James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1896

CRICKET IN 1895. 7 indeed, it became a question between Surrey and Lancashire, which was only decided in the former's favour by a victory over Hampshire in positively the last match of the season. Still, on no basis of calculation could Surrey be accounted inferior to Lancashire or Yorkshire, the next Counties in order of merit. With the majority of the side professionals Mr. Key was able to count on much the same eleven at .all times—of itself a great factor in a good show. On a run-getting wicket Surrey had undoubtedly a strong batting eleven This was the more noticeable from the fact that Mr. W. W. Read and Brock- well, tw'o of the most reliable scorers as a rule, were hardly up to their best form. Mr Key, too, was a little uncertain, but on the other hand Abel rarely failed to make a good score. Maurice Read has certainly not played better of late years. Wood was as reliable with the bat as at the wicket, and Hayward generally got runs when wanted. Street’s free cricket was of the greatest value, and the youngster Holland, though comparatively unsuccessful in the later matches, showed himself to be a batsman fairly certain to do great things in the future. On fast wickets the Surrey eleven were beyond doubt a formidable combination. Under less favourable conditions it can hardly be said that they were generally seen to advantage. On the contrary, where the pitch is difficult there is a lack of resource, which was painfully conspicuous on several occasions last summer. Of Surrey’s out-cricket it is hardly possible to speak in unmixed praise. At times the fielding was decidedly faulty; it rarely reached the high level one is used to associate with an idea of really good County cricket. It was fortu­ nate that the general experience of fast bowlers who have visited Australia did not apply in the case of Richardson as it did with Lockwood. The latter wras never able to get anything like his length, and the failure of such a good fast bowler might have had serious effects on Surrey's success, particularly as Smith, the slowTleft-handed bowler who had done so well in 1894, was also unable to do much, and Brockwell was in noway up to his form of the previous year. The return of George Lohmann from South Africa in the middle of the season helped Surrey at a rather critical time, and on the wet wickets prevalent for a time he was very effective. But the great part of the credit of Surrey’s success rested with Richardson. Considering that he had had practically a year of con­ tinuous cricket, and, what was of more importance, that the easy wickets were all against the bowler, and the fact that he had to bear the brunt of the bowling, his performance was quite phenomenal. In any case he was decidedly the chief factor in regaining the premiership of County cricket for Surrey. Another feature in the success of the Surrey eleven which ought not to pass unnoticed was the excellent all-round form showrn by H. Wood. The expe­ rience of 1894 was anything but hopeful for him, and, indeed, there was little to call for praise either in his wicket-keeping or his batting. But last year he had changed all that. In keeping to Richardson, Lockwood, Lohmann, Brockwell, and Hayward he was accuracy itself, challenging comparison, in fact, with the best stumpers of the day. In batting, too, he several times got the eleven out of a difficult position, and his plucky play had its reward in his attainment of the third place in Surrey’s batting averages. Yorkshire’s double defeat by Somersetshire and Essex in the early part of August put it practically out of the running at the finish for the Championship, leaving the ultimate decision to Surrey and Lancashire, with, as already stated, the issue dependent on the last match of the season. The brilliant form shown by Mr. A. C. McLaren when he came regularly into the eleven about the middle of the season made the Lancashire eleven, already fairly strong, a formidable side, though still, all round and man for man, it would be difficult to make them out better than Yorkshire. But for their defeat by Derbyshire in the last fortnight of the season Lancashire would have taken premier place, which it would have fairly earned. Like Surrey, they were in a very great measure 2