by A. W. Pullin
Freeman chose as his fielder Harry Dewse, while C. Ullathorne was selected by Terry. The match proved to be the talk of the East Riding, and as much as _^100o was betted upon it in Beverley alone, one well-known sportsman named Mr Kirby (the owner of the racehorse Treasure Trove) himself laying ^300 to ^100 on the Boroughbridge crack. Lightowler of Malton was umpire for Freeman, and Lee, a Leeds professional, officiated in the same capacity for Terry.
Terry won the toss, and sent in Freeman to bat, and had his first two deliveries hit for 2 and 3, the latter being a stroke over the boundary. As the sequel showed, the first ball and hit practically won Freeman the match. His score for the first innings was 24. Then came Terry's turn. He could not score for several overs, and when he did make a single it proved to be his last. In the second innings Freeman only made 5, and Terry therefore had to score 29 to win. How hopeless was his chance may be judged from the fact that the second ball settled him, and Freeman won by 28 runs.
Freeman always considered that his best performance with the bat was the scoring of 123 runs on June 29, 1868, for Malton Twenty-Two v. the All-England Eleven. That was against such bowlers as G. Tarrant, J. C. Shaw, Alf. Shaw, R. C. Tinley, and Tom Hayward. The Malton Club recognised his big performance by presenting Freeman with a gold watch and chain. A writer who saw the match says: "The hitting of Freeman was tremendous; he seemed to be most at home when sending the ball for 3's and 4's, of which his great score was principally composed; and to see them flying over the railway or into the bone-yard was a common occurrence ere the close of the innings." Freeman's innings can be further realised when it is said that the Malton Twentytwo's score reached 220, and 123 of that figure was off George's bat
There is a record of a match between Malton and Beverley on May 30, 1868, when Malton scored 381. Of that figure George Freeman scored 148, and then retired!
George Freeman and Roger Iddison took over the joint secretaryship of the North United Eleven, and just afterwards the pair did some big scoring at Malton against "The Scarborough Visitors." It was on September 17, 1869. The "Visitors" included Messrs R. D. and I. D. Walker, Mr P. M. Thornton, A. F. Smith, and others, and had been doing big things against the best clubs of the county. But George Freeman took 8 of the wickets, and the whole side were out for 88. After this Freeman scored 52 and Iddison 72, and it is recorded that George hit two balls into the railway station and one into the bone-mill. As Canon Owen has said, Freeman certainly possessed a tendency to hit.
Freeman's best bowling years will be understood from the following statistics:—
A few of his best bowling performances may be given, culled at random from various sources. Thus, playing for the United team against Redcar Twenty-two on July 19, 1866, George captured 17 wickets in one innings, while at one period he took 6 wickets in eight consecutive balls! Another wonderful piece of bowling was accomplished at Tadcaster a week later, also with the United against a local twenty-two. In the second innings he commenced by hitting John Oscroft in the eye, and with his first nine balls captured 7 wickets.
In the match at Trentham (in 1864) to which George Anderson has alluded, Freeman captured 22 wickets and scored 18 not out. This was really the occasion of his debut in a big match as one of the cracks, and not a mere local antagonist. It was this performance that established Freeman's position in the wide world of cricket.
Surrey suffered the power of George Freeman's arm for the first time in 1867, for he got 7 of their wickets for 20 runs, among his clean-bowled victims being Jupp, Humphrey, Mortlock, and Griffith.
There was an article on George Freeman in 'Cricket' some time ago, in which the great bowler is recorded as having spoken of W. G. Grace's innings of 66 against the Yorkshire bowling at Lord's in 1870 as follows :—
"A more wonderful innings was never played. Tom Emmett and I have often said it was a marvel the Doctor was not either maimed or unnerved for the rest of his days, or killed outright. I often think of his pluck on that day when I watch a modern batsman scared if a medium ball hits him on the hand. He should have seen our expresses flying about his [W. G.'s] ribs, shoulders, and head in 1870. ... I preferred bowling on the Oval to any other ground, because it was a perfect wicket; for I always bowled at the stumps, knew exactly how much spin should be put on the ball, and was vexed if the bad wickets gave it more, or a different bias."
The following two quotations are also from the same source:—
"Bowlers went for the wicket then; none of your offbowling in the hopes of a catch. If the batsman did get an off-ball then, he went for it. Catch men like Tom Humphrey quietly taking no notice of such a ball. They cut it. Mr I. D. Walker would pat the top of the ball with a flat horizontal bat—a marvellous stroke of his, for the ball was off to the boundary as if it had been shot. And there was no 'legging' in those days: the truth is, nearly all the bowling was fast, and so 'legging' was impossible. I was at Scarborough when the Australians were over in 1890: don't mention names here, but I was disgusted with a certain great batsman's dodges, running out to a breaking ball, and deliberately covering his wickets with his pads. I told him it wasn't cricket, and that if he had been playing twenty-five years ago he could not have done it, for the ball would have been on him too soon.
"I was in our commercial hotel one day when a stranger came in. Cricket was soon introduced. He was from Lancashire, and had but a mean opinion of Yorkshire's chances against his county. After he had exhausted his stock of eloquence, I chimed in, remarking that there was a time when Yorkshiremen thought nothing of their neighbours' skill at cricket; indeed I could remember a match in which Lancashire were twice dismissed for less than 50 runs each time. I couId not give date and scores, but was confident of the fact. He pooh-poohed it, said it was impossible, and went so far as to wager a sovereign about it. I accepted the bet, and started home for 'Scores and Biographies.' When I had gone, somebody told him who I was, and that I had played in that match. 'Then,' was his reply, 'I may as well stump up at once.' Which he did most honourably, leaving the money at the bar. I never saw him again. The scores for Lancashire were 30 and 34. I took 12 wickets for 23, Tom Emmett 7 for 24." The date of this match, the writer may add, was July 9 and 10, 1868, and the venue was Holbeck.
George Freeman only once played in the Gentlemen v. Players' matches. That was at Lord's on July 3, 1871. On the second day of the match he sent down 11 overs for 6 runs and 4 wickets, and with four balls bowled Messrs W. H. Hadow, A. Appleby, and S. E. Butler.
Instances are rare in which a professional cricketer has joined the ranks of the "Great Unpaid" and received an invitation to play with the representative Gentlemen's teams of the day. George Freeman had this experience. The writer believes that about the year 1885 Mr Freeman received, but was obliged to decline, an invitation from the M.C.C. to play for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's. It certainly is the fact, however, that in 1882 he was asked to play for the Gentlemen of England against the Australians at the Oval, and but for an engagement as a witness in a criminal trial at the Old Bailey he would have accepted it. Mrs Freeman told the writer that she used jokingly to tell her husband he would have played readily enough if he were not afraid of his bowling being knocked all over the field by the Australian batsmen.
W. G. Grace has twice put on record the statement that the first time he met George Freeman he scored 122 out of a total of 169. This is an error that needs correction. The match alluded to by Mr Grace was North v. South at Sheffield, July 26, 27, 28, 1869. That was a return match. The same year in the first engagement at the Oval, on June 3 and 4, W. G. Grace was run out for 19 in his first innings, and c Wootton b Freeman 14 in the second. The South scored 39 and 105, and the North won by 10 wickets. I give the following analysis of both innings of the South, from which it will be seen that Freeman bowled unchanged:—
Another famous Yorkshire bowler, Allan Hill, has told the writer that he has known the inside of "W. G.'s" thigh, above the pad, pounded into the appearance of a muttonchop by ball
s from Freeman, which whipped in and struck the champion. Mold, at the present day, he says, has an action, the same whip of the wrist, the nearest to Freeman's of any bowler's of his acquaintance, but he thinks Mold stands up better in the delivery than did the Malton crack, who was a heavy man, and came down at the finish with a tremendous long stride.
N
Allan Hill also recalls the following amusing incident relating to George Freeman in a match at Malton. Freeman ran nearly half way up the pitch to the bowler and missed the ball. The wicket-keeper took the ball and threw it up for a run out, but in his delight forgot to break the wicket. Freeman proceeded to walk away as if making for the pavilion, but when in his ground he turned, took up his stand at the wicket, and prepared to receive the next ball. "What are you come here for 1" asked the astonished wicket - keeper. "Because you forgot to put the wicket down, my friend," was the cool reply. Freeman then made 10o. The wicket-keeper was Ed. Stephenson.
George Freeman was a member of the team that went to America under the captaincy of Edgar Willsher in 1868. In that tour he captured 104 wickets, of which 74 were clean bowled. A number of his letters written when on this tour to his uncle, Mr John Freeman of Staveley, have been preserved by Mrs Freeman, and were kindly handed to the writer for the purposes of these reminiscences. In the first letter, dated "Everett House, Union Square, New York, Monday, September 14, 1868," he chattily describes the passage (ten days) out, including the usual experiences of bad sailors:—
I must not forget also to mention that the four or five first days were ones of sorrow for most of us, and we wished many times we were back in dear old England. We were all bad with sea-sickness, except Rowbotham, Willsher, and Griffiths, and it was a great treat to hear us all kicking up the most horrible rows imaginable. . . . Four of us slept in one berth, and it was just like lying on the shelves in the pantry at home. . . . We have on board about 950 souls, with the crew. One death took place and we had also a birth, so that in all we finished as we started.
In another letter reference is made to a match at Montreal, which is worth reproducing, if only for the modest reference to a very fine bowling performance which Freeman accomplished :
The 22 won the toss and went in. The wicket was heavy, and a poor show they made of it, as we had them all out in two hours for 22 runs. I took 13 wickets for 12 runs. Everybody seemed surprised at this, as they thought they would stand a better chance than the New Yorkers, having several good players in the team.
Evidently Freeman was a "home bird "—indeed a strong tone of affection for his relatives runs through the letters:—
I wish I was there [home] now. It is a general saying among us, once more in dear old England, "never no more." Still we ought to be satisfied, as we have met with every kindness, but their ways and manners are so different from ours.
In the final letter before leaving New York for home on October 20, 1868, Freeman wrote:—
No doubt every one will be exceedingly glad to find we have been victorious in all games. We did not meet with such kindness in P. [Philadelphia] as we had done in other places, and wewere all glad to get away. ... I am very pleased indeed to say I shall have a clear £100 when I get back, and with presents and all we shall be very well satisfied, and I think none the worse for the journey. There is no mistake the country is well worth seeing, and it is a great event in our lifetime. . . To-day we played a match at baseball, and were again defeated. It is a fool to cricket, still the Yankees think otherwise.
According to the testimuny of his most intimate friends, Mr Freeman in business was as successful as he was in cricket Canon Owen says that at Thirsk it got to be almost an established problem in school arithmetic to calculate how much Mr Freeman would make in a year if he sold so many beasts and pigs and sheep at a commission of so much a head. Mr Freeman's death occurred, as previously stated, on November 18, 1895. He had been ill for two years, Bright's disease being the insidious malady that took its relentless grip upon his vigorous frame, and finally laid it low. Mrs Freeman says that he struggled manfully against the illness, and for a long time would not believe in its seriousness. One day he came to see a specialist in Leeds to ask for advice. The medical gentleman, after making his diagnosis, asked, "When were you selling last 1" Freeman replied that he had been on the rostrum at Thirsk market the previous day. He was ordered to bed immediately, and a long and painful illness ended as stated. Some of his friends used to ask Mr Freeman if cricket had sown the seed of the blighting disease, but he would not hear of the possibility of such a thing. He always maintained that the exposure which his business often entailed was the initiatory cause of his illness. It only remains to add that his death, in practically the full years of his manhood, was deeply and widely regretted, and that his memory will remain throughout the cricket world green in the hearts of numberless friends and sportsmen for many years to come.
197
GEORGE WOOTTON.
"You had to be in time when batting against George Wootton. If you were not it jivas all over with you." This is the terse definition of Wootton's deadliness as a bowler given to the writer by the old Notts man's famous colleague, Richard Daft. A quarter of a century has passed since George Wootton retired from the bustle and excitement of public cricket into the privacy of agricultural life. Mr Wootton is a farmer at Clifton, Nottingham.
Clifton was the scene of the mythological tragedy which caused the boy poet, H. Kirke White, to break into song. The residents will still point to you the avenue down which "the beauteous Margaret" was dragged by fiends incarnate bent upon compelling her to the doom she had invoked—
"May fiends of hell and every power of dread
Conjoined, then drag me from my perjured bed,
And hurl me headlong down those awful steeps,
To find deserved death in yonder deeps."
The reader may ask, What has this to do with cricket?
Nothing. But should he go to Clifton and confess ignorance
of the awful fate of "the far-famed Clifton maid," and unacquaintance with the minor poet Kirke White and all his works, the villagers will tell him that his education has been neglected. This is a rebuff that should be avoided.
"I have always been a bashful man," says George Wootton, sitting in the quiet parlour of his quaintly-pleasant farmstead. "When I was a lad at home in this village (where I was born on October 16, 1834), and could bowl as well as ever I could, I would slide off anywhere rather than play in a match. They used to offer me half-a-crown and 5s. to get me to play. Why, I was twenty-six years of age when I went out into public cricket, and I retired into the privacy of this farm here some years before my cricket career should properly have closed."
Still, when one looks at George Wootton's surroundings, one is prepared to concede that the bashfulness which has afflicted him through life must be not half a bad thing. In other words, George Wootton, in the evening of life, appears to have few cares to worry him.
"I learned my cricket here at Clifton, and it was about the year 1860 that I went out as a professional. That was to Rochdale, where I had an engagement for two years. It was old Alfred Clarke that recommended me. Then I was engaged on the ground staff at Lord's, a position I never left until my retirement from cricket twelve years later. Had I kept to cricketing I should probably have been at Lord's now. Perhaps I had better resources than the average professional cricketer, for I had taken up farming, and therefore had an occupation in the winter. Most of the cricketers of my day were hard up by Christmas.
"My forte was left-hand bowling, a little over medium pace. My first big match was, I think, against the AllEngland Eleven with eighteen of the Hallam Club, at Hyde Park, Sheffield. That was while I was at Rochdale. Then I played in a big game at Bath with George Parr's team. Carpenter, Tarrant, Hayward, Jackson, and Mr E. M. Grace were playing in the first match. I recollect I knocked the Coroner's middle stump out, and for a new beginner I thought that was a good feat.
"At Lord's Jimmy Grundy
and I played in the best matches for several years. Jimmy used to say, 'I'll stick them up, George, you bowl them out'; and sometimes we did it. There was one notable instance in which we got a team out between us for 20 runs. That was for the M.C.C. v. Norfolk in 1864. Here is the analysis:—
Overs. Maidens. Buns. Wickets. Grundy .... 11 5 9 7
Wootton . . . 10-1 7 9 3
"It was, however, only a case of tit for tat, for on a previous occasion Norfolk had got the M.C.C. out for 19 runs. Norfolk at that time were considered a good team. Another good bowling feat by Grundy and myself was for M.C.C. v, Middlesex at Lord's in 1864. Middlesex were dismissed also for 20 runs. Our figures were :—
"If you want other bowling feats, just to show that I was supposed to be able to trundle a bit, I might mention that in 1865 at Sheffield, playing for the All-England Eleven, I got all the 10 Yorkshire wickets in one innings. In justice to Yorkshire I should add that at the time they had a bit of a split on, and were not represented by their really best eleven. Yet another feat? Well, in 1863, at Lord's, for the M.C.C, I took 8 wickets, six bowled, bowling three men with the first ball I gave them, and hitting the middle stump out of the ground four times. Once at Scarborough, against the England Eleven, on the old Castle Hill ground, I got 3 of the England wickets with the first three balls of the match."
More of these feats could be given, but those enumerated are sufficient to prove the triteness of Richard Daft's remark, "You had to be in time when batting against George Wootton."