James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

PUBLICSCHOOLCRICKET IN 1896. 1 3 didseveral good performances . The former is said to be very promising, butas he is going into business it is more than probable that he will notbe heardof again. Wrightis nowat Cambridge, and with luck m a ycometo the front. These two bowlers did a great amountof worklast summer, and it wasin no small measure owingto them that the season was so successful . TheReptonians were very easily beaten , and Haverford College , after a good game, also went down before the Malvernians . Apthorpe was a very capable wicket -keeper , and should continue to improve . The prospects for the coming season are fairly bright , as Dayis captain , and should prove a great source of strength to the side . O n eis immediately struck by the very few matches entered into by the Cliftonboys last summer. Of the six games played no fewer than five weredrawn, the remaining one against Cheltenhamending in defeat . The teamwerestrong in batting , Steinthal having the splendid average of 71. Against Haverford he was in great form, scoring no fewer than 216 not out. H eis not considered , however , quite so good a player as Noton, who has a strong defence and fine hitting powers . Pilkington , the captain , also did well , and there were quite seven boys onthe side who could generally be depended on for runs . The bowling was weak, Fyffe , a left -hander , being muchthe best . He has a deceptive flight in the air , and got nearly all his wickets with balls " that camewith his arm." The fielding , though there weresomebrilliant exceptions , notably Daniel and Garnett, was not good enoughto makeup for weakbowling. The Cliftonians played so very few matchesthat their merits as a team can with difficulty be gauged, and it would appear that cricket is not encouraged to any great extent by the authorities at the school. A very pleasing feature of Sherbornecricket last season was the excellence of the fielding . This is said to have been really good , and in this department of the game the Dorsetshire boys compared very favourably with some of their more powerful rivals . The batting was very fair , without being brilliant . Whinney, the captain , heads the list , and though on more than one occasion favoured by fortune played some really fine innings . Stanger- Leathes, whois quite a youngster, did well, and is likely to do evenbetter this year. InbowlingPrichard was very successful . H eseems to have been a really good fast bowler , and in estimating the value of his performances theeasiness of the Sherborne groundmustbe taken into consideration . O n the whole the season was fairly successful , and with several promising boys still at Sherborne even better results maybe hoped for this summer. TheRadleyEleven of 1896 was well up to the average of the last few years , and achieved a fair amount of success . Portman, the captain , heads both batting and bowling tables , and was incomparably the best m a non the side . He is now at Christchurch , and should be looked after , as, judged by his performances of the past two years , he is a fast bowler of more than average merit. Of the others there is not muchto be said , the eleven being rather a one-horse team . Lee, however , although he has not fulfilled his promise of 1895, was most useful both as a bat and wicket -keeper . He is n o wcaptain, andw eshall expect manya long score from himin the coming s u m m e r . Charterhousepossesses one of the finest cricket grounds in the country and every other inducement to play the gamewell , but for some reason or other the standard of cricket there is decidedly low. In any case