Cricket eleven

“ For a University man a place in his University eleven is as keen an object of ambition now as it used to be, and though the bowling may be weak and the fielding not so good as it ought to be, still University cricket is the same as it always has been—the embodiment of the purest amateur spirit of the game. But forty years ago, to be selected to represent the Gentlemen or the Players, as the case might be, set the seal on both amateurs and professionals, in the same way as to be selected to play for England against Australia does now. ”

“ The United Eleven, and the North v. South, at Lord's, especially the former. When the two famous elevens met reputation was at stake, and both strove to put their best teams in the field. There was no half-hearted play then. Thought was put into every ball bowled, and neither batsman nor fieldsman spared himself. It was the match of the year from a player's point of view, and crowds testified to it by turning out in thousands. It was not always so in the North v. South matches. More than once an eminent player cried off at the last moment, and occasionally the sides were poorly represented. ”

“ The explanation of the great popularity of the game of cricket is that, being always a challenge between two rival bodies, it produces emulation and excites that spirit of party which, say what we will, is one of the essential stimulants of public life, since in order to identify one’s self with one’s party one must make a sacrifice to a certain extent of one’s individuality. The game of cricket requires eleven persons on each side, and each of the players feels that he is consolidated (solidaire) with his comrades, in defeat as well as in victory.... ”

“ After the Cricketers had partaken of the refreshments prepared for them, the ground was again cleared, and Carpenter and Hayward in simple dress arrayed, entered the arena with bat in hand, as the representatives of the All England Eleven. They promptly take their places at their respective wickets ready to defend them, but not before with cautious step, the ground is traversed o'er, lest ought unseen should lurk there to turn a ball, or interrupt the striker's speed in making a run. ”

“ A fine batting and fielding eleven, but hardly strong enough in bowling to be really representative of English cricket at its best. Emmett and Ulyett were the only two professionals included, and for a side so weak in bowling, they may be said to have made an excellent appearance. One match only was played against the returned Australian eleven, who were successful by ten wickets. Four new names appear amongst those chosen to represent the various Australian sides, all more or less successful, Palmer, Macdonnell, Massie, and Evans. ”

“ They never were of any use as players, but their hearts were in the game, and from the game they will never be divorced. It is an ill thing for an outsider to drop a remark about Cricket among us, at about eleven o'clock in a country house smoking-room. After that the time flies in a paradise of reminiscences, till about 4 A.M. or some such "wee, short hour ayont the Twal'," if one may quote BURNS without being insulted by all the numerous and capable wits of Glasgow. Why is it that the Duffer keeps up his interest in Cricket, while the good players cease to care much about it? ”

“ He specially devoted himself to the candidates for a place in the second eleven; and it presently began to be rumoured that Railsford’s would be able to put two elevens in the field, able to hold their own against any other two in Grandcourt. It was rather a big boast, but after the exploits of the house at the sports nobody could afford to make too little of its ambitious projects.
Arthur, Dig, and their coterie—most of them safely housed already in the second eleven—caught a regular cricket fever. They lived in an atmosphere of cricket. They thought in cricket, and dreamed of nothing else. ”

“ A little consideration to the opinions of the grumblers might have kept the original team longer together, although the increasing number of good players every year would very likely have led to the same result in a year or two. Clarke did not see his way to making the changes desired, and so the United England Eleven was formed that year.
The United England Eleven played its first match against Twenty Gentlemen of Hampshire at Portsmouth, August 26th, 27th, 28th, 1852. The eleven representing it on that occasion was certainly not of the strength of the All-England Eleven ”

“ Another great advantage, which Eton shares with Harrow, is its proximity to London, enabling the captains of visiting sides to secure a really first-class eleven to meet the school in its trial-matches. Nothing is so salutary for boys' cricket as to witness good cricket and watch good cricketers, especially as defeat is no dishonour, and victory doubly encouraging. ”

“ Over 200 runs in an innings was scored by ten amateurs, and the century was scored about 350 times.
Before the first Australian eleven had completed its tour in England it was decided that a fifth eleven of English players should go out to Australia. On this occasion it was an invitation from the Melbourne Cricket Club to the amateurs of England; but a team made up of amateurs entirely was found impracticable, and two most popular professionals, Emmett and Ulyett—both belonging to Yorkshire,—had to be included. ”

“ Cricket is properly played by eleven persons on each side, though where so many persons can not be brought together, a less number can play. One side bats, and the other side bowls and fields. Two batsmen go to the wickets, one at each end; and the first bowler delivers a ball to the batsman opposite to him, while the fielders take their positions at a greater or less distance from the wicket. ”

“ There, the play was nearly all professional: even the gentlemen made a profession of it; and therefore, though cricket was far more extensively spread throughout the villages of Kent than of Middlesex, the clubs of the metropolis figure in the score-books as defying all competition. Professional players, we may observe, have always a decided advantage in respect of judicious choice and mustering their best men. The best eleven on the side of the Players is almost always known, and can be mustered on a given day. ”

“ In Nottingham and the West Riding towns, hundreds of boys may be seen playing almost at the mouth of coal-pits, and the practice they get enables them to become professional players.
Amateurs are not by any means in the same situation. Apart from the natural qualifications any lad may chance to possess, he is largely benefited or the reverse by the atmosphere of the schools to which he is sent. About the age of thirteen he is sent to a large public school, where cricket is regularly taught, and he has a great deal of experience if he can manage to get into his school eleven. ”

“ In justice to these players, it should be borne in mind that many balls were hit away by them, which with ordinary fielding, were sure runs for one at least; while the singles might have scored for two, perhaps, in many instances, but for the extraordinary activity, and as it were, ubiquity in the field of the All England Eleven. Wherever a ball was sent, there was sure to be some one ready to pick it up and throw it in in a moment. ”

“ The Oxford University Eleven, and the Cambridge University Eleven, and the Marylebone Club, of course they cannot contend against at such a disadvantage, but they sometimes give even to these strong Elevens, the odds of a Player or two, from their own ranks, whenever it is thought by so doing they can more-nearly equalize the sides, and consequently impart greater interest to the game. ”

“ The Mayor and Corporation of New York. The toast was received with six cheers, and the glee, "Mynheer Van Dunck," by the Glee Club. The President then called upon all present to fill their glasses to a class of people in which all were deeply interested. It was the desire of the club to give every encouragement to American Cricketers—young or old. In Philadelphia the boys had commenced at it, and in New York they were coming. He hoped to see the All-England Eleven here again next year, for their advent would foster cricketing among Americans. ”

“ I need not say how delighted I am to watch the progress of every young and rising cricketer. My heart is in the game I love above all others, with a love that is as strong to-day as it was when I made my first large score, and when eye, hand, and foot were much quicker than they are now. I do not believe that there are no days like the good old days of cricket, but I do strongly believe that the prospects of the game are as bright and hopeful to-day as they have been at any time in its history, and that in future years as great if not greater things will be done with both bat and ball. ”

“ Macdonnell, 226, 227; match against picked England Eleven, 229; visit of Alfred Shaw's Eleven in 1881, 230; the Australian Eleven of 1882, 230; decline of form from 1884-1894, 231; visit of Earl Darnley's team to Australia in 1882, 232-234; difficulties of touring, 235; the cricket grounds, 235; the Australian Eleven of 1884, 236, 237; Australian cricket at its highest point, 238; an English Eleven under Alfred Shaw visits Australia, 239; the Australian Eleven of 1886, 239; signs of deterioration visible, 240-241; visit of professionals to Australia under Shaw and Shrewsbury, 242 ”

“ This game of trundling along the ground at a two-foot wide wicket, and a man with a hockey-stick defending it, is really rather a travesty of the great and glorious game. The origin of cricket it was, no doubt, and as such is to be most piously revered, but actual cricket—hardly. Consider that old print of a game in progress on the Artillery Fields, where the players are equipped with the curved bats, wear knee-breeches, and the wicket is low and wide, with two stumps upright and one across. There is not a fieldsman on the off side of the wicket—a significant fact in itself ”

“ It would be far better to tell people how to field, or even how to watch with a view to interest and improvement. Reforms must aim at giving amusement, interest, attractiveness to the play of the average cricketer.
Let us consider a common experience in a one-day College match at Cambridge, putting aside the wet or rather the difficult wicket on which every player gets a knock; we want to think of Cricket at its best—on a{237} fine day and a good wicket. The side that wins the toss sends in its first two or three bats; they pile up some hundreds of runs ”

“ The ideal match is a match that does not last more than two days, where the wicket has got a bit of devil in it, where no individual innings realises more than 80 runs, no one complete innings exceeds 200 runs, where the side that have to go in for the fourth innings must get about 180 runs to win, and win the match by two or three wickets or lose it by 15 or 20 runs. This is genuine cricket, and far better worth seeing than the type of matches so often played in 1887. ”

“ Hence the captain has only to use his judgment on the eventful day—judgment founded on the state of the wicket—whether he will play Noakes for his slow bowling or Stokes for his "expresses."
Of college cricket pure and simple there is not a great deal to be written. It is full of amusement and interest to the participators—what game of cricket is not?—but there is an absolute dearth of any element corresponding to "house feeling" at schools. Nor is there any form of competition on the League system or any other system: colleges are too many, and term is too short. ”

“ There is no more entrancing sport than cricket, and nowhere does cricket present itself in a more entrancing form than at Cambridge, The best of grounds, the snuggest of pavilions, and the most charming sociality are to be found everywhere; and there is cricket of every kind, whether for the crack 'Varsity bat or bowler, whose county is sighing for the Long Vac, or for the fifth-rate cricketer, who never achieved any greater distinction than getting his "house" cap at school: every class and kind is amply catered for. ”

“ On bad wickets, I think, in their prime, Carpenter, Mitchell, George Parr, Daft, and Hayward, having been obliged to play grand bowling before the heavy roller and mowing machines were invented, became more proficient than players do now, except the four players mentioned before. Batsmen get demoralised when the wicket plays tricky. They never get hurt now, but I remember Grace on Lords, about 1869, against Freeman and Emmett, getting a tremendous crack on the elbow, and how the crowd cheered when he drove the next ball for six. Big scoring is all very well, but it is not the whole of cricket. ”

“ It is necessary in any work which professes to treat of cricket generally, that the laws and regulations of single wicket should be discussed, though the subject is not of much importance in these days; for, as far as first-class cricket is concerned, the game played with only one wicket has vanished altogether. Some few years ago, if an ordinary three-day match were over early, a scratch single-wicket match was sometimes improvised ”

“ Six wickets fall for an additional 9 runs, and the audience begins to hold its breath. We have still eight or nine batsmen, but can they possibly make 5 runs apiece? We are soon put out of suspense. The groom goes in for hitting, knocks up 15 in a few minutes, which demoralises the field, the best bowler is taken off at the critical moment, and the rest is easy. We have had a most thrilling afternoon’s cricket, and no one is any the worse except the old wicket-keeper, who is so stiff he cannot come downstairs for two days. ”