Irish Cricket Archives masthead
Ireland International Matches
Surrey drew with Ireland
2 Day, The Oval, 26 May 1879
Scorecard
Derek Scott

This match was destroyed by bad weather and there was no play after lunch on the 2nd day. Surrey fielded an all-Amateur XI and although it was better than the MCC XI it was still not up to the standard which Ireland had expected in these two London games. Only 5 of the Surrey team played in the County Championship matches. Two of these (R Howell and FW Bush) played only once and WG Wyld only 4 times. The best known Surrey players were the Shuter brothers. J Shuter was a brilliant batsman who was 2nd to AP Lucas in the Surrey batting averages of 1879. Small in size (5' 6") he captained Surrey from the early 1880's and in 1887 they captured their first Championship. In 1888 he played for England v Australia once. LA Shuter was also a good batsman and was 3rd in the Surrey averages in 1879. FB Shadwell played for both MCC and Surrey in these matches meeting with considerable bowling success for Surrey. None of the Surrey 1st XI bowlers played in this game.

H Hamilton (who was not available v MCC) replaced W Alexander (who was not available for this match). This should have weakened Ireland's batting but in fact it did not as Hamilton made 30 - by far his highest innings for Ireland. It was Hanna's 3rd and last match for Ireland. His hat-trick on debut v I Zingari in 1877 has earned immortality for this fast underarm bowler.

The weather was dark, cloudy, cold and most uncricket like yet there was a fair crowd. The wicket was very good but of course dead and slow as was the outfield. N.Hone won the toss and opened with Trotter. Bush and Shadwell were the bowlers. Scoring was slow and maiden followed maiden until, after 20 minutes, Trotter was caught at the wicket off Shadwell while attempting to cut. Fleming came in and Wyld replaced Shadwell after a while. A "shooter" from Wyld got Hone for 12 and Nunn was caught off Bush almost at once. 26-3-1. At 37 L.Hone was bowled by Wyld. Hussey and Fleming (who was playing beautifully) made a stand and by lunch the score was 60 for 4, Fleming 23, Hussey 13. Shadwell resumed bowling after lunch and at 69 he bowled Hussey for 16. Manders played on after making 6. Vint came in to help Fleming and just as Irish hopes were beginning to rise a wonderful stumping by Abbott off Shadwell dismissed Vint for 9. 95-7. Hamilton, the Kilkenny left hander and fast bowler, now arrived and hit 30 out of the 35 added for the 8th wicket. It was just the type of innings required. At 130 Shadwell bowled Hamilton and shortly afterwards the gallant Fleming was caught at slip for a most admirable 49 (for all his consistency he never reached 50 for Ireland). His only chance was a catch to short leg while Hamilton was in with him. Exham was soon yorked by Shadwell whose 6 for 38 was achieved in 28 overs.

Facing 142 the Shuter brothers began for Surrey at 4.30. The bowlers were Exham and Hamilton. At 7 L.Hone caught J. Shuter behind the wicket off Exham and at 10 Exham bowled L. Shuter. Hamilton bowled B Howell for 3, then Hartley Smith and R Howell took the score to 54 by excellent cricket. Hanna replaced Hamilton. R Howell was badly missed in the deep field when only 2 and again at cover when 35. He also gave a stumping chance. Hartley Smith was bowled by Exham for 20 at 54 and at 77 Exham also bowled Howell for 42. From this score (77 for 5) to 95 Avory did almost all the scoring then Exham bowled Wyld who had made only 4. 95-6. Bush (6) played out time with Avory (32). The score was 114 for 6 and the match was in an interesting position.

There probably should have been no play at all on the 2nd day because the ground was very wet and the bowlers were hardly able to stand. If the fielders had taken the catches offered Ireland would have led on 1st Innings but the catching and fielding were very loose with the notable exception of Vint. Before 2 were added Avory should have been stumped. He and Bush hit well and Nunn and Hamilton replaced Hanna and Exham. Several catches were missed off Nunn. Surrey went into the lead and the score rose to 148. At this point Bush was badly missed in the outfield but at the same score Nunn bowled Avory. He had made 52 and added 53 with Bush. Bush was caught and bowled by Nunn for 24 and Hamilton yorked Shadwell. Abbott got all 17 added for the 10th wicket before being caught off Hamilton just before lunch. The Surrey lead was 35 but rain prevented any more play. This 2nd rate Surrey team had given Ireland a fielding and catching lesson. Exham conceded only 70 runs in 52 overs for 5 wickets. Hamilton and Nunn had bowled well towards the end of the innings. Not many of the Irish in London had turned up to watch this match.