James Lillywhte's Cricketers' Annual 1884

3 2 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. annual meeting of this kind would, no doubt, be an excellent thing for Scot- tish Cricket , and we hope that the Union will arrange some such fixture for next season . W eshall now notice briefly a few of the leading clubs of Scotland , commencingwith the clubs of Edinburgh, and those in its immediate neighbourhood . Thechief centre of cricket , in this district , is at Raeburn Place : here are situated the cricket grounds of the Grange and the Edinburgh Academy. The ground of the latter is undoubtedly the best , and probably the largest in Scotland . It is also one of the fastest wickets in Scotland , but to a cricketer accustomed to play at Lord's or Feuner's , or on anyof the really fast wickets of England, the Scotch grounds seem very slow, even when in their best and dryest condition . These two grounds are separated by a narrow lane , and are within a quarter of an hour's walk from Princes ' Street . The land here is very valuable , but we are happyto say that two years ago a large subscription wassuccessfully raised , which has secured those grounds for athletic purposes for ever. The Grange is the principal club of Edinburgh : in fact , to it is generally assigned the premier position in Scottish cricket , and it is undoubtedly true that it is the aristocratic cricket club of Scotland . Ten years ago, this club was far stronger than any other club in Scotland , and to-day they could put a stronger eleven into the field than any club in the North, if they could get the pick of their members; but this they seem to have some difficulty in doing , m a n yof their best menplaying for other clubs in the neighbourhood . W eare sorry to say that , in the season just past , they put some very weak teams into the field , with results disastrous to their prestige ; and in one or two cases they had actually to put off their matches altogether , owing to their inability to raise a t e a mat all. Aboutsix miles from Edinburgh, on the Northern bank of the river Esk, is situated the cricket ground of the Lasswade C.C. It is not a large ground, but it has been very much improved in the last few years , several trees having been cut down, and a large expanse of new turf having been recently laid . The great drawback to the ground is the light . Situated at the foot of a woodedhill behind which the sun sets , the light is anything but pleasant to a batsman about five o'clock in a summerafternoon . Thewickets , however, are good, and, though not fast , play true ; indeed , with regard to their pace , they seem to be improving , owing to recent alterations in the drainage of the ground. This club is by a long waythe most enterprising cricket clubin Scot- land, and-magnis componere parva-maybe called the M.C.C. of Scotland . Inthe season of 1883, the Lasswade C.C. played no fewer than forty-three matches : out of this numberthey wonthirty -two, drew seven , and lost four . It is only fair to say that those four matches , in which Lasswade were beaten, were played early in the season , before the Oxford and Cambridge menhad comeNorthfor the long vacation . N oother club in Scotland plays nearly so manymatches as Lasswade, and although several of their opponents were undoubtedly very weakindeed , yet among the vanquished were the best clubs in Scotland , notably the Grange and Drumpellier , the latter of which suffered defeat in 1883 , at the hands of no other club . Not far from the headquarters of the Lasswade C.C. is the cricket groundof the Dalkeith Club. This club was one of the strongest clubs in Scotland about seven years ago, and the annualmatchbetweenthe GrangeandDalkeithwas wontto create great interest in the cricket circles of Scotland . The cricket of the Dalkeith C.C. has, however, sadly deteriorated - afact which we muchregret . The Brunswick C.C. was a crack artisan club not long ago, but nowthat most of its older players have retired from the cricket field , its reputation for goodcricket has suffered considerably. TheRoyal HighSchool C.C. has concluded a fairly successful season , and has still some good cricketers in its midst. W edoubt, however, if the fielding is as good as it used to be five years ago . L