James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1889

2 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. C H A P T E R I I. C R I C K E T I N 1 8 8 8. B YI N C O G. ENGLISHcricketers are not likely to retain anything but a lively , if a far from agreeable , recollection of the season-it would savour of gentle irony to apply toit the genial wordsummer of 1888. According to the weather-wise , who, bythe way, if the assertion of a profane person be true , are wise in no other matter, it is forty years since the limited period allowed for the pursuit of our glorious old game was marred by such a long continuance of unfavourable weather. Of the last cricket year it mayfairly be said , to use the expressive phraseology of the inimitable Mr. Mantalini , that it was " a demddamp, moist , unpleasant body." " Therain it raineth every day" was an absolute truism of a very considerable part of the four months during which cricket reigned-w e hadalmost said rained . In the early part of Mayand the greater part of Sep- tember, whenof course most of the chief grounds were closed for important matches, there was about the average of sunshine . Otherwise the veracious chronicler has nothing to record but, as a rule , almost incessant rain , or, at least , a sufficiency of it to cause a long and monotonous succession of drawn matches, or matches played under such disagreeable conditions as to be prac- tically settled in a day. Anything more depressing than the experiences of cricketers during June, and July in particular , it would indeed be difficult to recall , even to the memoryof that most venerable of individuals -the oldest inhabitant . Yet, on the whole , to their credit be it said , the cricket community bore its troubles bravely . In spite of days frequently wasted, still cheerful in the face of the almost daily patter of the rain onthe roof , playing often to empty benches , and frequently , too , to bare pavilions , the principles of MarkTapley wereevidently strongly impressed on the minds of cricketers , and they were as jolly as it was possible to be with such unpropitious surroundings . There was, indeed , much cause for satisfaction , in the proof of which there was plenty , that our national game is gaining , rather than losing , favour with the public . As a matter of fact , there is abundant evidence that the better class of cricket is increasing in popularity year by year . At the present time there is hardly a county which does not possess an organization of some sort or other to develop the latent talent within its boundaries , and, in fact , nothing during the last ten years has been more noteworthy than the steady advancement in the interest taken in the principal matches a result due, as most impartial judges will allow,to the stimulus created by the advent of the first Australian team in Englandat the commencementof the last decade . Theconsistently good all-round cricket shown by the Surrey eleven has been, it m a yfairly be stated , the chief theme of interest in connection with county cricket during the last two years . Nor could there be a more sub- stantial proof of the versatility of the team directed by Mr. JohnShuter, than that they were able to secure the proud distinction of the premiership in two successive summers, and under such widely dissimilar conditions . Surrey's successes were as remarkable , indeed , under the dismal surroundings , on pitches for a greater part of the season more or less affected bythe prevalent rains , of 1888 , as they had been on the run -getting wickets which brought out the full strength of their batting in such bold relief in 1887. Fast or slow , the grounds