John and James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1882

41 eccentric curves that some bowlers, fortunately for their side, possess, are gifts, like original sin, born in these players, and cannot be acquired by their less fortunate brethren. But we maintain that more direction and length in bowling can to a great extent be learnt by nearly every cricketer by practice, but this practice is quite indispensable for their acquirement. Amateur bowling is confined to very few, though a great many bowlers of a washy sort of slow round can he found. It is a curious fact in cricket history that the old-fashioned lob bowler is almost a man of the past. Not a single professional exists who is put on even as a forlorn hope, and this, it appears to us, is a very deplorable circumstance. It may not be effective to begin with, but when bowling is in a knot it would still be most useful with a good field, and every public school captain will do well to train one at least o f liis eleven in th is branch in future. The public school elevens of the past season appear to have been below the usual standard. Kumour assigned to W inchester the credit of effective batting powers, and probably this is the case. It is always more difficult to judge of the merits of a school when removed beyond an hour's journey or so from London, for, except in exceptional circum­ stances, such as an Old Boys' match, rival elevens are difficult to get up. The W vkhamisis did very well in a match against a strong Oxford Eleven, and their averages prove them a fair team in batting. L ambkick and M ansfield (the captain) were the best among the batsmen—the first rather the sounder of the two, the latter a faster run-getter, who will generally be a good scorer on a fast wicket. L ea , C obb , S jtainton , B rise , and H ornby are all useful bats; and the enormous physical stature of this eleven, which was of a kind never seen in any previous boy eleven, endowed most of them with a rough muscular power o f batting. In fielding, the school was not up to the traditional high standard : a bad fielding eleven from Winchester lias never been seen, but the present year showed a falling-off. H ickley was a good boy bowler, perhaps a little too slow in the air, but steady, and with a fair amount of spin. H ornby ought to have been better as a bowler. Endued with a mighty stature and a high action, lie only wanted a tolerable length to be a diffi­ cult bowler, but this qualification he did not possess, and full pitches came frequently enough to add vastly to the pleasure of batting against him. The blot on this eleven lies in the fact that they were beaten by E ton , who, for reasons stated further on, were an indifferent eleven. C harterhouse were a good eleven this year, but stronger, as most school elevens are, in batting than bowling. They jxissessed in W right one of the most promising performers of the year—an excellent bat., with considerable power o f hitting, and a very good wicket-keeper. We think that it is not unlikely that lie may secure a place in the Cambridge Eleven of next year. S treatfeild was also a good bat, with a command- ing style and a fine off-stroke; and the team generally were strong in batting, and equally so in fielding. It is frequently found to be the case that an eleven containing a good wicket-keeper learn smartness in field­ ing. D ames sent in a good ball every now and then, and S mith was a good, consistent straight bowler, but the team was not so strong in this respect. The curious fact, about this school is that the boys begin their cricket on the roughest possible wickets, little better than a sand-hill, lus spoils batting as a rule, except with the boys that have a natural