Johnson P: Memories of a bygone golden age of cricket (15 Jan 95)

Memories of a bygone golden age of cricket - Peter Johnson

What a difference there might have been in the fight for the Ashes if Mike Atherton had been able to call on more men of Tip Foster's calibre. Who? Step forward "Tip" Foster, England's scourge of the Australians nearly a century ago and one of seven cricketing brothers who played for Worcestershire, known appropriately as "Fostershire".

He will be in the public eye a week on Thursday, the day the fourth and penultimate Test begins at Adelaide. His reputation has earned him a place in a remarkable collection of cricket memorabilia that comes to sale in London on that day. A rare medal awarded to Foster and commemorating the MCC tour to Australia in 1903-04 could make about Pounds 300.

Foster's exploits were legendary: a stylish right-handed batsman, he scored 287 on his Test debut in Sydney, went on to captain England's cricketers in South Africa in 1907 and when selected to captain his country's football team became the only man to lead England in both sports.

[.. Stuff on Hal Cohen, the collector, deleted ..]

A watercolour cartoon by Spy (Sir Leslie Ward) of Prince Ranjitsinhji, described in 1897 by the magazine Vanity Fair as "one of the finest bats in the world", is estimated by Phillips at Pounds 3,000-Pounds 5,000; in 1952 Cohen paid Pounds 1212s (Pounds 12.60) for it and six other pictures. Spy cartoons of two other cricket stalwarts, now estimated at Pounds 2,000-Pounds 3,000 each, were bought for Pounds 25 the pair an outstandingly high price for the 1952 sale, which saw similar material averaging Pounds 2 apiece.

Another rewarding investment was just over Pounds 8 on a portrait, possibly of George Parr, a 19th-century Nottinghamshire star, ready to bat dressed in whites, bow tie and top hat. Its Cohen sale estimate is Pounds 1,200-Pounds 1,800.

Nevertheless, it needed faith and a shrewd nose for a good buy to pay even these prices in 1952 when cricket memorabilia was far from being a popular collecting subject. It was to be another 20 years before collectors of the game emerged in large numbers and it became a specialised line for dealers and auction houses. At every turn in the Cohen catalogue, England is reminded of past glories. WGGrace is in good company.

At Pounds 200-Pounds 300 there is a print of John Wisden, who in 1864 founded Wisden's Cricketers' Almanac, the inimitable reference to feats on the field that today scores some startling prices for old volumes. We are reminded that Wisden (Sussex, Middlesex, All-England) was no armchair player who merely kept records but in 1850 became the first bowler to clean bowl all 10 wickets in an innings.

And there is a vignette of a memorable Oval afternoon in 1884 when Australia passed 500 with only six wickets down. Into the breach for England stepped Alfred Lyttleton, a successful barris- ter, whose cartoon image as crouching wicket-keeper has an uncanny resemblance to Basil Fawlty (price in 1952 under Pounds 2, next week's estimate Pounds 1,000-Pounds 1,500). Lyttleton took off his pads and lob-bowled four Aussies for 19.

Howzat, Mike Atherton? The ghosts of England are with you.

(Thanks : Sunday Times, 15 Jan 95)