James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1885

i C c i u r t t j j i i E y H on . E. H. LYTTELTON. I! ft T ' I il T o THE CAREFUL STUDENT OF CRICKET generally, and County Ciicket in paiticulai, certain facts and certain phenomena appear each year with monotonous, regularity. It may be taken for granted that the bowling of the Southern Counties is weak, that N otts is at the top of the tree, or nearly so, that when Mr. W. G. G race is out for under 20 runs G loucestershire batting collapses, that M iddlesex generally have to field out for a considerable number of runs, and that they never can succeed in beating N otts • and that the selection of their County Eleven by the Y orkshire Committee causes considerable amusement and discussion among cricketers. This being the case, to alter the general characteristics of an article on County Cricket is not easy. A little variation may,, however, be introduced this year fjy trying to recall some of the performances of the veterans, vdiose services have been dispensed with this year to a large degree, if not entirely. The names of L ockwood from Y orkshire , N orley from N otts , M idwinter , M oberley , and C ranston from G loucestershire immediately come to mind. Mention must first be made of L ockwood , a typical Y orkshire cricketer who had deservedly won a great reputation. His chief batting fault was a rather feeble tentative sort of forward stroke to slow bowling that frequently caused him to be caught and bowled, and he was frequently a victim to ill- health, that caused his scoring for long periods to be below his powers. Still he had a fine career, and often came out with a great innings on sticky and difficult wickets. His performances for Y orkshire have been good, but have been excelled by his batting for the P layers against hie G entlemen , and for the N orth against the S outh . A very hard cut was ttie nucleus of most of his runs, and in this particular hit he has been excelled by few. He was able to cut slow bowling, as those who have seen him play Messrs. W. Gr. G race and B uchanan can testify. There Was also a true Yorkshire stolidity about his play, and though in recent J’cars his dimensions partook of the bulky, formerly to his natural comprehensiveness of grasp was added agility of limb. He was altogether a batsman who in his prime was in the iiist eleven of England, even at a time when professional batting was not so good as it is now. M okley ’ s character as a cricketer resembled L ockwood s but slightly. He bad none of the Yorkshire, or any other, stolidity about him. IS lender in frame, and, as a rule, desponding in spirits during a match, he was a bowler who, to keep up his nervous system, always Reeded to get wickets. If he got this help he was a nasty bowler indeed.