James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1885

16 At the beginning of his career, which was about 1872, he was ver fast and bowled an admirable length with great straightness, and h? most deadly ball came once in every three or four overs, when th! ball followed his arm and came right from the off to the leg-stump, m could bowl either side of the wicket, and in this respect younger bowW would do well to follow his example, and his left arm was raised some what above his shoulder. He had the power, rare amongst fast bowlers' of bowling fast and quite straight on dead wickets. If a fast bowler can do this he is pretty sure to surpass even the best slow bowlers iu efficiency. It is interesting to compare M orley ’s bowling with S haw ’ s for their County in 1879, the wet year excellence. M orley bowled nearly 70 overs fewer than S haw , but got 89 wickets to S haw ’ s 62, and at an average of under 10 runs per wicket to S haw ’ s over 11. Altogether though short, it was a brilliant career, bearing in mind that he never had the physique sufficient to enable him to turn up on Thursday in the South of England to play fresh and cheerful, after having bowled the greater part of Wednesday in the Ncfrth. M idwinter was a really useful man to G loucestershire , and it is more than doubtful if the county will ever recover from his loss. However good the wicket and good the batting, I M idwinter could, as a rule, be relied on to keep up an end, which means that considering the circumstances he would not be hit much. A wonderfully safe field anywhere, and especially to his own bowling, and a stiff and careful bat. He may be described as a very useful cricketer, and just such a one as was, and is, sorely needed by G loucestershire . The loss of Messrs. M orekley and C ranston meant the loss of two good j \ batsmen, neither of whom, however, was, in former seasons, available for every match, and whose combined loss, therefore, was not equal to I that of M idwinter . jj If the task of selecting Champion County was difficult last year, and ' much reference to matches necessary, and frequent siftings of circum­ stances indispensable, this year at any rate the choice was easy. The j N otts men, always near the top, this year have fairly surpassed them­ selves. They played ten matches, two each against Y orkshire , S urrey , Y orkshire , M iddlesex , and S ussex ; in nine of these they were victorious, and the tenth, namely in the return with S urrey , their opponents were left in the awkward position of requiring 152 runs to win and having only three wickets to go down. - ■:®1 There was no luck for their opponents to grumble at in their matches.' The County did not by any means win every toss, but they j weie a really good Eleven. The loss of M orley was largely atoned for■ by the excellent form shown by A ttewell . S iiaw bowled as well as ever, I and as he now no longer plays for the M.C.C., it is probable, owing to this, that his opponents are not so used to his bowling as they formerly 1 wel eN-SHAWh*s now Played first-class cricket for all but twenty year?, and this experience has not been thrown away upon him. He is th®jj best captain that now exists among professionals, and among Pri}' fessionals he has never met his super ior in this respect. Thong , handicapped by his being the best bowler on the side, and therefore tempted to overbowl himself, he manages the side admirably, J neither bowls himself too much nor too litt le , and i t is very common observe one or other of these characteristics in bowler captains. Dunn* le past season the County scored largely. S hrewsbury , B arnes , |. I