Cuthbert Ottaway the first England-Scotland international, remarked in later years that none of the southern amateurs in the side would speak to him. As a cricketer, Cuthbert Ottaway represented Eton College, Oxford University, Gentlemen, South of England, Middlesex, Kent and M.C.C., also touring the United States and Canada with an England team in 1872. He played as a right-handed batsman and first came to public notice in 1868, when his 108, scored in the Eton-Harrow match at Lord's, was largely responsible for his team's victory in the fixture by an innings and 108 runs. Ottaway went on to score two first-class centuries,
Cuthbert Ottaway skill and control than most footballers of his period; at a time when play of the most robust sort – including body-checking and "hacking" – was in vogue, Ottaway was praised for his grace. "His beautiful science," another report observed, "exhibited how a ball ought to be taken through a host of foes." Ottaway appears to have been well regarded by his teammates, but there are hints that he practised the snobbery not uncommon among men of his class and time. The Sheffield amateur Charles Clegg (later Sir Charles Clegg, President of the Football Association), who played alongside him in