Page:Cricket (Steel, Lyttelton).djvu/354

326

to play drawn matches be a constant reproach against certain elevens, neither University eleven can be blamed on this score. Fifty-three matches have been begun between these old rivals, and no fewer than fifty-one have been finished. Of the two drawn matches, one, the first ever played, was confined to one day only; the second was so long ago as 1844, and that was confined to two days. All the rest have been fought out to the end, and of the fifty-one completed matches Cambridge has won twenty-six times and Oxford twenty-five; thus Cambridge has a proud balance of one in its favour. All the matches except five have been played at Lord's; the remaining five were played at Oxford, three on the Magdalen ground, one on Cowley Marsh, and one on Bullingdon Green. The dark blues appear to have been slightly favoured in this respect—for presumably they knew their way about Oxford grounds better than their rivals—and out of the five matches played at Oxford, Cambridge only succeeded in winning one. The rules of qualification to play in this match are now strict only in one particular, and that is that nobody is allowed to play more than four times. Several players have played five matches, and their names are: C. H. Ridding, A. Ridding, C. D. Marsham, and R. D. Walker, all Oxford men. The fact that some players play on a side for five years may constitute a slight reason for causing the side they assist to lose matches and not win them; but during the last three years that Mr. R. D. Walker helped his University he also