forgotten, nor those of the successive captains—J. Shuter, K. J. Key,
and D. L. A. Jephson, while we may add those of W. E. Roller, H. D. G.
Leveson-Gower, F. H. Boult, C. W. Burls, V. F. S. Crawford, as those of
men who have at different periods rendered good service to the county.
Though not situated amid picturesque scenery, the Oval is _qua_ cricket
ground perfect, the accommodation being ample and the wickets superb.
The new pavilion alone cost from £25,000 to £30,000. The Prince of
Wales is the county’s landlord.
Sussex can boast a venerable antiquity and the royal patronage of
George IV. when he was Prince of Wales, these being the days of William
Lillywhite, the “Nonpareil,” Box and the Broadbridges, to say nothing
of C. G. Taylor, the Cantab “crack.” The county club was formed in
1839 on Brown’s ground, the said Brown being the famous fast bowler,
who is said to have bowled through a coat, and to have killed a dog on
the other side! But the builder was inexorable in Brighton, and the
county was hustled from place to place, till it settled finally—it
is hoped—in its present splendid ground at Hove, which is, however,
save in the comfort of its appointment, not one whit better for cricket
purposes than the Brunswick ground, which the county used between 1847
and 1871. In modern times the names of great Sussex bowlers are few,
Southerton playing but rarely, and the others being Tate, the brothers
Hide, Parris, and Walter Humphreys, the “Lobster.” The earlier names
include those of several Lillywhites, Wisden, Brown, and Dean, while
of wicket-keepers we may quote those of Box and Ellis, Harry Phillips,
and Harry Butt. One is almost bewildered by the dazzling list of great
batsmen who have represented Sussex—C. G. Taylor, Wisden, J. M.
Cotterill, L. Winslow, R. T. Ellis, W. Newham, G. Brann, F. M. Lucas,
Bean, Killick, and Marlow, to say nothing of the great Anglo-Australian
player, W. L. Murdoch, who settled in Sussex and was at once invited
to captain the eleven. But great as these names are, the names of
C. B. Fry and K. S. Ranjitsinhji are perhaps even greater. They are
household words at present, as are their wonderful feats with the bat,
which—as the tale is not yet complete—may be left to be chronicled by
posterity. At the present day, were the Sussex bowling in any sense
on a par with its batting, the county would probably carry all before
it. One record of Fry’s should, however, be recorded, as it is so far
ahead of any similar feat. In 1901 he actually scored six successive
centuries, the scores being: 106 _v._ Hants, 209 _v._ Yorks, 149 _v._
Middlesex, 105 _v._ Surrey, 140 _v._ Kent, and 105 _v._ Yorkshire. The
last of these was made for an Eleven of England, all the others for
Sussex. No one else, not even W. G. Grace, has ever made more than
three hundreds in succession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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