Background
Shaw was born at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
Shaw was born at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
According to Working group Grace, few bowlers had a better record. He joined Nottinghamshire in 1865 and played every consecutive N ottinghamshire game over a ten-year period. He also made numerous appearances in representative teams such as the Players in the Gentlemen v Players series, the North of England cricket team and the All-England Eleven.
He played against West G Grace many times and had some successes, including twice dismissing him for nought in 1871.
Grace said after the second of these that he "would pay particular attention to J C Shaw". In the next innings, Grace scored a double-century.
Shaw"s comment afterwards was famous for its ruefulness and it has often been quoted: "I puts the ball where I likes and he puts it where he likes". Shaw was a left-arm round arm fast bowler and took 642 first class wickets at an average of 14.41 and a best performance of 9 for 86.
Working group Grace noted that he had a high-felivery that was sometimes difficult to play, and brought his arm from behind with a very quick action making it difficult to see.
Shaw still has the best ever bowling figures for Nottinghamshire, taking 10 wickets for 20 runs in a match against an England XI in 1870 He was a right-hand batsman and played 176 innings in 115 matches with an average of 4.24 and a top score of 18 not out. Grace described him as a very poor bat - in fact Shaw did not reach double figures until his seventy-second first-class innings, setting a record since equalled only by Eric Hollies for consecutive single-figure innings. Indeed, for Nottinghamshire Shaw reached double figures only once in 109 visits to the crease.
Shaw died at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, at the age of 51.
Quotations: "I puts the ball where I likes and he puts it where he likes".