Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

48 By 1895 Law 53 of the Laws of Cricket, as amended by the MCC in 1884, 1889 and 1894 read: ‘The side which goes in second shall follow their innings if they have scored 120 runs less than the opposite side in a three days’ match, or 80 runs in a two days’ match’. The previous law, in force in 1893, had read ‘The side which goes in second shall follow their innings if they have scored 80 runs less than the opposite side’. The similar law had caused civilised debate when F.S.Jackson was captain of Cambridge in the Varsity match of 1893, but when Frank Mitchell was captain in 1896 the debate about the same law was far from civilised. The mandatory requirement of the law was the problem. Sometimes the side who had batted first (and who may have won the toss) did not see it as an advantage to bowl again if they had bowled their opponents out cheaply. Their own bowlers might be tired, or more usually, they may have formed a view that the wicket was deteriorating to such an extent that the side batting last could be at severe disadvantage, even if a large first innings lead had been obtained. Likewise the side batting second might consider it advantageous to be able to bat in the third, rather than the fourth, innings of the match. These were surely factors in the minds of Jackson and Mitchell in 1893 and 1896. The game in 1893 was over in just two days. On the first day Cambridge scored 182 all out – a total which seemed at the time to be barely adequate. However a combination of good bowling by Cambridge and poor batting by Oxford saw the latter side near to the close of play with nine wickets down for just 95 runs. With the last two players at the crease three runs were added, making the score 98 and Oxford then needed only five runs to save the follow-on. The two batsmen consulted and it seemed to the Cambridge side that Oxford were then intending to deliberately lose a wicket so that they could follow on. Wells, the Cambridge bowler, seeking to prevent the Oxford plan succeeding, then deliberately bowled two consecutive balls wide and to the boundary. Those eight runs prevented Oxford from being required to follow on. Thereafter there was some debate as to the ethics of the Cambridge conduct and MCC considered the position. It is hardly likely that Stanley Jackson, as Cambridge captain, would have allowed Wells to pursue this device without his encouragement - yet no criticism was placed on his shoulders. It was the bowler whose motives were explored. The MCC at their Annual Meeting in May 1894 did consider a change in the Law to make the follow-on optional at the discretion of the side that had batted first. There was a wide variance of view with some, for example, asserting that improvements in the preparation of wickets had made it more likely that bowlers would become more easily tired, and others saying that the existing Law evened up the disadvantage of losing the toss. The issue was deferred to a Special Meeting called for July 1894. The most modest of changes was then made to raise, from 1895, the follow-on limit from 80 runs to 120 runs in a three-day match. It was left at 80 runs in a two-day match. Curiously in 1894 Cambridge did have to follow on being 116 runs behind on first innings and they duly lost the match. No problems about the follow-on arose in the 1895 Varsity match The 1896 season with the follow-on controversy