Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

Chapter eight Devon, golf and the War Free from captaincy, it was hoped that Lionel could still assist Somerset when available; this seemed to hold during 1908. He turned out against Warwickshire at the end of May, when Somerset won easily, although he contributed little with the bat. A few weeks later he made useful 46 against Gloucestershire in a game that was eventually drawn. Lionel also played in the following game against Hampshire at Bath. In the follow-on, he batted at four and in fine style reached his 50 in 70 minutes, showing much of his old flair and scoring in fine style. At the end of the day he had reached 51, although at 117 for five, Somerset were still looking at probable defeat. The following morning he started nervously and was dropped three times before falling to a magnificent catch on the boundary for 77. This would be his last fifty in a first-class match. He made three more appearances that summer, but his only other innings of note was 40 against Middlesex in a draw at Taunton, a game memorable for the batting of Peter Johnson who made 164 and 131, to become the first Somerset batsman to score a century in each innings. Lionel did play in some minor matches. On July 3, he appeared for Free Forresters against Devon Regiment in a two day game which formed part of the annual Devon cricket week, which was generally played at Exeter. For the next 15 years this would form the main part of his cricket season. He scored 48 and 118 as his team won. In the second innings, he put on over 150 for the first wicket with his old Somerset friend Sammy Woods. In the second game of the week, he raised his own LCH Palairet eleven to play Devon at Exeter in a three day game. In the first innings he hit a brilliant 143, which included a six and 16 fours. Also in his team was Ernest Robson, Prince Narayan and Leslie Gay, all Somerset colleagues. His side went on to win. Devon may have wished he would play for them. So brought the close of another cricket season. Under John Daniell’s captaincy, Somerset slipped to the bottom of the Championship for the first time. The team only won one of its 103