The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-11 00:00:00

THE CRICKET SEASON.

The forthcoming cricket season, for which preparations
are being actively made, promises to he an unusually
brilliant one. The Marylebone Club list includes matches
with the counties of Surrey, Lancaster, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Devon, &c., the great annual contest between Gentle-
men and Players, the two Universities, Eton and Harrow,
North v. South of the Thames, M.C.C. and Ground
v. England, M.C.C. v. the Colts of England, the usual
Military and Public School matches, and a variety of
engagements of minor importance. In connection with
Lord's Ground one circumstance is much to be regretted,
viz., the omission from the list of the great match between
the All England and United Elevens, which for a series of
years was played there on Whit-Monday for the benefit of
the Cricketers' Fund. The Surrey County Club com-
mittee has announced " home and home" matches with Kent,
Sussex, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, and
Yorkshire, and no event connected with cricket could pos-
sibly have afforded more satisfaction to the lovers of the
t.n1.10 game in *k opollS than the revival of the Notts
v. Surrey match at the Oval, after an interregnum of two
years. In addition to the above-recited matches, there
are at the Oval the usual great contests between the
Gentlemen and Players of England; Gentlemen v. Players
of the South ; Surrey and Middlesex v. the rest of Eng-
England (the match being for the benefit of the renowned
Julius Caesar) ; contests against the two Universities ; A
Colts' match, and a variety of other matches of scarcely
inferior calibre. The annual dinner takes place on the 13th
of May, at the Bridge-house Hotel. The County of Mid-
dlesex has " home and home" engagements with Sussex,
Kent, Surrey, and Yorkshire ; also a " Colts' match." The
County of Kent plays Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Middlesex,
and Surrey, "home and home," and a " Colts' match."
The County of Sussex opens with a " Colts' match," and
contends for victory, " out and home," with Kent,
Middlesex, and Surrey. The County of Nottingham, as
usual, " sets the ball rolling" on Monday with a " Colts'
snatch," the " trial team" being the celebrated County
Eleven ; they also play " home and home" with the
Surrey, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. The " County
Palatine" Eleven is " pitted" against Surrey and
Yorkshire, " home and home." and the Marylebone
Club and ground at Lord's. The committee has
also announced a " Colts' match." The great county
of York, which last year won all her engagements,
plays with Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire,
and Lancashire. The County of Cambridge plays Kent,
Yorkshire, and the University Elevens. The engagements
of the great amateur clubs are by far too numerous to
specify. The great " cricket carnival," or " Canterbury
week," commences on the 3rd of August, and the Brighton
week on the 10th. Some Australian colonists, headed by
the late mayor of Sydney, whose arrival is daily expected,
have been training a team of aboriginal blacks as cricketers,
with a view to astonish the good folks in the " old
country." This sable troupe, which consists of thirteen,
is expected to arrive in the ship Parramatta earty in May,
accompanied by Charles Lawrence, an old Surrey proles-
gional, and formerly a member of the All-England Eleven.
They will play in the Oval in the Epsom week.