Lionel Palairet

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Lionel Palairet : biography

27 May 1870 – 27 March 1933

The following year, Palairet was elected captain of the Oxford team, and according to Wisden, "had a most brilliant season." Palairet used himself heavily as a bowler for the university in 1892; only George Berkeley bowled more deliveries.Bolton (1962), pp. 140–144. He took five wickets in an innings for the first of two occasions during his career in the first innings of Oxford’s match against the Gentlemen, and followed it up with four wickets in each innings against Lancashire, a match in which he also scored a half-century. He recorded the best bowling figures of his first-class career in the return match against Lancashire, taking six wickets for 84 runs at Old Trafford, and in the following game against Sussex, the Oxford cricket historian Geoffrey Bolton says, "Palairet played two beautiful innings and bowled to some effect". Facing Cambridge, he was out for a duck in the first innings, but the centuries from Malcolm Jardine and Vernon Hill took Oxford to 365. Cambridge were dismissed for 160, and were forced to follow on, whereupon they reached 388, leaving Oxford requiring 184 runs to win. Palairet, who had injured himself while fielding, opted not to open the batting, promoting Frank Phillips in his place. Oxford started poorly, falling to 17 for two, but coming in at number five, Palairet batted for an hour and a half to score 71 runs and help his side to victory. He topped the batting averages for Oxford, scoring 509 runs at 36.35, and his 28 wickets came at 22.28.

His university performances were good enough to earn him selection for the Gentlemen against the Players in the prestigious matches at Lord’s and The Oval. Returning to Somerset, Palairet struck a century against Gloucestershire in early July, In late August, playing Yorkshire, Palairet scored 132 out of a partnership of 346, establishing a record for the first wicket in first-class cricket, surpassing W. G. Grace and Bransby Cooper’s 1869 total of 283.Roebuck (1991), p. 62. Although their record has since been beaten in first-class cricket, it remains Somerset’s record partnership for the first wicket. Their partnership was described as "Pure grace at one end, sheer force at the other", in H.S. Altham and E. W. Swanton’s A History of Cricket. At the time, The Daily Telegraph reported that the pair remained together for three and half hours, during which Palairet scored one six and nineteen fours. At the end of the season, he was selected in two representative sides: appearing for the West against the East, and once again for the Gentlemen against the Players, on this occasion at Hastings. In all first-class matches that year, he scored 1,343 runs, the third most of any cricketer. He was named as one of the Five Batsmen of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in 1893, which noted that "there can be little doubt that even greater distinction awaits him in the cricket world."

In contrast to the previous year, 1893 was an unsuccessful one for Oxford. The university side failed to win a single match, and none of the batsmen scored a century, despite helpful conditions. Palairet was second amongst the batting averages, scoring 276 runs at 21.23. Bolton questions the team selection, particularly for the match against Cambridge:Bolton (1962), pp. 144–147. "One cannot believe that the best side was chosen. Arkwright, for example, had a far better bowling record than Wilson; R. Palairet and Rice were lucky to get in, seeing that neither Foster nor Warner was given a chance. Mordaunt did not come off as a batsman … Most surprising of all was the short shrift given to Hill … Phillips also was dropped, though his average was higher than Rice’s."Bolton is referring to: Harold Arkwright, Theophilus Wilson, Richard Palairet, Reginald Rice, Harry Foster, Pelham Warner, Gerald Mordaunt, Vernon Hill and Frank Phillips. Cambridge had a "powerful" team, containing eight of their players from the previous year, and adding Arthur Jones and K. S. Ranjitsinhji. Oxford lost the match by 266 runs, with only Palairet and C. B. Fry scoring more than 12 runs for the side.Chesterton, Doggart (1989), p. 114. In his four years at Oxford, Palairet appeared for the university 31 times in first-class cricket and accrued 1,291 runs at an average of 23.05. He scored nine half-centuries, with a top-score of 75 not out. He claimed 52 wickets at 25.03—significantly lower than his career average—and took the only five-wicket hauls of his career. While at Oxford, he also gained a Blue in athletics, running in the three-mile race against Cambridge in 1892. The same year, he played association football for Corinthians, and there were also appearances for Combined Universities and London. An injury prevented Palairet from playing against Cambridge, and thus earning his Blue in football.