The next triumph of Oxford came in 1875. This was due to Mr. A. W.
Ridley, whose lobs were preternaturally successful at the crisis.
Both sides carried men famed in the game. Mr. A. J. Webbe has in some
measure occupied a unique position. Apart from his high repute as a
batsman, he has devoted himself with assiduity to cricket at both
Oxford and Harrow, in many ways materially influencing cricket, apart
from his illustrious connection with Middlesex. Others to be noted were
Mr. Vernon Royle, possibly the grandest field who ever donned flannels,
Mr. W. H. Game, a big hitter, apt to prove disappointing, and Mr. T.
W. Lang, who, besides being an admirable bowler, had trained into a
very useful bat. Mr. Ridley as a bat, too, was a delightful exponent of
the best Etonian traditions. Cambridge, however, enjoyed the services
of some wonderful cricketers. In his quiet, patient, yet admirable
method, how few can have excelled Mr. A. P. Lucas! Seven-and-twenty
years after the match in question, a junior among the last Australian
team expressed his opinion that Mr. Lucas was among the first flight of
English batsmen of to-day. One critic has judiciously remarked that he
never attempts to place a ball, or he would have scored three times
as many runs, but for sheer accuracy who can ever have surpassed him?
A colleague was Mr. Edward Lyttelton, most famous but one of all the
family—a fine bat, remarkably free, a magnificent field anywhere, with
heart and soul in the game. Mr. F. F. J. Greenfield, unorthodox but
capable, was another useful man, and the bowling rested mainly on W. S.
Patterson.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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