Cricket 1891

C ric k e t, Football, and Lawn Tennis O utfitter (Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation), T40, LEWISHAM HIGH ROAD, LONDON, S.E. a T o g e th e r jo in e d in c r ic k e t ’s m a n ly t o il.5’— Byron. Kegi^tered2fo7TraMmtasicra Abroad. THURSDAY, JULY 23,1891 PRICE 2d. MR. GEORGE LINDSAY WILSON, T he great improvement in the quality of Sussex cricket this season has givenadditional interest to the personalities of the different players whose efforts have combined to bring the County once again into a prominent posi­ tion in public favour. And though it is only since the completion of the Oxford fixtures that Sussex has been able to uiilise the services of the young amateur whose portrait we give this week, his all-round cricket in the last few matches has caused him to be already very much in evidence. Born at Melbourne on 27 April, 1868, Mr. Wilson is a native of GreaterBritain. Though he went to the ScotchCollege in Melbourne at an early age he played very little there, and. in fact, his training as a cricketer lias been essentially the work of English masters. Com­ ing to England in 1883 heentered at Brighton College in the autumn of that year. That he was possessed of promise was soon shown, indeed, the following summer found him a member of the school cricket eleven. His introduction to Eng­ lish cricket, too, was not devoid of sensation, as on the occasion of his first match, against Dul­ wich College, he was unlucky enough to get apair, being out the first ball in each innings. Mr. S. M. J. Woods, another Australian, was a contemporary of his at Brigh­ ton, and these two did most of the bowling for the school in 1885. Mr. Wilson, that season, took forty- nine wickets at a cost of 12 runs apiece, while he also did well with the bat, averaging 24 runs an in­ nings. More successful as a bats­ man in 1886, in eleven completed innings he secured 656 runs. Brigh­ ton College that year had a very strong eleven, and Messrs, G. H. Cotterill andWilson did more than one noteworthy performance in the way of run-getting. In the same innings against Kensington Park each scored 129, but this was not Mr. Wilson’s best score, which was re­ presented by his 131 against the Crystal Palice. As an all-round player he was quite one of the best school cricketers of 1887. His aggregate for sixteen innings was 865,made up,with lesser figures,ot no less than four scores of a hundred, 152 against Brighton Club, 143 v. Highgate School, 103 out of 181 v. South Lynn, and 102 v. the Old Boys. Mean­ while in 1886Mr. Wilson had had his baptism of fire in a first-class match. It was a great compliment to his promise as a school player that Mr. G. N. W\att should have selected him to play against the Melbourne Club Australian team, at Portsmouth. Still, the te t was rather too severe, at all events, he was only able to score 3 runs in each in ings. The jubilee year gave him n exeat for three days, and he utilised this to play for Sussex v. Yorkshire, at Brad­ ford. His enterprise, too, was fully rewarded with two well-got scores of 24 and 58, a succes ful first appearance in county cricket. With o e exception, this was his one trial for Sussex in 1887, and the other, against Glou­ cestershire at Clifton, was less successful, realisi g only five runs in the double innings. H ving entered at University College in the October term of 1887, he got the earliest chanc of proviDg his capacity in the Oxford l ven. In the first few fixtures, how­ ver, the grounds were not in favour of he bowlers, and he was not seen to advan­ tage. On a sticky wicket, Turner and Ferris, th crack bowlers of the Australian team, carried everything before them, and though he also got a trial against the Gentlemen of England, he met with little or no success. The seasons of 1888 and 1889 were almost blanks for him, at least, as far as important matches were con­ cerned. To county cricket he was an entire stranger, and though he was tried for his University against Lancashire at Oxford, in 1889, he did so little that this represented his only appearance. Though last year he was a regular member of the Oxford eleven, still his scor­ ing was generally not high. On the contrary, though he did fairly well in eachmatcli against Lancashire, he was otherwise generally un­ successful. Exception might be made perhaps in favourof the Uni­ versity match at Lord’s, and there, at least in Oxford’s second in­ nings, he acquitted himseif fairly well, helping Mr. Jardine to put on 24 for the third wicket, which proved to be the longest stand in the match. This summer, Mr. Wilson showed himself to be one of the best batsmen in the Oxford eleven. Though he beganbadly by getting twice out for two runs against Lancashire, in the next fixture, against the Gentlemen of England, he more than made amends with two capital scores of 21 and 63. His second innings of 53 was, too, the best display ou either side in the Inter-Univer­ sity match, and as it was his spirited cricket very nearly turned the scale in favour of Oxford, Though he has only just lately joined the Sussex eleven, too, he proved his undoubted ability as a batsman no later than Thursday last, when he made 55 against the formidable bowling of Xotts and without anything like a mistake. Standing just six feet in height, Mr. Wilson has every advantage in batting. As he u ilises these fully.combiningexcellent defence with considerable powers of batting,he is often