Although Middlesex, as in 1936, proved there is no ground for denying Yo ight to be the champions of the counties at cricket in 1937. The strength of the teams which Yorkshire have put in the field has consisted in the wealth of professional talent available, Middlesex have been dependent on the form of comparatively few men, such as Hendren, Compton, Sims and Smith. Against them Yorkshire's remarkable string of "test" potentialities, Sutcliffe, Leyland, Barbar, Hutton, Smailes, Verity, and Bowes, have loomed formidably powerful. The respective captains of Middlesex and Yorkshire rank closely together. If A. B. Sellers has not R. W. V. Robins' brilliant all-round capacity as batsman and bowler, he is by no means second in the qualities of leadership and this year he has proved himself a reliable bat. Yorkshire's merit is broadly one of good team work and Substantial excellence without relying on the individual brilliance of any one player. This can be gauged from the statistical fact that on July 23, only Verity of the team was among the bowlers qualified to have their averages recorded within the limits of 40 wickets and a 21 average. Hutlon stood second in the list of batting averages—five runs per innings below Hammond of Gloucestershire; Sutcliffe and Leyland stood 2ist and lst respectively and no other Yorkshireman had gri average of over 36, in 15 innings. Although thus the championip reverts to familiar hands the season has not been uninteresting. Middlesex made a good bid and other counties showed signs of good vitality. Even the disappointing Kent side who, minus Freeman, were but the shadows of their former selves, indicated at the end that the lapse would not be allowed to persist. Surrey's welcome improvement came as a tonic to admirers of that fine nursery of cricket. Glamorgan shire among the infants proved lusty and full of possibilities. Individual performances may be better studied when the full statistics are available. Of the younger batsmen Hutton, Compton, Edrich, Dollery and Washbrook attracted special notice. Goddard is perhaps the bowler of the year. Hammond, his team mate, is the classi all-rounder.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.