James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1890

1 0 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. is due to our readers , because we are told that no m a nis competent to perform such a task as the one allotted to us unless he has been able to judge for himselfof the merits of the various teamsandindividuals . T o a knowledgeof this sort the writer of this article can lay no claim . The stern necessities of life forbid any such tour of inspection , it is only the favoured few who have the time and the money to go the round of the schools , and our readers must rest content with second -hand information . Perhaps they will be gainers thereby , for our information is gathered from the various fountain -heads, and wedo not hesitate to say that the opinion of those on the spot , and who have the oppor- tunity of seeing a team play in all their matches , is of infinitely greater value thanthat of a casual visitor , however good a cricketer he m a ybe, w h om a y chance to see any given eleven at its best perhaps , or perhaps at its worst . Of course the school coach is not an altogether impartial individual , he is apt to think his geese are swans we allow , but even so wewouldrather have his estimate of his team, than that of anyone else . Ourremarks are , for the most part, a digest of what such menhave to say, but wehave been also guided bywhatw e ourselves have seen , or have been enabled to gather from chance observers . Comingmoreclosely to the subject under review , wemaynotice that the majority of our correspondents adopt a jubilant tone this year. Theseason was excep- tionally favourable , w ehadlittle of that m u dand misery which went so far to ruin public -school cricket in 1888. Thenspirits were damped, and enthusiasm crushed by the merciless pelt , and consequent swamps on which the embryo cricketers had to be taught the rudiments of the game. For weeks and weeks the gamewasplayed , if played at all , under most disheartening influences . Last year all waschanged, bright skies and fast grounds restored the waning interest , andboys once more felt that there was nothing in the world that could be com- pared with a goodgameof cricket . School -boys had all the fun last year ; of course some matches were spoilt by rain , but this was the exception , it was the poor " tourists " who suffered in '89 , and their lot was far from happy. To manyof them the August cricket is the great holiday of the year , it is looked forward to for months and months, so it was especially disappointing to the various wandering teams to find that they were forced to spend most of their time in the pavilion . This , however, mayseem somewhatof a digression , but w epurposely mention the miseries of the August cricket , because several of our boyswereput on their first public trial during these weeks, and it is unfair to c o n d e m nthemif their initial efforts did not meetwith success . N o rneed they themselves be discouraged , the ordeal of appearing in high-class cricket for the first time is a trying one under the most favourable conditions , and we are con- fident that morethan one of those who failed to come up to expectations at the end of last season , will show very different form in the coming campaign. Let usnowglance at each school team separately , as we believe that in this way only is it possible to gain muchuseful information . Theeleven of Bath College might have been better than it was, had the captain , Wilson, been sufficiently alive to his duties , but w e are sorry to say thatheshowed little energy, and this told unfavourably , not only on his own play, but on that of the rest of the team as well . H eis a fine natural bowler, andmakesthe ball do a great deal , and, if he is properly looked after , oughtto beheard of at Oxford . H eis nowat Trinity , and the authorities there will do well to bear in mind the hint just given . Of the others , Garrett was far the best; he is a very promising bat, andconsistent scorer , and secured the good average of 36. Carter , a left -hander, is rather rough at present , but has cricket inhimandis sure to improve. Forthe coming season the prospects are fairly bright , there are several youngsters in the team likely to train on, but Bath cricket suffers from three causes-want of room, wantof a good second profes- sional , wantof a school match. Given these three desiderata , there is no reason w h ythe school should not increase the reputation already gained . TheBedford team find a place in this review for the first time. So far as w ecan gather, the cricket at Bedford is not as yet of a very high order , but we hope it will soon reach a standard more in keeping with the numbers of the