Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

50 I think, at the fall of the ninth wicket 88 , making 117 without a blemish and no doubt saving the match for England. 89 B J Wakley’s Classic Centuries 90 shows that Read made only one mistake when Spofforth dropped a hard return catch and that it took him 113 minutes to reach his century, having overtaken Scotton (then on 84) eight minutes previously. 1885 After a winter off (maybe he did a bit of work as Assistant Secretary), he began the 1885 season in fine style, scoring runs in club and Club and Ground matches, before recording a century against Essex in a two-day non first-class county match. Mr W.W.READ has already in a County match fully justified my prediction that he was likely to be in rare run-getting form for Surrey this season. Considering that it was his first chance in an important fixture and that the ground was not quite recovered from recent rains, his performance at the Oval on Monday in scoring 143 out of 205 while he was in, must be accounted as remarkable. Though one of the daily sporting papers thought right to speak disparagingly of it as a whole, it will be enough for ordinary judges to learn that he gave no chance until he had scored 115. 91 In a useful warm-up for the first-class season, Surrey won by an innings and 48 runs. There were many such innings, many such reports, particularly in this and the two subsequent seasons as Read, now about to enter his fourth decade, reaches a plateau marking the highest point of his career. It would be tedious to record them all, but almost without exception, all are complimentary, and reflect a more than competent de jure amateur, but de facto professional. A double century in an innings victory over Essex at Leyton preceded what was perhaps his outstanding innings that summer. There was also a match-saving 159 in the follow-on for the Gentlemen against the Players at The Oval. With some help from Scotton, the joint hero of the Test match on the same ground the previous season, but now an opponent, he batted long enough to avoid a second collapse and obviate an innings defeat. It 88 actually, the eighth 89 18 December 1902 90 Classic Centuries p 22 91 Cricket 14 May 1885 Surrey and England 1881/87