James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

P U B L I CS C H O O LC R I C K E TIN 1 8 9 6 1 5 his successes of the two previous years at Lord's . Withouta doubt the mostpromising boy in the school was E. R. Wilson, a brother of the Light Blue cricketer . H eis quite young, and will probably be at Rugbyfor two moreseasons , but evenn o whe plays in a style that is almost faultless , and with increased strength he will assuredly make his mark in first -class cricket . His bowling - slow leg-break was most effective against Marlborough, and w eexpect to see him take m a n ya good wicket in the future . Fletcher proved himself a most valuable all -round m a n, his improvement inbatting being little short of wonderful. Of the bowlers Spencer did very well , and for the first few weeks of the season he bowled in capital style . Afterwards he seemed to lose his sting , and in the latter half of the term he was to all intents and purposes practically harmless . As, however, heis only sixteen , we look forward withconfidence to his becoming a really good bowler . In delivery he is not unlike Cunliffe , of Oxford . Singh, whounfortunately suffered from accidents , shows great promise both as a bat and a wicket -keeper . The fielding at first was only moderate , but improved as the summerwent on, and at Lord's , especially in the second innings , was particularly smart Welford played admirably against Marlborough , his 71 being a most taking innings . Wilson is captain this year, andwith Spencer and two or three others to help him should be able toputagoodeleven into the field . Theeasy victory gained by Rugbyover Marlboroughwas a severe blow to the partisans of the latter school , as they were decidedly a strong batting side , and had in this line done some extremely good performances , notably against Liverpool . At Lord's , however , they failed completely , none of them seeming to have any fixed idea how to play Wilson's leg- breaks . That they showed their real form in this match we cannot for a momentbelieve . Against Cheltenham a better fight was made, but in the end they were easily beaten , as was perhaps only natural when the strength of the Cheltonians last summeris taken into consideration . Sandford proved an excellent leader , andit was no fault of his that better results were not achieved . Prest, this year's captain , and Rogers did extremely well, and w e shall expect great things from both of them in the future . The bowling was weak, Lewisbeing the best by far of a moderate lot . The season's results were very disappointing to Marlburians , but we hope that the memory of themmaybe lost in the triumphs of the coming summer.