James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion 1885

18 but spasmodically; bis high average of 35 being mainly due to his two hundreds against the weak bowling eleven of G loucestershire L yttelton played well in the few matches in which he appeared, but the most consistent scorer was I. D. W alker , who batted wonderfully considering that the last was his twenty-first season. E mmett , A lfred S haw , and" I. D. W alker may well discuss w ith pride the transitory brilliancy of cricketing planets, who somehow get snuffed out after ten or eleven years’ service. M iddlesex next year may be much more sue. cessful if C. T. S tudd and C ottrell can manage to appear in every match. S urrey played a lot of matches with very much the same eleven, and the result was greatly improved fielding, a highly important element when the weakness of bowling is taken into account. They lost four matches, but were morally defeated in two out of the five drawn games, and in only one had decidedly the best of the match. There is an immense vitality in the Eleven in comparison with former years. It is with no desire to needlessly find fault with Mr. S iicter as captain, if we recommend him to change the bowling a little oftener. Mr. W. W. B ead , as usual, heads the averages, and he is, without doubt, a most valuable sheet anchor to them in the batting line. When set, lie makes a tremendous hash of bowling, and a batsman who does this enables the tail to score. M aurice B ead made a lot of runs, but is not a sound bat, and does not play straight on the leg-stump. He is, however, a useful bat | and excellent out-field. A young player has shown great promise in the . person of W ood , who made plenty of runs for a first season, and keeps wicket fairly well. A bel has been a most useful man, and is a long­ headed little cricketer, and is valuable as a change bowler. H enderson lost his health, which was unfortunate, as few young cricketers played better for a first-year man ; but S urrey professionals are looking up, for B ead , A bel , W ood , and L oiimann are all promising young cricketers. B arratt still bowls very much the same as ever ; lie has nine fields on the oft side, and bowls nearly every ball that side with every variety of pitch. Mr. C. E. H orner bowled very well, and is certainly the best fast bowler in the South. His value to S urrey was immense. He is very straight and not easy to hit, rarely giving a half volley. Messrs. H oller and D iver are both good, useful men, though the former has not come up to expectations. Altogether the future of S urrey is tolerably bright, though another bowler, as usual, would be of material benefit, ' S ussex is a county that has considerably improved in its perform­ ances. It was in its batting that the improvement chiefly lay. It was, i indeed, in former days a sorry spectacle to see S ussex going in to get 150 runs. A complete collapse often was the result, and time after time, on good wickets, they have been got rid of for under 100. During the past season they had six men who averaged over 20 runs an innings. They were the only county who succeeded in scoring over 300 runs against the invincible N otts ; and though Couuty Cricket proper does not include the matches against the A ustralians , it cannot be forgotten that S ussex scored a moral victory over the Colonists. They still want a good fast bowler, for Mr. B lackman is not quite steady enough to keep i up au end for long. J esse H ide has been very useful to the team, as he scored the second aggregate of runs and took the most w ickets. The vain® of a lob bowler was made strikingly apparent in looking at S ussex cricket. H umphreys is by no means a first-class lob bowler, but be lS