Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

65 the lower-middle or lower order. Yet he was still capable of the occasional good score there, and his average was sometimes boosted by a number of ‘not out’ scores; an average of over twelve could be regarded as reasonable for a lower-order batsman at that time. He seems to have found the Derbyshire bowlers and the Derby ground most to his liking. In fielding he averaged about twelve catches per season, or just under one per match; which would square with Cricket of 30 August, 1885, noting that he was ‘very smart and reliable at short slip’. Hence Watson’s batting and fielding, though not of themselves of supreme importance to his side, were still a useful adjunct to his bowling; to examine which we now turn. First-Class Cricket: Bowling Four ball overs: Season O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m 1872 144.0 57 178 20 4-26 8.90 0 0 1873 279.3 93 445 48 6-38 9.27 5 1 1874 227.1 63 415 32 9-118 12.96 3 2 1875 223.1 66 331 28 5-57 11.82 1 0 1876 540.1 252 640 51 7-61 12.54 3 2 1877 1086.2 548 1233 96 7-10 12.84 8 2 1878 543.2 272 586 49 7-33 11.95 4 1 1879 273.0 135 355 23 6-29 15.43 2 0 1880 910.2 472 947 88 7-27 10.76 8 3 1881 876.0 512 816 69 7-37 11.82 5 2 1882 945.2 530 993 77 6-32 12.89 7 0 1883 940.2 463 1135 96 7-36 11.82 9 2 1884 1061.1 537 1443 87 7-52 16.58 3 2 1885 1237.0 712 1344 88 7-38 15.27 7 0 1886 1188.0 701 1109 100 7-15 11.09 8 3 1887 1532.2 937 1482 100 7-20 14.82 9 3 1888 774.0 420 916 61 5-17 15.01 3 1 Five ball overs: 1889 850.3 438 1139 90 7-27 12.65 9 2 1890 1041.3 571 1331 81 5-7 16.43 6 0 1891 394.4 178 610 38 6-28 16.05 2 0 1892 596.1 293 901 61 6-46 14.77 4 1 1893 36.0 12 74 1 1-19 74.00 0 0 Overall (65887 balls) 18423 1384 9-118 13.31 106 27 (10981.1 six ball overs) Selected Statistics