James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1888

6 6 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' ANNUAL (1) Gloucestershirev. K e n t. Blackheath , M a y26, 27, and 28. Thefirst meeting between these two counties , and at the same time the first county matchever played on the ground of the Blackheath Club. Neither side was well represented , and the weather was distinctly unfavourable , no play taking place the second day. The hometeamwere able to claim a lead of 21 runs on the first hands a result due chiefly to a patient contribution of 72 from Mr. A. J. Thornton, and a useful 28 from Pentecost . Painter hit freely for 60 for Gloucestershire , while the Championwasbatting two hours and twenty minutes for 36 not out a fact that speaks well for the bowling of the hop county. The chief credit of this wasdue to Alec Hearne, whobowled 31 overs for 37 runs and 6wickets . Kentscored 155 for six wickets , so were 176 runs on with four wickets still to fall . This was the first appearance of Messrs . N e w n h a mand Bloor for Gloucestershire . Kent, 202 and 155 (six wickets ) ; total , 357. Gloucestershire , 1 8 1. (2) Gloucestershirev. Sussex. Brighton , M a y30 and 31, and June 1. Dr. W . G. Gracetookinto Brightonthe sameeleven as h a dm e tK e n tthe weekbefore , and, encountering a strong team, suffered defeat by four wickets , after an interesting match. Gloucestershire wonthe toss , andlost their first six wickets for 117, of which W. G. had accounted for 51. At this period of the game Messrs . Croome and Cole got together and quickly added 88 runs to the total by resolute hitting , the innings closing for 240. Sussex headed this total by 13 runs , thanks chiefly to the good batting of Mr. Newham, who was in three hours and a half for his 108 , and J. Hide (72). In their second venture Dr. W. G. (47) and Radcliffe (64) were responsible for 111 out of a total of 190. This left the hometeam 178 to win a task they accomplished for the loss of six wickets- Mr. McCormick (51) and J. Hide (54) pulling them out of the fire . The latter scored 126 in the matchfor once out. Gloucestershire , 240 and 190 ; total , 430. Sussex , 253 and 180 (six wickets ) ; total , 433. (3) Gloucestershire v. Surrey. Moreton-in -Marsh, June 23, 24, and 25. Thoughon its ownground, Gloucestershire was unable to place anything like a representative team in the field , while their opponents were, with the excep- tion of Mr. Key, in full strength . Winning the toss , Surrey made good use of their opportunity , totalling 336 in their first and, as it proved , their only innings . Of these , W o o d, who was the chief contributor with 75-his largest score for Surrey -M. Read (64), and Lohmann (42) were responsible for more than one-half of the runs . Theboy Jones , with considerable help from the wicket, proved irresistible to all but the Champion, and dismissed seven of the hometeam for 20 runs in 27 overs . Dr. Grace, whoscored 58 out of 91 runs from the bat, wasat the wicket two and a half hours in obtaining them. Gloucester- shire fared very little better in their second innings , and eventually lost the matchby an innings and 104 runs. Mr. Pullen reappeared for Gloucestershire after an absence of two years . Mr. Troup (a schoolboy ) and Bendall played for thesamecounty for the first time on this occasion . Surrey, 336. Gloucester- shire , 97 and 135 ; total , 232. Overs. Maidens. R u n s. Wickets. Jones(two.innings of Gloucestershire).... 5 5 3 2 5 4 1 1