James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1887

T H ECRICKETSEASONO F 1886. 7 Thebatting averages are not remarkable , and Walter Humphreyshas con- siderably the best record . His figures in bowling , too , are good, seeing that he obtained forty -two wickets for sixteen runs per wicket , with the commonly derided underhand lobs . The combined figures of Jesse Hide in batting and bowling are also very creditable . Mr. Newham'saverage has fallen fromforty- nine to twenty-four . Mr. F. M. Lucas has the good average of thirty ; but this pales by the side of his phenomenal performance of the preceding season . Gloucestershire's display was very disappointing ; and this was hardly to be wondered at, seeing that they lost the services of W. R. Gilbert , while for a large part of the season Woofwas unavailable . Three wins and six defeats forms a very bad account , and one muchworse than that of 1885. Middlesex and Surrey both beat themtwice . Bowling is wanted in Gloucestershire more than ever, but the batting is still very dangerous . To the captain's comparative wantof success for his county, and to the want of bowling , must be attributed the lack of success during the past season . It is pleasant to notice Dr. E. M. Grace's return to first -class cricket after the injury to his knee , which it was feared might throw him out of the front rank altogether , as he is not, unfortu- nately , so young as he once was. Gloucestershire played two matches with the Australians . In the second the visitors wonby a narrow majority , while the first resulted in a draw, much in favour of the hometeam. There was some heavy scoring on both sides . Inbatting averages the champion has not been so successful for his county as he has in other matches , and his average has fallen from forty - three to twenty-eight . Mr. Brain heads the list with thirty -a great improvement on his previous season . Mr. Radcliffe for his first season shows the very good average of twenty-six , and should prove very useful , as he is a very determined cricketer , and can also bowl. The averages are, on the whole, very disap- pointing . Inbowling the champion's figures are about the same as in the previous year, buttheyare not good. Woof'senforced absence for so long a time wasa serious loss to a county so weak in bowling as Gloucestershire , and whenhe did bowl he wasvery muchless successful than in former years . Derbyshire , which ranks as a first -class county , presumably by courtesy , has hada blank season . Eight defeats and one drawout of nine matches would look as if the Peakites were flying at too high game. Withno batting averages above twenty- one, and no bowling average below seventeen , there is not much to call for comment. Chatterton batted well, and deservedly headed the list , whileDavidsonandCropperbowledwith success at times. Derbyshire played one match with the Australians , which the latter won easily . O fthe first -class counties it cannot fairly be said that either Notts or Surrey is champion. Theymust be bracketed . Onthe whole, Surrey's record is perhaps the more brilliant . She won five matches more and drew six less thanher northern rival . There is , however, hardly anything to choose between them. Notts has been pretty generally styled the champion county by the arbitrary standard fixed by no one knows who, but until some more rational modeis adopted of determining to w h o mbelong the premier honours it is im- possible to say whois actually at the head. A m o n gthe minorcounties Hampshire, Leicestershire , Somersetshire , Essex, and Warwickshire met as many good counties as would play them, and did theirbest. Hampshire had ten county fixtures , but were very unsuccessful -winning only in the matches with Norfolk , and one with Herts , and losing all the im- portant matches. Messrs . Lacey and Powell batted very well, while Mr. Currie w a sthe mostsuccessful bowler. Leicestershire scored a miraculous victory over Surrey , owing to the fine bowling of Pougher. This county is sadly in want of Amateurswho will play . Somersetshire had a very successful but quiet season , playing five matches , of which three were won, one lost , and one drawn. Fothergill heads the batting