Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/111

 upon the doings in 1865, it will be useful to revert for a little to the past.

The All-England and United All-England Elevens were still in full swing, playing as many as thirty matches during the season. Scotland and Ireland were now included in the list of their engagements; but rarely was either eleven seen in the South. They still possessed the cream of the professional talent; and when they played against each other, the display was still the finest of the season. Down to the year 1864 the two elevens had met fourteen times, and results showed six wins each, two drawn. And, so far, not a single member of either eleven had scored a hundred runs in an innings. Carpenter scored 97 in the 1859 match; but that was the nearest approach to it. The reason, no doubt, was owing principally to the quality of their bowling and the rough wickets which were played on then. It is told of Clarke's Eleven that on one occasion when it visited Cornwall a man fielding at long-on flushed a covey of partridges, and that a patch 40 yards by 10 was the only part of the ground that was ever cut or rolled. But it might, in a degree, be attributed to the fact that professional players did not cultivate batting as much as bowling, knowing that, however good they might be at the former, they must excel in the latter to secure an engagement with a club of any importance. The aim of every club was to engage a good bowler as soon as its finances permitted. The player who averaged a double figure at the end of the season was considered to have batted exceptionally well; and when a good bowler did it he was looked upon as an all-round first-class cricketer indeed, and could command a very high price for his services.

The averages of a number of the prominent batsmen of both elevens in the annual matches played against each other from their inauguration in 1857 will show