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26 still threatening clouds overhead when play resumed. At each ground, the early part of the day went relatively well for the batting side, but this time things fell apart in both games as the day went on. At The Oval, the damage to Leveson Gower had been diagnosed as a broken finger, and he could take no further part in the match. The resumed first- wicket partnership was in the hands of the unlikely pairing of Strudwick and Hobbs, and although Strudwick left at 42 and Hobbs at 77, the innings progressed without undue alarms until the score reached 126-3; at which point the roof fell in, as four wickets fell for the addition of only two more runs. Worse followed when Lees’s brief but eventful innings came to an early end: “Lees received four balls from Brearley, each of which struck him, and then retired hurt, owing to a severe blow on the hand” ( Cricket ). When the eighth wicket fell at 159, still 35 short of the target for avoiding the follow-on, the innings ended with Ducat as Brearley’s fourth victim, or sixth if you include his part in the two ‘retired hurts’. The innings had lasted just 2½ hours. The follow-on was enforced, and Surrey’s second innings began in sunshine. But their position was “hopeless” ( Cricket ) and “they never looked like saving the game” ( Manchester Guardian ). Only Harrison, Hayes and Ducat offered prolonged resistance, with Ducat’s batting described in the Guardian as “ the best of all … he played so easily as to make it apparent that the wicket was not really so difficult as to make a fighting score impossible”. But the other specialist batsmen contributed little, the tail did not wag, and with only nine men fit to bat Surrey were all out for 149, so losing inside two days by an innings and 35 runs. For Lancashire, fast-bowler Brearley had taken nine wickets in the match, as well as knocking two other Surrey players out of the game. But Surrey could not blame their poor batting performances on being short-handed, as neither of the injured players (Leveson Gower and Lees) was a front-line batsman. There was not much comfort for Surrey from this comprehensive defeat. Contemporary reports acknowledged that Lancashire had had the best of the luck, in terms of the toss, the weather, the pitch, and the injuries to two Surrey players. But “even allowing for their luck Lancashire played a winning game throughout and thoroughly deserved their victory” ( Manchester Guardian ); or in the words of a perhaps less locally-biased publication they “made every use of their opportunities and deserved to win” ( Cricket ). Their win, and Surrey’s defeat, meant that the two sides swapped places in the Championship table, with Lancashire moving up to second place and Surrey slipping to third. On Day 2 at Reigate, things did not go much better for the other Surrey team. Oxford batted on, and Hooman, who had scored his maiden first- class century in his previous innings, became the side’s third century- maker before being dismissed for 117, made in 2½ hours and including two fives (the equivalent of sixes today) and 17 fours. The University were finally all out for 577, with debutant le Couteur still there on 53*. At the time this was their fourth-highest-ever innings total in a first-class match, the highest of all being 651 against Sussex at Hove in 1895. The latter remains their record, and since 1909 they have surpassed 577 on only two Surrey in 1909
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