James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1882

CRICKET IN 1881. 1 7 strangely in these details coincided with that of 1880. Fromits institution Derbyshire has had to rely for its success almost entirely on its bowlers, andfor the last two or three years William Mycroft and Hay have been practically the making of the eleven . With the exception of Mr. R. P. Smith , there has never been a really first -class batsman in the team, but its short- comings in this respect have hitherto been counteracted by the possession of two really good fast trundlers hardly ever off the wicket . Last year though the County developed an unexpected weakness , and the bowling , which had hitherto been Derbyshire's strongest point , broke down. It was hardly likely that William Mycroft, burly andstrong as he is , could maintain his accuracy for ever , and several times during the summer his bowling was severely punished . Hay, too , one of the most reliable bowlers a County has ever had, owing to an attack of rheumatism, from which he did not recover , wasnever able , except at Maidstone, where he cameoff fairly well , to get any- wherenear the spot ; andPlatt's slow round-arm ought not to trouble a bats- manmuch, to judge by the wayin which Mr. Hornby punished him on the three occasions on which he opposed Derbyshire in 1881. In Mr. L. C. Docker the County introduced a young batsman who can hit with great power, and who, with ordinary care , ought to develop into a fine cricketer . The bowling of Mr. H. Evans proved of considerable assistance in the later matches , but these were the only rays of hope in a very discouraging season , and at present it must be admitted that Derbyshire cricket shows even less promise thanduring the last few years . Omitting mention of Hampshire , which has again fairly passed into the second rank, Sussex comes the last on the list of the cricket counties , and its record is certainly a most dispiriting one. The opening of the season afforded fair hopes that Mr. M. P. Lucas, whose brilliant cricket against theAustralians at Brighton in 1880 will not yet have been forgotten , was going to take an active interest in the County, and muchwas expected from his influence . The consistently good form shownby Mr. Ellis in the pre- vious season led to the belief that with the help of other amateurs like Messrs . Lucas ,Greenfield , Trevor , Bettesworth , and Whitfeld , and a professional back- bone in the brothers Phillips , Charlwood , and Lillywhite , Sussex would be able to put its best available forces in the field . It is muchto be regretted that this was not the case , but internal disagreements militated altogether against the prospects of the eleven towards the end of the season , and perhaps the only occasion onwhich it was really represented was against Surrey at the Oval . The preference shown by Messrs . Lucas , Trevor , and Whitfeld for matches of minor importance weakenedthe County during August, whenthey hada chance of securing a proper representation , and the record was worse even than it had been in any of their bad years . Mr. Bettesworth proved a very valuable addition to the eleven , and if his slow round-armis not quite of the character at first claimed for it by some, his batting was first -class , with plenty of hitting power as well as defence , and his two excellent innings against Yorkshire in the last match of the year fully established his claims to the cup given by Lord Sheffield , the Presi- dent, for the best average in Sussex matches. Mr. Ellis , for w h o mon his form of 1880 the cup seemed almost a gift , played a few good innings , par- ticularly against Yorkshire at Sheffield , and Derbyshire at Brighton , but otherwise his batting was very uncertain , and certainly not of a class sufficient to entitle him to represent the Gentlemenagainst the Players . Charlwood at times showed some of his old hitting powers , but most of the