James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1896

THE COUNTIES IN 1 8 9 5 . (1) L e ic e s te r sh ir e v. Su rrey . Oval , May 9, 10 and 11* A creditable victory for the Leicestershire eleven, the more so as they had the worst of the first part of the game. After making a total of 285 Surrey got seven of the best Leicestershire batsmen out for 127. A good stand b}r Wood­ cock and Chapman improved their position considerably, although even then they were 63 behind at the end of an innings. In their second knock, with the one exception of Mr. W. W. Read, the Surrey batsmen made a poor show against Woodcock’s fast bowling, and of 100 from the bat 4 W. W .” contributed 40. Even with 177 to win it was by no means regarded as a certainty for Leicestershire. Still, thanks to a fine not-out score of 106 by Tomlin, the runs were got, and with four wickets to spare. It was Leicestershire’s debut in the County Championship, and their victory wras mainly due to Woodcock, Pougher, and Tomlin. Street, with 86 and 0, was the highest scorer for Surrey. Leicestershire, 192 and 177 (6 wickets); total, 369. Surrey, 255 and 113; total, 368. Overs. Maidens. Runs. AVickets. Woodcock (2nd innings Surrey) ... 47*3 4 44 6 (2) L e ice s te rsh ire v . N o t ts . Leicester, May 20, 21 and 22. Though Leicestershire wTere without Messrs. De Trafford, Stone, and Stocks, the eleven included Geeson, who had played for Lincolnshire, but was qualified for Leicestershire by birth. He did good service, too, with the bat, making the highest score (49 not out) in the first innings. Pougher, however, was the most successful batsman on the side, with twTo useful scores of 45 and 51 not out. In going in first Leicestershire gained a considerable advantage, as later on the wicket was much affected by ram. Still, it was a good perform­ ance of Leicestershire to get Notts out twice as they did for an aggregate of 217. For this they had mainly to thank Woodcock and Pougher, who between them took nineteen of the twenty wickets. Leicestershire won by 79 runs. Leicestershire, 205 and 91; total, 296. Notts, 91 and 126 ; total, 217. Overs. Maidens. Runs. Wickets Attewell (Notts)................................. 80*1 55 65 9 Woodcock (Leicestershire) ............. 40 8 88 10 Pougher (Leicestershire) ............. 41 15 73 9 (3) L e ice s te rsh ire v. Y o rk sh ir e . L e ic e s te r , June 6f 7 and 8. With a rather fiery wicket batsmen were generally seen to disadvantage, and the highest of the four completed innings was Yorkshire’s first total of 188. At the end of the first “ hands” Leicestershire were only 35 runs to the bad, thanks to Holland (65), Tomlin (30), and Pougher (35), who were responsible for 130 out of 148 from the bat. As the game advanced the scoring decreased, and while Moorhouse’s 81 not out was the best score in Yorkshire’s first innings, the best highest individual contribution was Mr. C. E. De Trafford*s 34 in Leicestershire’ s second. In Leicestershire’s second innings Hirst did the hat trick. Yorkshire won by 87 runs. Yorkshire, 188 and 132; total, 320. Leicestershire, 153 and 80 ; total, 233. Overs. Maidens. Runs. Wickets. Hirst (Yorkshire) .. ... ... 52*4 15 10G 11 Pougher (Leicestershire) ............. 58 20 142 12