James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1886

4 6 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. recruits to fill the five vacancies in this year's team. Of the bowling, the less said the better . It was very poor, and quite spoilt an otherwise first rate eleven. Westminster had almost the same eleven as in the previous year, and, as mightbe expected , they have madea far better show. Fromtheir performance against Charterhouse we conclude that they would not take high rank among the school elevens of the year. W eshould have been glad to give a more detailed criticism of the year's play , but we have been unable to obtain any trustworthy information from friends or to extract any from the school authorities. ForBrighton College Cotterill did yeomanservice with the bat ; indeed, w ehave been led to believe that very great things maybe expected of him. H e is a really good bat. and was a most consistent scorer . In bowling, Woodsgreatly distinguished himself , some of his performances during the season being quite phenomenal. Theteam altogether was above the average , and w e are sorry that we cannot describe their doings more fully ; but as wehave no reliable data to refer to, it would be mere folly to attempt the task. Dulwich is fast working its wayto the front , but in their case again , w e are unable to do justice to the eleven , as our letter , requesting a statement of facts , still remains unanswered. W e know they beat the Tonbridge boys , and we are told that they have one grand bat in Wyld, whois very likely to makeas great a namefor himself and his school as his old comrade, M.P. Bowden, has already done. The Radley eleven proved far too strong for their Bradfield rivals , but w e understand that they were not a very high-class team. Indeed. the strong counter-attractions of the river prevent Radley from taking a leading position in the cricket world. Hencewe find that notwithstanding the ad- vantage they have in being near a great cricket centre , an " Akroyd" is a raraavis in the annals of Radleycricket . W eare sure our readers will welcomethe notes on Scotch cricket which w eare enabled to give in this number of the " Annual." Our information is absolutely trustworthy , being founded on the statements of two of the greatest supporters of cricket across the border. Loretto held the pride of place last season amongthe Scotch schools , though they fell utterly to pieces in their match against Merchiston , and suffered a severe defeat . Still , they beat the rest of the school teams in their owncountry, and supplemented these victories by completely crushing Rossall . The chief strength of the eleven lay in their safe and brilliant fielding , andthe bowling averages come out well , though we mustbear in mind that their opponents were not always very powerful . However, Rose and Smeatonare good bowlers , and are likely to improve. Rose is quite a novice , having been tried for the first time in the Rossali match. The batting was weak-weakerthan it ought to have been-and sadly disappointed the masters w h olook after the school cricket . Leslie Paterson excepted , there was not onebatsmanof any real merit. Pearson ought to be good, but he is want- ing in decision ; while Caldwell will have to learn the lesson of " patience " if hewishes to rise above mediocrity . Paterson , who is now at Keble, played avery fine innings against Fettes , and as he possesses patience and " a straight bat," he will get plenty of runs in college matches , and, perhaps , may makehis markin higher -class cricket as well . 6 6 Merchiston can boast of having beaten Loretto , but they were not really so good a team, and themselves fell victims to the powers of the Fettes boys. It would seem that bowling was the strong point of the eleven , and Smith and Dowdenwere especially successful . Smith has got hold of a nasty curl ," whichwill always makehim a dangerous man. Goodhue, with an average of 20, is somepoints ahead of the rest of the team in batting , and the batting , on thewhole, was certainly poor . The season at Fettes was less unfortunate than might have been expected