Cricket Witness No 6 - His Captain's Hand on His Shoulder Smote

25 The Origin; Tom Brown’s Schooldays tone and style that was expected of a dedicated Rugbyean. At this earlier time, inter-school fixtures were rare, partly because the pupil-run contests had been besmirched by misbehaviour and partly because, outside of London, there were in pre-rail days transport difficulties. A substantive amount of the cricket was played internally, with inter- house matches the key. A number of fixtures were played against local clubs of the correct social calibre and the idea of playing an old boys’ eleven was also taken up, with the beginnings, too, of that highlight of the school summer, a game against MCC. In 1840 the Rugby XI travelled by train on the very new Birmingham to London line to play MCC at Lord’s. Thomas Hughes played and made the second highest score in the first innings of 30, followed by 9 not out in the second innings. He was stumped by the Earl of Winterton, later to be President of MCC. It was a year later when, famously, MCC visited Rugby for the first time, the team also travelling by rail. Thomas Hughes captained the eleven in this his last game for the school. He top scored with 29 in the first but was out for a duck in the second innings. He also contrived to take two wickets and perform a stumping. With the last pair at the wicket and with the school requiring fourteen to win, proceedings were ‘given up on account of darkness’. The game was, as the Victorians with formidable logic termed it, ‘unfinished’; none of your feeble ‘draw’. According to the sagacious Arthur Haygarth, the scores were ‘Marylebone’ 136 and 99; Rugby 120 and 102 for 8. The fictional follows the factual account closely. Rugby need nine runs to win with two wickets in hand when ‘the omnibus to take the Lord’s men to the train pulls up at the side of the Close’. Again the game was ‘unfinished’. Tom Brown, as captain of the eleven that had ‘gone for a plunge in the cold bath in the corner of the Close’ before breakfast, opened the batting ‘to give his men pluck’. He made 25 ‘in beautiful style’ and 12 in the second innings. Benjamin Aislabie, the Secretary of MCC who did much to steady and organise the Club on a solid foundation and