Lives in Cricket No 51 - Rev ES Carter

Ealing 36 One other wicket was recorded as ‘thrown out by Armstrong’ hopefully a case of a fielder on target rather than an unusual bowling action. The match against Meteors was drawn with Carter run out for 27 – becoming rather a usual form of dismissal for him, and he may even have been batting with his clerical colleague the Reverend S. Sanderson, one of three clerics in the side that day. Carter managed a half century (51) against Cuckoo School Cricket Club, perhaps his first for Ealing, and then took part in a closely fought game on a Monday against Wimbledon which Ealing lost by 17 runs. There were certainly no matches on Sundays. The rather impromptu nature of some of these matches arose also in a game against Ealing Village when the Village side batted first and scored 82, Ealing made 68, (Carter run out again), and then Ealing were given a second knock. It couldn’t have been a follow-on situation. Perhaps they just tossed a coin to see who could bat next to fill up a warm Saturday afternoon. Carter did a week later take seven consecutive wickets against the single members of Ealing Club including a caught and bowled against the Reverend C. Carter, who may or may not have been a relation. In another match against a West Middlesex XI, the West Middlesex side bowled Ealing out for 52, yet Ealing won by 19 runs with Carter taking eight for 13. It seems to have been a cheerful season in which clergymen were prominent and hopefully fulfilling a dual role on cricketing days. Some summer days were spent at the family home in Yorkshire for the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer revealed that Carter played for Malton against Driffield in mid August 1873 scoring two and nought and taking two catches – maybe as a wicketkeeper, but there is no prose account of that game. 1874 The season started with the merger into the Ealing Club of Ealing Village Cricket Club that had been playing in the area since 1864. Then a full report was given in the County Times of the match against Cuckoo School Cricket Club. Cuckoo batted first and Carter took eight wickets, with the report stating that one of the ‘features of the day’ were ‘the large number of byes which were