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legs. But Lords told another tale, and a strong M.C.C. eleven, on the 27th May 1878, met bowlers and a field of a style unlike what had been seen before—novel, unexpected, and full of genius. The wickets in those days were not quite as good as they are now, but still the question a long-headed cricketer asked himself after playing the Australians was, "What is there in their bowling which makes it unlike any other I have seen?" It was Spofforth who made a new epoch in the history of cricket, for he it was who first showed us a bowler able to bowl the fastest pace one ball, and then, with no apparent change of style or action, a slower ball, both with amazing accuracy, and frequently with fatal results to the batsman. If any bowler in the world studied and made a science of his work, it was Spofforth. He knew where his field ought to be placed; he thought last thing at night of bowling, and had an idea for every ball, a plan of campaign for every batsman. Though his pace, as a general rule, was so fast, it was so