James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1894

1 4 LILLYWHITE'SCRICKETERS' A N N U A L. More than usual interest attached to the match this year, as everyone was anxious to see what Mason would do. Though it was generally agreed that the Eton eleven was stronger than for some years past , no Etonian could have looked forward to the issue with any degree of confidence when he remembered what Masonhad done in 1892. As it turned out Masonwas not destined to repeat his previous preformances (the wicket , it is said , was far from perfect ) and, though hebatted and bowled extremely well , the Etonians had a little bit in handat the finish . Stephens and Rowe, the latter quite a youngster , were the most successful of the other Wykamists whose double break -down in batting was as unexpected . as it was complete . Pilkington surpassed his doings in the 1892 match, and had he not been lame would probably have reached three figures . He was the only Etonian who specially distinguished himself with the bat, but in bowling Cunliffe , and, in a lesser degree , Harrison were eminently successful . The result was, as m a ybe supposed , very distasteful to Wykamists, past and present , but w e incline to thebelief thatthebestt e a mw o n. It would be a very congenial task to write a few lines on all the more prominent matches, but we will confine our remarks to a few only , and refer our readers for information on the rest, either to the moredetailed account of the various schools which we propose to give hereafter , or to the records , which will , no doubt , appear elsewhere in the book. Charterhouse once more proved too strong for Westminster, their victory being due partly to want of judgement on the part of the rival captain , mainly to the excellent batting of their own captain , and the deadly bowling of Baker, who, in the two innings , secured 11 wickets at a very trifling cost . The Wellington. match eventually resulted in an easy victory , the Wellington boys collapsing in their 2nd innings , but it saw some really good performances on either side ,. notably Garnett's 90 not out in the second , and Peers ' 59 not out in the first innings for the Carthusians , and Livesay's 73 for Wellington . Livesay did. even better against Haileybury , and his 107, knocked up in little over an hour, was one of the most brilliant pieces of batting seen during the year. H e and Beard, who took 13 wickets for 45 runs, practically won the match for their side , and were, doubtless , a pair of very useful cricketers . To Uppinghambelongs the record performance of the year. Playing on their own ground , they ran up a score of just over 400 against Repton, though in their long and trying outing the Repton boys did not miss one possible catch . A sin the majority of their matches , Wilson far outshone his fellows , and his score : of 183 not out was characterised by resolute hitting no less than by accurate defence . So far as we could see it was a faultless display , though we have since been told that he was once actually caught at the wicket . The touch must have been a wondrous slight one, as it was unnoticed by any of his opponents , and w e cannot allow it to detract from our estimate of the performance , which wehave no hesitation in saying , was the best we have ever seen in a school match. Our pen has already run riot somewhat, and we must nowclose these preliminary remarks , andask our readers t o wadethrough the following accounts, the substance of which has, for the most part , been furnished by manykind friends . EvenDick Humphrey's presence , useful though it is, has not as yet raised cricket to the height of popularity which football has so long enjoyed at Bedford. The past season was by no means unfruitful , and the 7 victories , 2 of the vanquis- hed being St. Paul's and Merchant Taylors , tell of a very fair side , whose only conspicuous failure was against Dulwich. The two Beasleys , who are still at school , were, in their different styles , almost equally serviceable , and with C. A. Harris , now at Sandhurst , did the bulk of the scoring , and, if our memory does not play us false , ended the season with averages in excess of those usually associated with Bedford teams. W e hear that interest in the game is being gradually instilled into the school generally , and we sincerely trust that the