Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

49 where the sides were evenly balanced on first innings. The 1896 Varsity Match and the subsequent reaction Trouble then arose with a vengeance in 1896 when Frank Mitchell was captain of Cambridge – his only season in charge. The 1896 match was a three-day one and, of course, at Lord’s. As in 1893 Cambridge won the toss and batted first. They scored 319 and it was at about 3.45 pm on the second day when the ninth Oxford wicket fell in their first innings. They were then on 188, and 131 runs behind Cambridge. Mitchell did feel that his bowlers were tired, and that the wicket was deteriorating. He did not want his side to bat last, and thus had no wish to be required to enforce a follow-on should the last Oxford wicket fall immediately. He, therefore, in those circumstances instructed his fast bowler E.B.Shine, bowling from the Pavilion End, to send three balls to the boundary (two of which were also no-balls). Those twelve runs, gifted to Oxford, enabled Mitchell to fulfil his wish to bat again, for the last Oxford wicket had fallen when that team were 117 runs behind Cambridge rather than in excess of 120 runs behind their opponents. The 1896 season with the follow-on controversy The Cambridge team that caused such outrage at Lord’s in the Varsity match of 1896, with the great player Gilbert Jessop sitting on the ground on the right.