he was not qualified to play for Somerset. As a result, Fothergill was removed from the side, and did not appear for the side in county cricket again that season, while he served his qualification. He did appear once for the county, against the MCC, taking four wickets in the first innings, and scoring 47 runs as an opening batsman. First-class cricket In 1882, Fothergill joined the ground staff at Lord's Cricket Ground, and made his first-class debut for the MCC against Derbyshire in May. Bowling unchanged in the first innings, he claimed five wickets for 31 runs, and then scored the highest score of his first-class career, 74 runs, in a large victory for his side. The following month, he featured for Somerset in what is generally considered to be their first match of the first-class cricket, against Lancashire. Somerset were heavily beaten in the match, during which Fothergill took three wickets and scored three runs. That summer, he was selected to appear for the professional "Players" against the amateur "Gentlemen" in the prestigious annual fixture at Lord's, in which he had little impact as the Gentlemen won by eight wickets. In all, Fothergill played fourteen first-class matches in 1882, claiming 44 wickets at an average of 22.02, and taking five wickets in an innings twice. He was Somerset's leading wicket-taker during the season, taking twice as many wickets as the next most effective bowler, Charles Winter. Fothergill's first match in 1883 was in a representative match, playing for the South against the North. The South, for whom Fothergill was the only player to score double figures in each innings, lost the match. He then played exclusively with the MCC until the end of July, when Somerset's fixtures began. Having collected five wickets in an innings for the MCC against Oxford University, Fothergill repeated the feat twice that season for Somerset, taking five for 23 against Gloucestershire, and then achieving his best first-class bowling figures of six for 43 against Hampshire. In the latter match, he also took four wickets in the second innings, giving him ten wickets in the match, the only occasion he achieved the feat in first-class cricket. He played one further match towards the end of the 1883 season, against that year's "Champion County", Nottinghamshire. The MCC won the game by 121 runs; in the first innings, Fothergill was not required to bowl as Nottinghamshire