Cuthbert Ottaway lost the delayed replay 0–2. Although the precise nature of Ottaway's ankle injury remains unknown, there is no evidence that he never played senior football again after the 1875 Cup Final. His biographer, Michael Southwick, suggests that "the damage sustained to his ankle... signalled the end of his footballing career." As an international, Ottaway was selected to lead the England team travelling to Partick to meet Scotland on 30 November 1872 in what is now recognised as the first international match to be played. (England had met a "Scotland" team in five earlier friendlies, but these matches are not regarded
Cuthbert Ottaway both notched at the end of his career, while accumulating a total of 1,691 runs at an average of 27.27. "As a steady, defensive player," according to one obituarist, "he had not many superiors," and Southwick writes that he was "considered to have both the best defensive and most correcting batting action. of his day." In his best year, 1876, Ottaway stood fourth in the national first-class batting averages. Though Ottaway represented Gentlemen against Players three times (in 1870, 1872 and 1876) – the highest honour available to a cricketer in the years before the advent of Tests – he