James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1898

T H EC O U N T I E SIN 1897. 1 1 5 (1) Somersetshire v. Yorkshire. Taunton , M a y17, 18 and 19 . ThoughYorkshire won by five wickets , Somersetshire's exhibition under thecircumstances was, on the whole, very creditable . Yorkshire , winning the toss , were batting most of the first day, with Mr. F. S. Jackson (124) and Denton (112) the chief contributors to their total of 385. Against this Somerset began very badly, losing Mr. L. Palairet , Nichols , Messrs . R. Palairet , Toller , and Woodsfor only 33 runs. Atthe crisis , however, Mr. H. T. Stanley (51) showed great pluck, and, thanks to a determined stand by Mr. Fowler(70) and Tyler (39 not out), the total ultimately reached 223, a very good performance . In the follow on Somerset made a very different com- mencement. Mr. L. Palairet (79) and his brother , R. C. (41), were both in form, and Robson also played well for his 80. At one time the score was200 for four wickets , but this time the tail failed , so that the innings closed for 276. This left Yorkshire with 115 to win, and though49 were got without anyone out they lost five wickets before the finish . Yorkshire accordingly won byfive wickets . Yorkshire , 385 and 118 (5 wickets ) ; total , 503. Somersetshire , 223and276 ; total 499. (2) Somersetshirev. S u s s e x. Brighton , June 10 and 11. Somersetshire , after having all the worst of the early part of the game, were only beaten by a wicket after a most exciting finish . Bland's fast bowling proved too much for the majority of the Somersetshire batsmen in the first innings . Messrs . Woods (29) and R. Palairet (20) indeed alone got double figures , and four of the eleven failed to score . Though113 to the badwhen they wentin a second time Somersetshire played up well .Messrs. Woods(59 ) and R. Palairet (50) were again the principal run-getters , and their joint contri- butions represented just one-half of the runs from the bat . Sussex , with 101 to win, began very badly, losing five good wickets for 47 and seven for 81. Parris , however, showed great pluck at the crisis , and, thoughButt and Bland failed , with Tate he won a fine match for his side . Sussex 188, and 103 (9 wickets ) ; total , 291. Somersetshire , 75 and 213 ; total , 288. Bland(1st inns . Somersetshire ) Overs. Maidens. R u n s. 1 0 3 1 2 2 (3) Somersetshirev. S u r r e y. Oval, June14, 15 and16. Wickets. 6 Surrey failed to show anything like their best form at any point , and were decisively beaten. Thewicket was in fine condition , and Surrey's bowling for once looked quite easy. Somersetshire's first innings showed somevery even batting , as the total of 349 only included one single figure (Capt. Hedley's 9), with Mr. R. Palairet's 58 the highest score . In the second innings Mr. Woods (88) played fine cricket , and at the finish Tyler hit with rare power for 51 not out. Surrey's batting was very disappointing . Rain fell on the third morning andhandicapped them a little at the close . Still , the eleven generally , with the oneexception of Baldwin, whogot 81 and42, played Tyler's slow bowling very tamely, and Somersetshire wonon their merits by 224 runs. Somersetshire , 349 and 274 ; total , 623. Surrey , 249 and 150 ; total , 399 . Tyler (Somersetshire ) Overs. Maidens. 1 6 5 9 R u n s. 1 6 3 Wickets. 1 3