though it is 66 years ago, his look of ineffable disgust and dismay
when I had pitched a ball some four or five inches wide to the off,
and he had shouldered his bat meaning to punish it as it rose by a
smart cut to point, the tortuous creature shot in obliquely and took
his middle stump, when he had only got two runs. Precisely the same
happened again in his second innings, only then he got no runs at all.
Again in Eton v. Harrow 1823 I had bowled him at 7. And yet he was
considered the best bat on the Eton side next to Barnard. He now made
47 runs, while no one else on the Cambridge side scored more than 8.
He was also successful as a bowler, taking five wickets, mine included
(against which he had a very strong claim), though I do not remember
that he had much reputation in that line; and certainly upon the whole
the Cambridge bowling must have been very indifferent to allow some of
our men to run up the scores which stand to their names.
Though often successful as a bowler (left-handed, under-hand), batting
(right-handed) was, if I may be bold to say so, my _forte_. In 1828,
the next year after this match, my average, upwards of 40, was higher
than that of any other in the Oxford eleven. I mention this with the
less compunction because in the second Inter-University match my name
appears without a run in either innings, and I wish to state how
the failure is to be accounted for. In that year, 1829, the first
Inter-University boatrace took place at Henley, and I was one of
the eight. As boating and cricket were then carried on in the same
(summer) term, and the race and the match were both to come off in the
same week, I wished to resign my place in the eleven. But this was not
allowed. I had therefore no alternative but to make my appearance and
do my best, though I had not played once before during the season, and
though I was suffering from the effects of my rowing in a way which
made it almost impossible for me to hold a bat. However, though I got
no runs, I was so far of use that I bowled two, and caught two of our
opponents; and we won the match, not quite so triumphantly as in 1827
(if a ‘drawn’ match can be so described), but quite easily enough, as
we had won the boatrace quite ‘easily’ two days before, Wednesday,
June 10th.
Of the players in the two elevens, who contended at Lord’s more than
60 years ago, five--if not six--I believe, are still living. Who shall
say how much the lengthening of their days beyond the ordinary span of
our existence here is to be attributed to ‘Cricket’s manly toil’?
I have now done the best I could to comply with the request made to
me as an old cricketer, and if I have been garrulous, and if I have
been egotistical, I can fairly plead, that this is no more than was
to be expected when an ultra-octogenarian was applied to for his
reminiscences.
CHARLES WORDSWORTH.
ST. ANDREWS: _May 16, 1888_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account