Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

The first game followed shortly afterwards at Oxford, against Lancashire; the game ended in a draw as most of the final day was washed out. Lancashire were in a good position and probably would have won. Lionel made a useful 35 in the second innings. The following day the university entertained the Gentlemen of England captained by AJ Webbe. Again the weather washed out most of the final day. The university had the better of the game scoring 321 with Lionel making a fluent 74 on a difficult pitch, making the visitors follow on, although in their second innings the Gentlemen made 318 for seven when play ended. Lionel missed the next game with Somerset due to a cold. Somerset gained revenge for the previous year by winning easily by nine wickets. Hewett’s 94 and Tyler’s 11 wickets did most of the work for the visitors. Lionel was fit for the visit of the Australians; in a close game Australia won by 19 runs. Oxford’s last two wickets put on 58 and nearly caused a surprise victory. Lionel with three and 27 had a quiet match. Oxford’s poor start to the season continued as they were well beaten by the MCC and Lancashire, each by an innings. Lionel on June 26 played forArthur Shrewsbury’s eleven against the Australians at Nottingham, a benefit match for Shrewsbury. The strong team included Dr WG Grace, AE Stoddart, William Gunn, Shrewsbury and WW Read among the first six in batting. Lionel went in at four. Going in with the score at 170 for two he batted 90 minutes for his 71; he added 109 for the third wicket with William Gunn. His team posted 416 and the Australians replied feebly with 120 and 143 to lose by an innings and 153. Yorkshire’s Bobby Peel took match figures of 11 for 110. As a result of this game Lionel missed the university’s match against Sussex; the students were well beaten again by ten wickets. In the final game before the Varsity clash, Lionel played as wicket-keeper in the return game with the MCC at Lord’s. Again Oxford were easily beaten by eight wickets; as in 1891 the university had not won a game on the eve of its most important fixture with Cambridge. Unlike Oxford, Cambridge had won their first four games; though they had faltered a little, they had just thumped the MCC. The team included some good new players who were to make their mark on the first-class game including University and plenty of sport 37