Page:The international cricket match.djvu/21

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himself into notoriety—it was in a match in 1845, between the rival counties of Kent and Nottingham. Parr played on the Nottingham side, and had two glorious innings; he was then only twenty-three years of age, and displayed some of the best play during the match. He carried his hat out both innings, an uncommon triumph, particularly regarded so on that occasion, as the men who were opposed to him were the same strong party who had just before played "All England."

His career as a Cricketer has since been a succession of brilliant exhibitions of skill, but his last great performance has outdone all that had gone before, brilliant as they had been.

In the great match between the rival counties of Surrey and Nottingham, played last summer at Lord's, in which many of the best Cricketers in the world were engaged, and in which there was an unprecedented aggregate of runs obtained. Parr scored one hundred and thirty in one innings.

Parr is now about thirty-three years of age, in full vigor, apparently, of health and strength. His appearance is particularly striking, and his manner of striking the ball equally so.

Grundy, like Parr, is a Nottingham man, famous among Cricketers as a splendid bowler, and magnificent bat. He has made many displays of his skill, but, perhaps he has never made a grander display than he did at Lord's Ground, (London,) in July last, when playing on the side of eleven gentlemen and players of England against sixteen gentlemen of the University of Oxford, he defended his wicket for six hours, scoring 108, for which he was presented with a new bat, on returning to the pavilion.

Jackson is classed as a Nottingham man, and plays on that side—but he was born in Suffolk. He is notorious for the terrific celerity of his bowling. Human power, it is thought, cannot shoot a ball quicker than his right arm.

Caffyn is from Reigate, in the County of Surrey; he is an excellent bowler and fielder, and equaled by few as a batsman. Playing recently in one of the greatest matches ever played in England—a match between the rival counties of Surrey and Nottingham, at which there was an aggregate of runs unprecedented—I believe, in the annals of Cricket—Caffyn scored off his own bat in the first innings of the Surrey side, seventy-six; also, in another match, when playing as one of the "United Eleven," he made 124 in his first innings, of six hours and a half, and broke three bats in doing it.

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