Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/365

 ances compared favourably with the very best of our wicket-keepers. I have seen him fail to touch a ball that such players as Mr. Bush, Finder and Lockyer could have reached with ease; but then I have seen him sprint from the wicket to short-leg, and bring off a catch which I very much question if either of those players could have got to.

He was as plucky as he was quick, and faced fast bowling with a cheerful face and a stout heart; but it was against slow bowling that he did his remarkable performances, and created his reputation as long ago as 1872. For Sussex v. Surrey on the 20th June of that year, he stumped 5 and caught 5; for Sussex v. Yorkshire, 2oth August, 1874, he stumped 3 and caught 4; and for the United South in 1875 he stumped 3 and caught 7 against Twenty-two of Chelmsford; G. F. Grace, Lillywhite and myself the bowlers. He did good work for his county a great many years, and he was fairly successful for the Players v. Gentlemen in 1871 and 1873.

As a batsman he was very steady, but did not hit much or score heavily; although he rather astonished the Australian Eleven in 1884, when he scored in against them for his county off the bowling of Spofforth, Palmer and Giffen, and with Mr. Wyatt, who scored 112, put on 182 runs for the eighth wicket.

Richard Pilling was born at Bedford, on July 5th, 1855, and made his first appearance for Lancashire in 1877. He very quickly showed that he had no superior as a wicket-keeper in England, and gained hosts of admirers for his quick, neat, and quiet style. Very few stand so close to the wicket as he does, and he is equally effective on both sides. For his county, the Players v. Gentlemen, and English teams in Australia, he has done excellent work; but after 1883 ill-health prevented him from appearing so often as the cricketing public desired, and of late years he has played very little at all. He will