A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



Somerset County Cricket Club ; G. L. Wilson, 

 G. H. Cotterill, N. C. Cooper, L. H. Gay, and 

 C. L. A. Smith. Of old Lancing College boys 

 the most notable are O. P. Lancashire, who 

 played for Cambridge in 1880, and afterwards 

 did good service for Lancashire ; E. D. Comp- 

 ton, of Oxford University and Somerset ; 

 F. W. Stocks, of Oxford University and Leices- 

 tershire ; and T. H. Fowler, the Gloucester- 

 shire cricketer. The best cricketer educated at 

 St. John's College, Hurstpierpoint, was un- 

 doubtedly F. F. J. Greenfield. 



After a long career at school, in which he was 

 also distinguished as a footballer and an actor, 

 he went up to Cambridge and played three years 

 in the University Eleven, being captain in 1878. 

 He was afterwards very well known with Sussex 

 county. 



W. L. Knowles was also an excellent cric- 

 keter, who has played for Kent. The best- 

 known men at Eastbourne College were E. O. 

 Ormerod, T. P. Hilder, H. E. Bouch, J. E. 

 Adamson, and H. S. Poyntz, but none of them 

 have played first-class cricket since they left 

 school. 



The history of cricket at St. Saviour's School, 

 Ardingly, is somewhat nebulous until the year 

 1868, when can first be found an official record 

 of the doings of the eleven, which, under the 

 captaincy of F. K. Hilton, played ten matches ; 

 of those seven were won, two lost, and one 

 drawn. The first eleven at Ardingly has always 

 consisted of masters and boys. 



Among notable cricketers educated at Ardingly 

 we may mention : W. A. Bettesworth, who 

 played for Sussex from 1878 to 1882. A fine 

 all-round player, he was in 1881 one of the two 

 most successful bowlers for his county, and in the 

 same year headed the Sussex batting averages. 



W. Newham, the present secretary for Sussex 

 County Cricket Club is an old Ardingly boy. 

 In 1882 he came out at the top of the Sussex 

 batting averages with 30-4. Perhaps his best 

 year was in 1885 when he averaged 46-9 with 

 the bat, and represented the Gentlemen of 

 England. 



W. Blackman, who was also educated at 

 Ardingly, made his entry into Sussex cricket 

 in 1 88 1, in which season he was particularly 

 useful as a bowler. In 1884 he was second in 

 the county batting averages with 28-6, and also 

 took 40 wickets for 1 7. He died in Australia 

 in 1 885 at the early age of twenty-two. 



G. Brann, another Ardingly boy, first played 

 for Sussex in 1885, in which year he had a 

 batting average of 207, with a highest score 

 of 99. His subsequent career in county cricket 

 is too well known to need repetition. 



Cricket at Eastbourne College was a thing of 

 small beginnings ; it started with the brothers 

 Podmore, Jesse Hide as coach, and a very few 

 blades of grass. Shortly it became formidable, 

 at least two of the Podmores showing strength 

 and being backed up by W. E. and C. H. 

 Pedley, the brothers Omerod, and others. Then 

 came also a good keeper, E. J. Game, brother 

 to the better-known W. H. During this period 

 the M.C.C. match was arranged, which is still 

 an annual fixture. The best performances in 

 this, the test match of the season, have been by 

 H. E. Bouch, F. M. B. Browne, and J. V. 

 Young. For many years the matches with New 

 College were regarded as the most important on 

 the card, but for one reason or another they 

 came to be discarded, and finally dropped out of 

 the list of fixtures. While Dr. Crowden was 

 head master the school field was found to be 

 altogether unequal to the demand on it, and a 

 spacious new ground was made on the Links 

 faced by a serviceable pavilion. Later on it was 

 found to be advisable to play a certain number 

 of matches on the Saffrons, the magnificent 

 ground of the Eastbourne Club. 



Till about eight years ago the ground used 

 for both cricket and football was at Lancing 

 College on a level with the road going towards 

 Bramber. The ground was generally considered 

 a good one, but was hardly large enough or 

 fast enough, and it certainly seems surprising 

 that it answered its purpose for so long. Some 

 time ago it was decided to lay out the ground 

 just below the chapel as a cricket ground, and 

 also for the use of the first football club, but at 

 the same time to keep on the old field for foot- 

 ball. The present ground is a very fine one, 

 and it is hoped that it may be enlarged sometime 

 in the future. Cricket at Lancing, as at most 

 other public schools, is compulsory. When all 

 clubs are playing the centre of the ground is 

 set apart for the use of the first club ; sufficient 

 accommodation is also found for the lower clubs. 

 One of the most excellent institutions in the in- 

 terests of cricket is the Under Fifteen Club for 

 those under fifteen years of age. 



The M.C.C. have for the last twenty years 

 arranged matches with all the Sussex schools, 

 under the name of the M.C.C. Sussex College 

 Tour. These tours do a lot of good from an 

 educational point of view, and the boys enjoy the 

 matches greatly. True, the club is generally 

 successful, but not always; Ardingly College won 

 for several years, and Brighton and Lancing have 

 also been successful. Many other clubs make 

 a tour among the Sussex colleges the Stoics 

 have done so for the last eighteen years with 

 much pleasure to themselves and the school boys. 



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