James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1892

CRICKET IN 1891. 9 hadvery muchto do with the respectable aggregate of the team. Adashing bat,his hitting was quite one of the best features of the season in county cricket . Humphreys' value as a lob bowler, too, was unmistakably proved , andhis bowl- ing wasused, it is just to say, with considerable judgment. Still , the brunt of theworkfell on Tate. Thathe was of great use is proved by the fact that he took sixty wickets at an average of seventeen runs . It m a ybe said to his credit , too, that someof his best performances were done on the Brighton ground, which at a n ytimeis notin favourof the ball. O fYorkshire cricket little can be said by an impartial chronicler in praise Theseason beganwith plenty of hope it is true , hope based on the good show madeby the eleven in some of the later matches of 1890. But the promise of the previous year was not realized . The reason , certainly , was not that the executive lacked resource or were disinclined to try young players . Quite the contrary , as in no case was a county eleven subjected to more changes . The averages will showthat as manyas twenty-six players were tried during the season . Yetthe result in no wayrecompensed those in authority in their quest for newmaterial . Wardall and Tunnicliffe are likely to reward their efforts , andboth certainly gave hopes of ripening into useful all-round cricketers . Otherwise the eleven have, so far as appearances go, in the near future at least , to rely mainly on the old and tried members. Lord Hawke, owing to an injured hand, was unable to play in the later matches , but still , with the exception of one good innings against Somersetshire , was not in the best vein for run-getting . Thebulk of the scoring was done by the veterans Ulyett , Hall , and Peel . The batting , too , was not infrequently uncertain , the tail at times far too muchin evidence . Nor was the bowling quite up to the old standard of Yorkshire cricket . Wainwright was always to be relied upon, and his figures were particu- larly good. In Peel and Harrison there were also , it goes without saying , two bowlers decidedly above the average , and whenthey were available , Messrs . F. S. Jackson and E. Smith furnished excellent changes . Still , even with all these there is a want of another really first -class bowler . What a revolution a Free- m a nor an E m m e t twouldw o r kin Yorkshirecricket ! A n dn o wnoneremains of the first -class counties butGloucestershire . Here again the record is far from assuring . Yet the prospect at the commencement of the season appeared to be hopeful enough. W a snot Woof, whohad only been able to play in previous years in the later matches , going to be available throughout ? So he was, andhis bowling quite came up to the best expectation . It was the batting , indeed , rather than the bowling that failed . Mr. W. G. Grace, Woof, andRoberts were reinforced by a newbowler namedMurch, who for a first season did very fairly well , taking twenty-nine wickets for an average of fifteen runs . It was a piece of very bad luck for Gloucestershire that owing to ill -health Mr. J. Cranston , one of the very best batsmen on the side , had to give u pcounty cricket . A weakknee prevented Mr. W. G. Grace from playing in several matches, andeven whenhe did play the wickets were all against the batsmen . Making every allowance , though , the batting was, on the whole ,much belowthe best standard of Gloucestershire cricket . In only one respect , perhaps , wasthere anything very hopeful in the outlook last year . In Board the county found a wicket -keeper of distinct promise . Ofthe counties outside the first rank, Derbyshire , Leicestershire , and Essex were, on paper, the best . Warwickshire , which seemed two years ago to have such a brilliant future before it , has, so far, not fulfilled that promise . The failure is certainly not attributable to anylack of enterprise on the part of the executive . O nthe contrary , there should be in a year or two at their disposal , a useful reserve of acclimatized players . The Derbyshire eleven showed excellent all -round cricket . Thatthey were abetter team onthe day than Surrey at the Oval wascertain . Norwas this their only good showagainst the leading counties , for they beat Yorkshire fair and square at Leeds . In Leicestershire cricket has become very popular , and the effect is certain to be seen in an improvement in the play itself . During the last few years Leicestershire has shown at times all- roundcricket considerably above the average . Its best performance last season