James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annnual 1881

8 L I L L YWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. ' point,' and G. F. ' cover,' or ' deep mid-off ,' or ' long-off ,' a look was enoughto tell themwhatwascoming, and the careless off -long hop which hadalmost ' drawn' the batsmanand had been once refused , came down again a little shorter or a little longer, a little quicker or a little slower , as the case might be, and oftener than not the batsmanwhoreturned to the tent in dismay with a remark, that ' she ought to have gone out of the ground,' hadwalkedinto the trap, andthe familiare G. F. Grace or E. M.Grace (as the case might be) b W. G. Grace appeared once more in the score . In writing of G. F. it is impossible not to mention the other brothers , but for details readers mustrefer to ' Lillywhite's Scores ,' and for G. F.'s per- formances especially ,to the Sportsman of Dec. 1876. Briefly : ' In 1861 , Dr. HenryGrace, the eldest brother , who appeared little in London, and E. M. played together at Lord's in Gentlemenof South Wales v. Zingari ; in 1864, W. G. appeared at Lord's in Gloucestershire v . M.C.C.; and in 1865 , when 16 years of age , in Gentlemen and Players ; in 1860 , G. F. , when ten years of age, played for Redcliff Alliance v. Lancastrian Club on Durd- h a mDowns; in 1866, he played at Canterbury in North v. South of the T h a m e s, for " FarmerBennett" as a substitute ; andin Gentlemenof South v. Zingari , in the sameweek, andgot 17 runs, being then 15 years andseven months old. In 1868, he played for Gloucestershire v. M.C.C. at Lord's , and in 1869 for eleven of the South at Canterbury, and in the sameyearhe was playing in Gentlemenof the South v. Players of the South, and other important matches; and in 1870 he was playing for the Gentlemen of Englandv. the Players at the Oval, and afterwards at Lord's , andat the latter groundgot seven of the players ' wickets .' Fromthat time onwardhis per- formance would fill volumes, and it is useless to try and record them. So within 20 years this wonderful trio sprung up, and any time within the last 10 years any three m e nwho challenged them at single wicket would havehadto cast round a long wayfor backers . D o not let us forget other celebrated families whilst remembering those whocomemostprominently before us at this moment, for besides the Grace family we mustmention three others equally celebrated , the Walkers and the Lytteltons and the Lubbocks. The Walkercombination,' whenV. E. was bowling and fielding his ownbowling at short mid-on and mid-off , with ' I. D.' and ' R. D.' like two terriers watching a rat -hole , in the field , was nearly if not quite as fatal as the three Graces very often ; and I fancy, on the authority of older and wiser m e n than myself, there is no instance within the memoryof living cricketers whenthe strategy of the gamewas better displayed , than when three Graces or three Walkers were on the outside . Andto digress for a moment, andto apply the moral of raising a sport by individual exertions . Middle -aged menall knowthat years ago Hampshire was agood county when Sir Frederick Bathurst and Mr. Chamberlayne (whose purse and hospitality were inexhaustible ) supported it ; Kent, under Pilch and Wenman, with good amateur pecuniary support , and Sussex , under Charles Taylor , Lilly- white, and Box, were the foremost counties in England ; Surrey -which was nowhere in those days-twenty years ago, under the captaincy and untiring working of the late Mr. F. P. Miller , with purse and person , was the champion county; within 20 years Middlesex was formed by the Walkerfamily . Gloucestershire was formed by the Graces ; Lancashire by the exertions of Messrs . Appleby and Hornby, is one of the foremost counties . LordHarris is bringing back Kent to her old form , and her fielding now is second to none , and the moral is , that when counties go down, it is from internal indifference , and want of patriotism , and the only thing is for