James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1890

4 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. the immense amount he did for Surrey will fully prove. The out-cricket at times suffered considerably by the absence of W o o d, whose eyes , affected pre- sumably by the glare of South African grounds , troubled him greatly , and on several occasions he was unable to keep wicket , to the detriment of the side , although Mr. F. Fielding proved a by no means inefficient substitute . The fielding , too, wasmore than once faulty , and it mayfairly be urged that there is roomfor improvement in this respect . W ehave criticised rather freely perhaps the shortcomings of the Surrey eleven , but it must not be inferred that w ehavesuggested any real deterioration in the quality of Surrey cricket . O n the contrary , with the exception of the defeats to which we have already referred , the season was otherwise , in every way, satisfactory , and of sufficient promise to justify confidence in the future . Though not able to show quite such a consistent record as its old rival and neighbour , Kenthad good reason to be pleased with the all -round cricket shown byits representatives . Thoughnot yet possessed of such a professional back- boneas those most interested could wish, there is still sufficient to prevent any great difficulty in the collection of suitable teams, and on the whole they were fairly representative . Messrs . Leslie Wilson, and W. H. Patterson were pre- cluded by the calls of business from playing very often , and the services of two such reliable batsmen would have added very materially to the strength of the side . Political duties limited Lord Harris's appearance in the Kent eleven to the Augustfixtures , but higher claims have been gradually weaning him from the pleasures of the cricket field , and for the last two or three years hehas only been an occasional contributor to Kent's yearly record . Messrs . Foxand Marchantwere generally able to play, andif the former-as indeed could hardly beexpected-failed to realize the brilliant promise of his consistent scoring in 1888 , his all -round cricket was distinctly of use. Mr. Marchant has latterly showna steady improvement as a batsman, andhis brilliant hitting was through- out of the greatest value . In batting with its best team in the field , Kent was as strong as most of its rivals , and in respect of its out-cricket superior , beyond adoubt, to several of them. Alec Hearne was hardly as successful with the ball , butMartin and Wright bowled with remarkable success throughout . It was fortunate that both were in such exceptionally good form, as , though Mr. Fox, in some of the later matches , was on several occasions of great service , there was, outside the professional trio already named, no great amount of change , and a fast bowler would have given a variety which would have been useful . Thebrilliant victory over Notts, with which Kentended the season at Becken- h a m, will be remembered as one of the greatest events of the year. It was in every waya creditable performance , and the memory of the plucky uphill game played by the menof Kenton that occasion should have anencouraging effect o nt h efuture. Kentformed the line of division between the three leaders -Notts , Lanca- shire , and Surrey-and the four least successful of the eight principal counties . Aconsiderable margin separated it from the trio named, but there was a far widergulf dividing it from the lower division , which consisted of Middlesex , Gloucestershire , Yorkshire , and Sussex . Of this quartette Middlesex had, under the system of calculating by points , a fractional advantage , which would have beenslightly increased under the newarrangement of scoring recently sanctioned at Lord's by the representatives of the county clubs . Of the eleven matches in which the Middlesex eleven took part , three were won, the same number drawn, and five ended unfavourably . The remarkable display of hitting by Mr. O'Brien , which gave Middlesex such a brilliant win over Yorkshire , at Lord's , will not soon be forgotten , and this success was almost sufficient to compensate Mr. A. J. Webbe, the captain , for some of his disappointments . The other two victories were over Lancashire and Gloucestershire , and their defeat of the Lancashire eleven , at Manchester , was a performance , remembering the fine all- round form shown by the losers throughout the season , of no small merit . There waslittle alteration in the composition of the eleven in comparison with the previous year , and perhaps the only noteworthy change was the inclusion ,