James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

6 L I L L YW H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S' A N N U A L. T h eE t o nEleven of 1896 wason the whole a pretty good one. A the beginning of the term the batting wasrather uncertain , but this improved as the season wore on, and, with their bowlers bowling steadily and well , great hopes wereentertained of a victory over the Wykehamists. That they were so easily beaten in this match was to a great extent their ownfault , a grievous error of judgmentbeing committed whenthe Etonians on winning thetoss put their opponents in to bat. W h a tprompted this decision we are at a loss to say, as even admitting that there had been rain just previously to the match, the ground in the meads, on the authority of those best qualified to judge , is hardly ever affected by rain to any great extent . How often , we should like to know, is the above policy successful ? Apart from this , however, there is little doubt that the Winchester matchsawthe Eton eleven at its worst. W edo not for one momentthink that they were the equals of the Wykehamists , but under ordinary circumstances a better fight wouldassuredly have been made. O nthe other hand the Etonians were seen at their very best at Lord's , the fielding being particularly good , while Pilkington played a beautiful innings , and Bosanquet , Lubbock, and others also did well . The first -named is a most promising player , and should develop into quite a first -class batsman . Bosanquet , though his style is not attractive to look at, is a hardm a nto get out, andwhenset hits with great power and determination . As a bowler he did one or two good per- formances , and was altogether a most useful m a n. Lubbock, who heads the averages , played a really fine innings against Harrow, and on several occasions played in a style that gives the greatest promise for his future . Mitchell proved himself a capital lob bowler , and was very successful at Lord's , albeit some of the Harrovians played him in rather a drawing -room fashion . Wardand Tryon did well with the ball , the former's average of thirty -five wickets for eleven runs each being particularly creditable . The fielding , as has been said above , was very good, although at times the field wasplaced with rather a lack of judgment . Legard is now captain , and should be able to put a good side into the field next year . TheHarrowEleven was particularly strong in batting , having at least seven men capable of making a long score , Henley being the only weak bat. Vibart was really good , very steady , with a beautiful cut and lots of power. Rattigan comes next to him in the averages , and, though not quite so consistent as could be wished for , can play a fine free game ; he was quite the most attractive player in the team. Robertson , Studd , Blair , and M a wall did very well, though the latter , unfortunately , suffered from ill- health , and as a consequence was unable to do himself justice . Cole improved immensely as a bat , while Dowsonis coming on nicely ; he has an old man's head on young shoulders . As regards the bowling , the real weakness lay in the fact that three of the bowlers were left -handed . The great want was a fast bowler . Dowson undoubtedly suffered from his illness in the early part of the season and lost some of his spin ; but , still , he was very steady , and will probably get back all his cunning . In the holidays he bowled uncommonly well, andhe is quite one of the most promising boys of the day. It is only to be hoped that he will not become a batsman and lose his bowling , as so often happens . Of course , if he can combine both so muchthe better . Cole for a time wasvery successful , but he is either master of the batsmen or theyof him. Vibart wasuseful as a bowler; but on the whole wethink that bowling wasthe weak point of Harrow cricket last season . This was, how- ever , to a certain extent compensated for by very smart fielding , Vibart