A HISTORY OF SURREY 



named in 1890, Mr. Jephson in 1891, Richard- 

 son in 1892, and Ha^-^vard in 1893. These 

 four players were equal perhaps to any four 

 Surrey cricketers the county has produced. 



The successes of the Surrey eleven on the 

 cricket field naturally tended to increase the 

 strength and add to the reputation of the 

 club. Another factor in adding to its pros- 

 perity, and thereby developing the resources 

 of Surrey cricket, was the advent of the 

 Australian teams. How closely Surrey and 

 Australian cricket have been associated has 

 already been shown. It was therefore quite 

 in accord with the fitness of things that 

 Surrey should take the leading part in wel- 

 coming the earlier Australian teams to 

 England. It was on the invitation of the 

 Surrey Club that the first match between 

 England and Australia was played in 1880. 

 It took place at the end of that season at the 

 Oval, which has been the scene of a repre- 

 sentative match on the occasion of every 

 subsequent visit of an Australian team. 

 English cricket, which was in rather a slack 

 condition when the first Australian team 

 came in 1878, received a great stimulus from 

 the scientific methods of the Colonial players. 

 The different county clubs moreover, 

 profited financially by the greatly increased 

 number of spectators attracted to their 

 grounds on the occasions of the Australian 

 matches. The Surrey County Cricket Club 

 in particular, thanks no doubt to the accessi- 

 bility of the Oval, has reaped substantial 

 pecuniary advantages from the periodical 

 visits of the Australian cricketers. By this 

 means Surrey has been enabled to increase 

 its matches. It might be argued, and with 

 reason, that the visit of the Australian 

 cricketers was only an incident, however 

 important, in the history of Surrey cricket, 

 for the county had already begun to recover 

 its old prestige in 1878, when the first 

 Colonial team arrived. It was not until 

 1883, however, that the county reaUy com- 

 menced to take its place once again in the 

 front rank, and the ensuing fifteen years 

 formed a period of uninterrupted prosperity. 



Edward Barratt, of Stockton-on-Tees, the 

 left-handed bowler, who had been drafted 

 into the county from Lords in 1872, was still 

 the mainstay of the attack with Mr. Roller, 

 Mr. Horner, Maurice Read, and Henderson 

 as his chief assistants. Abel was only begin- 

 ning to make a name as a batsman, but there 

 was, as already pointed out, plenty of batting 

 talent. A few years later Lohmann was a 

 name to conjure with both in England and 

 Australia; Jones, Beaumont, Sharpe and 

 Bowley, only the first of whom was a native 



of the county, in turn helped Lohmann with 

 the bowling. Long before this Pooley had 

 been replaced at the wicket by Henry Wood, 

 who, though born in Kent, had been some 

 years resident in Surrey. How much Surrey 

 was indebted to Lohmann's brilliant cricket 

 during the eight years from 1885 to 1894 the 

 records show. In the seasons 1884 to 1895 

 inclusive he took 1,439 wickets for an average 

 of only I2'4 runs per wicket, and scored 5,813 

 runs in 287 innings, with an average of 20'2. 

 He was unsurpassable as a field, certainly one 

 of the very best short slips the world has 

 ever seen. Unfortunately an affection of 

 the lungs compelled him to go to South 

 Africa at the end of 1892, and though he 

 returned to play in 1895 and 1896, and 

 played for England in the latter season, he 

 was not again seen at his best. After the 

 season of 1896 he retired to South Africa, 

 where he died, at the early age of thirty-six, 

 in December, 1901. 



The question has frequently been asked : 

 In which year was Surrey at its best during 

 the period of its triumphs in the County 

 Championship ? The general verdict would 

 perhaps favour the team of 1892. The full 

 eleven of that year was a very powerful com- 

 bination, with Mr. John Shuter, Mr. W. W. 

 Read, Mr. K. J. Key, Lockwood, M. Read, 

 Abel, Brockwell, Lohmann and Sharpe, all 

 in form, and Tom Richardson just coming 

 on. The team of 1888 was in the main the 

 same, but Bowley and Beaumont, useful 

 bowlers as they were, were hardly the equals 

 of Lockwood and Sharpe at their best ; and 

 though Mr. M. P. Bowden was a fine player, 

 Mr. W. E. Roller, who at his best had few 

 superiors, was out of health, and nothing like 

 his old self. Before Lohmann was lost to 

 the team Richardson had come well to the 

 front as a fast bowler. Lockwood, who had 

 been tried and rejected by Notts, had mean- 

 while qualified by residence, and for a few 

 years was a useful bat and quite one of the 

 best fast bowlers in England. Abel, by 

 sheer perseverance and practice, had become 

 one of the most trustworthy batsmen of the 

 day. Brockwell had developed into an ex- 

 ceptionally good all-round player, with, for 

 one year, the best batting average in first- 

 class cricket. Two very promising young 

 cricketers had come in, Holland and Hayes ; 

 and when Wood was beginning to lose some 

 of his skill, a new wicket-keeper, well able to 

 take his place, appeared in Stedman of 

 Cobham. In addition to these, all Surrey 

 born, two excellent all-round players came 

 from outside in T. Hayward and Lees, the 

 latter a young player from Yorbhire. Hay- 



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