by A. W. Pullin
A glance at the huge number of balls which Watson delivered for his adopted county, as given just above, recalls a controversy which disturbed the peace of Lancashire cricket for some seasons. For a short period the controversy was hot enough to cause matches between Lancashire and Notts to be dropped, and in 1885 the return game with Kent was not fulfilled. It was the bowling of Crossland and Nash that was under suspicion, and even Alec Watson's deliveries did not always pass as fair with the purists. Thus the lover of conundrums may ask how many throws were there in those 71,405 balls that Alec sent down against Lancashire's opponents. It is a subject which the writer at first thought called for delicate handling in our Talk, but Watson is not in the least afraid of tackling it. This is what he says :—
"I know there used to be a lot of talk about throwing. Crossland and Nash were chiefly aimed at, and the talkers did not forget to give me a share of attention also. The criticism upset my two colleagues named very much—-Nash so much that he could not bowl. Personally it never disturbed me. I am a Scotsman, and have a fairly thick skin. So long as the umpires never grumbled, what right had anybody else to growl 1
"Looking back now, and speaking as fairly to all parties as I can, it is my honest opinion that the remarks made about the bowling of Crossland, Nash, and myself were ungenerous and unfounded. Talk about Crossland throwing! Why, there is no man living could throw at the pace he bowled for ten minutes: he would throw his arm off.
"Personally, I was never no-balled, and, I may add, I never had a wide called all the time I bowled for Lancashire. I used to get on a good break from the off with a twist of the wrist, and it was this twist of the wrist that used to make people say I threw. Mr D. Buchanan was the first bowler whom I saw 'do' anything with the ball. It was he who really taught me how to get the twist on the ball with the turn of the wrist; and I never heard that any one thought there was the slightest ground for questioning the fairness of his action. Neither was there in my case. The criticism was ungenerous and unjust."
Watson only made one appearance in a Gentlemen v. Players' match. That was at Lord's on July 2, 3, 4, 1877. He says he should not have been chosen then but for the fact that Alf. Shaw was ill. On a subsequent occasion he was asked to play against the Gentlemen at the Oval, but as the Old Trafford managers had a club-match on the Saturday they would not let him off. His single match in 1877, however, was exciting enough to make it memorable. Says he:—
"It was said at the time that the Gentlemen's side was the strongest that had ever been got together. So strong was it that the late Mr L D. Walker had to go in last in the first innings, and first in the second. He got o not out in the first innings, and I bowled him for o in the second; but that is a detail. Mr G . F. Grace was tenth on the list, and Mr W. S. Patterson, who was then captain of Cambridge, was last in the second innings. So strong was the side that it was a toss up who should go in first and last, and fit the others in as they liked. When the Gentlemen's ninth wicket fell in the second innings, they needed nearly 50 runs to win. Mr Patterson and Mr G. F. Grace then knocked them off, and looked like knocking double the number off, the Gentlemen winning a very exciting game by one wicket."
Asked what was the most exciting county match he played in, Watson unhesitatingly names the game with Yorkshire at Huddersfield on July 20, 1889, when Lancashire won by 3 runs. As a general remark applicable to Lancashire and Yorkshire matches, he first says:—
"I will say this, that whatever rivalries may exist between the supporters of the two counties, so far as the players of Lancashire and Yorkshire were themselves concerned, the matches were always of the pleasantest character. In this particular contest at Huddersfield Louis Hall was captaining the Yorkshire side, and he was the first man to go up to Mr Hornby and congratulate him on Lancashire's success. Such a thing as sharp practice between the players was unknown, and I have heard the captains agree at lunch-time to play out a match if there was a chance of finishing it by a little extension of time.
"In this Huddersfield game we seemed to be an easily beaten team on the first day. How the game turned is a matter which most people interested in cricket well remember. It was Mr Hornby who made the catch which won Lancashire the match by 3 runs. He caught Middlebrook at point, but was nearly balked by Baker, who in the excitement ran from short-slip to make the catch, and rubbed against Mr Hornby, and nearly threw him off his balance. 'Middy,' who had come in last, did not seem to be a bit nervous. He told me afterwards that if he could have played half the games he was advised to play on leaving the pavilion to go to the wicket, he would be the best player in England!"
Richard Pilling, the greatest of Lancashire wicket-keepers, was Watson's most intimate colleague and friend. The following reminiscence of Pilling and his fatal illness, sad though it may be, is of great interest:—
"Pilling was the best wicket-keeper that ever had gloves on, take him day in and day out. He did not look so showy as some wicket-keepers, but he always got the ball. He was a most unassuming chap, too, and particularly anxious to do his best at all times. When he thought he had not done well—which was generally when he had not taken 2 or 3 wickets in a match—he used to be uneasy, and think the Lancashire authorities would leave him out because he was not good enough! Of course the Lancashire Committee were much better judges than to entertain any such notion for a moment.
"When Pilling was in Australia he had a sunstroke, from the effect of which he never recovered. He kept wicket many a time afterwards when he should have been in bed. He and I used generally to occupy the same bedroom, and I have seen him, after his return from Australia, with an icebag on his head all night. There was no doubt, to my mind, that the Australian climate laid the foundation of Pilling's fatal illness. To prevent misapprehension on the part of the public, who are much too prone to jump to conclusions in such matters, I may add that Pilling was a most temperate man, as near a teetotaller as possible. I was in his company as often as any one, and I never saw him the worse for drink in my life.
"Did I ever go to Australia? No. I was never asked to go, and had I been asked I should not have gone. I do not see that there is anything in it. It cost Pilling and Fred Morley their lives. Mr F. Penn of Kent also went to Australia, got a sunstroke, and never played again. The sight of Pilling at nights with ice-bags on his head would of itself have been enough to cure a man of any inclination to take part in Australian cricket."
From the foregoing it will be understood that Watson has ideas of his own that run counter to the ambition of the average cricketer. But, what thinks the reader of this 1—
"Do I ever go out umpiring? No fear. They will never catch me at that game. I am not going to stand at the wickets all day to be 'called' by everybody. I expect by the time I want to umpire I shall not be able to see the length of the wicket. As long as I can see 22 yards I shall want to play and not to umpire. As I have told you, I play regularly now, despite my fifty-five years."
To the uninitiated it will appear strange to be told that Alec Watson's first qualification for county cricket was his wicket-keeping.
"I really joined the Lancashire team," says he, "as a wicket-keeper. I liked that part of the game best at first. With Drumpellier I used to keep wickets, and I was never well pleased when they told me to take the pads off and bowl. With Lancashire in the old days William M'Intyre and I used to both bowl and keep wicket at our own ends; that is to say, we used to keep wicket alternately to each other's bowling. Lancashire had good wicket-keepers in those days in the Oxonian, the Rev. F. W. Wright, and Mr Jackson, but they could not get away regularly. Mr E. B. Rowley, too, used to take the gloves occasionally.
"The first time I bowled for Lancashire was against Yorkshire at Old Trafford in the early 'Seventies. The finish was getting rather close, and I was told to take off the gloves and bowl. The result was that I got 2 of the wickets, and the match was quickly over."
As Watson's subsequent success in cricket was attained as a bowler, and he admits his first idea how
to impart break to a ball was obtained from Mr David Buchanan, it will be correct to say that his case is a clear illustration of what diligence and brain craft will do for a cricketer when steadily applied.
Watson has pleasant recollections of his brother professionals in Lancashire cricket. "We were," he says, "a very happy family, and up to a certain time we all stayed together wherever we went. The fraternal feeling which existed between us had, I think, a great deal to do with our success.
"I ought to add that the Lancashire Executive were always good to us. Players now want to be paid in winter as well as in summer, and I don't blame them, so long as they can get it. But there was no chance of any such good fortune in our days. It was a hard task to keep county cricket going at all then. Why, the Lancashire Committee have had to leave Barlow out because they could not afford to pay him. If they could find a gentleman who would play and pay his own expenses, it was a great relief to them. How many such gentlemen do you find now 1"
Asked as to his ideas of modern cricket, Watson says he does not think cricket itself is much improved, but "there are more good players. I daresay one could pick twenty now as good as the best of my day. Wickets get better every year. I think the bowling is as good as it used to be; it is the perfection of the wickets that makes it look less so.
"In Lancashire William M'Intyre was perhaps entitled to be called our best bowler. He was an everyday bowler. It did not matter what the wicket was like, he was on the top. He was not as fast as Mold. No one can bowl like Mold on his day. But Mold has his off-days, and M'Intyre had not.
"What a difference that genial gentleman Mr A. G. Steel made to Lancashire cricket! I remember at one Lancashirev. Yorkshire match old Tom Emmett, in his quaint humorous way, came up to the gate at Old Trafford and asked the janitor, 'Is A. G. Steel playing to-day 1' Receiving an affirmative reply, Tom said, 'The deuce he is.' Then turning to his brother Yorkshiremen, he exclaimed, 'Let's go home, lads, A. G. Steel is playing. Yorkshire's beaten!' In the end, however, Tom and his pals always came up smiling, whether they had to meet Mr Steel or any one else."
An amusing insight into club rivalries, and the expedients to which some will go in order to crow over a neighbour, is afforded by an experience which Alec Watson once had in Cumberland. The Silloth Club wanted to win a certain match badly. They engaged Watson, but he was to go with only a pair of boots and a cap, and be about the tent at the time the game was to commence. Silloth conveniently turned up a man short, and their captain, seeing a simple-looking fellow in a cap hanging about the tent, asked him if he could play. Yes, he could do a bit. Would he play? He didn't mind. Had he any cricketing clothes 1 No, but he'd a pair of boots. Well, he should play.
He did play—and got wickets so fast that the other side became exasperated. One batsman, after making a blind swipe, saw the ball go skywards back to the bowler, and exclaiming, "I never saw such plaguey " (that was not quite the word) "balls in my life," ran full tilt at the bowler to prevent him making the catch. He was too late, and had to retire. Silloth won the match, and it is understood their opponents have been suspicious of simple-looking cricketers with only a cap and a pair of boots as accoutrements ever since.
Watson has said the professionals of his day were a happy family. They were also inveterate practical jokers. One incident may be given, and this Talk will close.
It was at a Gentlemen v. Players of the North of England match at Manchester. Briggs and Barlow stayed together, and their host had prepared for them a succulent lunch. They confidingly left it in the dressing-room in a hand-bag, which was locked. A brother Lancastrian had a key, and opening the bag, produced the luncheon, which two Yorkshiremen who shall be nameless promptly despatched. In its place two plump new-cut sods were carefully deposited and the bag was relocked. At lunch-time in rushed Briggs and Barlow, hot and hungry. Barlow opened the lunch-bag and passed one of the packages on to Briggs, who instantly detected the joke and quietly slipped the parcel under his seat and watched the effect on Barlow. The latter pulled out his share of the cold lunch, and without inspecting it unctuously handed it to a colleague as an example of how well Briggs and he were looked after. "Seems a bit soft; must be a baked cake, 'not enough,'" was the suspicious rejoinder. Barlow then took his lunch.
It is understood to be dangerous to this day to ask him how he likes green sod for luncheon. If you were to tell him that the stolid Alec Watson had a hand in the practical joke he would doubt your veracity. For is not Watson a Scotsman, and do not Scotsmen "joke wi' deefeeculty" 1
It remains to add that Alec Watson carries on a large athletic outfitter's business at 35 Oxford Street, Manchester.
"I'LL bet you 10 to 1 a centuryis not made in a University match again in the next ten years." "Well, that's looking a long way ahead, but I'll take your odds." This conversation took place at Lord's on June 28, 1870. The acceptor of the mortgage on Fortune was William Yardley, who had just made the first 100 ever scored in a match between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. On June 24, 1872, Mr Yardley scored 130 in the annual battle of the Blues. The gentleman, who somewhat rashly, some may think, laid the 10 to 1, paid, and Mr Yardley established a record unequalled to this day. For "Bill" Yardley is not only the first batsman who scored three figures in an innings in an inter-'Varsity match, but he is the only Blue who has done the feat twice since Oxford and Cambridge first fought at cricket on June 24, 1827.
Mr William Yardley in his later years is known as a dramatic author and critic; as readers of 'The Pink 'Un' may be aware, the "Bill of the Play" in 'The Sporting Times' has for a long time emanated from his pen. But it is to his earlier and cricketing days that this Talk is dedicated.
Born on June 10, 1849, at Bombay, the son of Sir William Yardley, Chief-Justice of Bombay, William Yardley was sent to England about the time of the Mutiny for the purpose of being educated. It was to a Yorkshireman named George Place, who was his father's tipstaff, that he owed an ambidextrousness that displayed itself at Rugby, when he threw a cricket-ball over 100 yards with his right hand and 78 yards with his left. As a child he had a sinistral tendency in batting, which the tipstaff cured.
At a private school at Wimbledon, J. Shuter, under whose guidance Surrey was destined in after-years to play such a dominant part in English cricket, was junior to Yardley, and played in the school eleven with him for about one season. In 1863 young Yardley went to Rugby, where for two years he was incapacitated owing to a bad gun accident, which also nearly cost him the loss of his right foot. But for that unfortunate interregnum he would certainly have been captain of the Rugby school team. In 1867 he was a member of the eleven, and he now recalls the fact that it was probably the strongest boy eleven ever seen at a public school, including, as it did, B. Pauncefote, C. K. Francis (both afterwards of the Oxford Eleven), F. Tobin, A. Bourne, W. Yardley (all of Cambridge), and F. Stokes of Blackheath, who, Mr Yardley thinks, would certainly have been in the University Eleven had he gone up.
In October 1868 Yardley went up to Cambridge, and in the summer of the following year he won his place in the Cambridge team, together with C. I. Thornton and J. W. Wilson, the three being the only Freshmen in the 1869 eleven. It was in 1870 that the first 100 was scored in the 'Varsity match, the game itself being also one of the most sensationaI in the history of inter-university cricket. But Mr Yardley must now speak for himself:—
"The match in 1870 was truly a sensational one. I had not been playing very well during the season, although I had made 90, not out, against Surrey at the Oval, just before the 'Varsity match. In the first innings against Oxford I only made 2, and feeling 'a bit off' I asked to be allowed to go in later than customary. Our side performed indifferently, for we made 147 in the first innings, and' Oxford replied with 175, while in our second innings we were only a few runs on and had 5 wickets down. Then I partnered Jack Dale, who had gone in first. The score would be about 42 then; before I lost his company it was over 180. Dale was ruled out to a splendid catch by C. J. Ottaway,
over the ropes. It was a glorious catch, but it could not have come off had it not been for the old-fashioned practice of not having a stiff fence. I maintained that he was not out, on the ground that not only the ball but Ottaway's body was considerably outside the boundary line owing to the giving of the rope which formed the ' fence,' though no one could begrudge such a catch getting a wicket.
"My score turned out to be exactly 100, and there was a very curious thing about it. In those days you had no means of telling what your own score was, unless you kept a mental count of it yourself. I had counted mine, and knew I had made 99. My partner at the time was F. C. Cobden, and between the overs I went across and said to him, 'Frank, I have got 99; when I call come for all you're worth.' C. K. Francis was bowling from the pavilion end. He sent me down a beautiful over, including two shooters, which are things you don't often get nowadays. The last ball of the over I played straight down the pitch, and calling Cobden, he ran for all he was worth, as I had asked him to do, and even then he only just escaped being run out. My 100, the first ever made in the 'Varsity matches, was reached, and I was happy.
"But cricket has a curious knack of preventing a fellow thinking too much of himself. Full of 'beans' at having scored the 100, I received the first ball of the next over also from Francis, who had crossed over, and I let out at it. The ball seemed to be going well over the bowler's head. But Francis was an agile young gentleman, as you may understand when it is said that he won the high jump at Rugby with almost a record public-school jump. He jumped up at the ball, knocked it quite 20 feet in the air, and catching it as it came down he had me c and b! I had only just scraped home with my 100 in time.