He was the most productive bowler for the county in their first two years of first-class cricket, but the emergence of E. W. Bastard, and later Ted Tyler and Sammy Woods, limited his opportunities with the club.

[7] Throughout 1880, he was regularly Somerset's leading wicket-taker in their matches; he collected five wickets in an innings against the Marylebone Cricket Club twice,[8] Hertfordshire,[9] and Leicestershire.

The Kent captain, Richard Thornton objected to Fothergill's presence, correctly pointing out that he was not qualified to play for Somerset.

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.

He was Somerset's leading wicket-taker during the season, taking twice as many wickets as the next most effective bowler, Charles Winter.

Having collected five wickets in an innings for the MCC against Oxford University,[18] Fothergill repeated the feat twice that season for Somerset, taking five for 23 against Gloucestershire,[19] and then achieving his best first-class bowling figures of six for 43 against Hampshire.

[27] The majority of his cricket from 1884 until 1886 was made for the MCC, although he did appear four times in 1886 for Somerset, which had been stripped of its first-class status.

Organised by Major Gardner Warton, the original itinerary only featured "odds" matches, in which an 11-player MCC team faced opposition sides including 15, 18 or 22 players, depending on their perceived strength.

In his book, A History of Cricket, Harry Altham describes that the quality of the touring party "was about that of a weak county.

Having bowled South Africa out for 84, England rallied from 103 for nine due to a 45-run partnership for the tenth wicket between Fothergill and Basil Grieve.

Batting at number eleven, Fothergill scored 32 runs, second only to opening batsman Bobby Abel.

In South Africa's second innings, Fothergill was used as first-change bowler,[c] and took four wickets for 19, his best figures in the two Test matches.

[2] After returning from South Africa, Fothergill played occasionally for the MCC, and three further times for Somerset, but with little merit.

He made his final appearance for Somerset in 1889, against Staffordshire; he took 157 wickets for the county in total,[36] of which 57 came in first-class matches.