Page:Jubilee Book of Cricket (Second edition, 1897).djvu/378

356 meagre 112 by the two old Uppingham boys, W. S. Patterson and H. T. Luddington, each of whom had 5 wickets, for 8 and 10 runs apiece respectively. Only F. M. Buckland and R. Briggs could do anything with them. Patterson then proceeded to score 105 runs without losing his wicket (another record), backed up by A. P. Lucas with 67. Lucas also hails from Uppingham, which school also contributed D. Q. Steel to the Cambridge ranks. Oxford made a better show at the second attempt, and W. H. Game (log) had the honour of being the first Oxford man to score a century: it was quite a sound though a curious innings, as the batsman was content to play two or three balls very gently, and lashing out to the next—he was a tremendous hitter—would send it humming to the boundary. However, Cambridge required only 73 to win, and this cost but i wicket, that of the Hon. A. Lyttelton, who was unluckily run out when the match was a tie. Once again, after forty-two matches, the scores showed a tie of twenty matches each, two only having been drawn.

In 1878 Cambridge was reinforced by one of her greatest cricketers, A. G. Steel, who made a successful début with bat and ball. He scored 44 (not out) and 9, and had 8 wickets for 62 runs, and 5 wickets for 11. As in the latter innings P. H. Morton had 5 for 20, and but one extra was given away, 32 was the meagre Oxford total, though in the first innings only 127 had been scored. Lucas and the two Lytteltons (Edward and Alfred) all did good work with the bat, and Cambridge's victory by 238 runs was not only most decisive, but also a fair criterion of the merits of the two sides. A. H. Evans of Oxford, the fast bowler from Clifton, worked like a horse, bowled 90 overs, and secured 12 wickets for 141 runs. No man ever tried to do more for his University, but his reward was not to come till 1881. when he led his men to an easy victory.

Another win, by 9 wickets, fell to Cambridge in 1879; but the match was, on the whole, uneventful. Steel played a beautiful innings of 64, and captured 11 wickets for 66 runs, he and A. F. J. Ford getting rid of the Oxford men for 64 runs in their second attempt, the first having reached 149, A. H. Heath claiming 45, and E. T. Hirst 35; but the Dark-blues had quite a poor side. For Cambridge the Hon. A. Lyttelton played admirably for 53 and H. Whitfeld for 31, the whole side totalling 198. A. H. Evans and F. G. Jellicoe, the Oxford crack bowlers, got but a single wicket apiece, and each of these wickets cost 60 runs. Very powerful again in 1880, Cambridge secured her third