James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1883

C R I C K E TI N 1 8 8 2. 5 Surreybeganin such a promising fashion that its general failure was the morenoticeable . A tthe commencementof the season it really seemed as if a little life had been infused into the eleven , and that they were gaining some of the confidence that had been so long absent from their play. In the earlier matches they showed very fair form indeed , and this madethe collapse towards the finish the more disappointing . Theywere though, it must be admitted , very much out of luck . The absence of Mr. A. P. Lucas , in the later engagements , was very marked; and the eleven , as they were, could hardly be classed as sound. Asprain , during the Gloucestershire match, at the Oval, injured Jones so much, that he was never afterwards able to bowl with the extraordinary precision which had markedhis delivery in the three first engagements against the Australians , Notts, and Middlesex. His loss was prejudicial enough to the County's chances ; but it was not the only misfortune , as Barratt , a little later on, broke down; and again , Mr. Roller , whose bowling had more than once been of some service had to join the sick list . A very useful , new fast bowler was introduced in the person of Mr. C. E. Horner, of Cheltenham and Oxford; but business only allowed him to take part in a few matches. In batting , Mr. John Shuter, the Captain, was fittingly at the head of the averages . A tthe very outset , he was a little out of form, but after the first few matches, he played fine cricket , and some of his innings , particularly against Yorkshire , were brilliant . Mr. W. W . Read showed consistently good batting throughout ; his namesake, the professional , was usually sure for runs; but the grounds were, as a rule , hardly the most suitable to his style of play, despite the excellence of his performances against the Australian bowling . Mr. G a m emight have been played more with advantage ; his style is not the most taking , but his powers of hitting are great , and if only allowed to get set , is, b yno means, an easy wicket to get. Mr. Roller , though his accident prevented his showing up so well in the August matches, proved useful in batting and bowling ; and Mr. S. W. Cattley , was also an acquisition when able to play , showing all round , a decided improvement on his previous form . Hisyounger brother , Mr. A. C. Cattley played a promising innings in the last engagement of the year, at Clifton ; but with this exception , the young players were, generally , a great disappointment , particularly the professionals , from w h o mso muchhad been expected . Abel was useful in the field , but otherwise he was not up to County form ; and Haden, who played promising cricket in some of the local games, was a conspicuous failure . Gloucestershire's summarywas singularly unsatisfactory . A tone time it seemed as if the eleven were hardly likely to win one match; and, indeed, up to the third week of Augustthey had not been able to claim one victory . T w o wins-one against Surrey, in the closing engagement were the only successes they were able to claim out of ten fixtures ; a singular contrast to their brilliant records of a few years ago. Altogether , the cricket shown , was dis- appointing . Neither of the brothers Grace began the season well ; but both W .G. and E. M. were in the vein for run-getting in the homematches at the finish , and some of their performances were worthy of their very best days. Midwinter , though he was a little out of form , at the close , on the whole, showed excellent cricket ; but otherwise the batting was much below the old standard of Gloucestershire . Neither Messrs . Cranston , Moberly , Gilbert , nor Townsendwere so reliable as they used to be with the bat ; and the last named especially , showed a great falling off . Mr. W. W. Pullen , who is not yet seventeen years of age, played a fine innings of seventy -one against Yorkshire , atCheltenham; bnt he was the only youngster of any great promise . Woof washardly so successful as was expected from his previous form with the ball ; andthe brunt of the bowling hadto be borne by Mr. W. G. Grace and Midwinter. Midwinter's bowling was very useful at times , but Mr. Grace's delivery has lost much of its sting ; and in bowling , as well as in batting , Gloucestershire is m u c hin wantof n e wblood. Kentish cricket was seen under very unfavourable conditions . HadKent been able to muster all its available forces , it could have placed an eleven very