James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1887

PUBLIC SCHOOL CRICKET IN 1886 . 1 3 standard of Clifton cricket . The captain , Head, is no doubt a good bat, but he wasfar in advance of the rest of the team in present ability , but of future promise there is an abundance . In bowling , Abney did not improve on his form of the previous year , and is passed in the averages by Bosanquet , a slow left -hand bowler , w h owasbyno means easy, whenthe wicket helped him, and he is declared to be quite above the average . Twoof the three victories of the year were in the school matches, but the win against Cheltenham, as has already been stated , mustberegarded as a somewhat lucky performance ; while the crushing defeat of Sherborne was mainly due to the inability of the Sherborne boys to accept the chances offered to them. Headplayed a dashing innings in this match, but he wasbadly missed before he hadgot 30, and it was his innings which prac- tically decided the game. The best performances of the season were seen in the drawngames against Liverpool and the O. C.'s , but even these do not makethe teamappear really strong , and we must wait for the coming season to showus a neleven of the goodold Clifton stamp. Thelist of Dulwich matches is always a long one, and includes opponents of all degrees of strength . Last year there were fifteen matches , in eight of which the boys were victorious . Of the school matches two resulted in their favour , butthey were unable to lower the colours of the powerful Brighton contingent . Still they madea good fight , and we should judge them to have been, at all events at the end of term, a very fair school team. Bowling was their strongest point , and it speaks well for bowlers and fieldsmen alike that on ten occasions their opponents could not get into three figures . Wyld, who was noticed in these pages last year, heads the batting averages , and was the best m a nin the eleven . His innings against Bedford GrammarSchool was a fine display , and we quite expect to hear of him again . It should be noted that Cooperalso madea " century " in the Bedford match. Eton were singularly unsuccessful in their trial games, and can only show one victory against five defeats , but they wonthe two school matches , and there- fore the early failures were no doubt forgiven . On the first innings there was little to choose between the Etonboys and their rivals , either at Winchester or at Lord's , but in the end Etonwonboth matches easily . The Lord's match was a triumph for them, and weheartily congratulate them on their success . They ought to be a strong lot this year, as there are six or seven old choices still at school, but w ecannotbelieve that theywerereally formidablein the past season. Foleyis anundeniably good bat, with plenty of nerve, and he showed to great advantage in the school matches . Coventry bids fair to be first -rate , but at present he is not as reliable as Foley. Of the others , Gosling , Mordaunt, and Llewelyn were the most consistent scorers , and the last -namedis said to be verypromising . The greater part of the bowling was done by Mordaunt-now at King's -Brand, andDavenport. Mordauntchanged his style from fast to slow with most satisfactory results . Brandbowls medium, and got his wickets at a far less cost than Davenport , but the latter will be very good when he has gained a little more experience . Haileybury failed to win a single match , and yet in Hamilton they possessed oneof the best boy bats of the year. W ewere led to speak of his promise last year, and he fully bore out our prediction . H eplayed a grand innings against Uppingham, and as he is still at school his doings will be carefully watched. T w oother good men, Batty and Morgan, remain at Haileybury , and these three will form the nucleus of what ought to be a good eleven . Batty bowled really well, as his average (sixty -four wickets for less than eight runs apiece ) abun- dantly testifies . The eleven failed to score a single victory , it is true, but we oughtto addthat twoof the drawswereverym u c hin their favour, andw eare told that plenty of good cricket was shown in the course of the season . Takingthemall round, the Harroweleven must be considered rather under than over the average . Still it is certain they did not play up to their proper form at Lord's , nervousness , in twoor three instances at anyrate ,being the cause . Thetwo fast bowlers bowled more persistently on the leg side than they haddone in any matchat home, and this added to the fact that in the first innings theyhad