James Lillywhte's Cricketers' Annual 1884

1 0 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. U p to this period four matches had been played against Australia's best eleven, and the result showed two matches to the credit of each side . A very general wish was now expressed that another match should be played at Melbourne, to take the place of the return with Victoria , to decide , one way or the other , the question of supremacy ; and, though weakened by the loss of Morley, who had now completely broken down, we decided to accept their challenge . For some unexplained reason , however, although the originators of the challenge , the other side , could not get their men together , and our eleven , a little dissatisfied at this , being naturally rather wearied with the continuous strain of the past six weeks' cricket , including , as it did, four such matches against the Australian eleven , proceeded to emancipate themselves from the cares and anxieties of first -class cricket by turning their attention exclusively to other amusements, lawntennis , etc. T h emournfultask has n o wbeen arrived at of chronicling the result whichthese imprudentcourses led to a disastrous defeat at the handsof a Victorian eleven a result in excuse of which, though it might be advanced that we had a wicket to play on during the third day which had been almost washed away by the rain , could never have been so overwhelming but for our fatal neglect . Our opponents , winning the toss , played a steady and sure gameon the faultless wicket . Bonnor, who was disgracefully missed before scoring , once more flogged the bowling to the extent of 54, and Midwinter dis- played an iron defence in a really excellent innings of 92 not out, the best we ever saw him play. 284 seemed by no means a hopeless task for so strong a batting team as ours , and none were prepared for the miserable display that followed , the only real collapse of the tour . Seven wickets for 47 was the total w h e nthe rain, which had been threatening some time, commencedto comedownin torrents , and as it never ceased raining from that momenttill late Sunday night , all hope was gone of making even a fair bid for success . O nthe MondaySteel saved the side from further disgrace by playing a very fine innings of 76 on a wicket across whichthe high tide marksleft b y the receding flood were shownb y lines of m u d. His efforts , though, were of no avail to ward off the inevitable result , and in a darkness that could be felt the match ended in a one innings defeat , a rather melancholy finish to an otherwise successful tour. The averages of the team, as given below, are fairly good, showing Steel well ahead in both batting and bowling . Read, Tylecote , Leslie , and C. T. Studd also did good service in the batting ; while Bates and Barlow, with both bat andball , were alike useful to their side . The ground fielding , as noticed in many of these accounts , was of uniform excellence , while the catching showed an even greater uniformity in another and more unfortunate direction . Especial mention should be made of G. B. Studd, who, in catching and ground fielding alike , showed form which, in the opinion of those who witnessed it , has not been surpassed by any of the present generation of cricketers . Tylecote kept wicket well, and, at times , brilliantly , one feat of stumping off a fast leg ball of Leslie's , which disposed of Bannermanin the first match against the Australian eleven , being one of the most remarkable ever seen . It maynot be out of place to conclude with a few remarks, summingup the general results of the experiences of this tour from a cricket point of view. In the first place maybe noticed the light thrown on the subject of that much- discussed question -Whichis the best at the present time : the best Australian eleven, or the best English eleven ? It is not the intention of the writer to express any decided opinion on so vexed a question , nor would any value attach to an individual opinion thus given ; but the question may, perhaps , be not unfairly viewed from this standpoint . Four finished matches , the severest test than any team, English or Australian , has been put to, were played between this eleven and the best eleven in Australia (for that Murdoch's eleven is fully representative of their full strength nowthat Evans is passé is, in the writer's belief , undoubtedly the case ). The result of these matches was to show striking equality between the two elevens . Wasthe English eleven representative of