James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1886

C R I C K E TI N 1 8 8 5. 5 T h esuccess which attended K e n tduring the season of 1885 w a sthe m o r ecreditable fromthe fact that there seemedto be no great amountof hope at the outset of the attainment of any very satisfactory results , andto the loss of Mr. E. F. S. Tylecote , whose residential qualification for Kenthad lapsed , was added another disappointment in the news that Lord Harris , owing to the exigencies of his political duties , would only be able to assist the countyonvery rare occasions , if at all . Considering the extraordinary suc- cess whichhad always markedLord Harris's batting for the county, andhis great ability as a captain , his retirement from the leadership of the Kent team, as was only to be expected , had a very depressing effect on the prospects of Kentish cricket . The excellent all -round cricket shown by the county throughout the summer, therefore , reflects the greater credit on all those who workedso energetically to uphold its reputation . Exception has been, and with reason , taken to the limited character of the Kentprogrammein point of what are commonlystyled first -class matches, andit is obviously hardly fair to compare the results of the KentEleven with those of other County teams who had to bear the brunt of a muchheavier card. Still , on the other hand, it maybe fairly urged that the record of Kent as it stands is a deservedly creditable one. Indeed, the only defeat of any severity wasthat at the hands of Middlesex at Lord's , and against this maybe cited the brilliant victory over Yorkshire , at Sheffield , and the result of the return gamewith the same county at Canterbury, which was drawnall in favour of the homeshire . Of the two defeats , too, those by Lancashire at Manchester, and Surrey at Gravesend, were bythe bare majorities of forty runs and onewicket respectively , andnobetter cricket wasshownduringthe year than that of the Kent Eleven in the return with Surrey at the Oval , w h e nthey turned what seemed likely to be a decisive reverse into a very creditable draw. With a good professional backbone, and with plenty of capable amateurs , the county has nowevery promise of a successful future , and if the standard of 1885 be only maintained , there is every reason to hope that the m e nof Kent will occupy a very prominent position in the statis- tical tablesat the close of nexts u m m e r. Gloucestershire's record was a very uneven one. O ftwelve matches played four were won, one wasdrawn, and the remaining seven lost . Singu- larly enough, Surrey was beaten twice , and Middlesex , the only other county over which Mr. W. G. Grace's eleven proved successful , also twice . All these four matches were wonby capital all -round cricket , in particular that with Middlesex at Lord's , wherein the batting of the Gloucestershire Eleven showed to great advantage at the finish . Otherwise the eleven did not play up to their best form, though in more than one respect they had some reason to complain of ill -luck. Theinability of Mr. E. M.Grace to play at all during the season deprived them of one of their most experienced and useful all -round players , and on several occasions , in addition , the county was also unable to secure the services of other good players . A s a rule , too , Mr. W . G. Grace was singularly unfortunate in the toss last year-a matter of n o small moment, it is unnecessary to add, to an eleven whose forte is certainly not its out-cricket . Mr. Brain, who had batted in such brilliant style for the county in 1884, was, too, surprisingly out of luck during the latter half of the season, and this helped in no small measure to weaken Gloucestershire's chances . In bowling, too, the county is still very weak, and inthis respect the hard wickets prevalent during the summer were calculated to showthe defects of the Gloucestershire eleven more conspicuously . Con- sidering the condition of the grounds generally , the figures of Mr. W .G. Grace andWoofwere very creditable , but with the exception of Mr. H. V. Page, there was very little change of any real account , and the Oxford captain himself was not altogether in the best of form last summer. In batting , though, the full strength of Gloucestershire presents a very dangerous oppo- sition , and with better bowling the eleven would still occupy a very prominent position . The great success of the season was the batting of Mr. W .