James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1889

8 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. to the second grade, had a season of varying success . Avery creditable victory over Yorkshire , who were without Peel and Ulyett , though, showed that the eleven can on occasions take their ownpart with the best . In the return match with Surrey, as well as against Middlesex at Derby, they undoubtedly played up well, and, were their batting anything like on a par with their bowling, they wouldbe a strongish side . Onthe other hand, on several occasions they failed in themostdisappointing manner, andthere wasa lack of stability about their cricket . O fthe less influential counties , Leicestershire and Somersetshire hadthe best re- cords , andthe former in particular showed all-round cricket very muchabove the average . Their victory over Surrey at Leicester has been already referred to , but this was by no means their only performance of merit , and their win against the Australians was a highly creditable one, the result of a hard and well -con- tested struggle . Tyler's bowling was, perhaps , the chief factor in Somersetshire's success . Essex, though it was able to put a stronger side into the field than in any previous year, was not in good luck, and Hampshire fared even worse. Warwickshire's record was, like that of Leicestershire , a very meritorious one, and both were quite in the front rank of what we may call the less important counties. T h epresence of twoteamsfromover the sea lent an extraneous interest to the cricket of 1888. Mr. C. W. Beal , who had the task of collecting the Sixth Australian Team, was metbymanydifficulties in the fulfilment of his task, and the refusal of Messrs . H. Moses (the most reliable batsman af the day in the Colonies ) andGeorge Giffen (beyond a doubt the best all -round cricketer Aus- tralia possesses just now) to join the party , robbed the tour of a great deal of its interest , for Australians in particular . Theteam could not be said to be repre- sentative of Colonial cricket , but still , in spite of an almost unanimous prophecy of failure from the critics at homeas they left , some excellent cricket wasshown, although not of a sufficiently high quality on the whole to entitle the team to challenge comparison with some of its predecessors . Messrs . Turner and Ferris , however, proved that their reputation as the two best bowlers Australia has was thoroughly deserved , and the former, we are inclined to think , has no superior anywhere . Mr. Trott's all -round cricket , too , more than justified the confi- dent belief expressed by Mr. Beal of his success at quite the commencementof t h etour. Ourother visitors were the Second Parsee Team, and, though financially the trip resulted , as was only to be expected , in a very heavy loss , a marked advance intheall -round cricket was visible in comparison with that of their predecessors . Their opponents were, of course , of only moderate calibre , but generally there was morefinish about the play, and in some cases there wasreally very promising form. Mr. Pavri's bowling , in particular , was distinctly above the average . A few years ' experience and somecapable tuition ought to showa great improve- mentin the form of Parsee cricketers generally . It must be a matter of time, though, and we cannot but think that it will be a mistake if there is any inten- tion, as has been reported , of sending another team here during the summer of 1 8 8 9. Public school cricket suffered , as was bound to be the case , very severely from the continuance of wet in the early part of the season . It was a most unfortunate year altogether for the schools , and the climax wasreached when, though two extra days were allotted for the annual match between Rugby andMarlborough at Lord's , it had to be given up without a ball having been bowled. Such an exhaustive analysis of the School season has been penned by Mr. Forman--most careful as well as pleasant of critics -that it would savour of repetition were anything but a hasty glance to come within the scope of the present article . Harrowhad two youngsters of great promise in Jackson andHoare, who played a very important part in the victory which fell to the old school at Lord's ; and as both remain , as well as A. C. Maclaren , whose batting was such a prominent feature of the match of 1887 , Harrowstarts the yearwith hopeful prospects . Charterhouse and Cheltenham were both able to boast captains of unusual promise as cricketers in E. C. Streatfield and H. B.