James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1891

6 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. justified the belief that the county was sure of a prominent place . The early promise , however, was unfortunately not upheld, and indeed the records of July andAugustshowed a succession of reverses , only relieved quite at the finish b y a very creditable victory over Surrey at the Oval. Yorkshire had the nucleus of a very strong side , but the cricket at times was uneven . Thebatting on the whole was not so reliable as could have been wished , and though Ulyett , Peel , Hall, and Lord Hawkewere all of them batsmen capable of giving serious trouble to the best bowling , there was unmis- takable evidence of a tail throughout the season . Mr. E. Smith, of the Oxford University eleven , proved a very useful addition to the team, and as he is not only a very likely fast bowler, but also a free hitter and fine field , he possesses all the material for the makingof an extremely useful all-round cricketer . Peel's consistent success with bat as well as ball was distinctly the most noteworthy feature of Yorkshire cricket in 1890. Always reliable , particularly at a pinch, w h e nother batsmenhad failed , he was even morevaluable as a bowler-a department in which, it goes without saying , most of his successes havebeen gained . During the last few years Peel has proved to be in quite the foremost rank of bowlers , and last year certainly increased rather than diminished his reputation . O ncertain wickets he has always been unplayable , and for precision and ability to keep downthe runs he has had, and still has, few if any superiors . His summaryof bowling for Yorkshire showed over ninety wickets at an average cost of under thirteen runs, and for a bowler of his pace this must be described as an exceptionally fine performance . Late in the season -through , I believe , Lord Hawke's intervention -G. P. Harrison , who proved so successful by reason of his great pace a few years ago for the county, hadanother trial , and with most satisfactory results . H ehadmoderated his speed , as subsequent experience showed, considerably , and in fact at the end of last season hewas only a little over medium-pace . The workhe was able to get on to the ball , however, enabled him to be very successful on the slow wickets during the latter part of August, and on his newform there is every reason to believe thath ewillb eofconsiderableuseto theYorkshireleveninthefuture. The record of the Nottinghamshire eleven in 1890 was strangely enough in some respects a repetition of the experiences of the previous year . They failed as unmistakably in August as they had in 1889 ; indeed their performance was, if anything , on the whole even more disappointing . Their victory over Surrey in Whit-weekled to the belief that they would be very formidable candidates for the first place . Thougha defeat by Middlesex at Lord's excited some small doubt as to their all -round capacity , still , until the end of July , this was their only réverse , and even then there seemed to be every chance that they would run Surreyveryhardfor the chief honours. History repeated itself oddly in the later matches of the year, andthe com- parative failure of Shrewsbury and Gunn, whose consistent success as run- getters had in a great measure contributed to the excellent show of the eleven in the early part of the season , seemed to take all the heart out of the other membersof the team. Theperformances of the two batsmen, brilliant as they were, however, only served to bring out in bolder relief the shortcomings of the side . There seemed, indeed , to be a lack of cohesion throughout the season , and this defect has hadmuchto do with the loss of prestige the Nottingham- shire eleven havesuffered as the result of their ill -success during the last two y e a r s. The cricket of the team for some time past has not been of an attractive character , and they have suffered to a great extent in consequence in enlisting the public interest . Recent experience , too , has suggested the idea that they have been wanting in pluck-that they were, in fact , a winning rather than a losing side . The deterioration of an eleven which contains such batsmen as Shrewsbury, Gunn, Mr. Dixon, and Flowers, such bowlers as Attewell , Barnes, Shacklock , and Flowers, and a wicket -keeper like Sherwin, without a superior , can, however, at the worst, be apparent rather than real , or at all events merely of a temporary character . Barnes's failure as a batsman , it must be owned,