68 Facts About Lionel Palairet

Lionel Charles Hamilton Palairet was an English amateur cricketer who played for Somerset and Oxford University.

Contemporaries judged Palairet to have one of the most attractive batting styles of the period.

Lionel Palairet played in the school cricket team for four years, as captain in the latter two, before going to Oriel College, Oxford.

Lionel Palairet achieved his cricketing Blue in each of his four years at Oxford, and captained the side in 1892 and 1893.

In that season, Lionel Palairet was named as one of the "Five Batsmen of the Year" by Wisden.

Lionel Palairet passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season on seven occasions, and struck two double centuries.

Lionel Palairet retired from first-class cricket in 1909, having scored over 15,000 runs.

Lionel Palairet was born in Grange-over-Sands, a popular seaside resort in Lancashire, on 27 May 1870.

Lionel Palairet was the oldest of five children born to Henry Hamilton Palairet and Elizabeth Anne Bigg.

Lionel Palairet was selected for the university cricket team during his first year at Oxford, and made his first-class debut against the touring Australians in May 1890.

Lionel Palairet scored six and nought and took one wicket in the match which Australia won by an innings.

Lionel Palairet only passed 50 runs in one other innings for Oxford that summer, a score of 72 against the MCC, and in all matches for the university that season scored 285 runs at an average of 19.00.

Batting averages in 1890 were lower than usual due to the poor weather, and Lionel Palairet's average placed him fourth among Oxford's team; his 285-run total was the team's second highest aggregate.

Lionel Palairet played in ten of these games, and on his first appearance scored a century against Leicestershire.

Lionel Palairet scored his debut century in first-class cricket that year, with 100 runs against Gloucestershire.

Lionel Palairet had agreed to tour North America with Lord Hawke's party, but he demurred late, and was replaced by Somerset teammate Sammy Woods.

Lionel Palairet 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 scored a half-century.

Lionel Palairet 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, Bolton says, "Palairet played two beautiful innings and bowled to some effect".

Lionel 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, Lionel Palairet batted for an hour and a half to score 71 runs and help his side to victory.

Lionel Palairet topped the batting averages for Oxford in 1892, scoring 509 runs at 36.35, and his 28 wickets came at 22.28.

At the time, The Daily Telegraph reported that the pair remained together for three and a half hours, during which Lionel Palairet scored one six and nineteen fours.

Lionel Palairet was second in the batting averages, scoring 276 runs at 21.23.

Lionel Palairet scored nine half-centuries, with a top-score of 75 not out.

An injury prevented Lionel Palairet from playing against Cambridge, and thus earning his Blue in football.

Lionel Palairet played for Arthur Shrewsbury's England XI against Australia in 1893, and scored 71 runs as the English side won by an innings and 153 runs.

Lionel Palairet scored five half-centuries for Somerset that summer, and his batting average of 28.94 in the County Championship was bettered only by Hewett among his teammates.

The next year, Lionel Palairet made a big score against his former university.

Lionel Palairet scored a century against Nottinghamshire, making 119 runs before being out leg before wicket to his old trainer Attewell.

Lionel Palairet fell just short of 1,000 first-class runs in 1894; though two half-centuries scored against the touring South Africans in matches not considered first-class would have taken him over the milestone.

In 1895, Lionel Palairet was fourth in the national batting averages, having scored 1,313 runs at 46.89.

Lionel Palairet scored three centuries during the season; two against Middlesex, on the latter occasion batting undefeated through the whole Somerset innings, and one against Yorkshire, when he struck 165.

Lionel Palairet passed a thousand runs again the following year, maintaining a batting average in excess of 40.

Lionel Palairet returned to form against Sussex on their visit to Taunton, sharing a 249-run partnership with his brother, and scoring 154 runs himself.

The match was played shortly before the final Test match against Australia, but despite the comments in the Australian press, Lionel Palairet was not selected for the match.

Lionel Palairet did appear twice against the tourists that summer, for Somerset he scored six across two innings, and chosen to play for Charles Thornton's XI during the Scarborough Festival, he scored 71 runs in an innings victory.

In 1897 Lionel Palairet made fewer first-class appearances, playing in only 12 matches.

Lionel Palairet scored 593 runs at an average just below 30, the only time between 1895 and 1906 that his average was below that value.

In 1898, Lionel Palairet topped 1,000 first-class runs for the third season out of four.

Lionel Palairet struck 179 not out against Gloucestershire in Bristol, and late in the season, against Gloucestershire, he captained Somerset for the first time, leading them to victory by an innings and 169 runs.

Lionel Palairet played in two matches during the Scarborough Festival, in which he scored 54, his highest innings for the Gentlemen against the Players, and appeared for Thornton's "England XI" against that season's county champions, Yorkshire.

Lionel Palairet returned in 1900, scoring 947 runs at an average of 35.07.

Lionel Palairet trailed only Fry and Ranjitsinhji in the national batting averages, and drew particular acclaim for his innings of 173 against Yorkshire.

Lionel Palairet was instrumental in inflicting defeat on Yorkshire: on what Sir Home Gordon described as a "rain-ruined wicket", Palairet scored 25 and 24 during a match in which only Braund reached double-figure scores in both innings.

Lionel Palairet was selected to appear for the Marylebone Cricket Club against the touring Australians in the week prior to the first Test of the series.

Lionel Palairet was not chosen to play in any of the first three Tests, but was called up for the fourth match, at Old Trafford.

Lionel Palairet, Ranjitsinhji and Fred Tate replaced Fry, George Hirst and Gilbert Jessop; the Wisden match report indicates that dropping Fry was a necessary decision, but that Hirst and Jessop should both have played.

Lionel Palairet was bowled by Saunders, and England were eventually dismissed for 120, four runs short of victory.

Lionel Palairet was dismissed for 20 by Trumble, whose bowling Altham praised as magnificent.

Lionel Palairet was dismissed for six, the third batsman to be bowled by Trumble in the innings, at which point England's score was 10 for 3 wickets.

Lionel Palairet made no further Test appearances, and completed his brief Test career with 49 runs at an average of 12.25, against an Australian side that has been described as among the best Test teams prior to the Second World War.

Lionel Palairet passed 50 on three other occasions, and finished the year with 637 runs at 35.38.

Lionel Palairet appeared more frequently the following year, in which he scored 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the final time of his career.

Lionel Palairet opened the season with a century against Gloucestershire, scoring 166 runs.

Lionel Palairet missed most of the cricket in 1905 and 1906, to concentrate on his work as a land agent for the Earl of Devon.

Lionel Palairet played three times in 1905; against the touring Australians, Kent and Warwickshire, while in 1906 he played one match, against Yorkshire.

Lionel Palairet himself had a disappointing year; his batting average of 21.33 was the lowest in any season in which he played ten or more matches.

Lionel Palairet passed 50 in an innings on only three occasions, one of these being 116 runs against Kent at Tonbridge, the final century of his first-class career.

Lionel Palairet invariably wore a Harlequins cricket cap during matches, and was considered aloof by his colleagues.

Lionel Palairet played predominantly off the front foot, and tended to be less effective on soft pitches.

Lionel Palairet favoured shots on the off side, particularly the off drive and cover drive.

Fry suggests that the early practice that Lionel Palairet gained against Attewell and Martin, who bowled accurately at the stumps, was a key factor in limiting his range of leg side shots.

Lionel Palairet favoured lofted shots which were often compared to golf strokes.

Lionel Palairet remained absolutely still at the crease while preparing to play a shot, a feature later seen in Viv Richards' batting.

Lionel Palairet married Caroline Mabel Laverton, the daughter of William Henry Laverton, a prominent cricket patron in Wiltshire, in 1894.

Lionel Palairet was the first chairman of the Devon County Golf Union upon its formation in 1911, captained Devon at golf either side of the First World War, from 1914 through until 1926, and was president of the Union from 1923 until 1932.

Lionel Palairet developed the idea of an inter-club team championship within Devon, and donated the prize, which remains named the Palairet Trophy.

Lionel Palairet died in Exmouth on 27 March 1933, aged 62.