Lives in Cricket No 51 - Rev ES Carter

of 1865, and became secretary of the club at Michaelmas 1865. This was after Edmund had been an undergraduate for a year. He became captain pro tem in the unexplained absence of the elected captain on 19April 1866, holding the position throughout the summer, and resigning at Michaelmas 1866. Maybe he then anticipated playing in the full Oxford side over the following three seasons, so that college cricket had only a limited place in his life. 1865 The early Wisdens do not record matches at the university ground or elsewhere in Oxford during the early 1860s but CricketArchive has a scorecard for a trials match in Edmund’s first full summer (1865) in which he was captain of one side, with the Etonian Charles Teape as captain of the other. Teape did not ever play for the university side but in 1872 played once for Middlesex. Three weeks after the trials match Edmund Carter played, for the first time at Lord’s, in a game against the MCC when he played, not for Oxford, but for the Gentlemen of Yorkshire. Possibly his chance came because he was in a position to reach Lord’s at comparatively short notice. What a thrill that must have been, though his runs tally was only eight and he did not bowl. Back at Oxford he played for the Next XVI against a strong Oxford side, not batting as he was down to bat at number 15, but bowling and picking up five university wickets. When Frederick Lillywhite’s Cricket Scores and Biographies 1855-1875 was published a brief mention of that first match at Lord’s was given and Carter was described as an ‘excellent fast round-armed bowler, a batsman far above the average’, and ‘fields well, generally at short slip’. In a rare physical description he was said to be six feet tall and weigh 12 stone. That performance was good enough to propel him into the university team to playMCC in a first-class match at theMagdalen Ground in Oxford. He took two wickets with his fast bowling and, batting at number eleven scored 19 not out in his only innings. This was his season’s highlight for he was not chosen for the later Varsity match. He had however played first-class cricket Family 15