 Towards the end of August , the touring Australian team visited Taunton , attracting the largest crowd of the season , roughly 1 @,@ 500 people . Somerset were not considered to have much chance in the match , though Australia were missing three of their better players . The Leeds Mercury offered Somerset faint praise , suggesting that they had " no great cause to be dissatisfied with their performances . " The Australians batted first , and were restricted to 245 by Somerset . Alick Bannerman was the highest scorer for the tourists , with 50 runs , while Evans and Fothergill took three wickets each . In their response , Somerset 's batsmen struggled against the bowling of Fred Spofforth , who was known as the " Demon " . Spofforth took nine wickets , while conceding only 51 runs , and Somerset were forced to follow @-@ on ; no batsman scored more than 17 runs in the first innings for the county . In the second @-@ innings , Somerset performed slightly better ; Newton scored 32 runs , and five other batsmen reached double figures . The Australian bowling once again proved too much though , and Somerset lost the match by an innings and 19 runs . The Western Daily Press praised the accurate bowling of both Spofforth and Harry Boyle during the match . 
