Wisden
Obituary

Alfred Lyttelton

LYTTELTON, ALFRED, THE HON., K. C., was born in London on February 7th, 1857, and died after a brief illness, following an operation, on the 5th of July. He was one of those cricketers about whose greatness there was never any question. From his school days he seemed destined to take a very high place. He was in the Eton eleven from 1872 to 1875, and in the Cambridge eleven from 1876 to 1879, finishing up in each case as captain.

The best amateur wicket-keeper of his day, he was picked for Gentlemen against Players at Lord's in his first year at Cambridge, and he kept wicket for England against Australia at the Oval in 1880 and 1882 and at Lord"s and the Oval in 1884. As a batsman he represented, in its highest development, the forward style of play taught by Mr. R. A. H. Mitchell at Eton. Owing to the claims of his work at the Bar, he gave up first-class cricket when he was little more than twenty-eight.

He played his last match for Middlesex in 1887. He was President of the Marylebone Club in 1898, and served on the Committee from 1881 to 1885, and from 1899 to 1903. Apart from his cricket Mr. Lyttelton was the best amateur tennis player of his time, excelled also at racquets, and played for England at Association Football. No one, perhaps, has ever had a greater all-round genius for ball games. A few statistics of his cricket career are appended.

For Middlesex, 1877-87, he made 1,656 runs with an average of 27.15.

For Camb. Univ, 1876-79, he made 1,224 runs with an average of 29.14.

For Gentlemen v. Players, he made 269 runs with an average of 18.21.

In all first-class cricket, he made 4,432 runs with an average of 27.87.

For Gentlemen v. Players, at the Oval, in 1877, he caught 6 and stumped 1.

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