Cricket 1884

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 66. VOL .III. Registered (or Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1834. PRICE 2d W IL L IA M SCOTTON . F ew cricketers, amateur or professional, have this season shown such consistently good form with the bat as the Nottingham player, whose performance recently, in the match against the Australians at Huddersfield, was of so brilliant'a kind. 'William Scotton was horn at Nottingham on Jan. 15, 1850. Shrewsbury, who is his junior hy a few daysunder two months, and he were both of them very early in displaying profici­ ency as cricketers, and they made their first appearance before a Nottingham public on the same occasion (in the Colts’ match, on the Trent Bridge Ground), on April 14, 1873. They followed each other, too, in 'the order of going in, but Scotton, who was then only seventeen years old, was less successful than his younger comrade, and he only scored eight while Shrewsbury was credited with thirty-five. Though not very suc­ cessful Scotton’s foim was even then of considerable promise, and the following Bumm er saw him engaged as one of the ground staff at Lord’s. He played in lhe opening match of the Notts season, for the County against Sixteen of Derbyshire, but, despite that he showed very creditable cricket for his second score of twenty, it was his one appear­ ance of the year. His name did not figure at all in the records of Notts in 1875, and, indeed, it was not until the s'ummei* ot 1878, that be became really identified with the County Eleven. During that season he played in eight innings for Notts, and it was no doubt the excellent cricket ha showed for his forty against Lancashire, at Manches­ ter, in the match for C. Coward’s bene­ fit, which first secured him a regular place in. the. Nottinghamshire Eleven. He had, meanwhile, left Lord’s to ac­ cept an engagement at the Oval, but his stay on the Surrey ground was very short, end for a time he devoted his attention mainly to County cricket. His promise of 1878 was more than fulfilled the following summer, and his cricket during 1879 was so good as to entitle him to a prominent position among the professional cricketers of the year. His 81 against Middlesex, at Not­ tingham, though lie ought to have been caught in the long-field before he had made a run, was a capital display of hitting, and this was only one of several good scores com­ bining to form an average of over 25 for fifteen completed innings. Though hardly so fortunate in County cricket in 1880, he played fine cricket in some of the more im­ portant fixtures of the season, He was selected to represent England against Daft’s American Eleven, at Lord’s, as well as the Oval, and in both matches was very successful. At Lord’s Pilling and he put on 59 runs for tho last wicket, and on the Surrey Ground he con­ tributed 52 out of a first score of 137. Two capital innings, at Lord's, for Under Thirty against Over Thirty, still further con- firmed his reputation as a batsman, although previous to this last match be had gained the highest honours of the cricket-field in the attainment of a place in the great fixture of the season, Gentlemen v. Players. The season of 1880 found him representing the Players against tbe Gentlemen, both at Lord’s and the Oval, and, singularly enough, he made precisely the same scores (0 and 4) at both grounds. Scotton’s highest score during this summer for Notts, was one of 63, again made against Lancashire, at Old Trafford, and the value of his hitting on this occasion was shown in the total of the innings, which only amounted to 121. The strike of Nottingham professionals, in which Scotton joined, caused his ap­ pearances in first-class cricket, in 1881, to be comparatively few, and he only took part in four innings for the County, lt was evident, though, that he was in capital form too, that yelr, and, indeed, be played several very useful innings for the Marjlebone Club, to which ho had just attached bimstlf for the second time. Twice in 1881 he scored three figures for M.C.C., and many will still remember the very fine cricket he showed for his hundred in the match between Marylebone Club and Ground and England, at Lord’s. On the who e he was hardly quite as successful in 1882 as in the two previous years, although he was at times very con­ spicuous by reason of bis batting. Hi3 highest innings for Notts wTas one of 43, but his name again figured twice in the list of those who scored an innings of a hundred runs or more, and his 102 for Sheffield Park against Alfred Shaw’s eleven was a very creditable performance. An accident interfered considerably with Scotton’s cricket, last seast n, and he only figured in nine innings for tha