James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1885

T H EP H I L A D E L P H I A N V I S T O E N G L A N D 4 5 C H A P T E R V . T H EP H I L A D E L P H I A N V I S I TT OE N G L A N D . B YL O R DH A R R I S. T H Eseason of 1884 will long be remembered by cricketers of this generation as among the most remarkable of their experience -remarkable for its perfect cricket weather, remarkablefor the visits of the FourthAustralian T e a m, and remarkable , we think , for the first visit of an American Team. True, some ten years back ateam of base ball players , numbering amongthem somefair cricketers , cameover and played a few matches at cricket ; but their performances at the nobler gamewere not so marked by excellence as to have caused them to be rememberedfor any length of time , by English cricketers at least , though some Americans, perhaps , estimated them very highly . At least , we remember one Americanjournal giving a schedule of those sports and athletic contests in whichour cousins had been victorious over the effete Britisher, and in the schedule was " Cricket ; " and we presume it was referring to some of the matches played by this Base-ball Team ; for , though we have nothing to refer to , we believe we are right in saying that a victory has never been obtained in America or Canada by any team over any of the elevens that have been there from England. The Irish Gentlemen received one or more defeats , but they could hardly be considered a representative English Team. W e remember, after a matchplayed at Boston in 1874 by the Gentlemen of England, the papers next morning having such big type headings as " Great Victory ," " The Britishers Defeated ; " but as, whenstumps were drawn, the English Teamhad about five wickets to fall and some twenty odd runs to get, that , according to our ideas wouldrather reckon as a drawng a m e. Let not, however , these prefatory remarks cause us to be misunderstood . W edo not wish to suggest -we should be grossly incorrect if in any waywe implied that any of those who formed the Philadelphian Teamentertained too high an estimation of their cricketing capabilities . They undertook the trip to learn , not to teach ; to see what our best cricketers can do, not so muchto show whatthey themselves were equal to ; and, estimating their powers in all modesty, they madeit a sine quâ non in the arrangement of their list of matches that they should contend only with amateur teams. Whether they were right in thus insisting raises a question we mayhave space to commenton presently . It was certainly a misfortune that they should have pitched upon 1884 for the occasion of their first visit to the old country ; and indeed we believe those , to w h o m they first addressed themselves for advice on the advisability of making the trip , warnedthemthat theycould not expectto raise the sameamountof interest as they might in slacker years ; for 1884 was to be a year of great events, one already lled to overflowing with matches of interest , one in which cricketers were to work double tides . However, as all menwho have set themselves to do something great should act, they were not to be daunted by-and what is more discouraging than ?-lackof interest in their doings , and decided to come ; and, indeed, it is likely that they are not the losers , for there is muchto be learnt by watching good cricketers , and they ,by coming in '84, had the advantage of seeing thebest Australian bowlers at work against the best English batsmen. It is only just that the terms on which they came should be recorded . While anxious that the promoters of the trip andguarantors of the team's expenses should not be put to too heavy an outlay , and, for this reason only, taking ashare of the