James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1878

CHAPTER IV. THE CRICKET SEASON OF i?~ . I r 0 * s V - w » • more to ine in the Mr. W . G is of farmer of good Of r s r r g hu dmmded cs L . J ; = -< * of the ex^avagsui rvtob of i i ; ; to c a r use ££sn to oospare with the sensatkui! ir- , the short-coaxing was t'> be of bad weather, than to aa? cr to the quality of the bottin? e exception, failed to soar to tie exc*- s a marked increase in the number the amatecrs, snd if the season was scoring at times prevalent it was Takea alt in all, there was mock in s of those who interest themselves ec ; of the most favourable throughout, and, indeed, May war remarkable for an amount of rainfall that proved of serious rse to seme of the most important fixicres of the year. Several of the speueb by the heavy rains of August, bet despite this, the mast noticeable feature of the season of 1877, was the in- creasng pcpolarity of county cricket. A few years ago, before Mr. W. G. Grace hmngi: Gkoo:ester-hire into the fA d, ICotts and Yorkshire shared the supremacy of the counties, and profesrionals were, as it was right that they should be. r^arded. as the mainstays necessary to nphold the position of a rs Sussex were all more or less under a cloud, were very erratic and variable in their cricket, as well as in the cg mposition of their elevens, Hampshire not then revived, and Derbyshire not as yet arisen to take its place among the counties. The dying in the Sooth, and the outlook for certainly not at all cheerful when Lord Harris took Eleven in hand Undoubtedly, the example of the Kentish id much tc -rzrds the recent impetus given to county cricket. Of otdd play at home, every shire had plenty and to spare, bnt the Gentlemen of Kent were the dm to show readiness to play out as well as home matches, aid their zeal soon found an echo in other counties. The energy of Messrs. Booth and Ridley brought Hampshire to the front in 1876. The amateurs of Lancashire have strengthened the Lancastrian Eleven won- now, omitting all mention of Gloucestershire, which, this last year, for the first time, had a crcfessional in its team, Surrey has again come to the front, mainly through the help of Mr. G. Strachan, Messrs. Lucas, What 2re Kkely to be the effects of this recent change in the genera, aspect of the counties it is not my -province here to That it has tended to give a great impetus to county cricket was shown beyond all doubt in the wonderful success that attended it during the last year, —A the increasing support that is given to county matches by the Gloucestershire: stronger than ever, proved itself to he as immeasurably superior to other counties as it was possible to be. Mr. W. G. Grace did not indulge in any of Ms long innings, and for the first time, his name does not appear first in the batting averages of his county. For a wonder, the season is without an innings of three fig ires ascribed to his name on the Gloucester­ shire score sheets, but perhaps h is moderation in this respect may have ten-