James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1898

T H EC O U N T I E SIN 1 8 9 7. 1 0 5 (3) Leicestershire v. Lancashire. Leicester , M a y27 and 28. Forthe third time in succession Leicestershire lost the toss , and thereby suffered considerably . The wicket was not quite of the best , even at the outset , while Lancashire were batting , and Albert Ward's 62 was the only scoreo ntheside over50. B u tw h e nLeicestershire'sturnc a m eto b a t it w a s entirely in favour of the bowlers . In such conditions Briggs is always effective , and on this occasion he was almost , if not quite , unplayable . At all events none of the Leicestershire batsmen could makeany real stand . The most noteworthy performance was that of Mr. C. J. B. Wood, whogot the highest score of (22 and 16) in each innings . Lancashire wonby an innings and101 runs. Lancashire , 248. Leicestershire , 93 and 54; total , 147. Briggs (Lancashire ) Overs. Maidens. R u n s. Wickets. 4 6 7 0 1 2 1 6 (4) Leicestershire v. Surrey. Leicester, June10. The match was completed in a day, a very rare occurrence . Though Leicestershire won the toss they profited little . Richardson and Hayward were, in fact , at their very best with a wicket to help them, and, as it happened, they bowled unchanged throughout both innings of Leicestershire . The latter , curiously , scored 35 each time, and there were only two double figures , Mr. C. J. Wood's 10 and Geeson's 11, both in the first innings . W h e nthey went in most of the Surrey batsmen played a forcing game, and, as it proved , with success . Sevenof themat least madedouble figures , although Hayward(26) and Mr. Key(25) alone got over twenty. Pougher's bowling was greatly missed by Leicestershire . Surrey won by an innings and 94 runs. Leicestershire , 35 and 35 ; total , 70. Richardson (Surrey) Hayward(Surrey) Overs. Maidens. R u n s. 2 4 1 4 24.4 5 2 0 4 3 Surrey, 164. Wickets. 1 2 7 (5) Leicestershire v. Warwickshire. Birmingham, June21, 22 and23. Leicester lost perhaps rather than gained by going in first . Anyhowthey only madea moderate show against the bowling of Pallett and Forester , with awicket to help them, and the result was sometedious cricket with a collective total of 128. On the second day Warwickshire gave a very different display of batting . Mr. J. F. Byrne (100) and Diver (110) both played freely , as is their wont, and W. G. Quaife steadily , as is also his wont, for 69. In their second innings Leicestershire were seen to much greater advantage . Mr. C. J. B. W o o dbatted really well for his 102 , and goodcricket by Coe (42), Mr. De Trafford (34) andTomlin(31), enabled themvery nearly to put Warwickshire in a second time. As it was they were beaten by an innings and 29 runs . Warwickshire, 415(nine wickets , innings declared ). Leicestershire , 128 and 258 ; total , 386 . (6) Leicestershirev. W a r w i c k s h i r e . Leicester , July 12, 13 and 14. In allowing Warwickshire at the outset to make a big total of 472 Leicestershire lost all hope of winning the match. Inthemselves getting out for 122 they further missedtheir chanceof saving the g a m e. Inthe follow o n they madea better show, for eight of the eleven got double figures . Still , there wasno very high score , and King (56) and Knight (51) alone got over 50. On the other hand, in their one innings Warwickshire had four batsmen able to get over seventy -five . Theywere Mr. A. C. S. Glover (115), Diver (111), W. G. Quaife (78), and W. Quaife (83). Luckwas to some extent against Leicester- shire, but their cricket in addition was rather disappointing . Warwickshire w o nby an innings and 57 runs. Warwickshire, 472. Leicestershire , 122 and 293; total , 415.