THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, September 20, 1890. 



THE HAMBLEDON CRICKET CLUB. 



Chambers' s Journal for August 30 last contained an 

 interesting article on this famous club. The secluded 

 Hampshire village of Hambledon, it tells us 



Was ever the home of a stalwart people, derived from 

 one of the most indomitable of Saxon tribes, who were 

 largely indebted to the vast forest of Anderida on the 

 south, and the range of the Butser Hills on the north, for 

 the preservation of their primitive character in the midst 

 of the ferment of civil war and invasion. . . . In this 

 secluded village arose a cricket club, with members drawn 

 from a wide area, which achieved the highest distinction, 

 and had an important influence on the scientific develop- 

 ment of cricket. Within sight of a little public, still called 

 " The Bat and Ball," this club repeatedly played a match 

 against All England. The club attained its national repu- 

 tation about the year 1771 ; and in the ensuing ten years it 

 played fifty-one matches against All England and 

 several first-class counties, generally for 500 a 

 side, winning 29 of the number ! These matches were 

 mostly played upon Broad Halfpenny Down, where King 

 Charles II spent some anxious hours on his road to the 

 sea, after his escape from the battle of Worcester. Some- 

 what later, the Hambledonians transferred their ground to 

 the adjoining Windmill Down, which had a rapid slope on 

 all sides, so that if a ball was not quickly handled, it was 

 lost, and this developed remarkable skill in fielding among 

 the members. Hither, the whole country-side used to be 

 attracted to see even their trial matches ; and on any great 

 occasion, the long village street would be lined with a 

 double row of carriages and conveyances of every descrip- 

 tion from end to end. On June 18, 1777, the Hambledon 

 Club beat All England in one innings by 168 runs. 



But the credit of this famous Club rests not only on 

 their distinction upon the field, but in no small degree 

 upon the improvements they were chiefly responsible for 

 introducing into the game. In the early part of the cen- 

 tury the arrangements of this popular game were some- 

 what peculiar. There were only two stumps, a foot high, 

 and two feet apart, surmounted by a bail ; and between 

 the stumps a hole was cut in the ground large enough to 

 contain the ball and the butt end of the bat. In running a 

 notch, the striker was required to put his bat into this 

 hole, instead of the modern practice of touching over the 

 popping crease. The wicket-keeper, in putting out the 

 striker when running, was obliged, when the ball was 

 thrown in, to place it in this hole before the striker could 

 reach it with his bat ! The figure of the bat still earlier 

 had been similar to an old-fashioned dinner-knifecurved 

 at the back and with a sort of curl at the front and end \ 

 The famous match of Kent against All England, in which 

 Hambledonians were included, was played under these 

 conditions in the year 1746 ; on which occasion the bat 

 was found so inconvenient that it was henceforth ordered 

 to be straight, but in other respects was undefined, until 

 a few years afterwards a player from Reigate brought to a 

 match a bat which was the full width of the stumps ! 

 This was of course an effectual defence of the wicket, but 

 was thought too much of a good thing, and the width of 

 the bat was henceforth restricted to four and a quarter 

 inches : the weight of the ball at the same time being 

 fixed at five and a half-ounces at least', and five and three, 

 quarter ounces at most. At Hambledon an iron frame was 

 kept of the statute width, through which anv suspected 

 bat was passed for a test. On the 22iid of May, 1775, a 

 match at single wicket was played between five of the 



Hambledon Club and five of All England on the Artillery 

 Ground, when the bowler, Lumpy, several times bowled 

 clear between the stumps of the famous batter, Small, 

 without the batter being given out ; and it being con- 

 sidered a hard thing that the straightest balls should be 

 thus sacrificed, a middle stump was henceforth decreed, as 

 at present. It was feared that the alteration might tend to 

 shorten the game, owing to the presumed difficulty of 

 guarding the wicket ; but the grand match against All 

 England just alluded to took place two years afterwards, 

 and by its brilliance dispelled this fear ; Aylward, one of 

 the Hambledon men, getting one hundred and sixty-seven 

 runs from his own bat, and staying in two whole days. 

 The most successful players that this country ever pro- 

 duced were members of the Hambledon Club ; and the 

 name of Richard Nyren, the captain, was known all over 

 England as that of the greatest authority upon cricket. 

 The article then goes on to give some personal details 

 of famous Hambledon players, which will be much 

 appreciated by cricketers. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 



From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S , R.E. Lat. 50 

 54' so"N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J.T. Cook. 



Black bulb in vacuo. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, September 27, 1890. 



HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB. 



MEETING AT SHERBORNE ST. JOHN AND 

 MONK SHERBORNE. 



The Club paid a vsit on Thursday, under the 

 guidance of Mr. T. W. Shore and Dr. Andrews, 

 to Sherborne St. John, Monk Sherborne, and the 

 Vyne, near Basingstokc, and, favoured by fine 



