Leslie Ward ('Spy') — 'Reggie' (Mr. R. H. Spooner)

Spy's chromolithograph presents Lancashire and England batsman Reginald Herbert Spooner in full cricket whites — loose shirt, padded trousers, buckled pads, spiked boots — holding a wooden bat at his side while his left hand rests on his hip with easy confidence. The caption reads simply *'Reggie.'* with his formal name given below. Ward flatters more than he distorts: the subject's sharp profile and trim figure carry only a mild caricaturist's exaggeration. The plate is social endorsement rather than satire, typical of Vanity Fair's treatment of gentlemen-amateurs whose sporting celebrity confirmed class standing. Spooner, celebrated for elegant strokeplay, embodied the Edwardian ideal of the amateur cricketer — a point the portrait makes without irony.