SPORTING BRIEFS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 128, 26 February 1940, Page 8

SPORTING BRIEFS

Australia's leading batsman and; bowler. D. G. Bradman and W.- J. O'Reilly respectively, ran true to • form in this season's Sheffield Shield matches. Bradman (South.* Australia) headed the batting averages with 132.7, scoring 10G2 runsfor eight completed innings. Hisnearest rival was L. Hassett (Victoria) with an average of ,68.6. O'Reilly (New South Wales) was theleading bowler with 52 wickets at a cost each of 13.55. Incidentally,, O'Reilly brought his total number of wickets in Sheffield Shield crickct past the 200 mark. The onlyothers who have taken 200 wickets or more are C. V. Grimmett, L. Fleetwood-Smith, H. Ironmongerand E. Jones. « * « » The groundsma who prepared theOval for the first fully representative cricket match between England 1 ' and Australia, appropriately named" John Orr, has died at Tottenhamwhen nearly 90. In that 1880 match W. G. Grace scored 152, and when" Australia followed on, W. L. Murdoch hit 153 not out. England won by five wickets. Over made Tottenham Hotspurs pitch in 1898, and" kept it in order for more than 3(V years. Soot was the only "dope"" used in John Over's day, yet he produced wickets which, as the scoresbear witness, would compare favourably with those.of modern times - - * » w • .Jack Dempsey. former world' heavy-weight boxing champion, who» earned the equivalent of more thai* £500,000 and became "broke'" sixyears ago,, is on the way to becoming a dollar millionaire again. ' Friends say that his va"\ms enterprises have ,already made him thepossessor of three-cjuarlers of that amount —750,000 dollars (£150,000 at par). Dempsey lost his hcavj'weighf title in September, 1926. to Gene Tunney, who has kept, the he made in the ring. Dempsey trjfnj to take it back in 1927 and faileSTT Later he tried to stage a "comeback," which ingtoriously ended'" with a defeat by King Levinsky. * * « • Although he has been racing for three months only. L. Williams, of" the Matamata Amateur Cycling Club, has shown exceptional ability the grass tiacks in the Waikato. His win in the one mile championship at the Paeroa sports was gained after a hard ride on a heavy ? . rain-sodden track. He w?s closely Dressed by J. Wooller. of Tauranga, who won all three Waikato titles on his home track in 1939. Williams won two events at Te Awamutu on Anniversary Day. and, as he defeated J. V. Martin, late of Christehurch, and J". A. Robertson, North Island road champion at that meeting, particular inter?®* attached to his performance at Paeroa.