James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1887

PUBLIC SCHOOL CRICKET IN 1886. 1 5 theprevious year, and towards the end of term he was utterly stale , and failed tod ohimself justice in the Middlesex tour . Thathe will yet prove himself quite in the first class , we fully believe , for on his dayhe is the best boybat wehave ever seen . H eis nowat King's , and ought to get his " blue." Thebatting of therest of the team was mediocre . Jardine , though a brilliant hitter , wasunre- liable . Palairet played excellently in the second innings of the Uppingham match, and he and Burneyhave plenty of cricket in them. In bowling Farrant w a sfacile princeps , and his average was distinctly good. Ford bowled very well as times , and Kelsey, though variable , on a wicket that suited him, was danger- ousto the batsman's body and wicket alike . As a whole the team ought to have been really good, but their fielding was slovenly and unsafe , and lost themmore thanone of their matches . The absence of Ford andKelsey will be severely felt , but, given good weather and plenty of steady practice , the eleven this year should b every fair . It is a great pity that the Rossall and Loretto match could not be played last season , as we cannot nowform any just estimate of the comparative merits of English and Scotch schools , but probably the Scotch boys would have repeated their victory of the previous year. The Rossall eleven , so far as wecan gather , were not strong ; indeed , had they been as strong as Rossall teams have been , they wouldhave inflicted a more decisive beating on Malvern, who were extremely weak; and yet the Malvern boys madea good fight on a strange ground, while ontheir ownground they could not makeanyshow at all against Repton. Rossall also proved too good for Shrewsbury, their bowling in this matchbeing far more deadly than against Malvern. Anyteam which wins its school matches m a ybe said to have done its duty, and therefore , though wecannot consider the Rossall eleven of 1886 as a strong one, w em a yyet congratulate them on having been just strong enough . Rugbydid well during the past season , and though their batting was not as formidable as it promised to be, the team was superior to its immediate prede- cessor . In 1885 the batting was marvellously strong , but the eleven was not really dangerous , as Bengoughwas the only respectable bowler, and the fielding wasat times unsafe . Last season bowling and fielding were good. Bengough wasas steady as ever , and R. A. Wilson was most reliable . These two did the bulkof the work, but Gaddumand Dixon must be counted as good " changes ." Wilson is still at Rugby, and will help to winmanyamatchin the coming season . Bengoughhas left , and his place will be hard to fill , for not only as a bowler, but still more as a captain , he was most successful . In batting Bradbyheads the list , having played well throughout ; he ought to be very useful this year . Gaddum'ssteady defence was of great service to his side , but he was not as large a scorer as we had hoped; if he is now at the ' Varsity he is very likely to cometo the front . Jackson , the present captain , is a hard hitter , and plays in good style , but he is over -rash . The two Bowden-Smiths " came off " at Lord's ; the elder brother played a first -rate innings of 64 against M.C.C.; the younger appeared to great advantage against Marlborough , and his 95 was by farthe longest score in the match. Jackson ought to be able to put a capital team in the field this year, and unless something very unforeseen happens, they will repeat their victory over Marlborough. 1 The results of the season's cricket at Sherborne must be pronounced dis- appointing . There was plenty of good material , and up to a certain point the all -round play of the team was very satisfactory , but whenthe critical time came, andit was hoped that the boys would be at their best , they completely failed . In the Clifton matchthey madea very fair start , andthen all wentwrong, the result being an overwhelming defeat . W ehope they will pull themselves together , and makea better fight this year. Ofindividual performers , the captain was far the best ; he is a very useful m a n, and will be heard of again . Carver bowled well at times , but could not be relied on " at a pinch ." Morres succeeds to the cap- taincy , andwith care will turn out a good bat. H ewill have six old hands to backhimup, andthe team of this year ought to do well . to TheShrewsbury boys were not very fortunate last season . The miserable