James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1885

P A R T I. C H A P T E R I. T H EC H A M P I O NC O U N T YO F1 8 8 4. H E extraordinary success attending the eleven which did duty for Nottinghamshire was certainly one of the most remarkable features in the cricket of last season---- by nomeansan uneventful one, as will generally be admitted . There have been instances in past years of a somewhat similar kind , in which a team has passed through a campaign without a defeat in Inter-Countymatches. TheLancashire eleven of 1881 couldpoint to anunbeaten record, and there has beenmorethan one case of a like character in the history of the game. In one respect , though , the performances of the Nottinghamshire eleven in 1884 were without a parallel . Of the ten matches in which they figured , nine were actually won, and the tenth was drawn very much in their favour . Their victory over Yorkshire at Sheffield was the only occasion onwhich the result was at all a close thing. Otherwise their successes were decisive , anda close analysis of their cricket only serves to confirm their evident superiority to anyof the other County elevens of 1884. The absence of the Lancashire fixtures was to be regretted , but their omission ought not to reflect in any wayon the position of Notts , and indeed on the general form of the Lancashire team last year no one would be inclined to adjudge them the equals of the Nottinghamshire players . It is rarely , indeed , that a County has been able to boast an eleven so formidable at every point of the game. A batting side without the shadow of a tail ; certainly the best bowling of any shire of the year, and one of the very best wicket -keepers o fthe day-no wonderwith such a combination of al-roundcricket that Nottinghamshire was able to prove its claim to the County championship of1884. The Photograph , which was taken by Messrs . E, Hawkins and Co., of 108, King's-road , Brighton , is of the eleven which beat Sussex t h e r e B