James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1890

PUBLICS C H O O LCRICKETIN 1889. 1 7 thancounterbalanced a licking at the hands of the old boys. TandyandHatt, the captains of 1890 and 1889 respectively , are at the head of the batting list , and Marshall did so muchgood work, that he mayfairly be said to have bowled well, even though a good manyruns were scored against him. Ayoungster , Baiss by name, has established a reputation ; he certainly did well in his first season, and his admirers claim for him great promise of future value . The Uppingham eleven improved wonderfully as the season advanced . Therewereonly four old choices to start with, and not a bowler amongthem ; indeed, the wantof a goodfast bowlerw a sseverely felt throughoutthe term. Uppinghamused always to have a stock of this article , as opponents knew to their cost ,but since W . F. Whitwell's time there has not been one fast bowler w h ocould be called even third -rate . Curiously enough there is nowno promise at all in this line amongthe youngsters . Thestrength of last year's team lay in their batting , and in this respect they showed up very well in the school matches, scoring 298 at Haileybury , and 190 and 135 against Repton. Hem- mantandField were the heroes of these matches, as they madea long score in each ; while Westray, Auden, and Alderson all " came off " once . The Repton match ended in an unfavourable draw, but at Haileybury the home team could makeno fight with the Rutland boys . To come to individuals : Hemmantand Westraywere probably the best of the bunch, the former as dashing a bat as the latter wassteady , but both very promising . Field was hampered by extreme nervousness , but this , as we have seen , did not prevent himfrom scoring largely inthe two important matches, and he might be really good if he could conquer his special failing . Alderson played a punishing innings against Repton, and managedhis team with excellent judgment throughout , while as a mid-off it wouldbe difficult to find his superior . Behind the wickets , Pechey proved no unworthysuccessor of MacGregor, Orford and Co., but perhaps the chief feature of the season was Bardswell's bowling . For a boy of 15 to bowl through almost the entire innings of every match and to secure a moiety of the wickets obtained , is nothing short of marvellous . Great care must be taken to prevent his being overdone , or his bowling will inevitably lose all its sting , even though hełmaycontinue to keep his length and straightness . This season will open most promisingly , for there will be seven old choices , Bardswell , Hemmant, Westray , andField amongthem, and Stephenson maybe trusted to find somegood recruits to fill the four vacant places . The great question is-Canhe find the fast bowler ? The Wellington captain and his team deserve to be heartily congratulated on the victories over Charterhouse and Haileybury , the dual triumph not having beensecured since 1879. Their success did not end here , as they scored five other victories , and must be put downas a more-than-ordinary eleven . Berkeley's bowlinghad a great deal to do with this favourable issue , and we should not be surprised to find him given a good trial at Oxford this year, especially as his fielding leaves little to be desired , and he is very likely to get runs . The elder Mordaunt, however, was the best m a nin the team, and, as wesaid in the last Annual, we shall be muchdisappointed if he does not makehis markin first- class cricket . Theyounger brother was the largest scorer of the year , and shows great promise , and it is believed that he will go on improving . H ewill lead the team this year to manya victory let us hope, but he will not find it easy to dis- cover such useful bowlers as his brother and Berkeley have proved themselves to beduring the last two seasons . Dennydid well in the bowling line , andm a y beexpected to do even better this season , and Macnaghten, another of the new choices , scored consistently . Thecaptain , Hankey, wasnever a large scorer , but generally got some runs , and was moreover an excellent skipper . During the last two seasons he has, by his untiring efforts , done a great deal to improve the cricket at Wellington , and the school owes hima great debt of gratitude . W e m a yadd that they cannot repay himbetter than by continuing to showkeenness andenergy on the cricket field . W ehavenot such a dismaltale to tell of Westminstercricket as fell to our lot in our last review of the Public Schools . Still w e mustconfess that the '89 teamwasadisappointing one. Takeone instance -the Charterhouse match-and 3