James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

6 0 LILLYWHITE'S CRICKETERS ' ANNUAL . K. S. Ranjitsinhji's scoring was phenomenal. Altogether he made 2,780 runs . This is another record for first -class cricket , eclipsing W. G. Grace s best , which was 2,739 in 1871. The most successful partnership of . the year was that of Davidson and Storer , for Derbyshire against Lancashire , at Manchester , in the middle of August. The two professionals added 308 for the fourth wicket in Derbyshire's only innings . In contrast to a long succession of big totals there were several instance of low scoring . Awetweekin June accounted for three of the ten innings under fifty in first -class , and in four of them it was the bowling of the Australian team which did the mischief . On the other hand, the 18 for whichthe Australians were dismissed by M.C.C. and Groundat Lord's in June, only just missed being the lowest of the year. This was Gloucester- shire's 17 against the Australians at Cheltenhamin August. Circumstances did not favour the bowlers in a general way. Still , there weresomevery notable achievements . But of the fifteen whowere credited with a hundred or more wickets , two got over two hundred and only one over two hundred and fifty wickets . The only exception in this case was J. T. Hearne, and his performance of taking two hundredandfifty -one wickets in essentially a batsman's year was really remarkable. T h r e eo f the fifteen , it is worthy of remark , got a double first . George Giffen , Peel and Hirst , besides taking over a hundred wickets , scored over a thousand runs . This is a feat which few have achieved in important matches. The Minor Counties Championship seemed likely to produce a rather close thing for the first place. A s it happened, Worcestershire just managedagain to secure the honours . Still , several counties showed very promisingall -round cricket , and the competition bids fair to provide plenty ofexcitement in future years . In the neighbourhood of London, Berks and Bucksare makinggreat efforts to put good elevens in the field . Cheshire , after a long and plucky effort to maintain a County Club, had to give up through lack of support , and Lincolnshire also no longer exists , at least as an organised body. Going westward , few particulars have reached us of Devonshire , Dorsetshire , and Cornwall . On the other hand , Wales is doing its duty well to County Cricket , and Glamorganshire are able to put fairly goodelevens into the field . Outside County Cricket and the Australian team, the principal matches were those betweenthe Gentlemen and Players , Oxford and Cambridge, a n dE t o na n dH a r r o w. T h ehonours bothat Lord'sa n dthe Ovalw e n tto the Gentlemen , though the conditions in the two cases were very different . Thefact that all the Northern Counties were engagedon the samedates as the Oval fixture madethe Players exceptionally weak. Several of the best amateurs , too , withdrew at the last moment, and as a consequence the Gentlemen were imperfectly represented . In bowling the Gentlemen were undoubtedly weakwith only Messrs . Kortright , Townsend, W.G. Grace and Bull of any real account . But, as it happened , Mr. Bull bowled with great success on a wicket that hardly helped him at all , and the finish proved to bemost exciting . The game in fact was a tie , when Mr. R. P. Lewis , the last batsman, camein, and the Gentlemen after all wonwith only a wicket tospare. In the match at Lord's the Players were very strong and the Amateurs certainly well represented , though there might have been with advantage alittle morevariety in the bowling . Asrun-getters they were undoubtedly