Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/132

 out of 96 first innings, and 66 out of 179 second; and we defeated the old club by 92 runs. The M.C.C. had not played England since 1856, and did not again until 1877.

The North of the Thames v. South of the Thames was played, in place of the North v. South match, at Lord's, on the 8th of June, and was one of the curiosities of those contests. The North Eleven was not a particularly strong one, and the match was finished in one day, the South winning by nine wickets. A shower of rain in the early part of the day caused the ground to kick, and in five hours thirty-one wickets were disposed of for 260 runs. Mr. A. N. Hornby appeared in the North team on that occasion.

At Lord's on the 29th and 30th June the Gentlemen defeated the Players by eight wickets, and I scored 134 not out in a total of 201. It was my first hundred in those matches; and the wicket was very hard and fast, which suited me splendidly. I hit very hard, and rarely made a mistake; and I believe even to-day that it was one of the finest innings I have ever played. The wicket played queerly, and everything was run out at Lord's in those days, and not once in the innings did Willsher, Grundy, Lillywhite or Wootton cause me any trouble; and I very seldom allowed the ball to pass the bat. I captured six wickets for 50 runs first innings; four for 31 second.

The return match at the Oval on the 2nd and 3rd July saw Mr. I. D. Walker in magnificent batting form. He scored 165 out of a total of 379, and never played a better innings in his life. Every bowler was hit all over the ground by him, and Lillywhite and Willsher were on four times. In his score there were two 6's, three 5's, and seventeen 4's. The bowling of Mr. David Buchanan in the second innings was another feature of the match. He captured nine wickets for 82 runs