James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1884

13 on the batting of his Eleven. Mr. A. G. S teel played but seldom, and B arlow appeared to be the only reliable batsman, whilst, though W atson was, as a rule, in excellent form, the bowling lacked its old sting. S ussex played up pluckily, and would seem to have taken a fresh departure under Mr. H. W hitfeld ’ s captaincy; their defeat of Y ork ­ shire in the North w ill not readily be forgotten. The two H ides were very useful with the b a l l ; but there is yet want of more bowling talent. K ent fared very badly in spite of the brilliant batting of Lord H arris , for some of their well-known batsmen were singularly unsuccessful, and the want of reliable professional bowling was much felt. The Eleven can, however, refer with pride to their having lowered the colours of the champion County of 1882. G loucestershire , without M idwinter , had a very unsuccessful season. Mr. W. G. G race is no longer the great run-getter he was for so many years, and his bowling has fallen off, so that W oof had to do nearly all the work unaided. There are several good batsmen in the Eleven besides the Messrs. G race and Mr. M oberly ; but one solitary victory alone attended their efforts. D erbyshire should have better fortune were the energy of its executive to meet with its fair reward; but they appear unable to unearth a first-class bowler, though neighbouring Counties have enough and to spare. However, they wound up the season with a creditable victory, and we wish them still better success in 1884. The minor Counties were very busy, and H ants , L eicestershire , and S omersetshire each met one or more of the first-class County Elevens, but without being able to lay claim to a place in the more important category. Before many seasons have passed, however, it is probable enough that more than one of them will have successfully asserted a right to promotion. The M arylebone C lub worked out a bigger programme than ever, with fair success. But the resources of even the premier club in the world must be severely strained in bringing oft 130 matches; and we question again, as we have questioned before, the policy of arranging so many fixtures; and we are also unable to understand why thej still decline to allow one-day matches to be decided by the result of the fiist innings, i f not played out. The premier club is naturally expected to play all tlie leading Counties, the two Universities, and the chki 1ublic Schools; but there is no call whatever for their over-burdening their Programme with matches against minor surbuiban clubs, to meet which