James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1891

1 0 6 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. Mr. J. A. Turner. Thoughthe ground was somewhatslow from recent rains , still the visitors madea most disappointing show, being dismissed in anhouranda half for 55. Surrey were able to reach a creditable total of 183, Abel (49) and Mr. K e y(37) putting on 82 runs for the fourth wicket . ThoughwhenLeicestershire wentin a second time only fifty minutes remained for play, the two captains decided to finish off the match. Sharpeproved so successful this second time that hetook nineof the tenwickets at a cost of little morethantworuns apiece. Surrey wonby an innings and 80 runs . Surrey , 183. Leicestershire , 55 and 4 8; total , 103. Sharpe(Surrey) O v e r s. 2 4 M a i d e n s. 1 1 R u n s. W i c k e t s. 3 5 1 2 (7) Surreyv. Essex. Oval, M a y15, 16, and 17. Withthe exception , perhaps , of Mr. C. D. Buxton, Essex had its best eleven , while Surrey missed the services of Mr. Key, Lohmann, and Maurice Read, who wereall playing against the Australians at Westbury. Ona fast , true wicket the visitors were seen to great advantage , though Mr. F. E. Rowe(not out 98), Littlewood (43), and Mr. C. E. Green (31), were responsible for a large propor- tion of the runs . Mr. Rowe, who was unlucky in failing to reach his hundred, played sterling cricket , and gave only one chance whenhe hadgot 60. Against atotal of 262 by Essex, Surrey could only get 127, and four of the eleven failed to get a run between them. In the follow on, Mr. Shuter (117), Mr. W. W. Read(63), andAbel (59), hit awayso freely , however, that the fine total of 431 was reached . Mr. Shuter and Abel added 148 while together , and the Surrey cap- tain , whowas missed twice , shaped in his most attractive style . Essex never looked like getting the 297 required to win, and Burns was top scorer with 36. Sharpe not only bowled admirably , but scored 64 runs without getting out once. Surrey w o nby 136 runs. Surrey, 127 and431 ; total , 558. Essex, 262 and 160 ; total , 422. Sharpe (2nd inns . Essex) Overs. 3 4 M a i d e n s. 1 5 R u n s. 4 3 Wickets. 5 (8) Surreyv. Australians. Oval, M a y22, 23, and 24. Thefirst appearance of the Australian team in London. Mr. Shuter having w o nthe toss , andthe wicket being in excellent condition for run-getting , a long score was anticipated . With 120 up for only two batsmen, this expectation looked like being realized ; but after the interval Ferris and Lyonsbowledwith such precision that the side wereout for 200. Mr. W .W .Read's 87 wasquite upto his best standard , and entirely free fromfault ; Maurice , of the same n a m e - whohelped him to put on 76 for the third wicket-also hit awaymerrily for 40. The Australians only did moderately well at the start , and though Murdoch (40), Trott , and Barrett all madeuseful scores , seven wickets were downfor 160. Theassociation of Blackham (75), and Walters (not out 53), however, com- pletely altered the aspect of the game. Walters played a steady game, prefer- ring to let his partner do the hitting ; and the brilliancy of Blackham's play m a ybe imagined whenit is said that he got his runs under the hour. The Australiansthushada useful lead of 78 on the first " hands" ; butwiththe wicket playing well , there seemed no reason whySurrey should not score largely in the second. As a matter of fact , thanks to some free cricket by Mr. Shuter and M . R e a d, 6 0 were got with only one wicket d o w n. Boththe Readswere caught off full pitches , though , and such a complete collapse followed that when stumps were drawnon the second evening , Surrey were out for 156. The Colonials , wanting 79 to win, got them for the loss of two wickets , Murdoch