Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/155

 5th June—166 balls for seven runs and seven wickets, six of them clean bowled, my own among them. It took me an hour to make 10 runs, and I thought and still think as much of that hour's play as I do of many an hour in which I scored close upon a hundred. Mr. G. Strachan did a very fine performance with the ball also. For the Gentlemen v. Players, at the Oval, he with 21 balls got 5 wickets, and no runs were scored off him.

That year was my greatest success with the ball; the sticky wickets suiting my bowling as nicely as the fast suited my batting, and I captured 192 wickets during the season, for an average of 12.166 runs. I had never done so well before, nor have I since.

Batting, as I have said, suffered in consequence. One young player, Mr. A. J. Webbe, however, came to the front with a rush, and played two or three very fine innings during the season. For the Gentlemen v. Players, at Lord's, in the second innings, he and I put on 203 runs for the first wicket, and his defence and patience were perfect. He was 20 years of age at the time.

Two great bowlers dropped out of first-class cricket that year J. C. Shaw and E. Willsher. Freeman had dropped out a year or two before; so that three of the very best bowlers we have ever had had now left the ranks. I question if we have had three such really good fast bowlers since. Just about that time medium-pace bowling began to be cultivated, and very fast was neglected by both amateur and professional.

The Players won one out of the three matches played against the Gentlemen and one was drawn. The North v. South matches were not quite so interesting as in former years. When only two matches were played, the interest and excitement were great; but this year as many as seven were played in different parts of the country, and the public and the players themselves got tired of them.