James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

T H ECOUNTIESIN 1 8 9 6. 1 0 5 inevitable rot . J. T. Hearneperformed to such tune that the eight remaining wickets only added 56. Forsometime it wasdoubtful if Middlesex would save the follow . That they did wasdue chiefly to a stand by Sir T. C. O'Brien and Dr. Thornton as well as partly to Phillips , who, with J. T. Hearne, added 31 for the last wicket . Mr. Mason(58) and Alec Hearne (40) madea good start in Kent's second , but the best stand was by Mr. Weigall (79) and Easby (55) later on. J. T. Hearne bowled Messrs . Rashleigh , Marchant , and Simpson with successive balls . Raincaused the gameto be abandoned when Middlesex had lost three wickets in the second innings for 32. They were then 316 behind . with seven wickets in hand. Kent, 257 and277 ; total ,534. Middlesex , 186 and 32(3 wickets ) ; total , 218. (5) K e n tv. S u s s e x. Tonbridge , June 18 and 19. Prior to this fixture neither County hadwona match. Thewicket favoured the bowlers , and, as the groundwas, Kent missed Walter Wrightvery much. Kenthadthe advantage of going in first , but the bowling of Tate and Parris wastoo good for the majority of their batsmen, and Easby(13 and 34) proved to be the highest scorer . The hitting of Mr. G. H. Arlington (20 and 42) was of particular service to Sussex . Mr. Newham(21) and he practically , at the finish , won the match for their side . Still , the best individual score for Sussex was Mr. Murdoch's first of 50 not out. Sussex wonby four wickets . Sussex, 144 and 116 (6 wickets ) ; total , 260. Kent, 122 and 137; total , 259. Tate(Sussex) Parris (Sussex) ... A.Hearne(Kent) O v e r s. 5 6 . 4 M a i d e n s . R u n s. W i c k e t s. 2 2 5 4 5 0 . 3 1 9 8 7 1 5 3 9 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 (6) K e n tv. Notts. Beckenham, June 29, 30 and July 1. Kenthadnot its full strength with the bat, but very nearly w o nall the same. Ifthey had it would have beenin a great measure the work of Mr. Masonand Alec Hearne. Mr. Masonmade156 in the match for once out, and his 127 not out, at the end of the match, was a very fine performance . H e also took four wickets . Hearne scored 82 in the two innings , andtook eight wickets at a cost of 17 runs apiece . In the second innings they put on 115 for Kent's first wicket . Mr. C. W. Wright (27 and 52) was the chief run- getter for Notts , with Attewell (35 and 25) the next in order . Notts won by 19runs. Notts, 283 and146 ; total , 429. Kent, 198 and 212; total , 410. (7) K e n tv. S u s s e x. Hastings , July 6, 7 and 8. Winningthe toss practically gave Kent the match . With a strong batting side Kentmadefull use of an excellent wicket , and except Messrs. Masonand Meyrick-Jones all the early batsmen scored well . Mr. Marchant played brilliant cricket for 128, as did Alec Hearnefor 92, and Martin's not out 70was, perhaps, the best innings he has ever played. Against a big total of 418 Sussex only did moderately , and the best contributor to their score of 233 was K. S. Ranjitsinhji with 69. After a heavy rain there was little chance that Sussex , who wanted 185 to save the innings , would be able to avert defeat , particularly as Mr. Murdoch was hurt and unable to bat. Ranjitsinhji (73) indeed wasthe only batsman able to makeany stay , and played remarkably fine cricket under difficulties . Kent wonby aninnings and 16 runs . Kent, 418. Sussex, 233 and 169 ; total , 402.