James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1888

6 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. and if not so attractive to watch , no one can gainsay the value of his impreg- nable defence , in particular whena real effort is wanted. Lee's reappearance in the eleven , too , wasa remarkable success , considering his failure of the previous year , and indeed there were few more likely run-getters in the Yorkshire team. In addition to this dangerous trio , there were the captain (Hon. M. B. Hawke) , Peel , and Bates , all of them tried batsmen, not to mention Wade, whoon several occasions proved himself to be a bat of no meanorder . Hadthe out cricket of the teambeenin anywayup to the standard of the batting , Yorkshire would have been very difficult to beat , but it was not up to it byanymeans. Hunterkept wicket in the best style , but on the hard wickets the bowling all round was very far from deadly , and as , in addition , it wasnot supported by the field as well as it should have been, the shortcomings in these two important respects more than counterbalanced the strength of the t e a mw i t htheb a t. Sussex, w h o mFortune has treated with scant consideration of late years , has just suffered another severe loss by the death of Mr. F. M. Lucas, who succumbed to an attack of cholera recently in India , to the universal regret of cricketers . Represented by its best eleven , Sussex can always count on making a good show, but the difficulty of securing the services of some of its leading amateurs places it at a great disadvantage , particularly in the out matches , and it is handicapped heavily in consequence . Neither Messrs . Newham , Thomas , nor McCormick were able to play much, and unfortunately Messrs . F. H. Gresson , who played such good cricket for Oxford , and G. H. Cotterill , who, on his form of 1886 at Brighton College , was looked upon as a batsman of no small promise , were both failures . The cricket in manyrespects was very disappointing , and as of the twelve important matches played , only two, one of themover only a weak eleven of Gloucestershire , were won, and as manyas eight lost , the result must be considered as very unsatisfactory . Onmore than one occasion the Sussex eleven showed good all -round cricket , and special mention m a ybe made of the plucky gamethey played against Surrey at Brighton , only lost by a wicket , and against Yorkshire , also at Brighton , in which they would assuredly have been successful had the game beenprolonged for half an hour. Still , their batting , in which they have usually been seen to great advantage , more especially on the Brighton ground , was hardly up to the average of the last few years , and in proof of this it maybe stated that their highest innings was one of 293 against Kent. Norwas there , as was indeed hardly to be expected as the wickets were , much " sting " in the bowling, and although Arthur Hide and Mr. C. A. Smith, who proved, by the w a y, an efficient captain , showed fair figures in this department , Sussex was exceedingly weak. One of the most satisfactory features of the year's cricket wasthe batting of the young professional , Quaife . He played very fine cricket throughout the season , and gives promise of developing into quite a first -class b a t. Thestars in their courses fought against Kent last year, and the summary of the season was in every respect disappointing . O npaper the executive can put a very strong eleven into the field , butthe teams in the earlier matches were altogether unworthyof the county, andup to quite the middle of the summer, with the exception of a drawin the opening contest against Gloucestershire at Blackheath , the record was an unbroken series of reverses . Later on, when Messrs . Rashleigh , Marchant, and Patterson were available , the batting was, of course , seen to better advantage , and with Lord Harris able to help on a few special occasions , the eleven were able to show something more like their real form. A naccident , though, deprived them, midwayin the season , of the valuable assistance of George Hearne, and it was certainly a bad piece of luck for them to lose the help of so useful and reliable an all -round cricketer . Of the fourteen important fixtures in which the Kent eleven figured , only one was won, and of the five unfinished games , more than one was certainly not left in a favourable condition. Kentalways is seen at its best during the Canterbury week, and though