by A. W. Pullin
On going up to Cambridge Mr M'Cormick soon became FO popular that had a letter been addressed to "Joe, Cambridge," it would have reached its proper destination without delay. He never received any real instruction in cricket until he got there; yet he became so rapidly proficient that he was awarded his Blue in 1854, and in 1856 was captain of the Light Blues, who then beat their Oxford rivals by 3 wickets. He grimly recalls an incident that occurred in the year when he was captain of the Cambridge Eleven.
"I strolled on to a cricket-ground at Liverpool, where some gentlemen were practising. I asked if I might be allowed to bowl, and immediately hit the wicket. 'You can't do that again, sir,' said the batsmen. But I did. The other gentlemen in turn went in, and each was soon bowled. Then one of them said, 'Might I ask, sir, who you are 1' I replied, 'M'Cormick.' 'What, the Cambridge captain? Ah, that accounts for it.'
"While at Cambridge," says Mr M'Cormick, "I was one day playing on Parker's Piece, and Percival Frost, the celebrated mathematician, was in with me. I hit a very fast bowler hard to leg and ran 9 for it. It took three men to throw the ball up. Visiting Cambridge only a few months before Frost's death, he said at a dinner-party, 'I remember one of your hits, when you nearly killed me with running!' That was the hit for 9."
It is appropriate here to explain that Canon M'Cormick has a splendid physique. He stands 6 feet 3 inches, and in his athletic days weighed 13 stone 4 lb. As a bowler he was medium pace, and broke chiefly from leg, though he could do the break from the off also.
"I learnt my bowling," says he, "principally from old Buttress, who was really the father of break-bowling. He had a very easy and deceptive delivery, and just when a man was flattering himself that he had his measure, he would, without perceptible change of action, send him down an entirely different ball and bowl him.
"Old Buttress, I am sorry to say, was rather too fond of his glass, otherwise there is no doubt nobody would have surpassed him in his success as a bowler. One incident of his career is well worth recalling. The United All-England Eleven had been beaten by the All-England team on several occasions, and being anxious to change the order of events, they engaged the services of Buttress. In order that he might be thoroughly fit, they took charge of him and kept him away from drink for several days, and got him to practise carefully. The result was that the Eleven were soon out. His success so delighted him that he forthwith proceeded to make merry. The next day he could not bowl a bit! On another occasion Buttress accomplished the extraordinary feat of bowling the All-England Eleven out in a Twenty-two match for 12 runs!"
Perseverance and practice were the great secrets of Mr M'Cormick's success as a bowler. A short time before he died Earl Bessborough gave a spontaneous testimonial to this fact in the remark, "The fact is, gentlemen do not take the pains with bowling that they did in former days. I remember a friend saying to me that he saw Joe M'Cormick bowl for half an hour together at a single stump." The Canon now says that was perfectly true. The result was seen in his last year at Cambridge (1856), when he had the best bowling average in England (about 9 runs a wicket), but then he never had the advantage of playing through a whole season, as he lived in Ireland. For this reason he only played twice against Oxford. As he had the best average for bowling and batting, and Cambridge only lost by 3 wickets, the probability is his University would have won in 1855 had he been present.
In Mr M'Cormick's college days the great battle was on the friendly cricket-green between Town and Gown. "It was a match," he says, "which always excited great interest, the Town at that time being very strong. The famous Robert Carpenter made his first appearance in cricket for the Town in one of th/se matches, and very successful it was. I was captain of the 'Varsity Eleven, and it was determined to play the match on Parker's Piece. The town came in crowds, and the University managed to win a most exciting match by 2 wickets, I being the top scorer with 52."
It is difficult to say whether the Canon was considered better with the bat than with the ball. Tom Hayward thought he had more command over the ball than any other bowler of his day. His great height, 6 feet 3 inches, gave him a long reach; and he was a very hard hitter all round the wicket. As a fielder he stood very close in, and was as alert as he was daring. In a Zingari match at Carlow, when "Bob" Marsham was bowling, the batsmen said it was no cricket, because Mr M'Cormick stood so close up at third man and caught them off the bat as they blocked the ball in the old-fashioned way! Just an instance or two of this smartness in the field. In playing for I Zingari, a professional cut the first ball with all his might to third man, where M'Cormick held it with his right hand. The batsman appealed to the umpire as to whether he was out! One of the fieldsmen observed, "Ha! one of Joe's rat-traps."
The highest hit Mr M'Cormick ever saw was in a match M.C.C. v. Cambridge, when Marylebone went in to get 93 to win. At the turning-point of the match John Lillywhite let out with all his force and hit the ball sky high to middlewicket. M'Cormick, who was bowling, shouted to middlewicket to get out of the way, and brought off the catch, which won the match. An onlooking friend was asked, "Were you not anxious about that catch 1" to which the reply was made, "No; I knew the ball would never go through Joe's big hands."
There is no touch of egotism in the narration of these incidents. Canon M'Cormick thinks a great deal more of the performances of others than he does of his own. "The finest catch I remember," says he, "was one made by Mr V. E. Walker, in Gentlemen and Players, from a hit by Caffyn straight back at him, which was never above two inches from the ground, and which Mr Walker took with one hand. Mr I. D. Walker was very clever in getting to the ball, but he never was equal to V. E. either as a fielder or bowler. Mat Kempson was a perfect short-slip, while at point and third man E. M. Grace never had a superior."
Drawing on his rich stock of reminiscences, Canon M'Cormick recalls a couple of incidents which testify to old Clarke's wonderful judgment as a bowler. Says he: "The late Earl of Bessborough, then the Hon. Fred. Ponsonby, told me that he once visited Clarke at Nottingham, and they talked about Felix running out and hitting Clarke. The latter said, 'Mr Ponsonby, come into the back-yard.' They went. Clarke had a set of wickets pitched, and he said, 'Now, Mr Ponsonby, when Mr Felix runs out at me I think I will have him. Just watch this.' He then hit the top of the stumps with a fullpitch ball several times in succession. A little later Felix and Clarke faced each other at Lord's, and Felix ran out to hit him. Thereupon Clarke sent in a fast full-pitcher and bowled him."
The other incident was at Mr M'Cormick's own expense. It occurred in his salad days at St Helens, when the AllEngland team were there :—
"I was practising when Clarke came walking round the ground with the ball in his hand. After watching me for a little while he said, ' May I bowl you a baH or two 1' Of course I was delighted at the favour. But, alas! I did not know his object was to demonstrate my own weakness. What happened 1 Old Clarke had evidently noticed that I was no slogger, but hit hard and low. The first ball he pitched to me well up, and I drove it for two. He then brought in George Anderson to twenty yards behind him, and bowled a similar ball, and I hit it hard and low straight into the Yorkshireman's hand. That was about as neat a bit of generalship on Clarke's part as any tactician could have exhibited."
"Old Clarke," adds the Canon, "was not a bond-fide lobbowler, for he could, and did, bowl fastish at times. He was more like Money than Drake. His two great characteristics were his judgment and his accuracy of pitch."
Reference to a conversation with the Earl of Bessborough has just been made. It reminds Canon M'Cormick of his last match in Ireland, only a year or two before the death of the noble Earl. "I played for his eleven against the officers of Clonmell, and did the hat trick. I was fifty-three years of age at the time. Lord Bessborough afterwards told his friends at Lord's that 'Joe M'Cormick did the hat trick in my match the other day, and after each wicket he turned round to me, as I was umpiring, and said, "Well, I think that is about as rotten a ball as I ever bowled."' Sometimes 'rott
en' balls get wickets, as in this instance. Lord Bessborough also once paid me the high compliment at Lord's of saying I was one of the best judges of cricket in the country, but it is not an opinion I should venture upon myself. The same has been said of many others, but particularly of my old friend Mr R. A. H. Mitchell.
"These Irish matches in the old days were great fun. The Rev. A. R. Ward, who was fully 20 stone weight when he was in the Eleven at Cambridge, was too heavy to turn round to leg-balls. In one of them, as he was playing one a man called out, 'Mick, did ye see him 1 Sure, he cocked his leg.' As that was a very big leg it caused great amusement. There can be little doubt that Cambridge lost a match against Oxford because at the last moment Ward refused to play, the reason being that in making a very fine innings against M.C.C. a day or two before the crowd had jeered and laughed at him. Ward was the son of the famous Mr W. Ward, whose innings of 278 still stands as a record for Lord's, and who was the author of the equally famous ' Barn-Door' match.
"In September 1856 we had the All-England Eleven at Dublin, where they played Eighteen of Ireland, and we bowled them out for 55. The excitement over the last few wickets was intense, and it was still further increased when Martingell ran out to one of my slows and missed it, and the wicketkeeper also failing to take the ball Martingell regained his crease. An offer of a suit of clothes to get the wicket was made to Lawrence, our professional, by Lieutenant F. Marshall, now General Sir Frederick Marshall, and Lawrence delivered such a trimmer that Martingell's bails were sent flying in the air, and the Irish Eighteen were proclaimed the victors by 6 runs, 'amid the enthusiastic cheers of the Hibernian populace,' as a newspaper report of the match has it. His Excellency, the then Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Carlisle, was a great friend of Irish cricket. He had been on the ground each day of the match, and was delighted at the result. My share of the match was 11 wickets at a cost of 81 runs. The England Eleven included such lights as Caffyn, John Lillywhite, Lockyer, Mortlock, Grundy, Wisden, Martingell, and Dean. You will see, therefore, that it was a warm team. Yet Lawrence got 5 of their wickets in the second innings for only 20 runs.
"As showing what Irish cricketers could then do I may add that Ireland played a strong team of the M.C.C. at Lord's and got rid of them for 53 and 57, while we made 120, of which my share was 34. Lawrence, who afterwards went to Australia, was an excellent fast bowler, and formed a useful contrast to my own bowling. He was the only professional within my recollection who made a high reputation in Irish cricket.
"As we are talking of Irish cricket, I may mention a singlewicket match which took place at Dublin. The newspaper report says: 'During the match between Ireland and England, three of the English gentlemen challenged any three in the Irish eleven to play a single-wicket match on the Phoenix Cricket Club ground on the following day. The challenge being at once accepted, the match came off as arranged. . . On the part of Ireland, the batting and bowling of Mr M'Cormick was most effective, showing that he was a complete master of the game in all its branches. It was supposed that Mr Willes, of Oxford—who only died recently—bowled so fast that few runs could be made off him in front of the wicket, but Mr M'Cormick found no difficulty in scoring off him. Ireland won easily.'"
When the county of Sussex had the crack team, with Nixon, Mr M'Cormick bowled them out on a wet wicket for 23. Mr M'Cormick only bowled on three occasions against W. G. Grace, and had the privilege of bowling him twice. He was on the winning side for North v. South of the Thames at Canterbury on August 3, 4, 5, 1868, when W. G., for the first time, made two centuries in a match, Mr M'Cormick himself scoring 137 and 27. Of the relative merits of George Parr and W. G. Grace, Mr M'Cormick says:—
"Grace and Parr owed a great deal to their patience. In my day, when you had got a certain number of runs you often went in for hitting, and it was very seldom that men settled down to make a big score, and refused to be tempted to hit. Grace and Parr were exceptions—they had great patience. Parr always had a hankering after leg hits, and clever head bowlers of course tried to thwart him. I remember one instance in which Mat Kempson, in a Gentlemen v. Players' match, seeing that he was bent on hitting him to leg, dropped Parr a slow one outside the off-stump. Parr had to alter his position, and in the attempt to get off his ground he lost his wicket. There is no person that I have seen that could approach W. G. Grace against fast bowling, but I don't think he equalled William Yardley against dodgy bowling. Great bat though he is, in my judgment Grace holds the bat too tightly with the left hand, and is too firmly rooted when in position to play slow bowling gracefully. He stops it, but not with apparent ease. I hope it is not heresy to say this about the champion. I may add that some of Grace's best innings have been small ones, when the wicket was at its worst. Yardley's wrist-work was wonderful; and among the most beautiful players I have ever seen I would place Alfred Lu!,bock, Alfred Lyttelton, and Frank Penn. Yardley, with a shortish pitched ball, between the leg and the wicket, would often make a run or two where other men would stop it. It was all done by a turn of the wrist.
"With all his extraordinary leg-hitting, George Parr never appeared to hit hard. He did not smite; he appeared rather to be mowing. Yet it was beautiful to watch, and not at all unorthodox. I remember one match against the United in which the fielding side put out two long-legs for Parr, but he simply hit the ball over the heads of the pair of them. Though the hitting is very much harder all round the wicket now than then, there were bigger hits in those days. Adams hit over the tennis-court at Lord's, and I have seen George Parr hit several times into Dark's garden, while Fitzgerald and others were able to hit completely out of the ground. Still, I have never seen any one to hit like C. I. Thornton. Jessop is very rapid and good, but Thornton was the biggest hitter I ever saw. It should be added that in my days hits were run out, and I have got out many a time by being 'pumped.'"
There was some prejudice against a clergyman taking part in cricket in the days after Mr M'Cormick was ordained, and for that reason he sometimes played under the assumed name of "J. Bingley," or "J. Cambridge." One of his greatest feats as a bowler was performed after he was ordained. Playing on a good wicket against the Messrs Walkers' team at Southgate, for England, he took 9 wickets for 34 runs in the first innings, and 7 for 33 in the second, and was not changed after once being put on. Speaking now of the prejudice against cricket, the worthy Canon, with a long experience behind him, considers it unreasonable, but adds the following weighty words :—
"I cannot understand a man, unless he is a professional, devoting his whole life to cricket. There are so many more serious things that he can do, that it should not be his only object in life to play cricket. Far be it from me to preach against cricket, for no one loves or has loved it better than I. So long as a man does not give too much time to it, be he clergyman or layman, by all means let him play cricket. But he must have some more serious object in life besides. The remark applies equally to athletics. There is too great a tendency to make heroes of men who please the popular fancy."
Canon M'Cormick was not only a cricketer, but an all-round athlete, and is therefore well qualified to utter the foregoing opinion. In 1856 he rowed against Oxford in the Cambridge boat. He was one of those who started the Cambridge Athletic Contests, and, for his college, he won the greatest distance in 16 hops, standing high-jump, the running high-jump, and putting the weight. Further, he was one of the best amateur boxers in England. Once at the conclusion of an assault-at-arms at Cambridge he gained a decisive victory over Nat Langham—the only man who ever beat Tom Sayers.
LUKE GREENWOOD was the first of the famous band of cricketers sent out on public service by the little community of handloom weavers at Lascelles Hall. The Greenwoods may be classed as the leaders of the Lascelles Hallians' march into public cricket. Job Greenwood, brother of Luke, was the first professional sent out from Lascelles Hall; Luke Greenwood was the first Lascelles Hall man to play for Yorkshire in county cricket. Andrew Greenwood, who came into county cricket eleven years after
wards, was Luke's nephew, and when he (Luke) was cementing his cricketing career Andrew (who died in 1889) was1 a youngster in knickerbockers and clogs who acted as a fag in the field at his elders' practisings.
Luke was born on July 13, 1834. His birthplace was Cowms Lepton, in Lascelles Hall. Like most of the youth of the famous village, he was brought up to handloom weaving, and made cricket his constant recreation, playing on turnpike roads, with crewelled balls and such primitive bats as it was possible to improvise from hedge-stakes and palings. The modern match ball and cane-handled willow were not luxuries by which the youth of the "nursery" obtained the training which made them famous cricketers the world over.
This is how Luke came to take up cricket as a livelihood :—
"I saw an advertisement in the papers that a young man was wanted as a bowler by the Duke of Sutherland in Staffordshire. I answered the advertisement and got the appointment. That was in 1858. I remained there four seasons. I then went to Lord Lichfield's, about eighteen miles farther away, and subsequently to Broughton, Manchester, the latter engagement being the result of my play in a match against the Broughton Club. Roger Iddison was engaged at Broughton at the same time, and I was there when he went to Australia.
"Roughly speaking, my first-class cricket career lasted about twenty years. My first big match was in 1861 for Lord Lichfield's team against George Parr's All-England Eleven at Shugborough Park. Then Parr got me to play for him at Broughton. In the match for Lord Lichfield I took 5 wickets for about 30 runs, which was my first good performance in first-class cricket. I can well remember that when the match was over about four o'clock on the third day, Lord Lichfield would have us all go pike-fishing in his pond, a pastime of which George Parr was very fond. It was good sport, too, for at every throw there was a bite. Richard Daft narrates that Parr sent his largest pike to a friend at Nottingham, who found a whole rat in the fish's stomach.