A HISTORY OF SURREY 



formation of the cricket club under the 

 presidency of the headmaster, Mr. R. Brodie. 

 C. Rogers was then the captain, the first of 

 a succession of excellent leaders. During 

 the first few seasons the cricket was not of 

 a particularly high order. During the last 

 fifteen years or so it has steadily improved, 

 and has now reached a fairly high standard. 



Cricket, like the other school games, is 

 now managed by the games committee, which 

 consists of four masters, two old boys, and 

 five present boys. Every expense is defrayed 

 out of the games fund, and all subscribers 

 to the funds are entitled to participate in 

 all the games, the sports included, without 

 additional expense. Whitgift has three 

 school elevens. Matches take place annually 

 against St. John's School, Hurstpierpoint, 

 Cranleigh School, the Royal Naval School, 

 the City of London School, Christ's Hos- 

 pital, the Guards Depot at Caterham, the 

 Surrey Colts, etc. On the afternoon of 

 whole school days there is practice at the 

 net. A series of matches also takes place on 

 the tournament system among the different 

 forms, the lower forms having a greater 

 number of players than the higher. The 

 school professional bowls as well as coaches 

 at the nets, and sometimes has the eleven out 

 for a practice game, with a view to improve 

 the wicket-keeping and the fielding generally. 



In its short career the Whitgift School 

 Cricket Club has turned out a number of 

 excellent batsmen. Prominent mention 

 among them may be given to Geoffrey Marks, 

 the first boy to score a hundred for the school, 

 and a wicket-keeper of some ability, who has 

 played occasionally for Middlesex. T. P. 

 Harvey, who captained Surrey's second 

 eleven for a time, L. J. Turner, A. R. W. 

 Moody, C. Moss and H. L. Turner ; also 

 V. F. S. Crawford, Secretary of Leicester- 

 shire and formerly a Surrey amateur, learned 

 their cricket at Whitgift. D. F. S. Goodden 

 was the first of a long array of bowlers. The 

 best of the others were E. H. Bald, C. Moss, 



A. E. Howes, J. C. G. Harrison, and H. B. 



B. Hawkins, who played for Cambridge 

 University in 1899. Some of the hitting of 

 V. F. S. Crawford was phenomenal. He 

 scored 103 in 70 minutes, 28 in one over, 

 against St. Dunstan's College ; 218 out of 296, 

 before luncheon, for Young Amateurs &. Young 

 Professionals of Surrey ; 100 in 40 minutes 

 for Kennington v. Fareham ; 201 v. Black- 

 heath in 105 minutes, four overs yielding 

 respectively 24, 22, 19, and 17 runs apiece, 

 and 106 out of 128 in 42 minutes. 



At what precise date Charterhouse began 

 to play cricket is a question not easy to 



determine ; its registers go back as far as 1837, 

 and the game was then played with some 

 success, considering the limited space and 

 opportunities then available. We are not 

 called upon to unearth those dim and musty 

 records, for Charterhouse cricket, as identified 

 with the county of Surrey, began in 1872, 

 when the school moved out of London and 

 found a resting-place on the hill a mile out- 

 side Godalming. 



Though there was ground in plenty 

 it was not level, and having been mainly 

 a game preserve, a vast deal of labour was 

 required to level and clear even one fair-sized 

 ground 140 yards square ; when that one was 

 eventually finished, funds and patience were 

 alike exhausted, and that had to suffice the 

 whole school for the next ten years or so. 

 The ground itself was good, for much care 

 had been expended on it ; unfortunately, 

 however, the same care was not devoted to 

 its upkeep. If the match wickets were bad 

 — not to say dangerous — the practice wickets 

 were worse. The cricket feeling in the 

 school, given over as it was to the glories of 

 football, was not strong enough to make its 

 discontent heard, if discontent existed. 



In 1 88 1 four small grounds of about 25 

 by 30 yards were laid ; of these only two 

 are now left, and serve as practice grounds 

 for the eleven. By this time the num- 

 bers of the school had risen to over 500, 

 and there were only five grounds for 

 them : no wonder cricket did not flourish. 

 In 1888, however, a field of some 10 acres 

 adjoining the school property came into the 

 market ; the price asked was ;C4,ooo. It 

 was bought at once by the governing body, 

 and the money required for putting it in 

 playing order, some ;£2,ooo, was furnished 

 mainly by masters, friends and Old Car- 

 thusians, of whom the last-named, through 

 their cricket and football club, also built 

 a most excellent pavilion. The ground was 

 laid out in three terraces practically, with 

 three squares to a terrace, and a strip down 

 the south side for practice nets. This ground 

 has from the first been kept in excellent order ; 

 indeed, so good were both the wickets and 

 the out-fielding that it was felt something 

 must be done to bring the first eleven ground 

 into line with it. This result was brought 

 about by top-dressings of loam and clay ; 

 no expense was spared, and the result has 

 been eminently satisfactory to everybody 

 except bowlers. So fast and true are the 

 wickets now that it is difficult to induce good 

 amateur bowlers to face the ordeal, and it may 

 be that the hearts of many promising Charter- 

 house bowlers have been broken thereby. 



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