James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1882

C R I C K E TI N 1881. 1 9 و د brilliant second innings of Mr. W. H. Patterson , the more noteworthy because his handwasinjured badly at a very early stage , cannot be too highly praised , andhis batting ,in conjunction with the effective fast bowling of Mr. Evans, fairly wonOxford the match. The ground was very fiery , and just suitable for the Oxford Captain, but still he never lost a chance that could help his side , and his success was the result of sheer hard work. The Cantabs wouldhave fared better perhaps had they had a bowler of the pace of Mr. Napier, whobroke downin the match with Lancashire at Liverpool , but their play was disappointing when the individual reputations of some of the teamare considered. Mr. A. G. Steel h a dnot doneso m u c has usual with the ball early in the season , but the Cambridge bowling altogether was notseen at its best . The victory of Oxford was well deserved , but still we hold to the opinion that were the same sides to meet again , the result would be reversed . Harrow, as was generally expected , beat Eton, and the two schools have each noww o ntwenty-five times . Harrow were all round a fairly good working team, but Paravacini , the Eton Captain, had not an- other bowler on his side , and on the whole his eleven was the worst that Etonhas sent up to Lord's for manyyears . The matchbetween Gentlemen and Players produced , as it should , the very best cricket of the year , and those w h owere present at Lord's when Mr. Lucas was playing the bowling of Peate and Barlow, with ball after ball and over after over dead on the wicket, howling that had thoroughly " stuck up Messrs . W. G. Grace and Hornby, were repaid by witnessing perhaps the finest all round play that h a sb e e nseensincetheAustralianm a t c hatt h eO v a l. T h eelevensw h i c hd i d battle for the Amateurs and Professionals at the Surrey ground were in neither case quite so strong . The Surrey Committee had decided not to invite any of the seven professionals who were at the time combining against the Nottingham County Club, but though on paper the Players werehardly so strong they very nearly secured the victory . Mr. W. G. Grace's first score of 100 for the Gentlemen, the hitting of Ulyett and Midwinter, the bowling of Peate and Bates , and the excellent fielding on both sides combinedto makethe matchmemorable. It became a very near thing towards the close , but somevigorous , if lucky, hitting by Mr. Leslie , just whenthe result was mostdoubtful , turned the scale in favour of the Gentlemen, w h owonwith only two wickets to spare . Owing to a fixture betweenGloucestershire a n d Somersetshire, neither Mr. W . G. Gracenor Midwinter were able to play for the South against the North, on the occa- sion of Jupp's benefit at the Oval, and the Southern teamwas so utterly destitute of bowling that the match not only lost most of its interest , but only just lasted into the third day. In spite of the shortcomings of the gameitself , it is satisfactory to knowthat a nett sumof between £400 and £500 was handed over to Jupp, and even this was much below the proceeds of James Lillywhite's benefit match. Whata gameit was, too, that same meeting at Brighton , between Gentlemen and Players ! W ecan remember well the excitement some years ago at the Oval, whenMessrs. G. F. Grace and C. E. Green just landed the Gentlemen victorious within a minute of time, but here the excitement was sustained from the start to the finish , and after a tie on the first innings , the Players only wonby a run. The Canterbury weeksuffered severely from the absence of Lord Harris, its movingspirit , whose energy had infused life that was much needed into the gathering , butthe condition of the ground was also very detrimental to its success , and the cricket was so much damagedby the rough wickets that none of