by A. W. Pullin
One occasionally meets in the cricket-field persons whose enthusiasm for the game quite outstrips their practical knowledge of it, and who are never so proud as when they have the opportunity of indulging in the weakness popularly known as "showing off." Mr Thornton narrates, with great glee, how one "batsman" gave proof of this and of the saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
"Strolling one day on to the ground at Canterbury, I stood behind the wicket-keeper as a certain batsman of lordly mien, who knew me by sight, was batting. He chanced by-and-by to turn round, and, seeing me, lifted his bat and shouted, 'Hi, there, get out of the line of sight, please.' I got away from his back view at once; and the obstruction removed he proceeded with his innings in comfort."
Recalling reminiscences of umpires, Mr Thornton says the", most amusing incident in his experience occurred in a match at Harston, near Cambridge. "'Tim,' now Sir T. C. O'Brien, and I were batting, and looked like making a big score, when the wicket-keeper appealed for a catch off a ball which had touched O'Brien high up on the sleeve of his shirt. 'Out,' was the umpire's verdict. Tim was furious, and, going up to the umpire, said, 'That was either a very ignorant decision or a downright swindle.' The umpire, putting on his blandest smile, coolly replied, 'I guess, sir, it was just a bit of both.'
"A. J. Wilkinson, the old Middlesex cricketer, used to be very amusing in the field. On one occasion at Oxford an umpire gave him out leg-before-wicket, not fairly as he thought. At the end of play he went up and asked the umpire his name and address. The man very affably gave it, thinking perhaps he was going to be put down for a Christmas-box. When he heard the voice of A. J. W. telling him he would take care he never umpired again in any match he took part in, his feelings can be imagined better than it is possible to describe them.
"Another amusing bit of umpiring occurred to me at High Wycombe when playing for M.C.C. there about ten years ago. The first ball of the match just touched my finger and went into the wicket-keeper's hands standing back. The wicketkeeper appealed unsuccessfully, and no one heard it but he and I. When I got over to the bowler's end the umpire said, 'Did you hit that first ball 1' I said, 'Well, I did, but it was the slighest touch in the world, and you were quite right to say not out if you didn't hear it.' I got 102 runs afterwards, and as there was another match the next Saturday I went down again. When I had got 66 runs a ball hit the back of my trousers (I didn't even play at it) and went into the wicket-keeper's hand. 'How's that?' said the wicketkeeper. 'Out,' says the umpire (the same umpire as the previous Saturday). I said 'Why, I never even played at it.' 'Never mind,' said the umpire, 'you were out last Saturday when I gave you not out, so this will square it.' I had to go out, thinking a good deal but saying nothing.
"Once when playing cricket at Colombo the bowler at the end at which I was batting kicked down the wicket in the act of delivery. The umpire, a soldier, at once called 'No ball.' I told him he was in error, which annoyed him. The game was stopped, a rule-book was sent for and examined, and it was found that I was right. The heat at the time—I don't mean the umpire's—was 900 in the shade, so that the slight interval was refreshing.
"It was the same umpire who gave a man out for knocking his wicket down in running. When I proved to him that the man was not out, all he would say was, 'Wasn't he 1'"
References are made in the course of this talk to Mr Thornton's travels. The reader must not run away with the idea that they were cricketing jaunts. They were business excursions, in the course of which Mr Thornton never lost an opportunity of a little practice at his favourite game. Thus within the space of fourteen months he has played cricket in England, Ceylon, Australia, China, Japan, and America. Can any other cricketer, the writer wonders, lay claim to this varied experience in so short a time? In HongKong Mr Thornton seems to have had rare fun. He got two niggers to bowl at him, and amused himself by hitting the balls into the harbour. At Colombo, with the thermometer 1600 in the sun, he hit a ball 150 yards!
The reason why Mr Thornton has not taken part in any cricketing tours is that he could not suffer the dislocation of business that a long absence from home on cricket pleasures would entail. Needless to say, it was not for the want of asking that he did not journey abroad for the purposes of cricket. As a matter of fact, he had one offer of ^3000 and expenses—from whom and in what team matters not— to go to Australia, but he declined it.
Mr Thornton did promise to make one of Mr R. A. Fitzgerald's team to visit Canada in 1872, but found himself unable, for business reasons also, to carry out his promise. Mr Fitzgerald has gravely explained that the reason of Mr Thornton's withdrawal was that he saw a picture in a shop window of a ship in distress, and read an article on seasickness.
The withdrawal from Mr Fitzgerald's team, it may be taken for granted, was not decided upon without feelings of regret and disappointment to Mr Thornton himself. When there was a doubt as to whether he could go, a telegram was received by Mr Thornton from the Toronto Club which ran—
"All Canada disappointed if you stay behind. Pray come."
Prior to this one of the Toronto officials had gravely asserted that, in expectation of Mr Thornton making the journey, 75 feet had been added to the length of the Toronto ground. He was kind enough to add that if Mr Thornton "got a half volley to his taste, 75 feet would not be a 'circumstance' to the most gigantic hitter of this or any other day."
In face of the hearty welcome thus assured for him, Mr Thornton's regret at having to decline the journey was, naturally, very keen. He was as much disappointed as his friends across the Atlantic.
A few reminiscences of well - known cricketers will now be appropriate. Mr Thornton shall tell them in his own way:—
"I have had many a jolly match with the present Lord Harris, and some very curious ones. Once down at Belmont, his seat in Kent, we were 10 runs behind on the first innings, and went in a second time with about half an hour to play. Then a wonderful thing happened. We were all out for 9! His lordship's face was a study, I can tell you.
s
"At the Oval, in a Kent v. Surrey match, Jim Street was bowling on a billiard-table-like wicket. I said to Lord Harris, 'Now, let's see who can hit him the farthest.' 'Agreed,' replied he, and promptly hit Street into the pavilion. The next over I had my opportunity, and drove a ball from Street over the players' old dressing-room, which was close to the present entrance gate, but facing the ground. I should say it was much better fun playing against Surrey then than now. You cannot take such liberties with Lockwood and Richardson.
"I have had as much fun with W. G. Grace at cricket as any one. Always keen, and thoroughly playing the game, he was a rare companion in the field or off it, and, moreover, he was always pleased to do any one a turn if he could. I recollect once at Scarborough, the Jubilee Plunger, Benzon, gave a ball at the Royal Hotel, to which all the cricketers then playing at the Festival were invited. One of our younger members was very anxious to dance with a lady whom he didn't know. Old W. G. says, 'Oh, I'll introduce you to her,' and, suiting the action to the word, he walked up with him to the young lady and said, 'Oh, allow me to introduce
Mr 'She bowed; ditto Mr ;and off the pair went
dancing. The lady thought W. G. was the M.C. And so I think he was, as he was ordering everybody about that evening. We had a rare laugh over the bold introduction afterwards.
"W. G. has a keen sense of humour, as another incident will show. Once, when playing at Cambridge for me against the University, I asked him to go in first with Posno, who was also playing on my side. At that time Posno was not known to fame as a cricketer; at any rate, W. G. did not know him, for he said, 'First with Posno! What's Posno 1 Is it something to eat?'
"Old John Lillywhite was a rare good sort, with a weakness for bats made from a certain tree. Once he told me that he would give me a bat for nothing if I made 10o with it during the season. The bat, he said, had been made out of the same tree that E. M. and W. G. Grace's bats had been made out of. I had repeatedly heard h
im say the same thing before, so concluded that it was a large and prolific tree. However, I made 120 with it in the first match that I used it. He made me a present of the bat, and continued the same gift every year to his death.
"The present Lord Darnley used to amuse us in the old Eton days, as he got very annoyed when things went a bit unlucky. Once when playing against him at Charles Hoare's place at Beckenham, a beautiful ground surrounded by trees, I hit his bowling several times into the trees. Of course the fielders could not catch them through the trees. At last he threw down the ball and said it was no use bowling to me in a blooming forest!
"I was fielding at point,1 when poor George Summers, one of the nicest pros. who ever lived, was struck on the head by Jack Platts, bowling from the Pavilion end at Lord's. With Bill Yardley I helped to carry him down to the parlour at the tavern. I always fancy he thought he was settled from the moment the ball struck him. It was a fearful crack on the temple, and when struck he jumped up into the air, and then fell all of a heap. I think his death was accelerated by the journey to Nottingham too soon after the accident. I shall never forget Richard Daft coming in next, with a towel round his head covered with a scarf tied under his chin. The first ball he had pitched about half-way and went clean over his head. He did let Platts have it and no mistake, and the bowler was taken off after that over. In those days Lord's was a very different ground from what it is now; at least one ball an over would be a shooter, while in a very dry season the fiery nature of the wicket made it positively dangerous.
"Have you ever seen three stumps knocked out by the bowler 1 No! Well, I have seen it happen twice, and though I have asked scores of people I have never met with one who has seen it. The first time I saw it done was by Harvey Fellowes, in his day the fastest bowler in England, at Canter1 Oscrol-t puts the position as long kg.
bury, when he bowled G. M. Kelson out in the M.C.C. v. Kent match. The second time I saw it done was by George Freeman in M.C.C. v. Yorkshire, at Lord's, in 1870, the only time he ever had the opportunity of bowling on a hard dry wicket at Lord's. The batsman was C. R. Filgate. It was a memorable match. Old W. G.'s 66 I always consider was the best innings (if there could be a best with such a record as his) I ever saw. About two balls every over either hit him on the ribs or hit the shoulder of the bat, and I remember how bruised his left side was when he showed it to me after the innings. C. E. Green was at the other end, and a finer or more scientific display of batting under difficulties could not be seen than those two gave that day."
Mr Thornton appears to have had as much healthy fun and enjoyment out of cricket as any man ever had. He candidly confesses that he never took the game too seriously, as so many do nowadays. "It is but a game after all," says he, and thinking people will applaud that sentiment. As an illustration of the lighter side of cricket—the merry comradeship which pervades the sport, and of which the public as a rule see all too little—the following echo from a Scarborough week will take some beating. It has appeared elsewhere without acknowledgment, though it was first given to the writer by Mr Thornton in this "Talk."
"In September 1888 I managed to 'bag a brace' against the Australians on a sticky wicket at Scarborough. That night, when dining at Londesborough Lodge, a big parcel was brought in to me. I at once smelt a rat, as I was not expecting any parcel, particularly as I saw old W. G.'s eagle eye fixed on me. However, I didn't want to spoil the fun, and I opened it. The parcel contained the biggest pair of specs. you ever saw, about a yard wide. I had three more by post next day. Well, this wasn't all. We went to the circus after dinner, where Lord Londesborough used to take seats for all the pros. and their families, as well as for us. When the clown appeared—' Whimsical Walker' by name—he was dressed up in an Eton blue cap, no pads and gloves, like me, and when he began fumbling about in his pockets the ringmaster said, 'What are you looking for, Walker 1' 'Oh,' he said, 'I got a brace of ducks' eggs on the ground to-day, and I can't get them out.'
"Ultimately he did get them out, and the roars of laughter that followed, as well as the cheers that greeted his entry, I shall never forget. It was all really very gratifying to me. I always think W. G. and Lord Harris arranged this little episode; but whoever did it carried it out wonderfully well, as I had not the slightest inkling of it in advance. I paid old W. G. out afterwards by having a letter delivered to him at dinner purporting to come from Farrands, the umpire, who had given him out leg-before-wicket, saying that he should decline to stand as umpire the next day unless W. G. apologised for what he had said about his umpiring. The Old Man took it all in at the time, but we let him know the truth during the evening.
"As I have just mentioned the Australians, I should like to take the opportunity of saying that, in my opinion, the visits of the Australian cricketers have done an enormous amount of good to English cricket. I know that while the Australians are here their visit takes a certain amount of interest out of county cricket just for the season, but the good gained by their visits cannot, in my opinion, be over-estimated. Firstly, look at the gates they bring to the different grounds! Secondly, look at the honour attaching to a player who has taken part in a test match! I know I used to like playing against them better than any one. It was real keen business from start to finish.
"Then I ought to say I always think the amount of money they were reported to have made was greatly exaggerated. I do know that whenever I asked them to play my teams, money matters were quite a secondary consideration. In fact, when they played on July 8 and 9, 1878, at the old Orleans Club, Twickenham, a two-days' match, they didn't receive a shilling, and the club netted ^500, which it was badly in need of. All I can say is, I hope to see them come for many more years. They always play the game like sportsmen and gentlemen, and I know we are proud of having two of perhaps the most celebrated of any of them—I allude to Spofforth and Billy Murdoch—as residents in this country. Long may Australia flourish and produce such cricketers as they have of late years."
In view of the leg - before - wicket controversy still being waged in cricket circles, an incident, which has its humorous side, may be quoted from Mr Thornton's experience. A question had arisen as to whether a man could be given out "leg-before-wicket" from a ball that struck him on the body, and in proof that he can Mr Thornton says—
"When I was playing at Windsor, for Ascot, on August 25, 1888, Page, a well-known hairdresser at Eton, was hit on the head by a full pitch from W. A. Tobin, an Australian cricketer. He was given out' leg-before-wicket,' and quite fairly too in my opinion. The ball was a full-pitch, and Page ducked down, as he thought, to avoid the ball, but instead of doing this he actually got in the way of it. The ball would have hit the wicket about four inches from the top. The umpire was Hearne, the eldest son of the veteran Tom Hearne."
Mr Thornton never had the pleasure of batting against the late George Freeman, who, he says, once told him he (Mr Thornton) was the only first-class cricketer of his day that he never bowled against. Speaking now, Mr Thornton thinks he should have had a difficulty in hitting the great Boroughbridge bowler out of any ground. While Jackson and Tarrant were the two best fast English bowlers of Mr Thornton's personal acquaintance, it is his opinion that neither was so good a bowler as Mr Spofforth. "The 'Demon,' " says Mr Thornton, "had a head like an almanac. He was always dodging you. In this sense, too, Lohmann was one of the best bowlers that ever bowled a ball."
Hitherto in this "Talk" Mr Thornton's big hitting has had prominence. But he was a great deal more than a hitter,—the frequency of his good scores against the best bowling in the land shows that. Moreover, when a match had to be saved he could play the "goose game "—with the bat, bear in mind—as effectively as any one. As one proof of this— many could be cited—he recalls a match at Stafford, wherein he was at the wickets an hour and forty minutes for 28 runs!
"What I disagree with" — we are speaking of certain tendencies of the "goose school" that often arouse criticism —says Mr Thornton, "is the practice of playing the ball with the
leg. I think that is the most 'rotten stroke' in the world. I could not do it if I tried. I should not know how to start. The bat is the thing to play the ball with, not the
leg."
This "Talk" would be incomplete without a reference to Mr Thornton's connection with the Scarborough Festival. It was he who originated the Festival in the year 1871, and with the exception of the year 1874, when he was ill, he has not missed a Cricket Carnival at the Northern Queen of Watering-Places since.
"In 1869," says Mr Thornton, "when not twenty years of age, I made my first appearance at Scarborough in a team got up by the visitors, among whom was the late Mr I. D. Walker. The match was played on the Castle Hill in such windy weather that iron bails had to be used. On that occasion not more than eighty persons were present. It was on September 1, 1871, however, that what may be called the first match of the Festival proper was played. The match was entitled 'Scarborough Visitors v. Lord Londesborough's Eleven,' and the names of the players were as follows :—
"The Visitors.—A. J. Wilkinson, P. M. Thornton, R. D. Walker, J. W. Dale, C. I. Thornton, I. D. Walker, W. Law, A. F. Smith, H. J. Wheeler, T. G. Dale, and E. J. Mitchell.
"Lord Londesborough's Eleven.—D. Eastwood, H. Dewse, J. Matthison, E. Lockwood, A. Greenwood, R. Iddison, J. Hicks, T. Emmett, A. Hill, G. Lynas, and J. Robinson.
"Scores.—Visitors, 132 and 90; the Eleven, 104 and 84. The visitors won by 34 runs.
"Three or four years later I got permission of the M.C.C. to arrange a match with the Yorkshire Eleven, and such a match has since been one of the yearly attractions of the Festival.
"When I completed my twenty-fifth year of service on behalf of the Festival, my good friends at Scarborough were kind enough to present to me a 50-guinea silver loving cup in token of their esteem and appreciation of my services to the Festival, and to cricket generally. The presentation was made by the Earl of Londesborough on Thursday, August 30, 1894. I need hardly say that I value the present, and the kindly feeling that prompted it, most highly, and shall always continue to do so.