Cricket 1885

“ Together joined in cricket’s man ly toil.”— Byron. No. 92. VOL. IV . Registered for Transmission Abroad- THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1885. PRICE 21 M ? . JO SE PH H UGH B R A IN . It is the fashion with certain writers t >desig­ nate Gloucestershire as the County of The Graces. That its success on the cricket-field has been in a very great measure due to the exceptional skill of the wonderful triumvirate which ended with the popular G. F. no one can dispute. At the same time Gloucester­ shire has given birth to many cricketers, outside the famous family of Downend, who have occupied, and are still occupy­ ing very prominent positions among the players of the period. In Mr. J. H. Brain Gloucestershire is able to point to a native cricketer, who may be fairly classed one of the most promising all­ round amateurs of the present day. He was born at Kingswood, near Bristol, on Sept. 11, 1863. His early cricket associations, too, were all con­ nected with Bristol and its neighbour­ hood, and it is consequently in the eternal fitness of things that most of his best performances in Gloucestershire cricket during at least the early part of tis career foo the county should have been recorded within its limits. Edu­ cated at Clifton College, where so many who have taken a prominent part in University cricket of late years learned the rudiments of the game, ho at­ tained, in due course, to a place in the College Eleven. It was not, though, until 1881, when he was in his eighteenth year, that his name appeals fts one of the Clifton Team. Under the captaincy of W. 0. Vizard, who has also done good service on occasions ' for Gloucestershire, the Clifteniacs bad a fairly successful season. K. J. Key also made his first appearance for Clifton in 1881, and the two Oxonians contributed in no small measure to the honourable records of that summer. While the former oiiginally came off as a bowler, Brain, though he took a few wickets, was chiefly successful as a batsman, and, on the whole, for a first year he had a very creditable average of nearly 24^ runs for fifteen completed innings. His largest con­ tribution was one of 66 against Sherborne, but in point of real merit his best show was in the match of the Clilton season against Cheltenham College, in which he was the highest run- getter with two well got scores of 18 and 36. His cricket in 1882 hardly fulfilled the expecta­ tions raised by his excellent form of the previous year. It must not he understood from this that there was any material deterioration in his batting. On the contrary his figures were even better than in 1881, and his ill-success was merely in failing to reach a standard placed too high, Considering that he took part in twelve innings his average of 24 was, indeed, exceedingly good, and his only superior in the batting tables was Key, who came on stti pi is- i’lgly as a batsman during that season. He was heavily handicapped during the one year he acted as captain of the Clifton Eleven. During the early part of the summer of 1883 he was not seen at his best, and he played at a great disad­ vantage owing to an injured hand. This temporary check in his oricket was, indeed, the more to be regretted, as it was evident that just at the time he was in excellent form. Despite this accident, though, he was still very suc­ cessful, and altogether the records of 1883 showed that he made 225 runs in nine innings for Clifton, an excellent average of exactly twenty-five runs. Under the watchful eye of Mr. W. G. Grace, and the constant supervision of other members of the Gloucestershire eleven, it was not likely that the possi­ ble value of his services to the County would be overlooked. Indeed, the earliest opportunity of enlisting the aid of so promising a youngsterwas utilised, and Mr. Brain made his first appear­ ance for Gloucestershire against Somer­ setshire, at Clifton, on August 9, 1883. Though, on that occasion, only credited with eighteen runs in his two innings, his form wras quite good enough to war­ rant the belief that he would be of use in the future, and the Gloucestershire authorities had every reason to be satis­ fied with the trial they had given him in 1883, his four matches accrediting him with an average of over ten runs. The commencement of last season found Mr. Brain in residence at Oriel Collego, Oxford, and the cricket authori­ ties there were sufficiently impiessed by the form he had Bhown in the trial games to include him at once in the University eleven. Though not very succeesfulin theearlier fixtures,before the Inter- UniverBity match he had fully justified his in­ clusion by some excellent cricket. At the Oval against Surrey,as well as at Lord’sagainst M.C. C. & G., he scored well, and his second innings of seventy-five at the latter ground against the