Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

108 Chapter Ten Annals of Cricket and Short Hints on Cricket In 1896, Read published his book Annals of Cricket, a somewhat unbalanced, pot pourri of a collection of writing, and unstirred mixture of fact and fantasy which according to its verbose title purports to be A RECORD OF THE GAME COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND MY OWN EXPERIENCES DURING THE LAST TWENTY-THREE YEARS BY W.W.READ For many years a Member of the Surrey County Team WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN SHUTER LATE Captain Surrey County Eleven John Shuter’s Introduction is suitably eulogistic, recalling Read’s qualities and achievements as a batsman, fielder, bowler and general all-round ‘good egg’. He makes the requisite allusions to the two tours of Australia, the Test century in 1884, the consecutive double centuries in 1887 and the 338 in 1888, mentions his competence in the field and occasional successes as a ‘lob-bowler’, especially his ‘hat-trick’ at Scarborough in 1891 before going on to the Read personality. I cannot conclude this brief sketch without a short reference to Mr. Read’s personal character both on and off the cricket-field. In spite of his wonderful successes he has ever maintained the same modest and unassuming manner which has made him a host of friends. Always cheerful and ready to make the best of a bad position, with a temper that nothing can ruffle,