James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

T H EC O U N T I E SIN 1 8 9 6. 1 1 5 E X T R AM A T C H E SA T M A N C H E S T E R . (1) Northof Englandv. Australians. July 2, 3 and 4. The North were without Gunnand Shrewsbury , and were unable to secure the services of any players from Yorkshire or Derbyshire . Still , the eleven madea good fight of it , and were very near winning. The first day's cricket wasnot so uneven, as the North, after fielding out for a total of 195, had made 82 for five wickets . As it happened , the not out Pougher and Lilley were soon out on the following morning , and as the other batsmen only made eighteen , at the end of aninnings the Australians had a lead of 72 runs. Gregory (71) so far had been their best scorer , and in the second innings the best work was done by Darling (44) and Iredale (40), who con- tributed 84 of 115 from the bat. With 195 to win, and a wicket getting worse , the North had apparently not an outside chance . A stand by Lilley (61) and Pougher (39), who put on 91 in an hour and a quarter , gave them somehopes . Butthe tail again failed , and so badly that the Australians won with 42 runs to spare . Australians , Austr 195 and 119 ; total , 314. North , 123 and 149 ; total , 272. M r .Trumble Overs . Maidens. R u n s. Average. 55.1 1 5 1 1 5 (2) Englandv. Australia. July 16, 17 and 18. 1 0 There was a general feeling that the English Elevenwas not as strong in bowling as it could have been. Fortunately for them Richardson was at his very best , or the result might have been very serious . As it was, there was not a sufficiency of bowling, and in the first innings the Australians wereable to score freely . There was a good deal of discussion as to the propriety of including Ranjitsinhji in the eleven , on the ground that he was not an Englishman by birth . The authorities at Lord's had not invited him for that reason . Still , his cricket was learned in England, and if the birthright had been an essential qualification several of the previous Australian team wouldhavebeen debarred from playing against England. A sit was, his batting was far and away the best of the English side , and his 216 for once out was a great performance. O fRichardson's bowling too muchcannot be said in praise . Hekept an excellent length throughout , and his accuracy for a bowler of his pace was remarkable . The Australians gained a thoroughly well-deserved victory by three wickets . The score appears in matches of Australian team, see page 37.