Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/134

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
126
CRICKET.

C. J. Ottaway, T. Wise, Lieut. Scott, Daft and Rowbotham. My brother Fred also scored 206, and Mr. L. C. Howell 201.

I had the honour of being elected a member of the M.C.C., and played my first match on the 13th of May, against Oxford University, at Cowley Marsh, and scored 117 out of a total of 229; and by the end of the season my results for that club were:

In batting 12 innings, 724 runs; average, 60.4.
In bowling 426 overs: 209 maidens; 570 runs; 44 wickets; average, 12.42.

And I scored over a hundred runs in an innings four times for it.

County Cricket was in favour of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire that year, they running a dead heat for first honours. Surrey played as many as twelve county matches; but was defeated by both Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. Cambridgeshire had ceased to exist as a county; although a match under that title was played against Yorkshire at Leeds, on the 10th and 11th July, which resulted in a great defeat for Cambridgeshire. Tarrant was seized with illness in the early part of the season, and did not play again, and Cambridgeshire without him was far below the best county form. Lancashire, Sussex, and Kent did not improve on their 1868 form; and Middlesex having lost their ground at Islington,, only played two matches against Surrey one at Lord's, the other at the Oval.

The North v. South matches were resumed; but again Parr, Carpenter, and Hayward declined to play. With Freeman and Emmett at their best, however, the North could hold its own without them, and the contests ranked next in importance to those between the Gentlemen and Players. They met three times during the season, and the South won two out of the three. I