Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/313

Rh On Thursdays the school eleven plays a practice game against the next seven or eight, supplemented by masters and professionals, and Saturdays are reserved for foreign matches.

About thirty of the best youngsters are formed into a "Colts' Club," and are carefully selected at the beginning of term. They have special nets and a special professional, and play Saturday games among themselves; on other days they take part in the "Little-Side" dormitory matches, which are arranged on the League system for first, second, and third elevens, a win for the first eleven counting as four marks, for the second eleven as two marks, and for the third as one, the house which aggregates the highest total winning the "Little-Side" Cricket Cup.

The coaching for the colts and the players on "Big-Side" is undertaken by several masters as well as the professionals; and as some two and a half hours are set apart daily for purposes of practice, there is no lack of opportunity, besides which the Thursday game is regarded as a good occasion for coaching in fielding and the general conduct of the game. The selection of the school eleven is in the hands of the old "colours"; but in general details the captain is paramount, backed up by the advice and help of the masters who interest themselves in the game. All disputes and questions are settled by the "Committee of-Games."

The chief match is played at Lord's against Cheltenham College in the same week as the Rugby-Marlborough fixture. Hitherto four matches have been played, of which Cheltenham has won one, and three have been drawn; but the closeness of the fights has been really remarkable, and as the Cheltenham cricket of late years has been of a very high standard, the fact of these close finishes bears larger testimony to the skill as well as the nerve of the Haileybury players, though from various circumstances it is seldom that they come prominently before the public after they have left school. For results of matches with Uppingham and Wellington see under those schools.

Harrow cricket is not particularly blessed in its surroundings. The school buildings are most healthily perched on a hill, and at the foot thereof are its playing-fields, which form a sort of