Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

36 The Rowley Years 40 in his second innings; a good score on an apparently difficult pitch. In 1877 Watson’s batting average improved to 11; he again batted mainly in the middle order. In addition he took 25 catches, the most he ever had in a season. His bowling average was only slightly higher, and he had five wickets in an innings eight times, with 96 in all matches, his best haul for a season so far. Wisden said that the burden of Lancashire’s bowling was again ‘well sustained’ by Watson and McIntyre. Watson started the 1878 season with two more visits to Lord’s. Again he represented ‘England’ against MCC. In the first innings Alec bowled a mean spell without taking any wickets, but in an even meaner spell in the second had figures of 23.1-17-10-5. A few days later he was back at the ground to play for his county against MCC. Alfred Shaw had his wicket cheaply both times and also outshone him as a bowler, though Watson had five wickets for 32 in the match. Shaw was a long-serving ‘ground’ bowler at Lord’s, an honour never accorded Watson. The latter’s performance does not seem to have been enough to ensure his reselection for the Players against the Gentlemen. Then a few days later at Nottingham, Shaw, though near the end of a distinguished career, again had Watson twice cheaply and performed better with the ball, though Alec had another ‘five for’ (69-37-62-5). Then at Old Trafford Watson was in fine form with the ball against Derbyshire, with seven wickets for 33 off 21.3 overs with nine maidens and eleven wickets in the match. In the return at Derby Lancashire were thrashed, though it was no fault of Watson who scored 39 and 23 (top scores in each innings), and took five wickets in the home side’s only innings (41-22-67-5). In three home matches Lancashire first beat Yorkshire, though Watson played only a minor part. In the second they did the same to Nottinghamshire, though strangely William McIntyre and Watson bowled only in the second innings, and then only six overs between them. The third match involved Gloucestershire’s first visit to Old Trafford, with W.G. Grace being the obvious attraction. Nor did he disappoint the big crowd, though his first innings was terminated by Alec catching him for 32 off the bowling of McIntyre . Again Watson bowled only in the second innings, seven overs for no wickets. Was he perhaps carrying an injury? The next match at Old Trafford had another big attraction, the 1878 Australian tourists; though they seemed to attract fewer spectators than W.G. had done. Watson started well by scoring