HUMORS OF FIRST CLASS CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 153, 24 July 1909, Page 4

HUMORS OF FIRST CLASS CRICKET.

STORIES TO] J) BY DR. W. 0. GRACE. Here is a curious and interesting uonmade >by the greatest cricketer of the age —Dr. W. f!. lirace. W"]i at, I regard as being the mum eaise of my bailing success,'" he says, "was the entire absence of nervousness, due. 1 believe, ]iartly to my good constitution and partly to the fact that after the lirst few years of my cricketing career I always went in first. The man who makes a practice of going in first is invariably the least nervous batsman. Nobody evc r saw C. 13. Fry, Haywnrd, Bobby' Abel, Tunniclifle, A. 0. Jones, A. U. Maclaren nervous except when going in other than first. Nervousness is largely a question of time and a mental attitude induced by watching wickets fall and thinking over thein. If you have no time to ponder over it the medicine is 6C'ldom so dreadful after all."

Apropos of nervousness, the Doctor, in "'W.G.V Little Book," mentions an .; musing instance of its effect on a batsman in a 'Varsity match at Lord's. The ii.itsman was batting at the pavilion cud, and on being called for a run by his partner turned round and started to run towards the pavilion, much to his partner's amazement and the amusement of the public. NARROW SQUEAKS.

It is in the same chapter of " "W.G.'s' Little Book," which is full of good stories and valuable advice to the aspiring erieketer, that the Doctor mentions that he has never "bagged a brace" in first-class cricket. "I have been missed first ball in a Test Hatch in the second innings," he remarks, "after failing to score in the first, which is just about as near a brace as a man can get, and once at the Crystal Palace for London County I got a duck first innings, but in the second innings when runnhg a short one the fieldsman threw wide. This was another squeak for me. In minor cricket I have twice failed to score in both innings."

"HOW TO DROP 'EM." Talking of the art of fielding, "W.G." tells an amusing story at the expense of ilr. E. H. D. SeweU. London County were playing Warwickshire a t Coventry in 1904, and Sewell dropped three catches at short-slip which in nine times out of ten he would hare held. "Seeing his evident disgust," says "W.G.," "I said to him, 'Cheer up, you'll catch the next oae.' Very soon afterwards W. W. Odell bowled his fast ball, which the vatsman just touched!, It went straight to Sewell and hit him plump in the chest! He looked quite demoralised, but he afterwards made some amends by making a really fine catch off another fast ball. "Next morning what should 1 see on the bookstall at Coventry Station but 'Fry's Magazine,' and in large letters on the cover, 'The Art of Catching, by E. 'H. D. SeweU.' Such a chance was too good to -be dropped, so I put a copy of the magazine in my pocket and took it to the ground, where I should think everyoae in both teams asked Sewell to write an article the following month on 'The Art of How to Drop 'Em.' For a mistimed publication I think this particular article was the most memorable of my career, and I don't suppose Sewell will be disposed to disagree with me." AN UMPIRE UNFIT. It is in connection with umpires and umpiring, however, that the Doctor tells, perhaps, some of his best stories. One cf these concerns a recent meeting for the selection of umpires. "I believe," says the Doctor, "Sammy Woods was concerned in it; but, if he wasn't, it sounds like him, anyway. Voting had gone on regarding an umpire, whom I will call Jones, and he had been duly elected, vphen up jumped Sammy and asked whether he would be in order if lie spoke about Jones now, after the voting was closed. On receiving the necessary permission, lie said, 'I only wished to say, gentlemen, that Jones has been dead four months,' and promptly sat down."

OLD 808 THOMS. > Dr. Grace considers tnat the best of the old umpires were Bob Thorns, of Middlesex, and Charles Pullin, of Gloucestershire. Many are the stories which couid be told of old Bob. "I remember, an occasion at Brighton." says "W.G.," "in which he gave an amusing decision. In those days they had a kobit of preparing rather a narrow strip for the wicket, and on this occasion they had run the mowing-machine twice over the pitch, shortly before the match started, in such a way as to make the grass at the sides look rather long. I was batting to a left-arm bowler who bowled unusually wide round the wicket. He happened to hit me on the leg with a ball which came a lot with his arm. 'How's that!' roared he. 'Not out; pitched on the mowing grass,' replied Bob." HE WAS XO ARCHANGEL. And it is related of a well-known amateur that he arrived one day at the Hastings ground with a couple of hares and two or three brace- of partridges among his baggage. Dr. Grace enquired as to their destination. "For the umpires, 'of course; Chawles : don't mean being given out leg-before or for anything else, if he can help it!" One more story about the same cheery person. He was called for a very short run 'by his partner, and was in due course easily run out. He was very angry, but all lie said to his partner was, "What d'ye take me for—a blooming archangel?" • BILLY MURDOCH'S GOLFING TRICK. Dr. Grace, numbers golf amongst liis favorite recreations, and has enjoyed many a game with his old friend, Billy Murdoch, the famous Australian cricketer. It is regarding one of the earliest occasions on whic htlie couple went round the links together that "W.G." tells the following story:— "We were digging our way round when Murdoch drove into a deep sandbunker rather at the side of the course. A few spectators were with us, but when Billy got into the bunker he was hidden from view. We saw the ball come out amid the usual shower of sand, and everyone cried: 'Well out! Good shot!' At lunch one of the members of the club remarked on Billy's excellent recovery, saying he'd soon be a plus man at that rate,"when Billy, having taken it all quite seriously, whispered to me, 'Knew I should never g e t out of the .blessed hole, so I took a double handful of sand and the ball and flung 'em out.'"—TitBit;.