James Lillywhte's Cricketers' Annual 1884

C R I C K E TI N 1 8 8 3. 2 7 secured a young professional of undoubted ability all round ; and in Messrs. Diver, whose batting was at times remarkable , Key, and Bowden, three amateurs of great promise . Barratt's bowling, too, contributed in no small degree to the general success of the season . Considering the wickets on which he had to bowl, the batsmen to w h o mhe wasopposed, the years he has been before the public , and the great amount of workhe had to do, with very little other bowling on the side , his performance was most creditable . Another bowler of such real merit would makeSurrey one of the best Counties ; and, were the Committee only able to secure such an one, with a professional wicket -keeper capable of filling the vacancy caused by Pooley's retirement , there would be little cause for apprehension of the future of the once invincible shire . Thecollapse of the Lancashire eleven , at the close of the season , was as sudden as it was unexpected . O n their form in the first few matches there seemed every chance that they would be able to retain the brilliant position they had won in the two previous years , and the poor show they made during the latter part of the season , particularly in their three concluding engage- ments, when Kent, Surrey, and Gloucestershire beat them in turn, was the moreunaccountable . In more than one way, beyond a doubt, they had notthebestof luck. T h ebrilliant cricket shownb y the brothers D. Q. and A. G. Steel against Notts , in the return match at Manchester , showed how valuable they are to the County; and yet the former only played once , his brother very rarely . Pilling , too , owing to ill -health , was not seen at his best ; and an injury to Robinson caused himto be an absentee from if I remember rightly -two matches . Then, again , Mr. Hornby was in nothing like his old run-getting form, and his ill -success had evidently a very depressing effect on the rest of the eleven , to judge by the waythey collapsed in the later matches . The failures of the team were due, it must he admitted , to their inability to makeruns than to any defects in their out cricket . In bowling the Countyis still undoubtedly strong , with Barlow , Watson, Crossland , and Nash, even with Mr. A. G. Steel away, and it is difficult to believe that the influences which conduced chiefly to the reverses of the later half of last season are likely to b e of permanentdetriment. Sussex , though its summary can hardly be regarded as satisfactory , like Surrey, showed a marked improvement. The eleven were, it is true, beaten by every one of the Counties they metonce, but still there was, intheir general cricket , a change decidedly for the better . There was, at least , an absence of the " funk " which used to act so prejudicially amongthe Sussex eleven, and, on the contrary , on more than one occasion the County team proved themselves to be singularly adept at playing an up-hill game. Too muchpraise cannot be awarded them for the excellence of the all -round cricket which enabled them to gain their well -merited victory over Yorkshire at Sheffield ; and, indeed , their defeat of the Yorkshiremen by only three runs wasone of the great events of the year. Nor was this their only creditable show in 1883. The plucky way in which they played against Notts at Brighton, in the return match, will not easily be forgotten ; and in all proba- bility , had time allowed , they would have earned the distinction of a victory over the champion County of the year. Jesse Hide's return fromAustralia added a useful all-round cricketer to the Sussex eleven ; and Mr. G. N. Wyatt, who, as manywill remember, had previously represented Gloucestershire and Surrey under the residential qualification , was of great use in strengthening thebatting. Unt lthe close of the season the successes of the Kentisheleven werecon- fined to one victory over Sussex , and their summarywas anything but encouraging . The excellent form shown in the last two fixtures , when they beat Lancashire at Gravesend and had, if anything , the best of a drawn match with Surrey at the Oval, enabled them to finish up in creditable style , but, on the whole, there was no very great cause for congratulation . Kentish cricket has of late years , it must be owned, been pursued under what can