James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1896

THK AVKKAGKS (F IKST -CLASS ) OF 1895 . 261 CHAPTER VIII. THE AVERAGES (FIRST-CLASS) OF 1895. THE BATSMEN . I n the earlier part of the year it looked as if W. G. was going to be like Eclipse first, the rest nowhere. Even as it was, although Mr. McLaren managed to do him on the post by a fraction, no one will dispute that the Grand Old Man of Cricket was entitled to precedence, as he has been for thirty years. Brilliant as was Mr. McLaren’s batting, he only played half the number of innings of W. G., and his average was materially helped by one sensational score of 421. Still, comparisons are odious, and the Lancashire captain has years of cricket before him, so that he can afford to wait. Of W. G . ’s batting in 1895 the highest praise which can be given him is that he excelled himself. He was the only batsman bar one to get over * 2,000 runs during the season, and that one was Abel. At one time it looked as if K. S. Ranjitsinhji was going to give him a hard race, and the latter’s advance to one of quite the best batsmen of the day was one of the most striking features of the year. Mr. Lionel Palairet played the same stylish and commanding cricket as ever; the pity was that he was not seen more. That Albert Ward had not been injured by his trip to Australia was shown by his consistently good batting. The same could hardly be said of Mr. Stoddart, J. T. Brown, and W. Brockwell, all of whom were a little bit off. Sir Timothy O’Brien was the most successful batsman in Middlesex, which is as much to say that he was one of the best of the year. Arthur Shrewsbury, to everyone’s delight, was well enough to play again, and with a good deal of his old success. A marked advance as a batsman was that of Lilley, of Warwickshire, now in quite the front rank of batsmen. Of young players the most likely were Mr. N. F. Druce and Holland, both of Surrey, and Denton, of Yorkshire, all of whom bid fair to take very high rank as first- class cricketers. How the others fared will be gathered from the list which follows. As a matter of reference it may be useful to add that, in addition to Mr. W. G. Grace and Abel, who each got into the third thousand, twenty-six batsmen scored over a thousand runs. Scorers o f 2,000 Runs and o v e r : Times Most in Inns. not out. Runs. an Inns. Average W. G•Grace ............. ... 48 2 2346 238 o v 51 «•• ••• ••• ... 50 4 2057 217 44*71 Scorers o f over 1,000 and under 2,000 Runs : A. C. McLaren ............ ... 21 0 1229 424 51*20 K. 8. K&njitsinhji ... 39 3 1775 150 49*30 L. C. H. Palairet............ ... 29 1 1313 155 46*89 Ward ( A . ) ....................... ... 45 3 1790 163 42*61 Sir T. 0. O’ Brien............ ... 32 4 1079 202 38*53 A. E. Stoddart ............ ... 43 0 1622 150 37*72 Lilley ....................... ... 41 1 1399 15S* 31*97 Quaife (W.) ............. 37 2 1219 105 34*8° S. M. J. Woods ............ ... 41 0 1405 215 3425