James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1887

4 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' ANNUAL. In bowling Attewell and Flowers head the list , and both bowled very finely . The loss of Walter Wright's services will be a serious matter another year . Sherwin has been as active as ever, but has hardly kept wicket as well as formerly . Surrey madea fine show during the past season . Notts counts its successes b ythe number of matches it loses , to makeuse of a paradox ; Surrey by the numberit wins . Manywill think that it is better to venture much, even if all is not gained , than to attempt less with an untarnished record . Let every one decide for himself . The bold venture of playing the first match on Easter Monday, which generally falls in the winter , proved a great success . For a season to commence with individual scores of 100 on each side is probably without parallel , and we mayexpect to see Easter Mondayfixtures at the Oval in futureseasons. Tomention Surrey's victories in detail would be too long a task ; let us look at h e rdefeatsa n dd r a w nmatches. T h evictoriouscareerof thesouthernshire was stopped short in an alarming mannerat Liverpool in July whenLancashire wasencountered , the result being a victory for the shire of the red rose by an innings and twenty-seven runs . O nthe Augustbankholiday at the Oval, in a matchthat Surrey would probably rather win than any other , she experienced herseconddefeat, this time also in a verydecisive manner, at the handsof her great northern rival , and again a fortnight later Sussex lowered her colours , also onhero w nterritory . Tocompensate these reverses , Surrey had very muchthe best of a drawn gamewith Notts in the first match, and can show no less than twelve wins-a greater numberthan any other county. O n an average every time that the eleven wereout they scored over 200 a remarkable performance for so many as sixteen matches. Their total of 494 against Derbyshire was the highest score m a d ein a countymatchduring the season. To particularize where the performances of all are so good would be diffi- cult. Suffice it to say that althoughMr. WalterR e a dbeganthe season some- whatindifferently , yet he soon forged ahead to his natural position at the head of the averages by a long way. His figures show the splendid result of 1000 runs for his county in twenty-four innings , with an average of forty -three , and I think he musthavebeenglad w h e nhe completedhis four figures at Clifton in the last match of the season . Maurice Readhas again proved that his eye is as good as ever. Abel's figures are better than Mr. Roller's ; the latter's , however, and those of the popular Surrey captain are very good. Diver has been some- whatof a disappointment , but he will doubtless come to the front again another year. Thesuccess of L o h m a n nwiththebat has also beenone of the features of Surreycricket . In bowling, Lohmanneasily carries awaythe prize , for although his figures are not so good as in 1885 , whenhe bowled 154 wickets for less than fourteen runs per wicket , yet on fast wickets like those of 1886 to bowl ninety -two wickets for about fifteen runs per wicket , must be considered a fine performance , and he stands second only to T o mEmmett. It is to be hopedthat his improvement in battingdoes notm e a na consequentdeterioration inbowling; great success is rarely , if ever, attained in both departments of the game. Bowley has also proved very successful , and he maybe considered the best fast bowler in England. Beaumont, although he has only obtained about half the wickets that he did in the previous season , has very good figures . Withsuch an array of bowling talent the services of Jones have not been in muchrequest , but he can probably bowl more maiden overs than any other bowler of a fair pace, and he forms a very useful part of the Surreyattack. Surrey wonboth her matches with the Australians , the second by no less thananinnings and 209 runs , owing to the wonderful performance of Maurice ReadandAbel, and canclaim the distinction of being the only county that beat theAustralianstwice. Lancashire , with as manymatches wonas lost , maybe said to have had a neutral season . The most notable of her performances was the single innings