Alfred Shaw's Emergence — Notts Debut and the Slow-Medium Revolution, 1864-66

The legalisation of overarm bowling in June 1864 — only days before Shaw's debut — opened the field to a new style of bowling, but Shaw's gift was that he never needed it. His low-armed slow-medium, perfected on the rough Notts pitches of the 1860s, would have been legal under any law. Trent Bridge in 1864 was already the most important professional ground in England.

Shaw's professional engagement at Grantham in 1862-63 sharpened his bowling. The Notts Colts seven-for in 1863 brought him into the county side. The legalisation of overarm in June 1864, six days before his debut, had no immediate effect on him: he kept his low arm and his quiet pace.

Shaw was born at Burton Joyce, a few miles upriver from Trent Bridge, on 29 August 1842. After working as a stockman he became professional to the Grantham club in 1862, succeeding his older brother Arthur. The breakthrough came on 4 June 1863 when, playing for the Notts Colts against the County Eleven, he took seven wickets for a small return as the county were dismissed for 41. The Notts committee signed him at once. His first-class debut against Kent at Trent Bridge on 13 June 1864 was modest in the figures, but on his Lord's debut for the Colts of England against MCC later that summer he took seven for 24 and six for 39, announcing himself nationally. By 1865 he was a fixture in the Notts side and was selected at age 22 for the Gentlemen v Players match at the Oval; in the corresponding 1866 match he made 70 with the bat. Shaw's bowling style was unusual: slow-medium, with a low arm action that survived the legalisation of overarm in 1864, almost no spin but immaculate length and a subtle change of pace. Contemporaries said he could pitch six successive balls on a sixpence. Across his career he took 2,026 first-class wickets at 12.13 — figures that even Sydney Barnes would not match. He became the most influential bowler of the 1870s, captained Notts in the Players' strike of 1881, bowled the first ball in Test cricket to Charles Bannerman in March 1877, and continued to play first-class cricket into his fifties.

“Shaw could pitch six successive balls on a sixpence.”

“His record was made by length and head, not by pace or spin.”

Shaw's career flourished through the 1870s. He took more than 100 first-class wickets in eight successive seasons from 1872 and was the leading wicket-taker in eight different summers. He was central to the Notts strike of 1881, captained the rebel professional sides on tours of Australia and North America, and finished with 2,026 first-class wickets at 12.13.