Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

28 The Rowley Years Perhaps Watson at the age of 27 was no longer regarded as a colt, and so played for the opposition. Batting at No. 4, he scored 19 for once out, but this time his bowling was to the fore as he took 16 wickets for 108. Watson had other successes with Manchester that season, for in three matches – one against Birkenhead Park and two against Cheshire he had three hauls of ten wickets or more, making 35 in all, though the runs conceded are not given in two cases; he also scored 76 runs in total. This success with Manchester no doubt helped to secure his financial situation, and as Lancashire’s fixture list lengthened and he secured more responsibilities at the ground, it would improve further. Certainly all this was enough to keep his place in Lancashire’s First Eleven, for the match against Yorkshire which began at Old Trafford on 30 May, 1872. Yorkshire, whose present club was founded in 1863, and Lancashire, founded 1864, were even then great and enduring rivals, and to play in his first ‘Roses’ match would have been a great experience for any player. Still batting up the order, Watson, in what was also his first-class home debut, collected a ‘pair’, but he had a bowl in the second innings, taking two wickets for five runs. Derbyshire then visited, and Watson managed 31 in the only innings that was required in Lancashire’s innings victory. He also took six wickets in all, along with his first catch in first-class cricket. In the return matches against Yorkshire and Derbyshire Watson had some success with the ball, but his figures were outshone by those of William McIntyre, who alone headed Alec in the county’s bowling figures for the season. Thus Watson’s 20 wickets in the four county matches had come at a cost of 178 runs, while his 50 runs had hardly justified him batting in the top half of the order. Though Lancashire won all of their four matches, Nottinghamshire were generally reckoned to be the top county of 1872. Wisden noted that an admirer of Watson, and ‘an excellent and practical judge of the game’, had stated that Alec was another Southerton, with as much break. Also he fielded well to his own bowling, was ‘a capital wicketkeeper’ and ‘a fairly good bat’; the latter perhaps damning with faint praise. There is no mention of that ‘excellent and practical judge’ having any criticism of Alec’s bowling action. Wisden also noted that Watson had also played for XXII of Birmingham against the United North XI, perhaps at the instigation of David Buchanan. He took seventeen wickets out of the twenty, for 93 runs, so altogether it was quite a successful first full season in big cricket for Watson.