Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

the first innings he top scored with 49 batting at four. Lancashire were next to visit The Parks. Oxford gained a brilliant victory by seven runs. Winning the toss Oxford batted first, and Lionel opening was bowled by Arthur Mold for nought. The undergraduates could only make 132. Lionel then opened the bowling with Berkeley and took four for 27 to help dismiss Lancashire for 88, gaining a valuable lead of 44 runs. In the second innings batting at four, Lionel made a brilliant 57, an innings ended by a brilliant catch by Frank Sugg in the long field. Despite this Oxford could only make 105. Again Lionel opened the bowling and capped a brilliant match by taking four for 52 as Oxford just scraped home amidst scenes of great excitement. Although Oxford were beaten by Surrey by an innings in the next match, in the second innings Lionel and Jones added 83 in 50 minutes, as both of them went for the bowling; however once the partnership was broken the side were skittled for 128. Early in June Somerset visited Oxford. Lionel would have been pleased as the university easily won by seven wickets; his unbeaten 43 in the second innings included hitting Nichols for four successive boundaries in one over. He finished the match with a drive out of the ground for six. In the return game with Lancashire at Manchester, the northern county gained revenge, winning by an innings. Lionel took six for 84 which was to be his best career bowling; he claimed some useful scalps such as Johnny Briggs. He also shared the wicket- keeping duties with Jardine; so he had a busy match. In the next game at Hove against Sussex, the undergraduates again won a close game, this time by ten runs. Lionel in the first innings scored 51 which was described by the press as ‘brilliant’ and in the second innings made a two and a half hour, unbeaten 75. He also then took three for 51 including the key wickets of Marlow and Wilson. Oxford went into the Varsity game on a good run, and although still underdogs knew they were capable of beating Cambridge. As for Lionel, he had already been on the losing side in the previous two years. Winning the toss Oxford posted a good score of 365 thanks to centuries from Jardine and Hill. Cambridge were then made to follow on as they were all out for 160. By the close of University and plenty of sport 31