Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/28

20 (height, 5 ft. 10 ins.; weight, 15 st.) was a good all-round player: first-class as a batsman, possessing tremendous hitting powers, a good bowler and wicket-keeper, and one of the best single wicket players of his time.

Mr. (born at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire; height, 5 ft. 9 ins.; weight, 12 st.) excelled as a batsman, but was good all round: he used a bat 3 Ibs. in weight, hit terrifically, and played cricket from his seventeenth year until his seventieth.

Mr. (born 1786 or 1787; height, 5 ft. 6 ins.; weight, 10½ st.) was a splendid batsman; but made his mark more as a bowler, being considered the fastest who had yet appeared. His reputation as a single-wicket player was only second to Lambert's, and together they were equal to any pair in England. A good story is told of a single-wicket match made between Osbaldeston and Lambert on one side, and Lord Frederick Beauclerk and Howard on the other. It was a p. p. match for fifty guineas, and the result was thought to determine which was the strongest pair of that time. On the day of the match Osbaldeston was ill, and Lord Frederick was asked to postpone the match.

"No! Play or pay," said his lordship.

"I won't forfeit," said Osbaldeston. "Lambert may beat you both; and if he does, he shall have the money."

His lordship would not hear of it. "Nonsense," he said, "you don't mean it."

"Yes; play or pay, my lord. We are in earnest and shall claim the stakes."

Score: Lambert—First innings, 56; second innings, 24; total, 80. Lord Beauclerk and Howard—First innings, 24; second innings, 42; total, 66.