CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 154, 29 June 1907, Page 12

CRICKET.

At the last meeting of the Canterbury Cricket Association, it was decided to suggest December 16th, 17th and 18th as the dates for the challenge match with Auckland. The hours of play were fixed as follows:—11 a.m. till 1.30 pa., and 2.15 p.m. till- 6 p.m., with no tea adjournment, and till 6.30 p.m. with a tea adjournment. A motion was carried, expressing the committee's appreciation of the sportsmanlike action taken by the Auckland Association in issuing a challenge for the shield.Tom Hayward, herd of 13 centuries last season, was the first county centurion this year, his first two scores being 68 and 161. / C. H. B. Marsham, of Keat, is mentioned' as a likely captain of the team to Australia. Jackson will not' take the position. MacLaren has not yet returned' from India, and Fry's leg prevents Mitt playing regularly, so % that he is hardly likely to make the trip. E. H. Spooner, the brnHant Lancashire bat, will be unable to play regularly this summer, having more important matters than cricket to attend to. His absence may prevent his inclusion in the M.C.C. team for Australia. "W. G." has suggested that international cricket matches be played between Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In the past there has been no regular trial of strength between the nations, and dhiiculties are plentiful, but such a series of matches would be interesting, and good for the game. M. W. C. Sprott, who played for the Wellington College Old Boys* Cricket Club, and -who is a son of the Rev. T. H. Sprott, of Wellington, has made a name for himself already in his first year at Cambridge University. Playing for the Peterhouse team against Trinity College, the New Zealand freshman, says London "Sportsman" of the 2nd May, took five Trinity wickets for nine runs. Sprott proved a "surprise packet," for he wart on at a late stage of the game. "That Eanjitsinhji, despite the probability that he win never again be able to play for Sussex, sfcHl retains the greatest interest in the County's cricket is shown by the fact that the committee have recently received from him a letter offering a. donation of 200 guineas. (Cricketers will agree that it is natural •to associate those figures with his name.) Half the amount will form his first annual' subscription, whilst the . remainder will commemorate his installation to the throne of Jamnagar."—"Cricket."

The South African cricketers have commenced their tour eplendvily, their record up to the present being as good as The .footballing fellow-colonists. L. O. S. Poidevin, discussing their success and the comparatively stationary position of the game in this colony, says:—Not so very long ago South Africa was regarded as a sort of picnic ground for our holiday cricket teams, very much the same way that New Z aland and other places are to-day. A few good cricketers and a few good fellows were all that was needed to make a team strong enough to give honourable battle to our colonial friends. It will be readily conceded, therefore, that Soafch African cricket ha 3 made a very rapid advance in recent times. Indeed a few seasons back perhaps South Africa and New Zealand might -well have been matched, and, according to our view of affairs, the result would have been an equal chance. How do matters stand to-day? The' New Zealnders simply would not be in it! The odds against them are unlimited. Not that they lack keenness in Maoriland; on the contrary, they are extraordinarily enthusiastic about cricket. They get good professional coaches over from England, and they try their best in other ways, but the fact remains that they cannot pick up the game to play it as, for instance, they do Rugby football. The standard of play in South Africa has gone up with remarkable rapidity, whereas in New Zealand, Queensland, and Scotland, for example, it has practically remained at a stanwtill for years. Inferentially, he lays the blame for our non-success on our practice wickets. He says: Any bit of ordinary turf with a few rollings is considered good enough for practice. What is the result? The batsmen, even the best players in their best form, too, go out for a little knock; they find the ball doing unexpected -things, and a few minutes is quite sufficient to undermine their confidence and put them right off their strokes. It is bad, too, for the bowlers. It 13.50 easy for them to make the ball do awkward things at the nets thai they get careless about their length and other

fluags -that count for co arach. match wickets. In other words, tie W? ' trast between the condition* at end match play is about as efc&^Sj "2; b^^ Pra * tice Ott the *»* »feLb is the best practice for aE kindi ofS' -ewckets, good and bad alike. ?w!f , p^iees on a »c* wicket «t S. even thou ? !l the -ffliSwicket be sticky; he goes on to thHi?* H ing where the baU comes aton? t£s", : *nd le advises everyone else to do^'