James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1887

T H ECRICKETS E A S O NO F 1886. 5 victory over Surrey at Liverpool , which was the result of the fine batting of Mr. Hornby, Mr. Steel , andBriggs . The return with Gloucestershire resulted in a close finish , the western shire securing a narrow victory by thirty -one runs. Lancashire played one match with the Australians early in the season , inbad weather, and were badly beaten by aninnings and twelve runs. Giffen played sad havoc with their wickets , taking no less than sixteen for an average of four r u n s . Thebatting averages are not high , and call for no particular comment, except for the fact , which must be gratifying to all lovers of the game, that Mr. Hornby heads the list with a fine average of thirty , made, it need hardly be added, with- out any not-out innings to help his figures . Mr. Hornby has increased his average by one-half , and yet he talked about giving up county cricket ! Barlow has been very unsuccessful with the bat, but Watsonand he have both very fine bowling figures , and Briggs has a very good combined analysis . Pilling has again shownhimself as good as ever behind the sticks . Kenthadnot so successful a season as in 1885, winning five and losing six matches, against eight and three respectively in the former season . T w overy goodgameswere played with Notts, the first ending in the northern county's victory by three wickets , the second in an even draw. Surrey administered a crushing defeat to the hop county in the first fixture , played on the beautiful ground at Beckenham, but in the return at the Oval in August, only wonby the narrow margin of thirty -nine runs . Thematch with Middlesex at Gravesend produced some very heavy scoring , over 1000 runs being scored for the twenty- five wickets which fell , giving the extraordinary average of forty runs per wicket. T h em a t c hw a sindeeda m o s tremarkableone. F o rMiddlesexMessrs. Webbe, Stoddart , and O'Brien scored very freely , while for Kent the brothers Hearnemade 268 between them, and Lord Harris seventy -six . The county team always plays wonderfully well during the Canterbury week, and this year during the cricket carnival they followed up their victory over the Australians bybeating Yorkshire by six wickets . Kentplayed one matchwith the Australians , and won in the most gallant style . Rememberingthat Kentwasthe only county to beat themon their last visit , it wouldlook as if the attractions of Canterbury proved too muchfor the visitors. TheKent averages are remarkably good, George Hearne very nearly obtain- ing his four figures , with an average of thirty -eight . This sterling cricketer has been seen at his best , and has improved his average by no less than eighteen . LordHarris has found time, amongst his efforts to grow tobacco , to compile a splendid average of thirty -five , and there are no less than seven other batsmen w h ohave averages of over twenty. There is no doubt that Kent takes , as they say, a lot of beating. In bowling , Wootton's figures of ninety -seven wickets , for sixteen runs per wicket, are remarkable , and deserving of the highest praise . Alec Hearne has not proved nearly so successful as in 1885, but the county m a ybe congratulated onfinding such a good manin Martin, who bowled with great success towards thee n dof theseason. Middlesex met with more success than in 1885 , losing four matches as against seven . In their single contest against the Australians they were within an ace of winning, and furnished one of the most interesting games of the s e a s o n . TheMiddlesex amateurs again exhibited exceptional strength in batting . Intheir county matches they scored , counting their two unfinished innings as onecompleted , over 200 runs each innings . Their most decisive defeat was that byYorkshire , late in the season . This was chiefly owing to the fine bowling andbatting of Wade, the bowling of Emmett, and the consistently high scoring of all the Yorkshiremen. Their victories consisted of two well-wongames with Gloucestershire , whose bowling seems always to be especially palatable to the batsmen of the Metropolitan shire , and one over Kent. Their single defeat by the champion county , and their draw with the latter , maybe con-