Cricket 1886

11 Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.*— Byron. Registered for Transmission Abroad. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1886. p r i c e 2d. MR. O C TA V IU S GOLDNEY R AD C L IF FE . T hough last summer was only his third season in county cricket, Mr. Radcliffe has already attained a high position among amateur players. His success, too, it is satis­ factory to be able to add, has been the reward of untiring practice and painstaking attention to the main principles of the game. Indeed, his career as a cricketer cannot be said to have commenced until he was seventeen years of age, and as he only reachedhis twenty-seventh birth­ day on the twentieth of this month, it will be gathered that his advance­ ment has been very rapid. Though born in Wiltshire, (at North Newnton Rectory) to Somersetshire belongs the credit of Mr. Radcliffe’searly training. Educated privately, he had none of the advantages possessed by so many amateurs. His introduction to the cricket field was at Yatton, the re­ sidence of his guardian, Mr. Tanker- ville Chamberlayne, long and well- known in Hampshire and Somerset­ shire as a keen cricketer as well as a liberal patron of the game. Several leading professional cricketers have been at different times secured by Mr. Chamberlayne for the benefit of the local club, and Mr. Radcliffe, profiting by the lessons obtained from the professional instruction provided at Yatton, soon began to display marked promise. His installation as captain of the East Somersetshire Club, which has its head-quarters on Mr. Chamberlayne’s pretty ground at Yatton and includes in its list of mem­ bers most, if not all the leading amateurs in the West of England, soon afterwards furnished practical proof of his advance as a cricketer. Some of his early performances, too, as a batsman for East Gloucestershire were particularly noteworthy. Play­ ing against the Thombury Club on the small cricket ground in that vil­ lage, famous for so many of E. M. Grace’s big scores, Mr. Radcliffe punished the Doctor’s lobs in a way which the latter is hardly likely ever to forget. Fifty-three of his score of 68 were made in three overs, eighteen in the first, the same number in the second, and seventeen in the third, a remarkable instance of fast run-getting, which we should say is almost if not quite without aparallel. Though anxious to assist Somersetshire during the summer of time qualifyingto represent Gloucestershire by residence Mr. Radcliffe did good service for Somersetshire during the season of 1885. He played in all the fixtures of the County Club that season, and with great success, having a fine average of 32.3 for ten innings. His first match was against Hampshire at Taunton on July 16, and the first score to his credit in Somersetshire cricket was an excellent one of 67. Though in his initial county match at the Oval Mr. Rollergot rid of him for six, he showed his partiality for the Surrey ground, and Surrey bowlers too, when he went in a second time. His innings of 101 on that occasion was, indeed, an exceptionally good display of defensive cricket, one of the best of the many long innings recorded during the year at the Oval. By the commencement of the following summer, Mr. Radcliffe had duly completed his residential qualification for Gloucestershire, aDd as Mr. W. G. Grade had enjoyed plenty of oppor­ tunities of guaging his abilities in Western Cricket, it was no surprise to find him in the Gloucestershire team which opposed Surrey in the opening fixture of the County season of 1886, begun at the Oval on Easter Monday, April 26. Again the good fortune which had followed him on the Surrey ground stood him in good stead, and with the one exception of Mr. Frank Townsend he was the most successful run-getter on the side, making two very creditable scores of 38 and 24. Throughout the summer, too, he was of the greatest service to Gloucester­ shire, and the summary of the season placed him third in the County’s batting, with an aggregate of 590 runs for twenty-two completed in­ nings, and an average of 26.18. Of his many noteworthy achievements two in particular deserve mention. Against Notts at Nottingham he was three hours and twenty minutes at the wickets for his 66, and Mr. W. G. Grace and he put on as many as 131 runs for the second wicket, a fine per­ formance against the Notts bowlers. His best display with the bat, though, was in the second innings against Middlesex at Lord’s. A chance given before he had made a run was not accepted, and the Middlesex eleven suffered severely for the mistake, as he carried his bat through the innings for 104 without a subse­ quent flaw. The inability of several leading amateurs to oppose the Players at the Oval, 1884 the opportunity was not offered to him, and his first appearance in a match of any importance was in connection with his native County. His debut fittingly, too, cook place at headquarters, and we can re­ member well the promising form he showed on the occasion in question, the fixture between Wiltshire and M.C.C. and Ground on August 12 and 13, 1884, at Lord’s. His batting for Wiltshire in its two London matches of that season was;of a distinctly high class. Two days later at the Oval, he showed even to still greater advantage, and his first score of 87 not out there against a strong eleven repre­ sentative of the Surrey Club and Ground fully confirmed thehopes raised by the excellence of his display at Lord’s. Though he was at the Next Issue November 25