All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

37 The Players’ innings followed a similar pattern to that of the Australians: a reasonable start and then a massive collapse, 59 for two becoming, thanks to six successive ducks, 82 all out. Spofforth did the damage taking seven for 37 including a hat-trick. It had been an exciting first day. Curiously the Australians’ second innings also started well and then disintegrated: 45 without loss becoming 70 for nine (and another duck for Murdoch and famous wicketkeeper Jack Blackham). The second day crowd, expecting an exciting finish, had risen to 15,000. In a crucial partnership Gregory and Tom Garrett took the score to 89 before Barratt had Garrett caught at cover point, strangely his only wicket in an innings in which the Lancashire pair McIntyre and Dick Barlow, who hadn’t been needed first time around, did most of the bowling. Going in just before four o’clock chasing 85, the Players made only 76. Barratt was the last wicket to fall, bowled by a Spofforth ‘sparkler’ for a duck, equalling his first-innings score. The spectators had had their excitement and crowded the front of the pavilion until the Australians emerged to acknowledge their cheers. The match had been such a financial success that the originally agreed payment of £10 to the English players was increased to £20, an amount which if known beforehand would almost certainly have ensured that a much stronger team could have been assembled. Barratt also received a £5 bonus (and the match ball). He might have received more. A collection in recognition of his great performance was carried out among the spectators by two gentlemen claiming to be acting on behalf of the ground authorities. They weren’t, and the money went into their pockets, not Barratt’s. Within two hours of the final wicket falling the importance of a mere game of cricket was put into perspective. Not far from The Oval some 650 passengers died on the Thames when the paddle steamer Princess Alice was struck by the collier Bywell Castle . A disaster fund was set up, the Australians subscribing £100. In addition a further match between North and South was played at The Oval in aid of the fund. Barratt played for the South in a well-attended match that raised £258. Barratt was at his best in the early 1880s, taking 445 wickets in four seasons, peaking in 1883 with 148 victims. There was no Australian tour that year otherwise Barratt might have gained England selection, but in any case Yorkshire’s Ted Peate who had a short but brilliant career usually got the important slow left-arm place. Surrey certainly got their money’s worth out of Barratt: often their only reliable bowler, over the four years he bowled more than twice as many overs and took more than twice as many wickets as any other bowler. And then by the middle of the 1885 season his Surrey career was over. Perhaps because of his exertions his performance declined, and he was no longer needed. Barratt’s next few years were busy: he remained a member of the Surrey groundstaff, he coached, he umpired, and he became landlord of The Duchy Inn close to The Oval. Surrey granted him the Yorkshire match in 1887 as a benefit. Although it only lasted two days, it attracted a decent crowd of over 10,000. Sadly he died of consumption in 1891 aged only 46. Edward Barratt