John and James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1882

30 any one. A matter of surprise to the well-wishers of the County is W ever furnished by the resolution of the Committee to plav son.™ matches on the difficult ground at Maidstone. This ground, which is 5 a considerable slope, is no doubt an extremely sporting one; but n„ northern bowlers, i f it, happens to be at all sticky, are absolutely unnlav able on it. K ent batting, which is good, is there unable to make •i ’J l/t ___1 _ __ l • 1 • . • i l l - 1 . „ - u 1*V lunul; while K ent bowling, which is jiuddliug, does not tell niuclinio? tiKui on Hat wickets. Mr. E. F. 8. T ylecote is a new importation int! tlie County ranks, and brings most valuable aid. For nerve and quick0 ness and certainty in stumping lie lias had scarcely any superior in t)i(* wicket-keepers of the last ten years, professional or amateur, and lie is also a dangerous and resolute batsman. Mr. K emp sometimes takes the gloves for the County, and often makes a useful eighteen or twenty in defensive style, watching slow bowling well and closely; while Mr. B enny . T aii . youu brings occasionally his fine strong batting and superb fielding to tlie general service. G We should be very glad to be able to say that the energy which is brought to bear on S urrey and S ussex cricket was productive o f further success; but their list of victories is still sadly small as compared with their defeats. S urrey is, indeed, considerably ahead o f S ussex , possessing some really splendid batsmen. Mr. A. P. L ucas does not very often play, but lie, of course, is surpassed by very few, and Mr. W . W. B ead is quite a lirst-class batsman, with line defence, and a bat straight as a mast, W. J ones , a fast bowler with good break-back, has been re-introduced wit 1 success into the team, and Mr. P akfiit is also a most useful change bow ler, being very fast and straight. The need is a slow bowler who can get w ickets w ithout heavy cos t : B arkatt obtained seventy-eight wickets, but they each cost nineteen runs. Considering that S ussex can afford to dispense with tlie services of Mr. W hite eld and Mr. T revor , we should have expected to have found her batting team very strong; and, indeed, some valuable recruits have been found, notably Mr. B etteswokth , who heads the list with the very creditable average o f twenty-nine, though that fine wrist-player, Mr. M. 1\ L ucas , runs him close with an average o f twenty-six. But incredible though it may seem, L illy white , who now is rather a patron of than an active performer in the game, very nearly doubles the wickets of any other bowler. Nothing more need be added to account for the eight defeats and tlie three victories of the County Eleven. D erbyshire has found a really good batsman in Mr. L. C. D ockeb , and his services, coupled with good bowling, enabled the County to lower _ - _ ■ j * *» * a 1 _ . _ A 4 I , y . /» 4- / 1 / 't C I . ; 2 y a s ’!» the sea.s.,n of 18*5: ami Urn prophecy is that not less t l j j i ln c : Kn-lish Counties will lower the colours ol the Australian hh a m ft who are about to visit our shores.