James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1879

5 equal of any of our best bowlers, arid his very hi'gh delivery—rightnhand round ann—with his clever alteration of pace, and the great work he had on the ball from Tthe off caused him to be effective time after time against. the best. batsmen we could produce. Boyle, a right hand medium-paced bowler, did seine extraordinary feats, am] as he was -alwavs pégging away at the sticks, he was bound to be successful with the ground generally heavy, though as“ a bowler he appeared to be much less dangerous than Garrett, who had a very nice delivery with a great break from the oil, and who managed to make the ball get in) very quickly from the pitch. Owing to a dispute with Mr. \V. G. Grace, the services of Midwinter were lost after the match with the Gentlemen of England (at Prince‘s), but. flora“, in the first match at Nottingham, had proved himselfa very useful change bowlcr, and Bailey, Blackham, and Murdoch could all trundle a bit. All round, the team were very good in the field, with a very sharp return to the wicket-keeper, and special mention should be made of Gregory, who was very clever at short-slip, and of A. Bannermau, who was as sure at; lnid-oll' as any of our cracks. Tlic reports relative to Blackham’s proficiency at the wicket were in no way cxaggcratctl, and he can well compare with the best of our English keepers—with Pooley or Pinder. XVithout anything like tricks, he was exceptionally quiet, and in taking fast bowling on the leg side he was at times most brilliant, in no way inferior to Pinder. In Murdoch, the Australians were fortunate in having a reserve '\'vicket-keepcr almost, if not quite, the equal of Blackham, as he proved more than once during his stayf here. If the Colonials had a weak pohlt it was certainly in their batting, and they certainly secured to be more at home with fast bowling than with the slow delivery of such’ players as Mr. A. G. Steel, Barratt, and men of their pace. Charles Banncrman at. first hardly fulfilled the expectations that had been] formed of his play, as he was obviously unable to restrain his impatience to hit, espc< cially on the oll-sidc, but he gradually settled down, and seine of his innings wcrcmastcrpicccs of batting. His score of 133 at Leicester“ was a splendid display of vigorous hitting, and thc steadiness with which he played Barratt at the Oval on Sept. 2, when the Surrey bowler got all ten wickets, proved that he had any amount of defence as well as hit. Altogether, he proved himselfa first-class batsman, and as it is announced that he returns to Eng. land next sc on to 131; for his native county, Kent, English cricket bids fair' to receive a very valuable additioir. l'lorau was not particularly well during the trip, and failed to come up to his Colonial reputation as barely the inferior ot' Charles Banner-man, though at times he showed gootl cricket. ln point of style Murdoch was the best batsman in the team, but the was behind Spotlorth in'the general averages, and the latter proved him- self a resolute hitter, certainly one of the most dangerous batsmen in the team towards the close. A. Bannerman had stubborn defence and unwearied patience, and was a useful man to go in first with his brother‘, though his best performance was undoubtedly that at Twickcnham, when he carrietl his bat hroughout the innings for 7x out of a total of 171i Garrett could hit well, but. ditl not oftcii come oll', while Gregory’s best performance in a goorl match was his 57 on his last appearance in London at Prince’s againstthc Players. Bailey' could also hit well, as his 100 at Hastings proved, but nftcrthe Bauucr- mans. Horali, Spoil‘ortli, and Murdoch, the batting was not particularly" strong, and but for Charles Bannciman, who scored 423 runs more than I'lorun, the Eleven would have made a comparatively poor show with the bat. Altogether. the teain are to be congratulated 01! a great success, botli on the cricket field and and fincially, and lew Eiiglislixiicii but will own that they thoroughly deserve their lmrd-eaiucd luurels.