Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

82 for an hour and fifty minutes and in this time scored as many as 107 out of 169 runs. All round his hitting was very hard and well timed, and to our knowledge, he gave no chance. 145 In making Read one of its five batsmen of the year, Wisden too was appropriately effusive. Mr. W W Read, to the great delight of all supporters of Surrey cricket came back to his best form. He began the season under discouraging conditions, for during his winter trip at the Cape he had done nothing to sustain his reputation, and fears were entertained that his long and brilliant career was drawing to a close. Any such idea, however, had been completely dissipated before the summer was far advanced. After one or two moderately good scores which indicated that he was himself again, he played a splendid innings of 75 not out (sic) to win the match against Middlesex at the Oval on the 14th of June, and from that time until the end of the season he did great things, scoring no fewer than four innings of over a hundred -112 against Sussex at Brighton; 196 not out against Sussex at the Oval; 156 against Scotland at Edinburgh; and 107 against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham. As the result of these and other good performances he came out at the top of the batting, both in first-class county fixtures and all matches, averaging in the one over 40 runs an innings and in all matches over 35. Such a record in the case of a batsman whose first appearance in a big match dates as far back as 1873 was as remarkable as it was gratifying. The confidence born of success enabled him to play the vigorous forcing game that is natural to him. There was nothing of the over-caution which, to our thinking, seriously prejudiced his efforts in 1891. Surrey has never had so fine a batsman, and everyone was delighted to see him, after a brief period of depression again assert himself as one of the great cricketers of the day. Between him and the other batsmen on the side there was a very considerable gap… 146 His three centuries were as many as his colleagues scored between them that season, and while statistics may not tell everything, the gap between Read’s average of 40 and, in second place, Abel’s of 25 tells a lot. The season was not entirely one of unbroken success, however. Against Notts Read and Abel got themselves into a tangle over a 145 Cricket 25 August 1892 146 Wisden 1893 p 4. In fact Read was dismissed. Surrey and England 1888/97