eleven o'clock
Even an ordinary contest , such as we sometimes indulged in with the Hammerton or Smithwick clubs , or the Bognor garrison , would have aroused considerable interest in the vicinity of Little Peddlington ; but when it became known that we were going to play the celebrated Piccadilly Inimitables , who had licked Lancashire and Yorkshire , and almost every county eleven they had met in their cricketing tour from the north to the south of England , there was nothing else talked about from one end of our seaside town to the other , the news spreading to the adjacent hamlets , and villages beyond , until it reached the cathedral city twenty miles away . Under these circumstances it can not be wondered at that when Monday , the opening day of the match -- which turned out beautifully fine for a wonder , as it always rained on the very slightest provocation at Little Peddlington -- arrived , there was such a crowd of carriages and drags , filled to their utmost capacity , as to astonish even the memory of that far-famed individual `` the oldest inhabitant . '' These were drawn up in a sort of semicircle around our cricket ground -- a charmingly situated spot with a very wide area , and nicely sheltered by rows of waving elms from the hot August sun -- and besides the `` carriage folk , '' as the rustics termed them , came on foot everybody in the neighbourhood , besides all Little Peddlington itself . The Piccadilly Inimitables arrived early in the morning , having stopped overnight at Brighton , where they had scored their last victory over the Sussex eleven , and which place was not so remote from Little Peddlington as you might suppose , consequently we were able to commence the match in good time , and as our club won the toss for first innings we buckled to at once for the fray , sending in John Hardy , who had the reputation with us of being a `` sticker , '' and the grumbling Charley Bates , to the wickets punctually at eleven o'clock . The bowling at the beginning was rather shady , the Inimitables not being accustomed to the ground , which our batsmen , of course , were perfectly familiar with ; so runs got piled on in a way that raised our hopes pretty considerably , especially when Sidney Grant took Charley Bates 's place -- that worthy having in his second over skied a ball that was immediately caught , sending him out for five runs , two singles and a three , or two more than he had totalled in his last match . It was a sight to see Sidney as he cut and drove the slow and fast bowlers of our opponents ' team for four almost every over ; whilst John Hardy backed him up ably by remaining , as he was instructed , strictly on the defensive , and blocking every ball that came at all near his wicket Sidney was the run-getter ; he had simply to run . We had scored thirty-eight for the loss of only one wicket , and the captain seemed to be well set and good to make the century -- as he had done a month before in our match with the Smithwick Club -- when a new bowler went on at the lower end of the ground , and `` a change came over the spirit of our dream . ''