James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1889

2 2 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' ANNUAL. estimate of the actual merits of the all -round cricket of the teamcould onlybeat all conclusive whenthe grounds were in a fairly good condition , so as to bring out all the different points of the game. Thepossession of two such exceptional bowlers as Messrs. Turner a n d Ferris in a very great measure accounted for the far from unsatisfactory summary at the close of the tour . Certainly one of the keenest cricketers w e have ever seen, the former was the mainstay of the team from first to last . Always confident , never tiring , and full of pluck , he showed himself to be a true sportsman in every sense . Norwas this all . There was really more in h i m than in any bowler of the newer order , Lohmannand Briggs excepted . The accounts of his great spin , and the pace the ball got on after its impact with the ground, were certainly not belied by his show on English grounds last summer. O na soft wicket he proved to be quite as formidable as the reports of those whohadfaced him in Australia had represented him. His record , under such conditions , was in every way a wonderful one , and we are inclined to think that he is not only without a superior on a pitch to help the ball , but moreover on all wickets quite as good as any bowler of the day. There are some w h oventure to class Mr. Spofforth in a higher rank, but it is certain that even " Spoff " himself could hardly boast a record of such continuous success onboth English andAustralian grounds , and Mr. Turner is entitled to all the credit of a favourable comparison with the greatest bowler of this or any age. E v e nsomeofhis friends weresomewhatdoubtful whetherMr. Ferris would be able to go through the ordeal of such a heavy tour successfully . Theyoungest of the team, and unused to such an unbroken spell of hard work, he, however, acquitted himself thoroughly well , so much better than manyhad expected as to derive benefit , apparently , rather than injury , from his labours . With an excellent length , an easy delivery , andwith just enough break to deceive the batsman, he showed himself to be a bowler of unusual merit. At times he was more successful than was Mr. Turner, but he has not as yet the physique of the latter , and though we believe that he has yet to see his best , w ecan hardly account him so dangerous a bowler as his more successful mate. After Messrs . Turner and Ferris , it could hardly be said that there was any first -class bowling . Mr. Trott on a fast pitch was likely to be successful with his leg-breaks , but his wickets were obtained at a heavy cost , and generally , we fancy , he would be expensive . Mr. Worrall , with a far from taking delivery , at times got a lot of work on, but he could only be regarded as a change, and Messrs . Edwards and Lyons did not impress one as being of a high class . Mr. S. M. J. Woodsof Cambridge-an Australian bybirth-was utilized for the three representative matches and some of the more important of the other fixtures , butthe heavy workhe had done in the early part of the season had apparently told on him to some extent , and later on he did not comeup to the promise of his University form. Thebatting was at times very uneven ; on the whole it was, as we have already said , hardly as reliable as it should have been. In the earlier part of the tour the captain , Mr. McDonnell, hit with a vigour as well as accuracy that proved of the greatest value , and Mr. Bonnor on several important occasions showedthat he had lost little , if any, of the powerwhich first madehima name. In the later matches, though , neither of these fast scorers was seen at anything like his best , and though in the final contest of all at the Oval the latter scored so fast as to makethe disappointment at the preference for a steady gamehe hadshown for the last few weeks of the tour the greater , he failed to maintain his promise of the commencement. Mr. Trott, one of the newchums in the team, proved himself to be not only a sound and reliable bat, but one of the most useful all -round members of the team . He played good cricket , often keeping up his wicket when the others failed , and besides being a fine field at point , thoroughly fulfilled the prophecy of Mr. Beal that he would prove one of the most successful run-getters . Mr. Bannerman's defence was always of service , but he was not, as a rule , quite so sure as on some of his previous visits . Mr. Jarvis was at times of use during the latter part of an