Page:Cricket (Lyttelton, 1898).djvu/71

Rh When, in the early sixties, George Parr and H. H. Stephenson took out two elevens to Australia, they always played against odds; and, in fact, the style of Australian cricket in those days was of a very similar type to that encountered by the old All England and United Elevens in their tours about Great Britain, when they used to play against local twenty-two's, who were as a rule fortified by two good professional bowlers, such as Hodgson and Slinn.

But the first-rate English batting, bowling, and fielding shown by the two teams taken out by Parr and Stephenson must have had an enormous effect on Australian cricket; for between 1864 and 1873 (in which latter year W. G. Grace took out a fair but not first-rate lot) Australian cricket had improved to a large extent. But even Grace's eleven never contended on even terms with the Australians, although they did not always play against twenty-two opponents, and they were beaten on three occasions. Grace's eleven was not by any means first-class: it