Lives in Cricket No 9 - JH King

colleagues. These were C.J.B.Wood, who opened for the Gentlemen, Knight, who scored over a hundred runs in all, and Billy Odell, who took ten wickets. King himself performed reasonably with 19 and 39, being bowled in both innings by the George Beldam to whose photographs we are indebted for evidence of King’s bowling style and off-drive. It is often forgotten that in 1906 King gave performances almost rivalling those of two years earlier; but this time the match was at The Oval. He did not score a century and all eyes were on W.G.Grace who made 74, at the venerable age of 58, in the second innings before being out to King’s colleague, Tom Jayes. As a batsman King had to face, among others, Gilbert Jessop, J.N.Crawford and Odell, against all of whom he was top-scorer in the first innings with an undefeated 89. In the second, after his team had lost five wickets for a mere handful of runs, he made 88 in a partnership of 182 with Joe Hardstaff. Then, when he was well set on the third day, ‘W.G. went on and with his first ball seduced King into attempting a big hit, only to send the ball into the hands of long-on’. In after years King may have taken some consolation for his failure to make a third hundred in these games from the realisation that he was the very last victim in first-class cricket of the round-arm arch-deceiver. 26 He also, this time, did bowl himself, having Jessop caught for a duck in his two for 37. King’s final appearances for the Players were in 1909, when he made a mere 8 and 12 not out at Lord’s and at Scarborough where in a match ruined by rain he was out for nought but had Johnny Douglas caught by Jack Hobbs. In total his figures in these Gentlemen v Players matches were 468 runs with two centuries and two fifties at an average of 78.00, three wickets for 68 runs and two catches. The Match of the Season 59 26 King was caught by L.G.Colbeck, who had won his second Blue for Cambridge University a fortnight before: he played occasionally for Middlesex.