James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1886

6 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S ' A N N U A L G. Grace. Fortwenty-one years that gentleman has stood alone as the best all -round cricketer , and even nowthere is no one to rank as his superior . His score of 221 not out against Middlesex at Clifton , at the end of August, was a fitting termination to a season of consistently brilliant cricket , and it is eminently satisfactory to all whoknowMr. Grace's unbounded enthusiasm for the gameof which he has been such a magnificent exponent , to find that he is still , after nearly a quarter of a century's hard work, the noblest Roman o ft h e mall . N o one ever undertook the managementof a county eleven under more discouraging influences than Mr. A. J. Webbe, who succeeded to the captaincy of the Middlesex team on the retirement of Mr. I. D. Walker. The withdrawal from active cricket of an amateur whose personal influence had for so long kept the chief players of Middlesex so well together , was of itself calculated to disorganise the team. But this was not the only dis- advantageunderwhichMr. W e b b ehadto labour in his n e woffice . Mr. C. T. Studd's departure from England on missionary service was, in point of actual cricket , quite as heavy a blow, and his loss was aggravated by another piece of badluck-the inability of Mr. A. P. Lucas to play, owing to ill -health . A succession of such misfortunes might well have dispirited a less keen cricketer , but Mr. Webbewas not deterred , and he undoubtedly deserves the thanks of all who take interest in county cricket for the pluck and energy whichcharacterised his conduct of the Middlesex eleven last year, under very trying conditions . Though early in the season the eleven were, as was only natural , seen at a great disadvantage , towards the end the cricket all round wasabove the average , and Mr. Webbehad at least one great compensation for a long run of ill -luck in the very creditable victory over Yorkshire at Sheffield -a capital performance in every sense . Though the colt Westwas of occasional use with the ball , bowling still was the great weakness of the eleven, and in this department the absence of Mr. C. T. Studd was, of course , severely felt . It was only on very rare occasions that the county was able to put its really best eleven in the field , and, indeed , the Hon. Alfred Lyttel- toncould only take part in one match. Taking everything into consideration , there wascertainly no reason to lose hope over the play of the eleven last year, and Mr. Webbe, with all the advantages of position which the county possesses , m a ycount on a speedy restoration of Middlesex cricket . H ehad the satisfaction of introducing at least two young cricketers of promise into the county team in Mr. A. E. Stoddart and West, and the former, onhis form against Yorkshire and Notts at the end of the season , bids fair to be of great use as a bat. It is reasonable to contend that there is plenty of talent of equal promise among the young players of Middlesex, if it only has a chance of comingto the front . The hopes created by the excellent all -round cricket of the Sussex eleven in 1884 were in no w a yrealised last year. T h e executive, though, had good reason to complain of ill -luck-in fact , no county was worse treated byFortune. Death robbed themearly in the season , and, within a few days of each other, of two of their mostuseful cricketers -M r. WilliamB l a c k m a n and Juniper , two players w h o mit was impossible to replace . The importance of this double loss cannot be over-estimated , as, in addition to Mr. Blackman's great improvement of late as an all -round cricketer , Juniper and he were perhaps the two most dangerous bowlers Sussex had, and its sudden depriva- tion of two such valuable members of the eleven weakened the county immensely in the very department where it most wantedstrength -in its out- cricket . In addition , too , Mr. Whitfeld was only able to play once, and that just at the end of the season , so that the Sussex team were never really seen at their best . In the matter of the toss Mr. Wyattwas also most unlucky, and their bowling was so powerless on the generally hard wickets that they had, as a rule , to bat after a long outing , and in the face of a big score , most unfavourable conditions , as everyone knows. Mr. F. M. Lucas, whose bril- liant batting contributed mainly to the victories against Cambridge University