Cuthbert Ottaway – having conceded one run from the first ball of his four-ball over – took a hat-trick with his last three balls to leave Ottaway's team two runs short of a tie and three short of the total required for victory. "By superior bowling and infinitely superior fielding," commented Geoffrey Bolton's "History of the OUCC", "Oxford reached a position where they could not lose; and they lost." Oxford University Cuthbert Ottaway Cuthbert John Ottaway (19 July 1850 – 2 April 1878), was an English footballer. He was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in
Cuthbert Ottaway two of his three finals. In 1874 he captained Oxford and helped to pin the Engineers back in their own half for long periods with extended excursions into opposition territory. He also participated in a three-man dribble that took the ball almost the whole length of the pitch and resulted in the scoring of his team's second and decisive goal. In 1875, Ottaway represented Old Etonians in a match notable chiefly because it was played in a "howling gale". The conditions considerably favoured the Eton team, which had the wind at its backs for all but 10 minutes of the