James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1898

4 4 L I L L YW H I T E ' SC R I C K E T E R S' A N N U A L. C H A P T E R I I I. C R I C K E T I N 1 8 9 7. B YI N C O G. CIRCUMSTANCES combined to give a special interest to English cricket of the higherorder in 1897. In the first place there was not the sensation of an Australian team to distract the public attention . The Gentlemen of Phila- delphia , of course , were very welcome , and the tour did a good deal to enhance the reputation gained by their predecessors as really good cricketers , playing the game as it ought to be played in the best and truest spirit of sport . But the Philadelphians came to England in an unostentatious way with the object of learning the finer points of the game. The primary aim of the tour was educational , and in this there is every reason to believe their trip was thoroughly successful . In any case their presence did not in any w a yinterfere with the conduct of our own cricket . O n the contrary the public interest in the more important matches certainly showed an increase rather than a diminution . For this the weather was of course responsible to a great extent . Rain and wet wickets naturally depress , and spectators cannot fail to get tired if the surroundings are dampand disagreeable for any length of time . Asit was, the conditions were generally most favourable , so that the public had only itself to blameif it took its pleasures sadly . Just inthe early part of the season there was a short spell of moist and unprofit- able weather. Withthis one exception until the middle of August, when wet supervened until the month was up,bright sunshine , and, as a consequence , hard wickets were the rule . Asa matter of fact during the greater part of the summer the game was carried on under conditions most enjoyable for both players and onlookers . Events combined to make the competition for the Counties Cham- pionship more than usually interesting . The earlier matches conveyed the impression that the Yorkshire Eleven would not be unlikely to retain the premier position they so fairly won in 1896. For a time, it is true, the eccentricities of the method of compiling the points in this particular competition gave Notts a position which was not strictly merited . At the outset , too , it hardly appeared as if Surrey would dispossess Yorkshire of their laurels , and indeed until the season had passed its meridian results seemed to point to Lancashire and Essex as Yorkshire's most formidable rivals . Butafter the middle of June the general aspect underwenta change. So far Surrey , who had been beaten by Somersetshire at the Oval , and Yorkshire , at Leeds , had not been regarded as a candidate to be seriously dealt with for the Championship . As it happened Surrey's defeat at Leeds wasits last reverse for weeks , and a succession of excellent performances brought the eleven again to the forefront . Indeed the early part of August found them really first favourites for the Championship . Their