Cricket 1898

S ept . 8, 1898. ORlCKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 395 BUSSEY’S BUSSEY’S BETWEEN THE INNINGS. The last ball has been bowled in the county championship of 1898, and the end of first-class cricket for the season will come, all too soon for me at least, at Hastings on Saturday. Surrey’ s over­ whelming defeat of Warwickshire in the ultimate match of the tourney still more than ever inclines one to think that the county deserves a higher place on the list than fourth, though far be it from me to grudge Middlesex and Gloucestershire the places which really splendid cricket gained for them. The averages of runs for and against each side show Surrey quite a long way in front in the batting, but behind Yorkshire, Middlesex, and Essex in the bowling. Here are the figures:— RUN S SCORED IN THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP OF 1898. P ig. R uns Runs of County. for. W . Aver. agst. W . Aver. M erit. Y orkshire... 9055...327..,27*6...7411 . 436-.16-9...+10 7 Surrey .. 10119 303.. 33’3...8799 . 885.,.22*8...+10'6 M iddlesex 6723...250 . 26 8 6298 299.. 21*0 . + 5*8 E ssex............ 6880...280 . 24-5 6336...311 . 20 3 ...+ 4 2 Gloucester 7399...270 ..27*4 . 7189...294 . 2 4 4 . -f- 3 0 L ancashire 9729 ..401...24'2...8446.. 866 23*1 ..+ 11 K e n t........... 6995..275..25*4...7356...295...249...+ 0*5 N otts.......... 5535 216...25-6...6272...212...29 5...— 3-9 W arw ick ... 6084. .254...23 9...6236 219...28 4 ..— 4 5 Sussex ... 7147...330 21 6...8022 . 292...27'4 5'8 Somerset ... 5794...263...22-0. .6557...226.. 29 0...— 7 0 D erbyshire 5170...227...22 7 6217...210...29'7...— 7'0 H am pshire 5530 . 305 181...t282...224...28'0...— 9*9 Leicester ... 4908 ..264 ..18 5 5620...197 . 28*5...—10 0 The omission of the minus sign from before my “ figure of merit ” for Leices­ tershire last week made my point some­ what obscure. For the sake of comparison I give the average per wicket for and against and the “ figure of merit ’ ’ of each county in 1897 :— AVERAGES PER 'WICKET IN THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP OF 1897. Aver, per A ver, per Figure County. w kt. for. w kt. against. of m erit. Surrey ............ 28-9 183 .+10-6 Lancashire ... 25*8 17*9 .+ 7 9 Yorkshire 30*3 22 6 + 7-7 Essex ............ 27-9 230 .+ 4 9 G loucestershire ‘/3*5 24-0 . — 0 5 Notts ............ 27-4 298 . — 2*4 M iddlesex 21-4 24-9 . — 3’5 Sussex ............ 249 284 . — 3 5 K ent ............ 21*1 26-6 . — 44 W arw ickshire 28-4 329 . — 4 5 Som erset............ 19 6 246 . — 5*0 D erbyshire ... 21*6 27-4 . — 5*8 Ham pshire ... 195 265 . — 7*1 Leicestershire 15-4 31*0 . —15 6 POINTS OF COMPARISON. Yorkshire. - Scarcely as strong in b a ttin g ; much stronger in bow ling; an im provement on the whole. Surrey.— Stronger in b a ttin g ; weaker in b ow lin g; pra-tically stationary. Mkldlestx.— G reatly stronger in both departm ents; the most improved team of the fourteen. Essex .—W eaker in b attin g ; stronger in bow ling; on the whole, not much difference. Gloucestershire.— Stronger in battin g ; about the same in bow ling; on the whole, a decidedly improved lot. Lancashire —Some falliDg-off in b attin g ; m uch weaker in bowling ; as a team , distinctly deteriorated. Kent. —A big stride forw ard taken in batting ; quite a perceptible im provement in bowling ; a much better team . Notts. —Slightly weaker in b a ttin g ; on the whole, littl« changed. Warwickshire.— Much w eaker in batting ; but ju st as much stronger in bow ling; “ as you were.” Sussex.- B atting distinctly w eaker; bowling only a trifle stronger; a falling-off und form. Somerset.— Somewhat stronger in batting ; much weaker in bowling ; worse off on the whole. Derbyshire. —A trifle stronger in batting ; somewhat weaker in bow ling; little difference altogether. Hampshire. —Decidedly w eaker in both departm ents. Leicestershire.—A decided improvement in both de­ partm ents, though still very weak. The average per wicket for all County Championship matches is practically the same this year as last, as these figures will sh ow : — Runs W ickets Aver. M atches, scored. down, per wicket. 1898............ 136 ... 97068 ... 3965 ... 2448 1897 ............. 132 ... 97319 ... 3981 ... 24'44 One extremely regrettable feature of the season has been the marked increase in the number of drawn games. These have steadily increased in proportion year by year since the establishment of the Championship on its present basis, as the follow ing table will show :— COUNTY CHAM PIONSHIP MATCHES, 1895-98. Played Per. of Y ear. Arranged, out. Drawn. Abdnd. draws. 1895 ... ... 132 ... 101 ... 30 1 . .. 22 1896 ... ... 126 ... 91 ... 35 ... — .. 27 1897 ... ... 132 ... 83 ... 49 ... — . .. 37 1898 ... ... 138 ... 82 ... 54 . 2 ... 39 The percentage is reckoned on games actually played, as it is obvious that for a game wholly abandoned the weather is alone responsible. Rain, in many cases, was the determining factor of other games, especially in the earlier part of this season; but there still remains a considerable number of draws for which the mistaken (in my opinion) tactics of certain teams were alone responsible. The follow ing table, which gives the gross result of all county championship matches played since the “ junior five ” were admitted into the sacred circle, will doubtless be interesting to many. It will be noticed that one has to carry out the percentage of Surrey and Yorkshire to a decimal place to appraise their respective merits on the whole series. The five counties admitted in 1895 have, on the whole, done by no means badly. Essex is fifth, with a capital record; the other four are seventh, eighth, eleventh, and fourteenth, respectively. Of course, Leicestershire’s figures are very unflatter­ in g ; but there seems hope of better things in the near future, and I, for one, should be very sorry to see the unlucky Midland county deposed. It would seem that Worcestershire’s claim to admission must be considered before lo n g ; but, if she is admitted, there is no reason why another county should suffer for i t :— COUNTY CHAM PION SHIP R E SU LTS, 1895-6-7-8. P. W . L . D. Percentage of innings to gam es finished. Y o rksh ire............ 104 .. . 59 .. . 18 .. . 27 ... 766 burrey ............ 102 .. . 62 ... 19 .. . 21 ... 76-6 Lancashire 95 .. . 50 .. . 17 ..,. 28 ... 74 M iddlesex............ 68 ..,. 27 .. . 16 ..,. 25 ... 61 E sse x ..................... 64 ., 27 .. 19 ..,. 18 ... 58 G loucestershire.., 72 .... 29 ..,. 24 .... 21 ... 54 W arw ickshire , 71 ... 14 ..,. 24 . .. 33 ... 36 Ham pshire , 68 17 .. 32 ..,. 19 ... 34 N o tts .................... . 66 ... 11 ... 22 ... 33 ... 33 Sussex ............. 76 ... 15 .... 33 . .. 28 ... 31 D erbyshire . 63 ... 11 ... 25 ... 27 ... 30 K ent ..................... 74 . .. 15 ... 36 . .. 23 ... 29 Somerset ............ 65 ... 13 ... 34 ... 18 ... 27 Leicestershire .... 60 .,.. 7 . .. 38 ... 15 ... 15