Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

June 1874 – club matches often appear to be on market day at this period rather than weekends – Cobden scored 31 and 9, bowled each time by C.P.Lewis. Lewis had four wickets in the first innings, and eight in the second – nine of them bowled. Cobden, the nationally famous fast bowler, had just four wickets in the match. Shortly after returning to Wales at the end of Trinity Term 1876, C.P. set off with the South Wales club on their London tour, which comprised of four two-day matches, three in London and one at Hove, spread over nine days in late July. He had ‘qualified’, though perhaps he had need to, by virtue of eleven wickets out of eighteen in the trial match at St. Helen’s earlier in the month. The tour was a success for the club as well as for Lewis personally. The club won three matches, two by an innings, and one by five wickets. Lewis top-scored in three innings, including 120, his highest ever score for the club, in a total of 455 against the Surrey Club and Ground side at The Oval. In three of the matches his bowling was of little account, but at Hove he took five for 38 and then seven for 73 in a solid five-wicket victory for the touring side. His victims included six players who, in their time, played full county matches for Sussex. Oxford and a Lost Cause 31