Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

weather, Lionel carried his bat on a difficult wicket making 51 out of 122; he batted 195 minutes without giving a chance. The team then moved to the Oval and beat Surrey by 39 runs; a surprise first win as Surrey were the current champions, however the side was ageing and would slip to fifth place. The title would be won by Yorkshire by a clear five points, the start of a long successful period for Yorkshire. In the match Lionel failed in both innings. A draw followed against Lancashire; however, had the game been completed, Somerset would have probably won. On July 20, the Australians started their tour game at Taunton. On the first morning following overnight heavy rain, the umpires decided that due to the wet pitch it was unlikely play could start until late afternoon. However Hewett and Blackham, the Australian captain, agreed to abandon play for the day. The visiting team he left the ground for a picnic in the Quantock Hills. However, several thousand spectators stayed and voiced their frustration; some had travelled over 100 miles to see the day’s play; many thought play could have commenced and it now had turned bright and sunny. As a result of this pressure from spectators and the Somerset committee, the umpires declared that play could start at 2pm. The problem was the Australians had left for the hills. A man on horseback was sent to look for them, found them, and the team arrived back at 4pm. At 4.20pm the game started. By the close Somerset were all out for 119, with Lionel top scorer with 30. It was not known at the time but this incident would cause the loss of Herbert Hewett as a player to Somerset. On the second day after bowling the Australians for 107, Somerset broke down badly in the second innings being dismissed for 64, and lost easily by six wickets. With the events at Taunton being temporarily forgotten, Somerset travelled to Liverpool for the game against Lancashire and again suffered a thrashing, this time by 230 runs. Coming back to Taunton to play Middlesex starting on August 7, Lionel was demoted to number seven as he was hardly scoring a run. This demotion worked; the team ran up 380 with Lionel making 91, although dropped twice (on 19 and 40). He made two drives out of the ground during his innings. Although they made Middlesex University and plenty of sport 39