"The four Counties in whose doings the interest of the Cricketing public is centred, were all hard at work yesterday. [Friday, August 19.] Yorkshire doing very badly against Surrey at the Oval, and Nottinghamshire showing to considerable disadvantage with Lancashire at Old Trafford."—Daily News.
Oh, don't talk to me of the close of the Session, or who's to be Premier, perchance, in the next one;
Those questions, no doubt, may excite party spouters, but there is a far more important and vext one.
The Cricketing Season draws fast to a close; the rain's come at last with inopportune bounty.
And there is a question eclipsing all others,—which, which for this year will be Premier County?
It's narrowing down,—oh, it's narrowing down, and it grows more soul-harrowing every minute,
For Surrey and Lancashire, Yorkshire and Notts are the only four Counties a man can call "in it."
Trent-Bridge is astir with a fever of fidgets, the Tykes are all hurry, and worry, and flurry,
Old Trafford is all upon thorns, and, by Jove, what excitement there is at the Oval in Surrey!
Hornby and Hawke cannot sleep of a night, and their nerves into coolness in vain strive to tutor;