25 to give something of a practical turn to the ideas which have been so long passing through the minds of those interested. Last season’s campaign was not a success. Hero and there a match was won. Here and there a good piece of cricket might have boon seen on the Oval, but, on the whole, the results were disappointing and disheartening to those whose efforts de­ served a different fate. Mr. Read alone made a reputation, or rather con­ firmed that formed against Northern bowling in 1875. He is certainly invaluable in any county team. Mr. A. P. Lucas, Pooloy, and Jnpp need no praise from us. Their prowess is written in other parts of this book; but to write of the remainder as first-class batsmen would simply be flattery which no critic could for a moment be guilty of. Barratfc has, it is true, a power of batting wrhich is combined with a better defence than clings to most left-hand batsmen of his time; and young Jones is an apt subject for the tuition the nature of which wo have foreshadowed. Tho absence of Mr. Strachan’s guiding hand has been much felt, and it will be good for Surroy whon ho resumes tho captaincy. Surrey has strength­ ened her bowling by importing Barratfc and Jones into tho eleven. The former is always a useful change, and tho latter really a promising bowler. His performance in lowering such wickets as Mr. Yardley’s and Lord Harris’s fairly claims mention w'hen tho achievement won the game for his side, arid ho has only to bo careful not to overbowl himself, and still more not to be dazzled by the shouts of supporters at the Oval or by the praises of injudicious friends, to become a permanent member of his county eleven, materially strengthened by his presence. Results of the cricket will be found elsewhere, but we regret to say that the county is not to be found amongst tho candidates for leading honours, as Nottingham, Yorkshire, Sussex, Middlesex, all claim superiority on public form. A notice of Surrey cricket must bo incomplete without duo acknowledgment of Pooley’s pluck and skill at the wicket. Seldom has he kept better than last season, and he bids fair to last for years, at what cost to himself any one who has seen a professional wicket-keeper’s hands can tell. • Look we now into the pleasant fields of Kent—to tho level sward at Gravesend, the historical city of Canterbury, and towards the breezy com­ mon at Tunbridge Wells, famous in the cricket annals of the hop county for successive victories over Sussex and Derbyshire. Lord Harris has thoroughly succeeded in welding together the amateur talent, and at times ho has placed into tho field a team before whose prowess neither Nottingham or Yorkshire could hope for victory without a hard struggle. At times tho eleven have been weak, and consequently failed, such failure being inseparable from the fulfilment of any considerable amount of fixtures when reliance has exclusively to be placed upon gentle­ men. We say exclusively, for with the exception of that promising youth George Hearne, occasionally Croxford and Henty to keep wicket, the Kentish professionals arc more numerous than skilful. An enumeration of the distinguished list of amateurs who play for Kent under Lord Harris’s captaincy is all that comes strictly within our province. Their reputations are world-wide—and good wine needs no bush. But that Mr. Yardley, Lord Harris, Mr. Foord-Kelcey, Mr. Absolom, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Frank Penn, Mr. Y. K. Shaw, Captain Fellowes, and others, are found keenly anxious to sustain their county reputation is a pleasant reaction from the state of things into which Kent cricket had drifted a year or two back. Still, we would feign see some professional talent on the horizon, convinced as we are that, without it, present success can but be a mere flash in the pan.