James Lillywhiite's Cricketers' Annual 1874

2 6 not having the least idea where it was coming or where it went to. Gumble- ton cheered , shrieked , howled, and did everything that they ought to have done to testify their approval . Next man in shared the same fate , and "Cutty," to the intense joy of Gumbleton, bowled the whole of the wickets , neck and heels , for ten runs. Of course the " Pro " said it wasn't bowling, and the other " Joseph -coated " gentlemen shrugged their shoulders , and called it rubbish ; Muddleton and the adjoining parishes sympathised with the Amaphrodites, and any amount of beer was consumed to the health of the eleven . Well, reader , that match was played last season on GumbletonGreen, and if any of the readers of James Lillywhite's Annual would like to bring an eleven next year, why, they will find Cutty to the fore , and Billy the Slogger ash a r das ever. C H A P T E R V I. C R I C K E TI N1 8 7 3. B YI N C O G. D emortuis nil nisi bonum. It maybe all very well in the light of a proverb , butfalse and unreal as they all usually are . I defy anyone who had any interest in, or was compelled to take an active part in the season , to speak well of the late , far from lamented , campaign of 1873. It was , emphatically , what Mr. Mantilini was used to term a " dem'd, moist, unprofitable body." Rain inthe front of it, rain in the midst of it, rain at the back of it, every one wondered . If you are adamantine of feeling , you can defy water and enjoy it, snipe like , but it would take the very Job of cricket to look back with any- thing but an air of depression of the season that has only just passed away. It was an obstacle throughout , and would have pleased Quilp himself , interested as he was at all times in the despondency of his fellow creatures . For if ever gloom did pervade the world of cricketdom , it had a chance of a brilliant triumph in 1873. Cricket , in manysenses , was in a state of transition , and especially at the commencementof the year there was prevalent above all a feeling of uncertainty . There was County Cricket in the first place . L a w makers were in solemn conclave over the question of what rights ought to form the constitution of a county player , and the first draft of laws that had been published gave anything but satisfaction . It was evident that manyof the legislators themselves were imbued with a strong feeling of self , andmorethan one county trembled for the future , under the apprehension that some of the valuable material that had been introduced with so muchcare would be useless for a time, according to the new laws of import. Middlesex naturally looked forward , hopefully , to a provision that would benefit the position of the amateur element so strong , either as a permanent body or as a temporary tenant in the metropolis , and Lancashire shuddered at the mention of anything like a severe