James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1889

PUBLIC SCHOOL CRICKETIN 1888. 1 7 possible that he will develope into a really good man. His brother too shows considerable promise , and made wonderful improvement during the year. Of the bowlers Arnall fairly earned first place , and he would be very dangerous if his natural skill were seconded bysounder judgment. Marshall tried rather too manytricks , but there were days whenhe was almost unplayable . Last of all w emustmention F. Schwind, whoin the later matches proved himself one of thebest all -round menin the team, and it is a great disappointment to find that he andArnall will after all not be available this year. W eshall not venture to predict the possibilities of the coming campaign, but wemaysay that , with plenty ofpromising material at hand, there is noneed to despair , even though three only o f theoldt e a mc a nn o wb eutilized . Rossall had a most successful season , winning five of their matches , andnot once suffering defeat . Some of the drawn games were certainly not in their favour, and, notwithstanding their success , weare not inclined to rank them very highly . On their ownground they proved just too strong for the Malvern boys , but the Loretto match seemed to be going against them, though perhaps w e mustnot take too muchnotice of their doings on this occasion , as a late start , owingto rain, rendered any chance of a finish out of the question . The two senior membersof the team were rightly at the head of affairs ; the captain has the best average , got the most runs , and was a fairly useful bowler ; while Heath got a lot of wickets , and was, without doubt, facile princeps in the bowling line . It is quite possible that we may hear something of these two again , and we sincerely hope we m a y, as the success of its old boys has a most encouraging effect on a school's cricket . Of the prospects of the coming campaign we shall not venture to prophesy , but, knowing the energy that pervades Rossalian things in general , we mayfeel quite sure that no stone will be left unturned in orderto promotesuccess . TheRugby boys opened their season with a victory over Balliol , and then wereunfortunate in being just beaten by Trinity and New. After this things wentbådly with them for some weeks, until at the end of June they played drawngames against the M.C.C. and the Butterflies , the game in each case being left in their favour . Theycould not however manageto win again, and their victory in the initial match was their solitary success . It is useless to speculate as to the probable result of the Marlborough match, but on paper the sides were well -balanced , and it was most unfortunate that the contest could not take place . Dixonheads the averages both in batting and bowling , and was thebestm a nin the team; indeed he was thought worthyof a trial for York- shire , if trial it can be called , for, if our memorydoes not play us false , he was allowed only one or at most two overs in the match. Rutter and Garraway were a pair of steady bats and consistent scorers , and Rendall bowled un- commonlywell at the end of the season , but their worth was considerably dis- countedb ytheir indifferent fielding , and we believe themto have been inferior to Nicholls in all -round merit . Nicholls will be captain this year, and will have toworklike a Trojan, as there are at least nine vacancies to be filled up. The announcement of a decided improvement in Sherborne cricket has given usthe mostlively satisfaction , and we hope that the school will nowregain its proper place in the cricket world. W h e nterm began there seemed to be an abundance of promising batting material , and though Jacob and Delmé -Radcliffe werethe only two who developed into consistent run-getters , several others showed such good form, that wemayreasonably expect better things from them in the future . Price will again captain the team, and though he did not come off last year, he has cricket in him, andwe trust that he will be able to rival the deedsof his father, w h owasone of thebest m e nSherborne ever sent into the field . The eleven of '88 showed up well in fielding , they were smart andheld. the catches , and so the bowlers were well supported ; of bowling there was plenty , but Ellis was the only one who displayed any real talent . Spillman is no longer at Sherborne , but weare sure every effort will be madeto find a good m a nto fill hisplace. W eare rather in the dark about Shrewsbury cricket ; we knowthat rowing 3