James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

C R I C K E TIN 1 8 9 6 C H A P T E R III. C R I C K E T I N 1 8 9 6. B YI N C O G. AFINE summernecessarily means the triumph of the bat. A n dbeyond a doubt the season of 1896 will be gratefully rememberedby cricketers as one of themostenjoyable of late years . Onewet weekin Junedid cometo the momentary relief of bowlers , of which they took full advantage , as the Australian team, amonga few others , found to their cost at Lord's when M.C.C.& Grounddismissed themfor eighteen . Butwith the above short break until the middle of Augustthere was practically an unbrokensuccession of fine weather . It may be the hard wickets were not anunmixed blessing . On some grounds the long spell of dry weather made the pitches so fiery that batsmen could not touch fast bowling, andthen the great paceof such bowlers as Jones the Australian and Kichardson told with deadly effect . Still , on the whole, the recollections of 1896 were tempered b yvery few disappointments . The public , as a rule, revels naturally in cricket of the brighter type, and fast scorers and big totals are more to the popular taste than the " block , block , block " of the stonewaller , or the wearisomeprocession of batsmen to and from the pavilion whenthe pitch m a k e stheballtakeeccentric urves. A n dif the surroundings generally were of the most favourable character , the cricket itself furnished plenty of interest and excitement . The visit of the Australian team, it is pleasant to be able to add, contributed in no small degree to the enjoyment of the season. Under the genial captaincy of G. H. S. Trott they played the game in the most sportsmanlike spirit , and on as well as off the field bore themselves in a manner thoroughly worthy of the best traditions of Australian sport . That their tour was a great success , from the standpoint of cricket as well as financially , is certain . That they succeeded in the face of the generally gloomy forebodings of their o w nPress musthaveadded, too , to their satisfaction . Thefact that no less than nine of the combination were newto England naturally created some misgivings here , for the experience of the past had shown that English grounds had been fatal to manyof the best Australian reputations . Aparticularly fine summer of course favoured them, and the rarity of slow and tricky wickets enabled them to show to better advantage in com- parison with Australian teams less favoured in the matter of grounds and weather . Against the Counties , with, be it added , an extraordinary amount of luck in the toss , they had unbroken success , as they did not lose a match ,