James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1898

7 4 LILLYWHITE'S CRICKETERS' ANNUAL. E S S E X . OFFICERS FOR 1897.-President : Lord Rayleigh . Hon. Treasurer : C. M. Tebbut. Committee : G. Buxton, Rev. R. C. Guy, F. R. Pelly , R. Y. Bevan, R. Cook, A. J. Edwards, R. C. Gosling , F. W. Holton, G. Pagenstecher , W .Comerford, A. S. Johnston, A. P. Lucas, A. A. Timbrell , J. J. Read, C. R. Higgins . Secretary : O. R. Borradaile . IFfor nothing else , the excellent all -round cricket of the Essex Eleven would havemadethe cricket season of 1897 interesting . They began in the most promising style with the best of a drawngameat the Oval. That this was no fluke was showna little over a week later by their brilliant victory over York- shire at Leyton, a success , by the way, they repeated in the return at Hudders- field towards the end of July. Well in the season it looked as if they might even win the Championship. As it was, they broke down badly when Surrey played them at Leyton in the middle of August, and this settled their chance . Still , their record wasone out of the common, showing seven victories and two defeats as the outcome of their sixteen matches. In batting they had not muchof a tail , and the majority of the eleven were one and all of them goodfor a fair score . WithMr. Bull , Mead, and Mr. Kortright , they had, too, three first -class bowlers , if there was little in the wayof change afterwards . A good, useful , working side , the Essex team fully deserved all the success theygot. Opponents. R e s u l t so f M a t c h e s . Matches played , 16 ; won , 7 ; drawn , 7 ; lost , 2. Matches W o n(7) . (3) Yorkshire (5) Hampshire (*) Derbyshire (6) Lancashire (7) Warwickshire (8) Yorkshire (10) Leicestershire Matches Drawn(7) . (1) Surrey (2) Warwickshire Club. O p n t s. Where played . When played . 1st 2nd 1st 2nd L e y t o n M a y20, 21 Southampton June24,25 L e y t o n Manchester July1, 2, 3 June 28,29,30 July15,16,17 I n s. I n s. I n s. I n s. 3 6 7 W o nb y. 199*132 154 176 3 wkts.; *7 wd 1 4 7 1 3 3 I n n s. & 8 7r u n s 234 *119 216 136 7 wkts.; *3wd 1 6 7 297 210 1 8 8 6 6runs 489 2 7 41 6 6 I n n s. & 4 9r u n s 1 run July22,23,24 139 294 135 297 333 *58 167 221 Leyton Huddersfield Leicester A u g .2,3, 4 6 wkts.; *4w d R e m a r k s . O v a l M a y10,11, 12 316*2441 9 9+269 *8 w d, inns. cl .; + 7wd Birmingham M a y17,18,19 346 *90 281 +271 *n o w d; +8 w d, i n.cl. (4) Sussex ( L e y t o n M a y27, 28,29 190 2 2 6*3 7 *4 w k t s. d J u n e7, 8 1 4 9 *7 7 223 *1 w k t. d * Derbyshire... July1 9, 20, 21 186*213 428 *5 w k t s. d (9) Sussex Brighton July29, 30, 31 475 219*380 *5 w k t s. d (13) Hampshire... (11) Lancashire ... (12) Surrey L e y t o n A u g .23,24,25 *315 115 +125 *5 w d, in. cl .; + 4wd Matches Lost (2). Lostb y. L e y t o n 290*131 168 251 A u g,5, 6, 7 6wkts.; *4 d L e y t o n A u g .12,1 3 143 130 264 *10 10wkts.; *n ow (*) Leicestershire Leyton D e r b y