Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/285

 was just as successful in the Gentlemen v. Players and other matches. Few bowlers had so easy and beautiful an action, or could keep up their end for so long a time without going to pieces. He bowled fast round, left-hand, took a deliberate and long run, was very straight, and kept a good length. He very rarely bowled a loose ball: now and then you might get one a little bit short, but it rose quickly off the pitch, and required a very quick eye and flexible wrist to do anything with it. The general opinion is that he was one of the best of our amateur bowlers.

He had a wonderful break from the off for a left-hand bowler. The ball came with his hand, and I remember he bowled Daft with such a ball in the Gentlemen v. Players' match at Lord's in 1872, when he had scored 102 runs. The ball was so wide of the wicket that Daft did not attempt to play it. For Mr. Fitzgerald's team, in Canada and America, he bowled very successfully, and came out second in the batting averages.

was born at Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, on the 12th June, 1861. His height is 5 ft. 10 ins.; weight, 11 st. 12 lbs. He had barely completed his twentieth year when he was asked to represent his county, and it may be safely said of him that he has been the mainstay of the team in bowling since 1884. The year 1889 was a great year with him, and to-day his hand has lost none of its cunning. He has been equally successful for the M.C.C., for the Players v. Gentlemen, for English elevens in Australia, and against Australian elevens in England.

He bowls right-hand, round-arm, medium-pace, is very straight, and keeps a wonderfully good length; in fact his length is so good and accurate, that he can depend on it alone to get wickets on an indifferent ground. When the wicket is at all sticky, his break from the off