VII
GIANTS OF THE GAME
There have, of course, been giants from the early ages of cricket to the present day. The academic question as to who were the giants till the days of William Lillywhite, Cobbett, and Jem Broadbridge is interesting only to antiquarians. I have my opinions and my interests on the subject, but my readers are not all enthusiasts, and few of them can be expected to enter into my tastes. William Lambert, the hero of a double century in one match, the conqueror single-handed at single wicket of the famous Squire Osbaldeston and T. C. Howard, is commonly reckoned to have been the champion up to the year 1827; but I propose to begin from the year 1827, the date of the introduction of round-hand bowling, as a starting-point for our
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