The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-05-13

ask the use of your columns to lay
before your readers a few thoughts
on the game of cricket, now thai
there is strong effort being made
to organize club and to revive thai
most manly of outdoor games il
our midst, for / hold that no noblel
game is ever played under the blue
heavens than when two good teams
meet each other on the level sward
in a game of cricket. When in
Cleveland, Ohio, the writer was
both a member of a base ball and a
cricket club, and 1 know no reason
why either one should operate to
the exclusion of the other, although
1 claim that, embracing the four
departments which go to make UP
a good cricket team in the field,
the game covers more scientific
points, skill and nerve than any
other outdoor game yet played by
the Anglo-saxons.
An examination of the old files
of your journal would show the
records of some interesting games,
as played on the old Makiki
plains. We had a strong and
a good club who could
always show good game,
when Messrs. George Roberts, Self,
Way, Weldon and the late Allan
Judd were on the field. We have
the same excellent climate and
larger and better materials, and
better opportunities to form club
and practice now than were at COM
mand then, and there is no reason
why two or three good clubs should
not be organized and form source
of recreation and sport. The game
properly played and followed. not
only develops muscle and activity,
but patience, propptness, nerve,
Judgment, and-tfains the eye, hand,
wrist and limbs to be alert and
supple The game cannot be
played by brute force or strength,
but requires skill and head work,
and a man to be an "allround "
player has to give himself up to
much study and practice.
The captain must not only be
well posted in the game and have
his men under complete control
during a match, but he must take
into consideration the condition of
the ground, the speed of his bowler,
study the batsman, and be able to
place his men by the least sign or
motion just where he needs them
most. He should always be a
good wicket-keeper, as no other
point gives him the same advan-
tageous position to control his men
in the field. No other position re-
quires as much nerve and agility
as the wicket-keeper's, for a bowler
who has good pace. Not only must
the oncoming flight of the ball be
watched as it leaves the bowler's
hand in its curves and twist and
judgment formed as to its probable
course after striking the ground,
but it has to be watched after it
passes the batsnan, if he misses it
and has cleared the wickets and
can then only be taken by
the wicket keeper. In the
study of bowling, batting and
there is wide scope, and
the average person who knows lit
tie or nothing of the game cannot
realize the beauty of its science or
the nerve required to be on the in
field, and to handle red hot liner
as the bowler sends it in with pace
and it is picked up by the bats
man just at the volley and driven
like the shot from a cannon to the
fielder, or as it rises and a slash
ing chop is made to square point.
But as one grows familiar with
the game a man soon finds the
part which best suits his make up,
and if he uses his head at all, as a
man must do to be q crlcketer, he
will not only admire the game but
will become a enthusiastic advo-
cate for more clubs and more
players.
When Lord Sheffield took an
English team to Australia to play
the Australians, it is said that
46, 900 persons paid for admission
TO the grounds to witness the first
game played between his men and
a picked team of "All-Australia "
at E>1bourne, January Is, 1892.
Mr.. Spaplding, of base ball fame,
did more than any other man to give
the game an impetus in the United
States when he made the tour of
the world with his base ball and
cricket players, stopping off at
many points and having inter-
change of games.
New York, Brooklyn, Philadel-
phia, Baltimore, Rochester, Cleve-
land, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chi
cago, and many other cities haT:,
excellent clubs, and II the cricke
season can alw avs nut q stron