Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/395

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CRICKETERS I HAVE MET.
387

not to be outdone in originality, put on H. H. Stephenson to bowl grubs when the Gentlemen commenced batting; but the result was sadly different. The same year for Gentlemen v. Players at Brighton, John Lillywhite's benefit, he had only eight balls bowled to him, off which he scored 34—7 fours and 1 six. But his finest performance was at Scarborough, fifteen years later, for Gentlemen of England v. I Zingari, when he scored 107 not out, Mr. A. G. Steel being the bowler most punished. There were 8 sixes, 12 fours, 2 twos, and 7 singles in his score; one of the sixes off Steel went right out of the ground, over the high houses, and into the square beyond. Unfortunately this hit could not be measured; but it was thought by those who witnessed it to be the largest he ever made. There is no waiting to get set in his batting. The first over is invariably as sensational as the last, and right sorry are spectators and players alike when he leaves the wicket.

He was chosen President of Cambridge University Cricket Club in 1872, and was closely identified with the old Orleans Club. Of late years he has taken a very prominent part in arranging matches in connection with the Scarborough Festival, and no one is more heartily welcomed there.

It is difficult to find out the exact distance of his greatest hits, but the following can be relied on: In 1878, in a minor match, in which he scored 188 not out, two of the hits travelled 140 yards before they touched the ground. At Brighton he hit a ball which travelled 168 yards before it pitched, the distance being measured by the Rev. J. Pycroft. At Canterbury, in a North v. South match, he hit one off W. M. Rose 152 yards, which was measured by W. de Chair Baker; and at the Orleans Club, off Boyle, the Australian, he hit one the same distance, which was measured by Rylott and