which I caught on the bound. I tossed it up, and said, "That 's a hot 'un, Jim!" then chucked it to the bowler. To my surprise, Southerton walked away, and was indignant when long-slip said, "You're not out, Jim!" Pooley whistled to him to return. "Keep quiet, Pooley," I said, "and we'll have the laugh at him." The match was a foregone conclusion, or we should not have carried the joke out; but to his dying day Southerton would not admit that it was other than a genuine catch.
His umpiring powers were rather hazy also. He was umpiring in the Castlemaine match of our Australian tour, when I hit a ball which the fieldsman caught, but fell over the ropes with it. It was four under and five over. "How's that, umpire?" "Not out," said he: "it was out of bounds when he caught it." "Then I must have five runs for it," I said; but he would not allow more than the single we had run, and for the life of him he could not see it must either be out or five runs. I did not say much at the time; for I should not have been surprised if he had changed his mind and given me out. All the same, there were not many better-hearted players than Jimmy Southerton. His best bowling years in first-class cricket were:
Overs. | Maidens. | Runs. | Wickets. | Average. | |
1867 | 996 | 361 | 1522 | 112 | 13.66 |
1868 | 1039 | 328 | 1976 | 151 | 13.13 |
1869 | 1371 | 505 | 2081 | 133 | 15.86 |
1870 | 1863 | 696 | 3069 | 210 | 14.129 |
1871 | 1612 | 636 | 2358 | 151 | 15.93 |
1872 | 1458 | 487 | 2019 | 167 | 12.15 |
1873 | 1386 | 671 | 1833 | 132 | 13.117 |
1874 | 1200 | 583 | 1523 | 127 | 11.126 |
1875 | 1522 | 737 | 1810 | 137 | 13.29 |
Mr. Frederick Robert Spofforth was born at Balmain, near Sydney, on the 9th September, 1855. His height is 6 ft. 3 ins.; weight, 12 st. 2 lbs. First-class bowlers have come and gone with the Australian Elevens, but to my mind not one of them has come up