James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1886

C R I C K E TI N 1 8 8 5. 9 andPreston , of Yorkshire , for a first year, showed great promise of developing into a really good all-round cricketer . Mr. Inbowling, the amateurs were seen to less advantage than usual on the hardwickets , and it is questionable whether amateur bowling was ever weaker thanit is just n o w. Mr. W . G. Gracetook over a hundredwickets, and, con- sidering all the conditions of last season , his figures are creditable . Roller unfortunately suffered from an injury which prevented him bowling for some time, otherwise in all likelihood he would have had a muchlarger num- ber of wickets to his credit . His average though , as it is , will compare with the best of the year, and his reputation as a bowler was considerably im- proved by his performances in 1885. Mr. Christopherson was, beyond doubt, the best amateurfast bowlerof the season, and at times he was as destruc- tive as ever . Messrs . Cochrane (of Oxford) and Rock(of Cambridge) had creditable figures , and the latter was, perhaps , the best bowler at either University. A m o n gthe professionals , Briggs suddenly came to the front , and it was a wonderful performance for a bowler in really his first year of any real pro- minence as a bowler to take such a high position . Alec Hearne, too , madea great advance ; and Attewell , Flowers , Alfred Shaw, and Watson, of the medium-paced bowlers , who were the most successful last year, have the best averages . Barnes, too, bowled consistently well ; and Burton, Wright, andWoottonare all well up in the statistics . Peate, Lohmann, and Beaumont were the only professionals who took over a hundred wickets ; and the first- named, though hardly quite as effective on occasions , showed that he had still few, if any, superiors . The performances of Lohmannand Beaumontwere the more noteworthy , from the fact that this was really their first actual season as bowlers in good cricket . Considering the severe strain on them, caused by the heavy Surrey programme, their figures were specially note- w o r t h y. C H A P T E R III. T H EE I G H T HE N G L I S HT E A MI N A U S T R A L I . B YJ A M E SL I L L Y W H I T E . T H E eighth team of English cricketers for Australia left Plymouth on September 19th , 1884. The players were thirteen in number-Shaw, Shrews- bury, Lillywhite , M. Read, Ulyett , Bates , Peel, Hunter, Briggs , Barnes, Attewell , Scotton , and Flowers . Alfred Shaw was captain , and James Lilly- white manager, though Shaw played so seldom that the duties of captain devolved chiefly on Shrewsbury . After avery pleasant run of eleven days w e arrived at Port Said, going direct there from Plymouth, instead of calling at Naples, a change necessitated by the prevalence of cholera in that city . Achallenge to play twenty-two of the officers and menof the A r m yand Navy, stationed at Suez-telegraphed to Port Said -was gladly accepted by the English team, and a very enjoyable day was passed . The match wasplayed on the sands about a mile out of Suez, the pitch consisting of a piece of cocoa mat- ting, which played fairly well . The eleven had the best of a drawn game; Ulyett making some big hits in his attainment of the top score , forty -three . Leaving the same night for Aden, we went thence direct to Adelaide, wherewearrived early in the morning of October 29th , and a cordial welcome to South Australia was given us by the Mayor and Corporation of Adelaide . G A Only two clear days being allowed before the first match , practice was