James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1893

1 8 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. teach them all howto play a left -hander. The bowlers of last summerderived no little help from the state of the ground, but the leading pair , Oxenden and Chinnock , the latter of whomis still at Radley , were not devoid of merit , as may very possibly be proved by their future performances . Oxenden is at Oxford, andhe is such a fine field and steady bowler that he is bound to be noticed , even if he fails to attain any great distinction . W emustn o wturnto a consideration of those teams that w e haveclassed as unfortunates , and first amongthese comes Eton . The Eton star has not been in the ascendant lately , and singularly few of the younger Etonians havemade any stir in the cricket world. It is impossible for an outsider to account for this temporary decadence , but it is none the less certain that the Eton elevens of the last fewyears have not been up to their recognised standard . W em a ysay of the 1892 team that they were, perhaps , unlucky to lose at Lord's , but were quite over- matched by their Winchester rivals , and we are only reiterating an Eton senti- mentwhenwe state that out of six matches they might have w o nonce against Winchester, while against Harrow victory would have alternated with defeat . Themostpleasing point in the cricket of last summerwas the great promise of the young blood , Pilkington and Bromley -Martin being two of the best colts of the year . Pilkington played a magnificent innings at Winchester , and Bromley- Martin shared with his captain the honours of the Lord's match. Theyare both quite young, and will have some seasons more of careful coaching , and there should be a very great future before them. Bromley-Martin is now captain , and he will have a grand opportunity of stemming the tide of disaster , if only hecan cure his side of a failing , to which Studd was especially prone last year, and to which the defeat at Lord's was in no small degree due. To sumup last year's eleven , we may say that in Hoare , Studd , Pilkington , and Bromley- Martin they hadfour really goodmen, and that , generally speaking , the batting stood or fell bythem, the rest being nothing at all out of the common. Asarule the fielding was very fair , though there were one or two weakspots , and the wicket-keeping wasnot first class . Thebowling was poor. Forbes will always be deadly on a fast , kicky wicket , but with the ground in good order he was of less value to his side thanHoare, w h onearly alwaysgot wickets. Of the others Pilkington , Lane-Fox, and Cobbold were the most serviceable . Cobbold is still at school , and he and Bircham ought to add very considerably to the strength of Bromley-Martin's eleven . Rugb 's record for the season was certainly not brilliant , as they were beaten in eight of their twelve matches , but by far the most decisive defeat was that at the hands of Marlborough . Warnerhad no easy task, he and Slater being the only available members of the 1891 team; but even so the per- formances were disappointing , morethan one of the newchoice failing to fulfil the promise they hadshown. Thewantof a decent wicket -keeper was answer- able for no small part of their ill -success , and never was the wantmore felt than in the matchat Lord's . Dowsonplayed brilliantly against Marlborough , but the best of the team-Warner of course excepted -were the two Slaters , the elder being one of the useful sort , and the younger developing into a steady and fairly sound bat. Further than this there is not muchto say of the past , except to note that the fielding was generally respectable , and sometimes brilliant , and that Thompson'senforced absence wasa distinct loss to the side in attack and defence alike . This year ought to see a better state of things ; but the strength of the school can never be fully brought out until the grounds are increased in number, the junior wickets made less dangerous , and another school match added to the list , so as to give the eleven greater confidence before the supreme trial at Lord's. Thegreat fault of the Cheltenham eleven was that they had not the knack of " coming off ." They were a very fair side , albeit somewhatweakin attack , but they could only score one victory , and were beaten in both school matches . Theelder Champainwas singularly unlucky in the most important ventures , as onalmost all other occasions he displayed considerable powers, and has the fine average of 41. His young brother , Quinton , and Stratton were his best sup-