Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/45

 interesting contests were played, and the Eleven compelled to put its best foot forward.

Every player of the twenty-two was naturally anxious to do his best against such celebrated players, for well he knew that his success would be talked about over the length and breadth of the land. To keep up one's wicket for half-an-hour, even without scoring, against the best bowling in England, v/as to create a reputation locally; to score a double figure and be praised by one of those great men, was something to boast of for a lifetime. A good many of us can date our first experience of first-class play from witnessing the famous All-England Eleven, and hundreds will tell with glistening eyes of the good old times when they were considered worthy of a place against it.

The first match played was against twenty of Sheffield, on August 31st, September 1st and 2nd, 1846, Sheffield winning by five wickets. The All-England Eleven players were:

That was a team that could hold its own against any eleven in England; but not to be compared with the team of 1847, or a year or two later, which had such good men in it as G. Parr, F. W. Lillywhite, and J. Wisden.

Clarke was the central figure, and for years met with phenomenal success as a slow underhand bowler. As a leader he knew the value of a change of bowling, believing the greater the difference of style