James Lilllywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1880

6 6 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERSA N N U A L. of Messrs . J. S. Russel , G. B. Studd , H. Whitfeld , A. C. Lucas , C. E. Cottrell , E. Hume, C. C. Clarke , C. W. Evans , and W. F. P. Moore , more than one of them utterly unknown to fame , it was in reality nothing more than an attempt to impose on the credulity of the public , to call what in reality might have been properly described as Gentlemen of M.C.C. ' the ' Gentlemen of England .' Under such circumstances there was small reason for surprise that the match dragged somewhat , especially towards the close , and that no one perhaps was sorry when it was at last over . Mr. A. G. Steel , whose bowling had been altogether a failure in the first match, was the highest scorer in the second with 93 ; and Mr. R. S. Jones , whose batting was really one of the chief features of the week, as in the previous contest , occupied the same position for Kent with a good score of 82. A woful collapse of the Kentish twelve in the second innings gave the opposite side a victory by 131 runs , and thus brought to a close a gathering hardly up to the cricket standard of former years , and certainly not as fortunate for Kent as some of its immediate predecessors . Gentlemen of England ,' 241 and 158 ; total , 399. Gentlemen of Kent, 181 and 87; total , 268. Mr. Cunliffe (1st Innings England) O v e r s 1 0 M a i d e n s 4 R u n s 1 0 W i c k e t s 5 C H A P T E R II. T H EC O U N T I E SI N 1879. THE collapse of Hampshire , and its disappearance -only for a time it is to be hoped-from the list of competitors , left cricket in the hands of nine counties , of course omitting those whohave not as yet secured for themselves recognition as first -class shires . Of these nine , whatever opinions m a yexist in favour of either Lancashire or Nottinghamshire , it is certain that no one county can claim to have gained the first position . In fact the premiership mayfairly be said to have been equally divided between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire , as a reference to the figures at the end of this chapter will showthat each during the season wonfive matches, andthat , on the two occasions on which they met, neither was able to gain an absolute victory . Yorkshire showed some very in-and-out running , and its two reverses at the hands of Derbyshire took muchof the gilt off the victories won over Lancashire and Nottinghamshire . Strangely enough , Yorkshire was the only county that beat both the last -named shires ; and taken all round , the Yorkshiremen were little , if at all , inferior to any of their opponents ; indeed , it is to be urged in their favour , not only that their programme was a more lengthy one than that of any of their rivals , but that in two of their four defeats their minority was only a very small one . Middlesex was twice beaten by Yorkshire , but these were its only reverses , and in none of the four unfinished games had the eleven any the worst of the draw. Mr. A. F. Ford's bowling strengthened the team in its weakest point , and, with certainly the strongest batting of any county , Middlesex was undeniably a much more formidable opponent than it has been for manyyears . Gloucestershire was defeated by Lancashire and Nottinghamshire , and the last -named earned the distinction of being the first county to beat the famed western eleven on their own ground . On paper the summary does not look particularly well with one . win against three defeats , but the county team , though collectively hardly up