Page:Cricket, by WG Grace.djvu/84

 Altogether E. M. scored 150, without the semblance of a chance, and his hitting was clean and hard. I was down on the sheet as eighth man, and at the end of the first day scored 35 not out very patiently and correctly, they say; and next day added 15 more. I was not quite twelve years of age, and played with the bat my godfather gave me. A little later the same year we played Gloucester and Cheltenham combined, and won by an innings and 27 runs.

The year 1861 was not an encouraging one to me or my teachers; for in ten innings played I only scored 46 runs. The matches were principally for West Gloucestershire, against Clifton, Lansdown, Knole Park, and Bedminster then, as now, the best clubs in the neighbourhood of Bristol. I was now very tall for my age, and could get well over the ball. The club had one or two peculiar experiences that year, which were strongly illustrative of country cricket.

In the Lansdown match scoring was very one-sided. Partly owing to the weather, only seven men put in an appearance for Lansdown when the match began, and my uncle and E. M. disposed of them for 33 runs. There was little in that to discourage them; but at the end of the day, when the same pair had scored 147 without being parted E. M. 75, uncle 69, one or two of the Lansdown players did not hesitate to say that there was neither reason nor fun in the match, and hoped that the West Gloucestershire eleven would not mind if they abandoned it. The West Gloucestershire only laughed; for they could remember a similar experience against the same club in 1847, when Lansdown had the laugh on their side. Then Lansdown scored 74 first innings; West Gloucestershire, 6 only. Only nine overs were bowled, and it was a most inglorious procession. At the end of the day Lansdown had scored 128 for five wickets in their second innings; and West