29 MAY 1941, Page 10

LORD'S IN WAR-TIME

By OLIVER WARNER

LAST Saturday—appropriately enough on Empire Day—two resounding teams met at Lord's for the biggest, if not the first, match of the season. Sir Pelham Warner's eleven, with such stalwarts as Barnett of Gloucester, R. E. S. Wyatt, Nichols of Essex, Robins and Sims of Middlesex, met Major Stephen- son's Empire XI. In this, individual stars were fewer, but B. H. Lyon, the West Indian bowler Clarke, and the stumper W. M. F. Bebbington, of Darjeeling, helped to build it into a repre- sentative and, as it proved, a most creditable team, only beaten narrowly after a good game.

Lord's was there all right, the turf as green as the lack of rain had allowed, and still lovingly tended, still patched with the relics of other pitches. The pavilion was full, the red tabs of the higher staff glowing from a distance, khaki mainly, but mixed here and there with the blues of the other services. The public was not comparable in size with that for so good a match in peace time, despite a mere sixpenny admission, but it made up in enthusiasm what it lacked in numbers, keeping up the particular Lord's tradition of appreciation of fielding. There were even score cards, and boys to sell them, so like old times was it. The weather, it is true, was not kind. The clouds were low; the light poor. Wind stretched the flags over the pavilion towards the nursery end, and despite the miracle of being able to watch a game in this, the second summer of the war, one felt that the heavens did not wholly approve. Like so much else in battered London, it was something achieved under handicaps, though gaily done, and with the old dignity.

And yet, to all appearances, this was indeed first-class cricket: a break in the ban. Nichols, for instance, played as if in full match practice, with his county rising in the Championship. He bowled more overs at the Empire men than anyone else, took 4 wickets at a cost of 6 apiece, and went on to play a sterling innings of 55. Essex, in fact, did well, for R Smith bowled for the opposite side with great distinction, taking 7 for 69 ; and Major Stephenson (though he gave him- self too long an opening spell), kept down the runs. The North, as always, addressed itself to the game with due heed. Next to B. H. Lyon, the Lancastrian Nutter batted best for his side, making top score, 27 ; while the Yorkshire Halliday, of whom Lord's has seen little, opened sturdily for Sir Pelham's. But it was Robins and Nichols who first livened the afternoon, adding over a score between them in a match of twinkling wickets, Robins stepping down the pitch in the remembered way between lovely if unorthodox square hits, and being bowled in the end neck and crop, like Compton.

It was a bowler's game, hence full of shocks and surprises. For instance, with but 55 on the board for 5 Sir Pelham's team looked certain losers against a score of 142, and it was due solely to an exciting swing round of the batting by Nichols and Garland Wells that the match turned into a glorious uncertainty, and then into a narrow win for their side. Above all, the teams created the illusion that this was, indeed, first- class cricket. There was no tip-and-run atmosphere about it. The ritual was as solemn as ever, and the sound of leather on willow as sweet to the ears.

Some of the players felt the ball lovingly between the overs. If this game were indeed an illusion, what could be happier? And it is to be followed up. There is, in fact, a defiant 1941 Lord's season, stretching through June, July and the whole of August. A summer without cricket of any sort is as unthink- able as the swastika flying over Lord's pavilion, with one of those boringly impressive spade-swinging ceremonies profan- ing its green and luminous peace. We are not to be so deprived, and it is up to any who can to see and enjoy these future matches. Their organisation—improvisation would be a truer word—is gallant, and they bring heart when we most need it, with a solid glimpse of a better future.