Messrs. Hardy Brothers, of Alnwick, send us a copy of their “Angler’s Guide” for the current year. This work contains many useful hints on fishing, and indexed lists of every conceivable requirement in the shape of tackle and gear. We must give a word of praise to the very admirable coloured plates of trout and salmon flies.
George Hirst.
The name of George H. Hirst is one of the greatest in contemporary, or, in fact, any cricket, and it is with much pleasure that we present his portrait as a frontispiece to Baily’s Magazine.
At the present time if one were asked the question “who is the greatest all-round cricketer in England?” it is probable that the names of George Hirst and Mr. F. S. Jackson would at once occur to the mind, and no one could be very far wrong in suggesting that these two champions of Yorkshire respectively represent the best of the professional and amateur strength of English cricket. George Hirst was born at Kirkheaton on September 7th, 1871, and his earliest association with public cricket was properly enough with his village club, and it was mainly through his efforts that the Lumb Challenge Cup was won by them before he reached his eighteenth birthday. The lad devoted himself to cricket as a calling, and in 1892 his association with the Huddersfield Club proved a secure stepping-stone to a great cricket career: early in that season he made his first appearance at Lord’s for Yorkshire against M.C.C. At that time he was played simply as a bowler, but although he batted number eleven he scored 20 and 43 not out.
However, it cannot be said that Hirst displayed in his earliest days any full promise of the success in store for him. Indeed, towards the end of the season of 1892 he was left out of the Yorkshire first eleven, and in August of that year, upon the occasion when Messrs. H. T. Hewett and L. C. H. Palairet scored 364 for the first wicket for Somerset against Yorkshire, George Hirst was walking round the Taunton ground, a twelfth man, watching with impotent indignation the unsuccessful efforts of his colleagues. Zeal and earnestness, coupled with a Herculean frame and great natural advantages, were sure to bring Hirst to the front, and for many years now his name has been a household word throughout the cricket world. Originally a fast left-handed bowler with a long pounding run he was always able to take full advantage of a rough wicket, and in the early nineties the Yorkshire team had to be experts upon rough wickets, so bad were some of the grounds upon which they were condemned to play. But with a general improvement of cricket pitches, even in Yorkshire, bowlers found it more and more difficult to bump their way to glory, and Hirst was one of the first of the new school of swerving bowlers who have developed a deliberate curl in the air, which in the case of Hirst has been phenomenal, especially with a new ball. The traditional setting of the field for a fast left-hand bowler formerly placed nine men on the off-side, including several “slips,” and one man to look after the “on-side,” a sort of casual mid-on, usually the oldest man in the field. So to the elderly mind it appears strange enough to see Hirst bowling away as hard as he can pelt, with only two or three men on the off-side, with no slip, but with a crowd of eager earnest men swarming on the leg-side. It is a quaint disposition of the field, but one rendered essential when the ball delivered left-arm round the wicket curves in until at the finish it is sometimes almost a wide to leg.
If George Hirst had never bowled a ball in his life he would probably never have been heard of in first-class cricket, but his abilities as a batsman are now so great that if he were never to bowl a ball again, he would probably still be selected to play for England. His batting is full of power, and he is just about the finest exponent of “the hook-stroke” that we have. Indeed, his talent for despatching anything like a short ball to the square-leg boundary has sometimes led to his downfall, for on his day almost every description of ball appears short to the appreciative bat of Hirst, who has been known to meet his fate with his right foot planted close to the off-stump and his sturdy frame-before-wicket gallantly but remotely hooking at a shooting half volley. We are half inclined to believe that George Hirst is one of those cricketers who prays for rain, for he is probably the most effective batsman of the day upon a slow wicket, when he appears to be able to pull any ball anywhere he pleases. Moreover, a good fast wicket means a longer working day for him, as his record of last season so clearly shows. At Leicester he batted for seven hours for a score of 341, the highest ever played for Yorkshire, of which no less than 218 runs were made by boundary hits. When Hirst went to the wicket Yorkshire had lost three men for 22 runs, and when after seven hours’ batting he was last man out for a score of 341, all his partners had only made 132 runs between them. Later in the season he followed this up by 232 not out against Surrey, a performance he supplemented by taking five Surrey wickets for 43 runs. Hirst’s record for last season’s work was 2,266 runs with a batting average of 53, and 110 wickets at an average cost of 19·94 runs. And this great season’s work came after an injury to his leg in May, which was only remedied by the skill of Sir Alfred Fripp, and a considerable modification of his run up to the bowling crease.
Considering his heavy build and the very hard work he does in the cricket field, it is remarkable that Hirst has not been more often “crocked.” It is now ten years since he first attained the distinction of the double feat of scoring over 1,000 runs and taking more than 100 wickets, and ever since then he has been quite the busiest cricketer of the day. He is also one of the most popular, as the phenomenal success of his benefit match, a year or two ago, clearly demonstrated; and from the skill and agility he displayed at Lord’s early in May he appears to have before him a future which may equal in brilliancy his past. And we can wish him nothing better than that.
[The photograph from which our portrait is engraved, is by E. Hawkins and Co., Brighton.]
Quid.