigo and back again. I can sec that bag now, with “W.G.’s” cricketshri ntao now with “W. G. Grace, Downend” on it just as plain as I saw it then. I remember, too, old Jim Southerton saying after a shower bath on a real hot day, “I would like to carry this (homo with me.” For that tour, in 1873-4, W. G. got £1,500 and all expenses, and as a public attraction he (deserved the money. There was a grand farewell banquet at the old Criterion, in Coll ins-street, and in the speech-making, “W.G.” showed that he was a “doer, not a talker.” Of .all that brilliant gathering at the Criterion, how very few are left! I was the youngest there, and I have tho menu card yet.

Three years later (1876), W. G. did great scoring in England. He got 344 for Marylebone Club against Kent, 400 i(not out) ‘against 22 of Grimsby, and 318 (not out)’ against Yorkshire. At the close of the Eng' lish season of 1876, the fine o-kl Yorkshire player Tom Emmet came out here wath Lilly white and Shaw’s team in 1876-7. I became very friendly with Tom, arid often walked with (him from the White Hart through the Eitzrpy'gardens to the M.C.C. ground. Tom loved the gardens, and said the trees, the grass, and the clover put him in mind of “cam, laad.” I asked Tom what he thought of W. 'G. in 1876. “Thought of him; well, I’m not sure that I didn’t threaten to shoot him so that professional howlers might have a chance. When he came out to hat some of us used to throw the ball down, and say ‘Here he comes!’ In that Yorkshire match when ‘W.G.’ made 318 not out, our captain couldn’t get anyone to bowl, and I had 1 to'go on again ; but I didn’t get him.” When X played against “W.G.” in 1873, I little thought that- 'in a few seasons' I would meet him on English

fields. But, in that very tour of Tom Emmett and his comrades .in 1876-7, tho success of Australia was so pronounced! (chiefly through the brilliant batting of Charlie Bannerman) that in 1877-8 an Australian team was banded together by J. Conway for the purpose of visiting End and. Before we left the lato Donald Camphell said to me, “W.G. will be a veritable thorn in your side.” But he wasn’t so much a “thorn” in 1878 as in succeeding years. The sensational match against Marylebone took place >at Lords, in 187 S, and all England rang with the name of Australia. It was on that occasion tho lines appeared in “Punch”: “Tho Australians came down like a wolf on the fold, The .Marylebone cracks for a trifle were bowled.” W.G., I remember, was caught at short leg by Midwinter, off Frank Ailan ? in the first .innings. The Marylebone cracks made 33 and 19, and Australia. w„on by nine wickets. Tii© game was all over- in about five .hours. Spofforth got a place in Vanity Fair, an'd was dubbed the “demon” bowler, yet Boyle had the bet-, ter average. Ever afterwards the Australians were the observed of all observers wherever they travelled, and in Yorkshire and Lancashire especially the numbers of noses flattened against windows of railway carriages to have a peep at the “demon” and ins comrades wore countless. Wo felt very sore with “W.G.” when he took Midwinter away from us a't Lords n 1878. When “W.G.” was going away with Mid., he said, “You haven’t tho ghost of a chance against .Middlesex.” But we won the match, thanks mainly to the great howling by Frank Allan, who, curiously enough, would not have played in that match if Mad. had not been taken away. Allan was about to visit some relatives at Middleborough, and we had to send'to the hotel for him, aud spoil his holiday. In subsequent years “W.G.” made ample .amends, by not only cordially welcoming Australians, bait doing all he could to help them.

Hi 1880 ho played a grand innings for 152 for England against Australia, at Kennington Oval, but he was beaten by W. L. Murdoch with a beautifully-played 153 (not out). That was the first test match in England. Never in. my life did I see a finer exhibition of batting against fast bowling than by W.G. against Spofforth m the memorable match between England and Australia on Kennington Oval in 1882, when Australia won by 7 .runs. Colossal at the crease, the. champion stood on a faulty, bumping wicket, and looked, as indeed ho was, every inch a king of cricket. Defiant, resolute, watchful, he played the lofty ones with masterly skill and judgment, and while be was in possession the match seemed all over. But -after lii s exit the remaining men failed against the superb bowling of Spofforth and Boyle. 'JTie tension in the closing moments of that glorious game was almost unendurable, and there was a hush, like tho stillness of death, in that vast assemblage, in all tlie gallant, glorious chronicles of cricket that 7 runs win for Australia stands second to none. And the shouts and cheers for Australia at the finish were as hearty as if we had been playing on our own Melbourne ground. That was the only time I ever saw “W.G.” look glum. In the pavilion he said, “Well, well, I left six men to get 17 runs, and they couldn’t get them.”

■ • \V.G.” came out here with Lord Sheffield’s team in 1891-2, and his re-ceptio-n was 'as cordial as in 1873-4. Ho got £3,000 and all expenses for this trip. I chatted with him several times, and once I asked him, “Was Crossiand 'the fastest bowler you ever played against?” Ho said, “Yes, but he was a thrower.” “Then you reckoned him faster than Tarrant?” “Yes; this is what Tarrant gave me in 1866 at .Lord’s.” And W.G. showed me his thumb, with a great scar left to -remind him of the time when i't had been so badly cut open. Mr Malwyn A’Beckett .reckoned “W.G.” just a s good -a bat when he came here with Lord Sheffield’s team as he was in 1873-4. A national tesimonial amounting to several thousand pounds w-as presented to him some years ago in recognition of his great career as a cricketer, and it is beyond doubt that he is head and shoulders ahead of any cricketer that ever lived. He has mot -an elegant or .graceful style of batting. What struck me inoSt of all in watching his play was his “placing” to . the on and his power on both sides of the wicket. He seemed to me to line fast and medium bowling better than slow. Apart from his batting he was quite -a. first-class slow bowler in his prime, and in 1902, one, of the Australian eleven told me that YY.G.’s deliveries puzzled him very much at Lords, when he got five wickets for 29 for the Marylebone club.

Mr W. G. Poeock, now; 1 living in Melbourne, is W.G.’s cousin, and assisted the famous brothers to make tlio turf wicket in the apple orchard at Downend, where -W.G. learnt the rudiments of tlic game. They got the best part of the turf from the main road. Two dogs used to field for the boys, and the dogs were so well trained that they seemed to know an off stroke from am on stroke, and were quite puzzled when E.M. used to letch the ball from the off side to the on. Good dogs. Once, when going through a-field as Downend, the boys wero chased by a bull. W.G. had a stout cudgel, and, being fearless and quick, he waited and gave the bull a “welt” on the arose. that fairly astounded and stopped hint. Then W.G. joined the others on the fence. He was a splendid .runner in his best days, and carried off .fifty or sixty trophies in about two years. I remember that, at the close of each day’s play, he used to send a wore to his mother, telling her the state of the game. He introduced some of us to her at Clifton, and if my memory is right, she used to wear a shaw'l of the Marylebone colors. Once he had us up to chase the deer at five. In fact, he seemed to be.' absolutely tireless. His cricket records would fill pages, but mere statistics are very dry reading. So let us take them as read. One thing lam sure of, and it is that all Australian cricketers will wish '“many happy returns” of the day to the grand old warrior, whose cricket name and fame wall stand for aye unparalleled in the annals of the manly game,

BREWERS 1 SUNDAY.

60,000 EXC UEtSIONISTS FOR

LONDON

170 SPECIAL TRAINS

£20,000 TO BE SPENT IN FARES

By means of free railway tickets or ridiculously cheap fares, money for "expenses,” and meals served "without charge either on route to London or after arrival, the brewing and distilling trade wall undoubtedly 'be able (says the London “Daily News of September 25), to attract an enormous "crowd to tlio metropolis on Sunday, the day of the demonstration against the Licensing Bill. Latest figures Indicate that -at least GO,OOO persons will be “delivered bv the various railway companies at London termini during the Sabbath morning and early afternoon; and the details of this enormous trafho present many points of interest. ." A noeworthy feature is that the railway companies have combined to carry the task through without calling in the assistance of any outside agency. The focus of the organisation is .at No. 2, Charing Cross, where Mr G. K. Turnham, .a wellknown figure in the railway world, has had a .special staff working almost day and night for weeks past perfecting the arrangements. Some i7O special trains will bo needed, and the expenditure in fares will be at least £20,000. Needless to say, it would have been impossible to 'run so many specials oii any day but Sunday, and as it is the usual engineering operations carried out on the main lines -of railway will have to be suspended practically throughout the whole country on Sunday next. enormous figures. The following are, approximately, the total number of excursionists to

It was, naturally, quite impossible to make arrangements for giving all these passengers meals en route, but many dining cars will be run, special “stops’’ will be made bv long distance trains, and blie refreshment rooms o’f the different companies will make provision for feeding the army on arrival in the Metropolis.

PAID DEMONSTRATORS. AYe narrated recently tike crise of tko Kalburn brewer who is paying a number of unemployed 4s. each to march in the procession on Sunday in scarlet caps and white smocks. A “Daily News” representative gathered that more than _ two hundred of these processionists had already been engaged, and that the brewer and his friends were still searching the highways and by-ways of Kilburn and Hampstead for more. Most of the men engaged have obtained a- portion of the pay as evidence of good faith; and the bargain has generally been concluded over a pot of liquor. All sorts and conditions of unemployed have been secured. One of the fortunate ones, a newsboy in irregular employment, displayed yesterday to our representative a largo red, white, and blue badge in his buttonhole —the emblem which sealed his engagement to “the Trade” for Sunday afternoon. This bedraggled youth and his companions are to represent on Sunday, attired in red and white, the brewer, now prosperous; who, it is claimed, will be thrown out of business by the passing of the Licensing Bill.

HONOR FOR BUSINESS MEN

The editor of “Modern Business” makes an excellent suggestion in the September number of that interesting magazine. Having regard to tile altered conditions of commerce .and the advance status of the commercial man, be respectfully suggests that the King should establish a new honor for business men, in other words, an Order 3»r Distinguished Commercial Service. “His Majesty’s encouragement of and interest in all developments of trade and industry (says this writer) has had a great effect in leading the public life and thought, in regard to these .matters, into the healthy condition that to-day exists. . . Now we would very respectfully suggest that the time lias come when an. idea, which w r e have no doubt has been in His Majesty’s mind should be carried out, and an honor established to reward some of the great captains of industry, and encourage others to even greater than their present great efforts for the strengthening of the trade of the country.” After eulogising the service rendered by theso men to the State, the writer continues: “Many of these men have little regard for honors in the ordinary sense of the word and keeping aloof, as some do, from party politics, they are never thought of by party leaders. But it may be well assumed that the enormous services these men • render to the State by.their life work, 'if overlooked- by politicans, is well in the mind of the greatest Englishman His Majesty King Edward VII., who, we hope and believe, will ere long establish an Order of Distinguished Commercial Service—an Order of Business Knights—to bo conferred upon such men as we have described. We know there .are men who would prefer that honor to an earldom.”

be carried by various companies: Great Western. 12,000 South Western 5,000 Great Northern 10,000 Midland 7,000 North Western 10,000 Groat Central 2,000 Great Eastern 2,000 Brighton 2,500 South Eastern ■1,000 Individual towns and districts will send contingents as follows Birmingham and Wo Ivor7,000 hamton Brisetol and South Wales 5,000 Lancashire 20,000 Leeds ... 1.500 Lincoln and Grimsby 1,500 Newcastle 1,000 Bradford 1,000 Burton-on-Trent 7,000 Brighton Portsmouth and Isle 1,400 of Wight 1,400 Dover 750 Hastings 600 Gravesend and Northlleet SOO