🗓️ 12 Jul – 18 Jul 1884 · 1884 — 1 match
🧢 1st XIv ? · HomeformLWLLLWednesday 16 July 1884, and home advantage on our side — though on the day it counted for precious little, if I'm honest.
Winning the toss, I did what any self-respecting skipper does and stuck us in, fancying our chances on a pitch that looked to have runs in it. And runs there were, of a sort: F S W Mann batted with real authority for 49, finding a willing partner in Arthur Cornwallis, who chipped in a handy 23. Alas, wickets tumbled around them at the other end, and the innings folded for not very much at all.
Defending what we had was always going to ask questions of our bowling, and this time the answers simply weren't there — the visitors strolled to victory by an innings and 58 runs, a margin that rather says it all. I did my bit with the bat, 49 to my name, but one man's efforts were never going to paper over a defeat of that size.
There was a silver lining amid the wreckage: Mann's 49 nudges him past W Wilson and up to 13th on the club's all-time run-scoring list, and keeps him top of our 1884 charts. Small mercies, but mercies nonetheless. A chastening afternoon, then, and no dressing it up — we were second best from start to finish. We'll regroup, lick our wounds, and be better for it next week.