Lives in Cricket No 44 - LCH Palairet

follow on, Somerset in the end only just held on to a draw thanks to an undefeated half century by WC Hedley. Restored back to opening the innings for the next game, opening with Hedley (Hewett had demoted himself to four), in an hour and 35 minutes Lionel scored 73. His innings was again marred by two chances, the first before he had scored, being dropped in the slips. John Challen made 108 in the second innings but Sussex’s last pair hung on for a draw. In the return with Gloucestershire at Cheltenham, Somerset recorded their second victory of the season by defeating their neighbours by 127 runs. In the second innings Lionel made 72 in two hours and ten minutes, but gave three chances, the first on two being an easy one. So although he was contributing some useful scores, he was regularly giving chances each innings. Somerset finished the season with innings wins over Nottinghamshire at Taunton, with Hewett making 120, and in the final game, the return with Gloucestershire. Hewett this time made 112, sharing an opening stand of 163 with Lionel who made 53. Hewett actually scored 107 before lunch. This final victory was the county’s fourth of the season but it only meant them finishing above Gloucestershire in the final Championship table. Hewett had played his last game for the county; he is the only player to have hit hundreds in his last two Championship innings. At the end of the season he resigned the captaincy and announced he would not continue to play for the county. The club tried to keep him, and offered a testimonial for 1894, however in vain. Hewett was a stubborn man but it’s sad that at 29 his career was virtually at an end. In 1892 he was the only left-handed batsman to score 1,000 runs in the County Championship; he was certainly one of the most entertaining batsmen to watch, and deprived himself as well as Somerset of many more innings. He did turn out occasionally for other teams, including on a tour to South Africa, but by 1896 he left the first-class game for good. He was a barrister by profession, so he carried on his work and he died in 1921 at 56. He played fifty matches for Somerset scoring 2,592 runs at 30.85. Although Lionel did not attend the funeral, the Palairet family sent a wreath. The season for Lionel was rather disappointing; in his final year University and plenty of sport 41