🦆 The Duck Pond

A single fixture occupied the eleven this week, the visit of Loose Cricket Club, and it yielded four ducks' eggs to the Club's ledger — no great multitude, but a notable one, for these are the very first entries upon our roll of dubious distinction. Friendly XI v Loose CC, played at home - J Tompson, at number six, was bowled by C Amies and returned to the pavilion without troubling the scorer. It is his first appearance in these pages, and he takes up the third position of the all-time table with a single egg to his name, keeping company there with C French Snr, who sits upon precisely the same tally. - F Daniels, at number seven, was bowled by Joseph Amies and thereby opened his account both for the season and for all time, claiming outright the leading position upon the club's roll. In the same stroke he is inaugurated into the Duck of the Year 1860 honours, a distinction that stands current for this very season. He is joined upon his tally of one by C French Snr, another gentleman new to the ledger. - C French Snr, first wicket down, fell to Joseph Amies without score, his debut innings for the Club securing him the second position of the all-time table, level in every particular with J Tompson. - F Daniels, called to the wicket a second time in the same fixture, was this occasion taken by C Childs off a bowler whose name the scorer did not think to preserve. He thereby completes a pair, two ducks in the one match, a grim if not unheard-of feat, and his figures advance to two for the season and two for his short career, his position at the head of the table undisturbed and his place among the Duck of the Year 1860 honours now doubly confirmed. The Week in Summary Four ducks from a single fixture is no mean return, and the distinction of contributing two of them belongs to Mr Daniels alone, whose pair rather sets the tone for a season only just begun. The eleven may reflect that three of its number departed without score inside a single afternoon, a circumstance the scorebook recorded with more regularity than enthusiasm. The Duck Hunting Season Table 1. F Daniels — 2 innings, 2 ducks, a full 100 per cent 2. C French Snr — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50 per cent 3. J Tompson — 2 innings, 1 duck, 50 per cent In Closing The Club's roll of honour, opened this very week, stands ready to receive whatever further entries the next fixture may furnish. Members are cordially invited to attend, and, should fortune so decree, to add their own names to the ledger of the willow's more modest triumphs.