Once again. batsmen have had a good time at the expense of bowlers in county cricket, according to the latest results. R. E. S. Wyatt heads the formidable list of centuries scored, with 232, showing a welcome return to form. Wyatt's bad luck as a Test captain does not seem to have followed him in his captaincy of Warwick, for which all followers of the game will be thankful. It takes a real sportsman to play second fiddle, as Wyatt did, to a comparative youngster as captain of a Test side, when one has oneself headed an eleven without success before him, Hammond showed in the matches just concluded that he is the master of the best New Zealand attack, as he proved in the first Test against them at Lords. His century for Gloucester confirms him in his position as England's leading cricketer. Sutcliffe's century for Yorkshire should make those who have assigned him to the ranks of - the has-beens io think seriously, and to wonder whether or not this veteran of so many international encounters is not still deserving of a place as England's opening bat. This is no disparagement of the younger batsmen, whose records also read well. Among these the best all round performance in the just concluded series of matches is that of W. E. Phillipson, with a century to his credit and five wickets for 89. Phillipson played "for Lancashire last season only seven times; his highest score was 82 and he took 19 wickets. His fellow county playet Paynter also added to his laurels in the last matches, with another century; Paynter would be certain of Test status were he more enterprising. Another player who is steadily forging to the front is C. B: Harris of Notts, who also ranks with the centurions in the results published io-day. Harris last season was one of Notts mainstays scoring over thirteen hundred runs in the season, third in the county averages only to Hardstaff and Keeton.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.