William Henry Scotton (15 January 1856 – 9 July 1893) was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Scotton played his first match at Lord's for Sixteen Colts of England against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

on 11 and 12 May 1874, scoring on that occasion 19 and 0. He was engaged as a groundsman by the MCC in that year and in 1875, and after an engagement at Kennington Oval returned to the service of the MCC, of whose ground staff he was a member at the time of his death. His powers were rather slow to ripen, and he had been playing for several years before he obtained anything like a first-rate position. At one period of his career, however, and more particularly during the seasons of 1884 and 1886, he was among the best professional left-handed batsman in England.

The 1884 and 1885 seasons

In 1884 he scored 567 runs for Nottinghamshire in thirteen matches, with an average of 31.9; in 1885, 442 runs in fourteen engagements, with an average of 22.2; and in 1886, in county fixtures only, 559 runs, with an average of 29.8. This included a knock of 90 for England against Australia at Kennington Oval in August 1884. The match, resulted in a draw, Australia scoring 551 and England 346 and 85 for two wickets. In England's first innings Scotton went in first, and was the ninth man out, the total when he left being 332. During a stay of five hours and three quarters he played the bowling of

Fred Spofforth Frederick Robert Spofforth (9 September 1853 – 4 June 1926), also known as "The Demon Bowler", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century. He was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the fi ...

, Palmer, Boyle,

Billy Midwinter William Evans Midwinter (19 June 1851 – 3 December 1890) was a cricketer who played four Test matches for England, sandwiched in between eight Tests that he played for Australia. Midwinter holds a unique place in cricket history as the only ...

, and

George Giffen George Giffen (27 March 1859 – 29 November 1927) was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia ...

without giving a chance, Had he fallen it would have been quite likely that England would have been beaten. Up to a certain time he received very little assistance, but when

Walter Read Walter William Read (born 23 November 1855 in Reigate, Surrey, died 6 January 1907 in Addiscombe Park, Surrey) was an English cricketer. A fluent right hand bat, he was also an occasional bowler of lobs who sometimes switched to quick overa ...

joined him, 151 runs were put on for the ninth wicket.

The 1886 Oval Test

Against the Australian team of 1886 Scotton played two successful innings in company with

WG Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

, the two batsmen scoring 170 together for the first wicket for England at the Oval. Scotton's score at the Oval was only 34 in 225. When Scotton was out, Walter Read came in and made 94 in 210 minutes. Scotton's slow scoring, particularly when compared with Grace and Read prompted London magazine ''Punch'' to print the following parody on Alfred, Lord Tennyson: ::Block, block, block ::At the foot of thy wicket, O Scotton! ::And I would that my tongue would utter ::My boredom. You won't put the pot on! ::Oh, nice for the bowler, my boy, ::That each ball like a barndoor you play! ::Oh, nice for yourself, I suppose, ::That you stick at the wicket all day! ::And the clock's slow hands go on, ::And you still keep up your sticks; ::But oh! for the lift of a smiting hand, ::And the sound of a swipe for six! ::Block, block, block, ::At the foot of thy wicket, ah do! ::But one hour of Grace or Walter Read ::Were worth a week of you! Scotton paid three visits to Australia, going out with

Alfred Shaw Alfred Shaw (29 August 1842 – 16 January 1907) was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North Ameri ...

's and

Arthur Shrewsbury Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wo ...

's teams in 1881, 1884 and 1886. In the three tours he averaged respectively in the eleven a-side matches, 20.8, 17.3, and 10.13. Scotton last played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

in 1891. He then played minor cricket and umpired. Scotton committed suicide on 9 July 1893 by slitting his throat with a razor.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scotton, William 1856 births 1893 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers Suicides in Westminster Cricketers from Nottingham Players of the North cricketers Lord Hawke's XI cricketers London United Eleven cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers 1890s suicides Suicides by sharp instrument in England