SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



The Sutton Cricket Club has been for- 

 tunate in having enjoyed uninterrupted use 

 of its present ground since it was formed in 

 1865. The ground was originally lent by 

 the late Mr. H. L. Antrobus, but at the end 

 of 1901 it was purchased from the present 

 owner, so the club has now a permanent 

 home. The ground, which is situated in 

 the Cheam Road, is small, but very pic- 

 turesque, and excellent wickets have always 

 been obtained. At its foundation the club 

 mustered forty members, of whom only 

 twelve played ; now it has a roll of two 

 hundred and sixty, with an effective list of 

 a hundred playing members. Mr. A. Hyslop, 

 one of the earliest captains, held the position 

 for twenty-one seasons, and only retired 

 some five years ago. The office of the 

 present captain, Mr. G. Blades, who has been 

 in office three years, is no sinecure, for three 

 teams are placed on the field every Saturday, 

 in addition to a series of Wednesday matches 

 weekly during the season. 



Of the famous cricketers who helped 

 Sutton in older days prominence may be 

 given to Messrs. A. W. Ridley, W. J. Ford, 

 A. S. Tabor, all of the first rank ; C. J. Smith, 

 a successful Harrow captain in his time, and 

 his brother, Arthur Smith, of Cambridge 

 University; Roberts, the Gloucestershire 

 bowler, was ground man for several seasons ; 

 he was engaged there fifteen years ago, when 

 Dr. W. G. Grace had him at the net at the 

 Oval, with the restdt that he migrated to 

 Gloucestershire, and took a regular place in 

 the County eleven. 



Cricket at Thames Ditton takes one back 

 to the early years of the last century. The 

 local club itself was certainly in existence in 

 the middle of the thirties. Giggs Hill in 

 those days did not receive the care that is 

 bestowed on the cricket pitches of to-day, 

 and what cricket the Thames Ditton Club 

 enjoyed was mostly confined to one or two 

 villages in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 The ground on which the matches were 

 played was not enclosed, and the cricket took 

 place under conditions that would now be 

 regarded as primitive to a degree. 



Thirty-live years ago the game was still 

 played amid very much the same surround- 

 ings, and it was not till after 1880 that the 

 Thames Ditton Club began to assume the 

 position it now occupies in the front rank 

 of Surrey clubs. 



Fifteen years ago, in point of playing 

 strength it was at least the equal of any 

 village team in the county. Of that time 

 the best eleven would have included Maurice 

 Read and G. W. Ayres, both natives, and 



both of whom, the former in particular, did 

 good service for Surrey. 



W. Deane, who kept wicket both for 

 Surrey and Hants ; W. T. Melbourne and 



F. J. Matthews, who also played for Surrey ; 



G. J. Arnall, the old Reptonian, who played 

 for Lancashire, besides T. Crowther, the 

 Captains H. Reddick, A. Morrison, F. R. 

 Tayler, subsequently of the Granville C.C, 

 Clarke, R. D. Matthews and E. L. Strike 

 must also be mentioned. 



The club's connection with Surrey cricket 

 has been closely cemented lately ; its captain, 

 W. T. Grayburn, has done excellent work for 

 the Surrey County C.C. as official super- 

 visor of rising cricketers and general manager 

 of the Colts' matches. 



The Upper Tooting Cricket Club was 

 founded in the year 1858 by the late Mr. 

 Samuel Harper and his sons in association 

 with some other residents in the village of 

 Tooting. Indeed, the club not only owes 

 its prosperity but even its existence to the 

 Harper family, as but for the enterprise of 

 the various members who held office of one 

 kind or another, it certainly would not have 

 survived to its present respectable age. Mr. 

 T. J. Miller, the first President, held office 

 until 1 866, when Mr. Samuel Harper, an 

 ardent supporter, succeeded him. At the 

 outset the club had no ground of its own, 

 but pitched its wickets where it chose on 

 Tooting Bee Common, then unfettered with 

 by-laws, and free from notice-boards. In 

 those days the nearest railway station was 

 six miles distant, so that the club was neces- 

 sarily dependent on local support. This 

 was liberally given in many instances. Mr. 

 John Taverner Miller, for example, granted 

 one of the fields attached to his house for the 

 use of the club until a lease of the present 

 ground was obtained in 1864. The present 

 field consists of five acres on high ground 

 overlooking the vaUey of the Wandle, and 

 affording a prospect of the Epsom and Ban- 

 stead Downs towards the south, and the 

 heights of Wimbledon to the south-west. 

 In former days the cricket ground was bor- 

 dered by other fields, but these to a great 

 extent have been covered by the advancing 

 tide of bricks and mortar. But although the 

 field has lost some of the amenities which 

 made it an ideal resort for the spectator on a 

 sunny match-day, it remains as good as ever 

 for cricket purposes. It was well laid down 

 in the first instance by George Brockwell of 

 the Oval, uncle of the present Surrey cricketer, 

 turf from Banstead Downs being used to a 

 great extent. After the construction of the 

 railway the club membership naturally in- 



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