Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/403

 Australia in 1882-83, and took out a team of his own in 1887-88. He also took out a team of amateurs to India in October, 1889.

Mr. Isaac Walker (cricketer) was born at Southgate, 8th January, 1844. His height was 5 ft. 11½ ins.; weight, at his best, about 13 st. He was, without doubt, one of the finest amateur batsmen I ever played with or against, and an earnest and most enthusiastic supporter of the game. It looks rather strange to me to write of him in the past tense, for it seems only the other day that he was playing in first-class cricket with all the dash and brilliancy of his youth, though the years had silvered his head. His batting style was a model of ease and power. He stood very erect, played with a straight bat, and his hitting was clean and vigorous. One hit of his always came off, and puzzled his opponents sadly. A half volley on the off he drove over cover-point's head, and it invariably travelled to the boundary. I can only remember three other players who hit in that peculiar way—Mr. Massie, of Australia; Mr. A. J. Webbe, of Middlesex; and Mr. Radcliffe, of Gloucestershire; but neither does it so successfully as Mr. Walker did. Another peculiarity of his was batting without pads. I know he is about as plucky an athlete as you will find in a day's journey, and I daresay he thinks, with one or two other players I know, that if a player cannot protect his legs with his bat he does not know how to use it; but, all the same, I have seen him put on pads to Freeman's bowling.

It would require more room than I can spare to recount half of his great innings. Repeatedly he has scored over 100 in an innings, and more than once over 1,000 runs during the season in first-class matches. His 165 in the Gentlemen v. Players' match at the Oval in 1868, in his 25th year, will undoubtedly be considered his finest performance; for it was made