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UNIVERSITY MATCHES.
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and bettors of trifling sums, made for the sentiment of the thing, to show which side has your sympathy. He is an evil creature who, if he bets at all, bets against his own University. The University match, like the Irish Secretaryship, has been the grave of many a reputation. John Walker made 19 runs in six innings; Lord Cobham made 61 in seven innings; A. W. Ridley exactly the runs in exactly the same number of innings; R. D. Walker 84 runs in ten innings. All these were men who played for the Gentlemen while they were at the University, and were all excellent batsmen.

The first match took place in 1827, and was not finished, but Oxford would certainly have won; and the teams met intermittently till 1838. Since then the match has been an annual fixture, and has been played out to a finish every year except 1827, 1844, and 1888, when, though four days were given to it, the weather triumphed in a bad sense. The University match makes the great opportunity for old friends to meet,