Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/318

 if you had been cut with a knife or a piece of the skin had been snipped off. The first time I met him was in the South v. North match at Sheffield in 1869, when I had just completed my twenty-first year, and was batting in my best form. In the first innings I made 122 out of a total of 169, and Freeman was the only bowler who gave me trouble; in the second innings he beat me with a shooter, and after the ball hit the wicket it kept spinning for a few seconds between the stumps, and then lay perfectly dead at the bottom of them.

As a bat he was a fine hitter, and scored largely at times, as witness his 123 for Malton v. All-England Eleven in 1868, against Tarrant, Tinley, J. C. Shaw and Alfred Shaw. Owing to pressure of business, he played very little first-class cricket after 1872. I sometimes think if a bowler of the quality of Freeman were to appear to-day, he would astonish the majority of good batsmen who think it a first-rate performance to keep up their wickets against medium-pace bowlers because they can break a little both ways. Freeman was a good fieldsman as well, and a real good fellow also. His best bowling years were:


 * 1867 || 564 || 310 || 553 || 66 || 8.25
 * 1868 || 392 || 197 || 454 || 46 || 9.40
 * 1869 || 540 || 300 || 577 || 50 || 11.27
 * 1870 || 433 || 216 || 417 || 55 || 7.32
 * 1871 || 255 || 122 || 331 || 29 || 11.12
 * }
 * 1870 || 433 || 216 || 417 || 55 || 7.32
 * 1871 || 255 || 122 || 331 || 29 || 11.12
 * }
 * 1871 || 255 || 122 || 331 || 29 || 11.12
 * }

Mr. was born at Wollongong, near Sydney, New South Wales, on the 26th July, 1858. His height is 5 ft. 11 ins.; weight, 12 st. He came to England with the first Australian Eleven, and was very successful as a bowler. He bowls right-hand, fast round-arm, mostly over the wicket, and has a beautifully easy action. The ball