James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1876

42 said of Banbury of Harrow, who however, is sometimes erratic, and, conse­ quently, uncertain. The Hon. A. Lyttleton was by far the best wicket­ keeper we saw in any School Eleven. Eton beat Winchester and drew their match with Harrow, so we were not fated to see what the Harrow bowlers could have accomplished on firm ground. For the benefit of the uninitiated we may say that the wicket was, in consequence of pouring rain, covered over with tarpaulin, but that the bowlers were obliged to start and deliver the ball on a veritable quagmire, losing thereby pace, pitch, direction, and everything else. Eton, having won the toss, sent in Mr. Lyttleton, who improved his manifest advantage to some tune, and 50 runs were on the telegraph before the Harrovians, finding the weather getting worse instead of better, came into the Pavilion. We do not pretend to say the Harrow howling was deadly, hut it was certainly better than any one who only saw the Lord’s match could conceive, and as there was plenty of it, backed up by close fielding, it is possible that the dark blues might not have had to follow their innings, but for this untoward chance. We mention this as no excuse for the Harrovians, who before the match was finished showed they could take very good care of themselves, hut because it is a question for the authorities to consider ; whether, if they allow cricket to be played at all when the ground is flooded, they should not, whilst they are about it, go to the expense of a tarpaulin large enough to cover wickets, bowling run, and crease. To the Eton match with Winchester we have before alluded. Rugby beat Marlborough with ease at Lord’s, the latter school having had much the best of an unfinished match with Cheltenham. Uppingham beat Itepton and Haileybury each in one innings, and Clifton won their contest with Cheltenham in grand style. Positive superiority no school can be said to have claimed in 1875. Eton, Harrow, Kugby, Uppingham, and, we would fain add, Winchester, had fair school teams, but they one and all were weak in some department of the game. For instance, Eton had not positively a slow howler in the eleven ; and however well Messrs. Lyttelton and Forbes might bat and Haigh Brown bowl, they could not con­ tinue to win matches, and therefore lay claim to absolute supremacy, with­ out that necessary adjunct. Again, the Harrovians had not the individual excellence in their level team that could consistently win matches, nor could Uppingham be placed by D. Q. Steel in the batting position it occupied when Lucas and Patterson were there to back him up. The eleven, however, which judging from what we have seen and heard, more nearly approached the beau ideal of what a school team should be, was Clifton College. They had high-class batting in their ranks, besides several patient, if less-talented wielders of the willow. Their fielding satis­ fied the most exacting critics, and the bowling, if not quite what we have seen when Mr. Francis was at Rugby, was still better than that of any one school now, and therefore we cannot be far wrong when we give our opi­ nion rather in favour of the younger and rising institution ; and may add that it is based upon the observation of those who have played more or less against all the schools mentioned above. ° Westminster has a great past to sustain, and under Mantle’s guidance has produced good cricketers, but with Vincent Square to play upon, and the advantage of position which London affords to induce amateurs to come and play against the school, we ought before long to hear more of West*