Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

his studies but also to play some football. Oxford went to Trent Bridge to play a strong Notts County team that had finished third in the Football League; the undergraduates were heavily beaten 8-0. Oxford’s team included CB Fry who had now arrived from Repton; he was to strengthen the cricket team. Both Palairets were singled out for their play by local reporters with favourable comments. In late November Oxford had a friendly with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Wolves had just finished fourth in the Football League; according to the Birmingham Post, Wolverhampton put out a fairly weak team to play the undergraduates. Oxford were still thrashed 6-1; however the Birmingham Daily Post for December 1 did state that both Palairet brothers made some good runs together. The matches with Wolves and Notts County were showing a growing gap between amateur sides and the professionals. Lionel was again overlooked for the Varsity football match with Cambridge; Richard did play and scored a goal as Oxford won 5-2. Richard was clearly the better footballer and during the season 1892-93 was also still a regular for The Corinthians. Lionel also competed for Oxford in a number of athletic events inMarch andApril, and was in the trial for the university selection against Cambridge. However in the one mile he finished sixth, and in the three mile he was seventh out of nine. As a result he was not selected. These performances seem to have ended his athletics career, as there are no more known records of him participating in any athletic meetings. Lionel did have the cricket season to look forward to and his new role as captain. Although the bowling was still fairly weak, the batting was bolstered by some new promising players most notably CB Fry, Frank Phillips (who would later play for Somerset) and Somerset teammate Vernon Hill. Lionel started well in the warm-up games hitting two centuries for his college in the same week; however in the university trial games he yet again struggled for runs, though he did take a number of wickets. Oxford opened their first-class season with a home game against a Gentlemen of England side; the university was well beaten by ten wickets. However Lionel took five for 98 with his lobs and in University and plenty of sport 30