Cricket 1883

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— B y r o n . Registeredfor ’Pransmfssian Abroad. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1883. PRICE 2d. A L F R E D SH AW . A lfr e d Shaw was bom at Burton Joyce, in Nottinghamshire, on August 29, 1842. About his early cricket we have no details, and he had, indeed, well-nigh completed his twenty-second year before he made his appearance in a match of any importance. His first show, in London at least, was on May 23, 1864, for Professionals who had never played at Lord’s or the Oval, against Marylebone Club and Ground, and, as far as we know, this "•as his debut in an important fixture of any kind. In this same match William Oscroft, with whom Shaw has so often done service, also made his bow at Lord’s, andwith equal success, playing two grand innings of 51 and 76, while Shaw took thirteen wickets for fifty-five runs. In 1864 he was fairly drafted into the Notts County Eleven, and among other good Performances may be noted his 64 at the Oval, in the memorable match when two Surrey batsmen were credited with scores °f over a hundred runs in their one in­ sings of 468, H. H. Stephenson 119, and "■ Loekyer, not out, 118. In 1865 he "as chosen, for the first time, to repre­ sent the Players against the Gentlemen, “oth at Lord’s and the Oval, and was one °f the Eleven of England which met Sur- tey, on the Surrey Ground, in the same .'ear. His first engagement, as far as *e are aware, was in 1863, with the wantham Club; but, after a year, on 'ne Trent Bridge Ground, the season of 18G5 saw him attached to the ground sta£f of Lords’, and he played his first •natch for the club there on May 8, 1865, gainst the Knickerbockers. In the fol­ ding year he figured for the United a8ainst the All England Eleven, in the annual Whitsuntide match, at Lord’s, and 10ugh not chosen for the Players at Lord’s, s'Snal success in the same contest ‘ 1the Oval with a fine first innings of seventy, “out this time Grundy and Wootton bore the ’*unt of the bowling for Notts, but Alfred Shaw as still one of the best all-round players of the ! 10^, and in every department of the game he °>e himself with credit. He was one of the team which visited America in the autumn of 1868, and the excellence of his all-round play helped in a great measure to contribute to the success of the party. He gave up his connec­ tion with the Marylebone Club at the end of 1867, but three years later returned into its ser­ vice, and, until very recently, remained in its employ. A recapitulation of Shaw’s perform­ ances with the ball would require far more SH A V ^ space than is at our disposal. We shall, there­ fore, have to content ourselves with a brief glance at the most noteworthy of his feats. In a match on July 5, 1870, for Marylebone Club and Ground v. Thorndon Hall, he obtained nine of the ten wickets in each innings, and, out of these eighteen batsmen, thirteen were bowled. In 1870, for the Marylebone Club, he bowled 775 overs for 759 runs and 102 wickets, and four years later he even excelled this performance, delivering 656 overs for 685 runs and 110 wickets. In 1874, in the match on June 1 between M.C.C. and Ground and North, at Lord’s, he took all the ten wickets in the first innings of the North, and, considering the strength of the bat­ ting to which he was opposed, this was really an extraordinary performance. The season of 1875 was for him a very eventful one. In the second innings of the Marylebone Club and Ground, in the match against Notts, on June 14, 1875, he performed a feat which has never, perhaps, been equalled. On that occasion he delivered 166 balls for 7 wickets, at a cost of only seven runs, and in October of the same year, for the North against South of Notts, he got all the ten wickets (except one run out) in their second innings, and in the match altogether seventeen out of twenty wickets. The year 1875 was a fortunate one for him inmanyways, and in addition to receiving a silver teapot from some of his admirers on the County Ground, a handsome watch was presented to him in the Schoolroom of his native place. A c­ cording to a trustworthy biographer he delivered no less than 6,965 balls during the season of 1875, but in the following year he altogether outdid this, and it is said that he propelled, during 1876, the enormous number of 10,000 balls, or nearly double as many as any bowler of the season. He formed one of James Lillywhite’s team which visited Australia at the end of 1876, but the trip had such a prejudicial effect on his health that he was compelled to be idle during the greater part of the following season, 1877. For Notts, in 1878, he bowled 1,257 overs for 1,101 runs and 98 wickets, and his analysis in the final match against Leices­ tershire, at Leicester, was sensational, showing 7 wickets for 7 runs. The bowling of Shaw and Morley, in 1878, was indeed one of the most striking curiosities of the season ; and, during four County matches, viz., against the Aus­ tralians V. Surrey and Yorks, at Nottingham, and Kent at Town Mailing, they were never changed. Shaw’s bowling had very much to do with the defeat suffered by the Australians in