Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

56 third time in his last 223 first-class matches, and off his ninth delivery Hollins gave him the charge, and was out stumped for 84 - made in 150 minutes (compared with 80 minutes for Collins’s 83 not out). According to The Sportsman both batsmen seemed quite comfortable with the bowling throughout and scored quickly, “although nothing in the way of indiscriminate hitting was indulged in”; the paper also commented that “it would seem that the Brasenose wicket-keeper has a lot of latent batting ability, for he made quite a number of good strokes.” The Field added that “little was expected of Collins, and it came quite as a revelation to those present to see him playing all the bowling with ease and confidence”. The stand of 149 was the fourth highest recorded for the tenth wicket in all first-class cricket to that date, and more than doubled the University’s record for that wicket ,which had been 72, set in 1897. It remains the University record for the tenth wicket; indeed, there have been only two other last-wicket stands of over 100 for the University in all that side’s long history. The game ended in an exciting win for MCC, who - aided by some poor fielding by the University side - reached the victory target of 299 for the loss of only four wickets. Their hero was opener Harry Chinnery, who added 165 to his first innings of 105, thus becoming only the 18th cricketer ever to score a century in each innings of a first-class match. Collins may have hoped that his innings had put him back in the frame in the battle to become the University’s first-choice keeper, but if so he was disappointed. Findlay returned for the next match, in which scores of 28 not out and 24 doubtless did him no harm 37 , and in the two matches later in the season in which Findlay did not play, the gloves were taken not by Collins but by one Hugh Bomford, who had impressed in a trial match early in June. As a wicketkeeper, Collins continued to give a favourable impression while still conceding rather more byes than might be expected from a specialist keeper. As a batsman, his innings against MCC seems to have opened the floodgates, at least for a while. He made 41 (seven fours, one six) in the Oxford Seniors match at the start of the 1902 season, then 17 for the First 12 against the Next 16 in another trial match (did his playing for the First 12 suggest that he was in line to be first choice that season? Probably not, for Findlay was playing in the same side - but at least Bomford only made it to the ‘Next 16’), and finally 50 (five fours, one six) in a further trial match in June. His teams in all three of these matches contained 12 players, and in all of them he batted at ten or 11. Evidently his batting 37 Although Findlay, unlike Collins, had some reputation as a batsman, in his first-class career of 88 matches (mostly for Lancashire) he never reached, let alone bettered, the score made by Collins in his one match. He ended his career with 1984 runs at 19.45, and a highest score of 81. Number 11