James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

1 2 L I L L Y W H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S' A N N U A L Cheltenhamhad one of the best teams of the year . Theywent through the season unbeaten , in itself a performance of no small merit . They were particularly successful in their school matches , Marlborough being beaten by eight and Clifton by five wickets . Haverford , too , went downbefore them. The batting was exceedingly strong right through , ten out of the eleven averaging double figures and five of them over thirty . Barrett heads the list with the splendid average of fifty -two. H e has been spoken of in terms of the highest praise , and that he is an extremely good player wehave not the slightest doubt . He appeared for Hampshire two or three times and did very fairly , playing particularly well against Essex . Н е has another season at Cheltenham , so we shall have a further opportunity of referring to him in these pages . Champain (the captain ), whohas been in the eleven for five years , again played splendidly , and can show an excellent batting average of thirty -eight . As he was, too , a very fair slow bowler and asuperb field , it maybe imagined what a tower of strength he was to the side . Hemade a most promising début for Gloucestershire , and we look for- wardwith every confidence to his appearance in the Dark Blue team at Lord's next July . Certainly he deserves the thanks of all Cheltonians , past and present , as it is greatly owing to his keenness and exertions that Cheltenham cricket now occupies the high position it does . D u Boulay roved himself the best all -round player in the team, being especially good a crisis . His batting average of forty -nine is materially assisted by five not out innings , but for all that his figures are very good, one particularly fine innings against Clifton being worthy of special notice . His bowling wasalways good and steady , and his sixty -one wickets for fifteen runs apiece represent a really good bit of work . In bowling the team were not very strong , the want of a fast bowler being severely felt , and it is in this respect that w e think that Cheltenham were not quite so good all round as Uppingham, whomwe have classed as the best school eleven of the year . Skinner , whowas a long time in getting into form, finished up the season capitally , being seen to special advantage against Clifton and Haileybury . Thefielding on the whole was first rate , but the want of a reliable short slip was severely felt . Best , the wicket -keeper , was extremely good and of great value to his side . D uBoulay and Barrett will both be at Cheltenham next summer, so there ought to be another successful season in prospect . TheEleven that did battle for Malvernlast year was quite a good one , especially at the end of the season . Of the fourteen matches played seven weredrawn, five won, and two lost , the losses being perhaps against the two weakest sides the Malvernians met last summer. Foster , who heads the averages , played very finely all through , and is said to be a cricketer of the highest capabilities . He is now at Oxford , and those whohave seen most of h i maver that he is certain to get his " blue . " Whetherhe will do so or not as a freshman remains to be seen , the form of freshmen at the Universities being proverbially uncertain ; but that he will be seen in the Dark Blue team before he goes down from Oxford we have not the slightest doubt . In style he much resembles his brother , H. K. , who has played so finely for Oxford these last three summers. D a y, whose average is in reality better than Foster's , commenced badly , but at end of the season there was no stop- ping him , and he was certainly a very fine and most promising player . He has another year at school , and ought to develop into a batsman of the highest class . Several other boys showed promise with the bat, notably Whiteand Short . Gibbons and Wright were the best of the bowlers , and