Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/376

 He has been a very useful man with the bat for his county, and has broken the heart of many a bowler. I must confess to siding with a freer style; but once or twice, when a rot had set in, and runs were wanted badly, I wished from the bottom of my heart that Scotton, or a batsman of his type, had been opposite me. When England played Australia at the Oval in 1886, he and I batted first, and put on 170 runs before we were parted. We had been batting three hours and three-quarters, and Scotton's share was 34. At one stage of the innings he was in an hour and seven minutes without scoring. One cannot imagine what the crowd would have done if two Scottons had been batting at the same time.

Whatever may be said about Scotton's style of batting, there cannot be two opinions about his being worth a place in the Nottinghamshire or any eleven. The fact of his having been chosen to represent England proves it. Besides, he has scored 100 in an innings oftener than most players imagine, and on two occasions has exceeded 200 runs for the M.C.C.; and he has also shown well up in the first-class averages for years. He has been to Australia on three occasions; and represented the Players against the Gentlemen as long ago as 1880. For a left-hand batsman, he plays very straight; but he has no particular hit. He is an excellent field and safe catch anywhere; and a fair left-hand, roundarm, medium pace practice bowler.

Alfred Shaw was born at Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire, 29th August, 1842. His height was 5 ft. 6½ in.; weight, at his best, about 12 st. He has proved himself to be one of the very best round-arm bowlers of the present century. Rather strangely, he was played at first for his batting, and he performed very well: but after 1870, when he began to bowl about medium pace, his success was so great that his batting excellence was