Richard Gorton Barlow was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on May 28th, 1850. His connection with the county began about 1872; and he has done good work for it with bat and ball. Until late years, he invariably batted first with Mr. A. N. Hornby, and as a rule scored ten runs or thereabouts while Mr. Hornby made a hundred. He has the patience of Job, and takes rank with the Scotton and L. Hall type of batsmen; but I do not know which holds the record for slowness. I know on one occasion Barlow batted 80 minutes without scoring, and took 2 hours to make 5 runs! He has been an exceedingly useful all-round player for his county, and has both batted and bowled with success for the Players v. Gentlemen. He bowls above medium-pace, keeps a good length, and is very seldom off the wicket.
William Barnes was born at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, on the 27th May, 1852. He has been a host in himself for his county, since he first played for it in 1875. He has also done excellent work for the M.C.C., the Players v. Gentlemen, and England v. Australia. His highest score so far is 266 for M.C.C. v. Leicestershire at Lord's in 1882, when Midwinter and he scored 473 runs in the remarkably quick time of 5½ hours before they were parted. He has also exceeded 100 in an innings on twenty-six occasions: twelve times for the M.C.C., eleven times for his county, once for the Players, once for England v. Australia, and once for England v. Eighteen of Bendigo. His batting average in first-class matches in 1889 was a very fine one:
36 completed innings, 1249 runs, average 34.25.
He is not a graceful batsman; but he has excellent defence, and watches the ball very carefully. He scores faster than the average professional, his hitting
