Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/336

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

way when he picked it up. I had the sense to keep running, and Willsher hearing my feet thundering behind him lost his head, and instead of putting the wicket down quietly, as he might have done, let fly with all his force and missed it by yards! I believe that was the culminating point of our temporary insanity; for Mr. Hornby and I were so tickled at the absurdity of the run attempted that we settled down and played correctly.

Mr. Hornby's scores have been very large. He has exceeded 100 as many as eight times in one year, and more than once has scored over 200 runs in an innings. He scored 104 in the Gentlemen v. Players match in 1873, against the bowling of J. C. Shaw, Alfred Shaw, Emmett, Willsher and James Lillywhite; and 144 in the same match, against Mycroft, Morley, Emmett, Ulyett and Barratt, in 1877; and at the end of the season of 1881 took first place in batting honours, being well ahead of both amateurs and professionals. Three times in 1881 he scored over a hundred in an innings for his county, the highest being 188, against Derbyshire.

No finer fieldsman ever donned flannels: in his best days he was most brilliant at coverpoint or longleg, and never seemed to tire. He has captained the Lancashire Eleven to many a glorious victory, and he is almost idolised by them.

His best batting years:

Completed Innings. Runs. Most in an Innings. Average.
1870 8 338 132 42.2
1872 10 314 80 31.4
1873 17 586 64 34.8
1877 26 764 144 29.10
1879 20 606 64* 30.6
1881 37 1531 188 41.4
1882 49 1383 131 28.11
1890 30 672 75 22.12