ARE CRICKETERS SHORT-LIVED? 297 



does not experience some ill effects from cold and exposure ; 



fielding searches out the weak points in a man's constitution. 

 When the bowler has finished his over, the bitter wind 

 (and how often the wind is bitter) has a fine opportunity of 

 chilling his heated frame. Considering the extraordinary 

 and rapid changes of climate which the lightly clad 

 cricketer has to face, it is no wonder that his spell of life 

 is short. 



The stupid custom of playing a match on Easter Monday, 

 no matter how early in the year that festival may fall, is 

 simply courting illness, and is cruel to the players. May is 

 bad enough, but to think of beginning before May is simply 

 folly. 



In the days of the old Prize Ring it was not the punish- 

 ment they received in battle which played havoc with 

 the professional bruisers, but the exposure to inclement 

 weather. Fancy men stripping to the waist with the snow 

 on the ground, and fighting for two or three hours. It says 

 little for the humanity of sportsmen of the old school that 

 they should have sanctioned fights in the depth of winter. 

 I would have no matches before the middle of May, and if 

 cricketers consulted their own health they would make a 

 stand against an earlier date. 



The old-time cricketers were long-lived ; but they clad 

 themselves differently, and they didn't play anything like so 

 many matches in a season. I remember, some thirty years 

 ago, interviewing John Bowes, who was then in his ninety- 

 first year, and had been one of the famous "B " eleven which 

 Lord Frederick Beauclerck mustered to contend against 

 England. He would have laughed to scorn the idea that 

 cricketers were short-lived, and with good reason. So 

 would that all-round athlete Edward Hayward Budd, 

 whom I saw knocking the balls about with amazing vigour 

 when he had passed his eightieth year. Fuller Pilch, too, 

 with whom I have had many a chat during Canterbury week 

 at the old Saracen's Head, had got well past his three- 

 score and ten when he shuffled off this mortal coil. And 

 " Mr Felix," one of the greatest batsmen of the day, lived 

 till past fourscore. 



A veteran cricketer who retained his vigour to a great 



