James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1883

8 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S ' A N N U A L . Royle, and E. M. Grace were all successful . The Doctor,' like his brother W .G., did not start well ; but some of his innings in the later matches were very good, particularly against the Australians and Lancashire . A m o n gthe professionals . Ulyett, Barnes , and Barlow were the most successful batsmen. Ulyett fell off a little towards the end of the season , or his claims to the first position wouldhave been more secure . A sit was, considering the numberof innings in which he played , he was faily entitled to the foremost honours . Barnes and Barlow, both ran him very close ; and both played consistently fine cricket throughoutthe season. Barnes'ssuccess wasthe morenoteworthy as he had been seriously ill during the winter . Shrewsbury was out of health during the latter part of the year, so that he was hardly ever seen at his best ; and the same remark will apply to Lockwood . Shrewsbury's score of 207 , against Surrey , deserves conspicuous notice , if only for the reason that it is the highest ever madeby a professional at the Oval. Maurice Read brought himself into the front rank by his excellent performances against the Australians , and his plucky batting on most of the occasions on which he met themfully justified his selection to a place in the best match of the year. It is hardly necessary to recall the stand he made with Barnes for the Players against the Australians . Their plucky play at the critical point of the game w a sthe maincontributor to the decisive defeat of the Australianteamin that match. Midwinter, George Hearne, Flowers, Bates , Emmett, Scotton , and Robinson, all maintained their reputations as batsmen. The most conspicuous failures were Selby , Hall, Charlwood, and Platts , all of w h o mshowed a markedfailing off . In bowling , Peate was undeniably the best bowler of the year. Atthe end of the season he was suffering from a sprained ankle , but even then his delivery was as successful ; and, considering everything , it, m a yfairly be argued that his performances of 1882 have, in point of quality , never been surpassed . In all, hebowlednearly1,900 overs for 214 wickets at an average of just 11½runs. Morley, unfortunately , broke down whenhe was in the full height of success with the ball ; despite this , he took 115 wickets at an average cost of under 11½ runs . Barlow's bowling presents very creditable figures ; and Nash, Crossland , Emmett, Flowers, Watson, and Alfred Shawall thoroughly upheld their reputations . Jones bowled with great effect for Surrey in its earlier matches, and but for the strain , which effectually interfered with his chances , even when he had sufficiently recovered to resume play, he would in all probability have been in one of the foremost places . Burton, Barratt, Midwinter, Bates , and Woottonwere all fairly successful . Ulyett showed a very marked advance in bowling ; his fast bowling was at times very effective , as his figures will show. Parnham, in the two matches in which he took a part against the Australians , was extraordinarily fortunate . His bowling (left -hand round-arm slow) is very straight , with a good deal of work in it, butit remainsto be seen whetherthe formheshowedlast year on the t w o occasions mentioned was at all reliable . Barnes showed a material falling off in his bowling , and Fothergill , who came to Lord's with a great Somersetshire reputation , by no means fulfilled expectation . Amateurbowling was weaker thanit has been for manyyears . Mr. C. T. Studd, helped by the wicket , at times proved generally effective , but there was not another bowler of any pretensions in the University match. Mr. A. G. Steel took ninety -nine wickets , but he was much more costly than of old ; and the same remark , in a slightly modified form, will apply to Mr. W . G. Grace. A t the present time there is hardly anamateur fast bowler at all worthy of the name. Evenwith the few there are the legitimacy of the delivery of the majority is quite open to doubt. Some high scoring was recorded during the season , and August was remarkable for a performance altogether without a precedent in English cricket . On the 4th and 5th of August, in a match with Rickling Green at Rickling Green, an Eleven of the Orleans Club made the huge total of 920. I n a match between the Ulster and Macquarie Clubs , in Sydney, which occupied four Saturday afternoons , 1,238 is said to have been scored . This has