James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1884

12 The County season lias been exceptionally busy and interesting, amt nn article by a well-known critic in another part of the Companion deals with it exhaustively. N otts , except by Y orkshire partisans noted for never losing anything for want o f claim ing it, is generally admitted t0 be fairly entitled to the honours of the County championship. These two Counties were alone in the running, and the only match decided between them was won by N otts . Considering that O schoft was com. pelled by i ll health to resign the captaincy, and that M orley was disabled, the premier position was very creditably earned, although, owing to numerous mistakes in the field, they were easily defeated by L ancashire on their own ground, and no less than seven of their matches were left drawn. A l l round they formed a very strong Eleven, S haw , F lowers , B arnes , W right , and A ttewell well maintaining the reputation of the County with the ball, and S hrewsbury , B arnes — who was in his very best form during the latter half of the season— F lowers , G unn , Mr. C. W . W right , S elby , and M ills form ing a reliable batting contingent, while S iierw in was as good as ever behind the wicket. Y orkshire wei*e defeated twice only, by S ussex and N otts ; otherwise their career was almost one o f uninterrupted success. The colt H arrison proved invaluable as a fast bow ler; indeed the County has almost too many bowlers, i f such a state of things were admissible. U lyett again batted very finely, and Mr. L umb proved a most useful importation owing to his unwearied defence. M iddlesex wanted bowlers to help B urton and Mr. C. T. S t u d d ; i f they could only recruit a couple of first-class professionals, they would doubtless soon be at the top of the ladder. Messrs. A lfred L yttelton , I. JD. W alker , and C. T. S tudd 1 batted magnificently throughout the season, and Mr. A . P.JL ucas was, o f course, an invaluable acquisition. S urrey showed a marked improve­ ment, and the ring at the Oval has not been so jubilant for many years. The Eleven began the season very badly, but were almost invincible towards the end, being, all through, a very reliable team, Mr. W. "VV. R ead ’ s scoring was almost phenomenal, and this and the energy displayed by their captain and secretary had much to do with their success. The County may well be congratulated on having brought out so excellent a set o f young and promising players as Messrs. D iver , K ey and B owden , H enderson and A bel . L ancashire were five times defeated, the failure of Mr. H ornby to maintain his well-known marvellous run-getting powers appearing to have a prejudicial effect