James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

1 0 LILLYWHITE'S CRICKETERS' ANNUAL. the best of luck had a wonderfully good analysis . In addition to their bowling Wilson and Hind were both capital batsmen , the former scoring two hundred and one not out against Repton , and ninety -two against Haver- ford , while the latter had an average of twenty -nine , with a highest score of thirty . Of the others , Chapman and Barker (who is a fine hitter ) often did well, while Terry , this year's captain , played one very fine innings against the Quidnuncs , though he was afterwards disappointing . At times the fielding , especially against Haverford , was really brilliant , while Taylor's wicket- keeping was beyond praise . On the whole the eleven of 1896 was one of the finest Uppingham has ever put into the field , and was in every waya team worthy of the best traditions of this famous cricketing school . Considering the strength of the teams opposed to them the Tonbridge boys did not do so very badly . It may without exaggeration be said that they never were called on to encounter a weak team, a fact that must be borne in mind in estimating their performances during the past season . The team were quite strong in batting , Le Fleming , Hutchings and Cosser being the best . As the last -namedwas the best bowler on the side , he was without doubt quite the best all -round m a nin the team. Mason, whois a brother of the Kent cricketer , at times bowled in very promising form, but, strange to say, he has at present no idea of batting . The school ground is a particularly easy one to score on, and as a result , bowlers are handicapped to a great extent ; so the bowling powers of the Tonbridge boys should not be judged by their averages . Langdale , who is again captain this season , kept wicket with considerable success , but was rather disappointing as a bat. The only school match was drawn, by no means in favour of Tonbridge , nothing but time preventing Dulwich from inflicting a severe defeat on them. Against M.C.C. , however , the school made a very fair show, the visiting eleven including , amongst others , A. C. McLaren, Mead, Martin , and Board. The Tonbridge boys gave many a good display against their powerful opponents last summer, and a successful season ought to be instore for t h e min 1897. The Reptonboys started the season in capital style , defeating both Notts Amateurs and Derby Friars easily . After that , however, they never w o na match, and there can be little doubt that they hada weaker side than the school has had for manya long day. Malvern beat themby ten wickets , and Uppingham by aninnings and two hundred and seventy -six runs . Against the Old Reptonians another inglorious show was made, while they also went downbefore Haverford in an innings . Monro(the captain ) was a useful player, but we must confess there was an utter absence of class in the Repton eleven last year. The bowling was weak in the extreme , and the batting not muchbetter , though Searight and one or two others did their best and played pluckily . Eccles is captain for 1897, and weheartily wish him all success and a side more worthy of the great tradi- tions of Reptoncricket than the team of 1896. W eare rather in the dark as to the merits of the Bradfieldboys, havingheard little or nothing about them. The season cannotbe called successful , as out of eleven matches played only three were wonand five lost, while the drawngames would most assuredly have been decided against them had time permitted . Reiss (the captain ) was unlucky enough to hurt himself early in the year, and was in consequence m u c h handicapped . Sandbach was undoubtedly the best cricketer in the school , and did extremely well both with bat and ball . Tapsfield and Pratt were