MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JULY 1868
The Royal Artillery Barracks have been caught at the top of the Metropolitan League standings, as a tight battle looks set to form between them and the City of London Club for this year’s championship. The month began well for the Artillery, who extended their lead when they defeated lowly Kensington and the City Club were beaten by the Old Westminsters, but the following week City pitcher William Rood shut down the Artillery completely to give his team a crucial win. The Artillery followed that by losing twice in a day to struggling Clapham, by identical 6-2 scorelines, allowing the City Club to draw level.
A gap has now emerged behind those leading two teams as Angel struggle for consistency, winning two and losing two in July, while Greenwich were beaten in their last two games of the month and the Old Westminsters dropped their last three. That victory over the City Club seemed set to put them in position to challenge for a third championship, but the rest of the month was poor and may have cost them their chance. Reigning champions The Regent’s Park are in third place, but with the season nearly two-thirds completed can’t afford to drop much further behind. It was a better month for struggling Clapham and Kensington, with Clapham enjoying those two wins over the Artillery and Kensington winning three successive games, having only taken two of the fifteen games prior to that.
The first Oxford University Championship was decided at the beginning of the month, and it did not require a tie breaking game to produce a champion, although one appeared inevitable during the course of the final games. Brasenose earned a 1-0 victory at Worcester College, meaning that New College had to match that with a win of their own over Christ Church. When they led by a score of 3-0, all looked set for an additional game but New College let the lead slip away, eventually losing the game 4-3 and handing the first championship to Brasenose.
