LORD HAWKE'S TEAM.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11502, 7 February 1903, Page 7

LORD HAWKE'S TEAM.

MATCH AGAINST CANTERBURY

Whatever foundation there may be for the charge that our enthusiasm for the English national game has died out in New Zealand, or has at any rate eunk to a..VCry low ebb, the attendance at Lancaster Park yesterday chawed that lovers of the game here still have a warm corner in their hearts for the champions of the Old Land. If the standard of play in New Zealand has foiled to reach the eminence attaintd by the playeis of England and Australia, tue blame is not wholly with the cricketers tuemselves. In a limited and ecattcred population like we have in this colony, the ganw is practically confined to those who are only able to indulge in the pastime outeide of ordinary business hours. It can hardly be expected, then, that eucb players should become as proficient with bat and ball oa those from tha Old Country, wher* the existing conditions enable a very large number to play six. days a week. AH the more credit ie due, therefore to the votaries of U>2 same in New Zealand ior their enterprise in getting out the team of English amateurs that we caw at Lancaster Puik yesterday. The project has not been carried , to a successful issue without a considerable amount of troublejjh the part' of the cricket autnoritiefc. anti an overcoming of difficulties that seemed at tin** insurmountable. Air F. C. Kapbael, the secretary of the N.Z, Cricket Council, could adubtlea tell a tale of letters and cablegrams aiunost innumerable passing to and fro before the visit of Lord Hawke'e team n-aa an accomplished fact, and to his per* severance the tour is very largely due. It would be no exaggeration to cay th*t no previous cricket match in Chrietchurch has aroused so much interest a* the preeenv one. From the very start of the negotiauons between the Cricket Council.and Lord Hawke. the proposed. visit found favour 'with the cricketing public, and for weeks past the same expectant public have be*n reminded of the present contest.by the almost daily reports of matches played by our visitors in other parts, W. Warner and hie men are fair samples of English county playeis, and the team as a whole is equal to a good average county eleven at Home. Several members of the team ore amongst the foremost of English batsmen. C. J. Bumup, the Kentish crack, made over 2000 rune last season, being eighth in the list of English averages, with 39.38 for 62 completed inninge. Another batsman who takes a front rank is T. L. Taylor, Yorkshire, who ha» been one of the champion county's most reliable batsmen. P. F. Warner, Middlesex, who captains the team, F. L. Fane, Essex, and E. M. Doweon, Surrey, each had an average of over 30 last season, and are in the forefront of English batsmen. When to these are added such recognised exponents of the game as Bosanquet, Middlesex, P. It. Johneon, Cambridge • University, and the two professionals, Hargueave and Thompson, it will be seen that the team is a fairly formidable combination. The .weaibher wae none too promising yesterday morning, and many anxious glances were turned' to the sou-west. from which quarter a iheavy wind blew, behind it being a krwerang bonk of cioucK Before play started, however, the wind had iih&oged 'to the nanth-eoet, and tihougih an overcast sky prevented an ideal cricketing day, the weather feipt fine, and , tnev IJgjht' thjpaglhoTit was all fcirat could be desixid'. There was a very iange attendance of (he public, hondTeds olf people coining in by die 010x01112 trains from the country, and it must have been as gratifying as it was unusual for the officials to see mich a crowd litfing the ground—4o say noth ing of the fact t)ha& both 'jitasidfe were full. The sum of £262 15s ww taken, And' as thevo were 281 tickets presented at the gate, the attendance (must have'been -well over 5000. The onlookers were en&hiusiastic, but tihor-. onglbly impartial in their applause. The arrangements on the ground we#o as complete as ooudd be desired, with perhaps one exception. Titbit was the board , showing the names and score* of the piarene. Tibia woe ©Vtogether too. small, pud tfhe names and figures, were to olosa together to be eeen at the far side of the ground. The inside edge of t&e, old troUiing track was the playing and iMu was raped 'off exociplti in front of the t/vrc> stand enclosures. The spectators were uhue enabled to get- a closer view of ting play than tihey. (jet from the terraces. An exceEoni scoring card—or rather booklet—published -by jklcKeo and Co., of Wellington, was on sale. Tfoie gave photographs and performances of all the Englishmen, in addition to the usuaA scoring pages. ■ The pky itself was of a thoroughly interesting nature. The firat ipair of EngiHwh 'baitenseE—Jbotlh thorough masters of the art af battiDg—got thoroughly ee<t, and soon jrave the onlookers a little ineiyihit into the difference between English and Canterbury ba&tiaig. Not that it wae sensational It was simiplv sound and discriminating to a degree, 'i'he balls to b? played, and those ik> be liiA-, <weve separated \rkk a quiokness and that betokened tlie master haltsmon, and' to be hit rarely esoaped .the puniishmeint they deserved, very frequently going straight io tihe boundary, exowpt -when a field«man happened to be in the way. When the total was well over the hundred wSlh tihese two going strongly the onJooke» began to wonder whet the end of it was going; to be. As an exSiibition of battin? it wae all that could be desired .tout it was certainly looking a bit one-«rided.. However, after menifcy two houra' play, the fieMiog side took a turn at being on top. . Both men Jeft within ten mintites of one anotiher, and as a trio of redoubtable batsmen in the person of Fane, Doiwsoo, and Bosonquet were di«trnased toy eplenddd asMtes, and' Johupon was dean bawled by Oal&uway, ali wMiin ihaCf an hour, the game had token a startling turn, itnstead of being 120 far no wiekrte it wob now 185 for six. After this,.however, the btuttang side forwd further and funkier ahesul. Tayfor and Thompson hod.tihe bowling completely collared at IJ3ie finish, tihe totalt being 262 for mx wickets. This although a formidable looking score ie nut co great considering the excellent wicket provided, and the quality of the batting. Tie pitch wae a reaily first-class one, end the Englishmen themselves admit Hh'eit A was so good that tihey should have been worth more rune on it. » • In dealing with the individual play, it may again be said that both Bumup and Warner save splendid exhibitions of sound and stylish batting. Bunmp'e was the better performance of the two. He • was

never in trouble to the bowling, and appeared to have the faculty ol knowing before the ball reached him exactly what to do and how to do it. He singled out the deliveries to be hit with commendable precision, and whether it was a cut, drive, hit to the on, or leg stroke, they were all executed in a stylish end forceful manner. His defence was' soundness itself. He met the bowling at its be«t, but the correctness of his strokes made the best balls look simple. Almost the same may be said of Warner. His batting, however, was hardly so uniformly sound as his partner's, and at times he was none too happy to some of Callaway's best bolls. All the same he gave a splendid exhibition of aggressive batting. Taylor, who ranks nexton the score sheet, quite sustained his reputation as being one of the best amateur batsmen in England. Although perhaps lacking the easy frrace and finis.!- of Burnup, his display was nevertheless a sound and masterly exhibition of the batsman's art* His cutting was clean and hard, and his driving along the csxprt was beautifully clean and well ta-ned.ThompsCai, who went in after

team had been disposed of, disappointed the fielding side by quickly demonstrating that so far ns he was coneernttl there would be but little if any falling off in the quality of the batting, and. one began to" wonder if there was to be any tail to the team. Ho gave the bowlero little chance of dislodging him, whilst he punished the loose bowling—of which there was * fair quantity during hie etay at the wicketft— in the most approved and vigorous style. Neither Dowson nor Bosanquet stayed long at tho but during their short ana merry career it could easily be seen that they were the hitters of .the teem. Dowson opened his uhoulders iii a way to suggest that the ball might easily be lost, and he got in some powerful strokes. It was in on endeavour to repeat the dose that a wonderfully, good catch by Orchard sent hhn back. Bosanqnet also got In some magnificent and telling drives before he sent a hot one back to CaUaway. Neither Fane nor Johnson etaytd long enough to enable one to gauge their capabilities. The former was smartly snapped up in the slios off a late cut, whilst Johneon played forward to a good length ball from Cillawav and completely lost it. ! On the Canterbury side Callaway easily carried off the honours in the bowling. From the start he kept a splendid length and direction, and as he varied his pace skilfully, Hie batemen never had hi* bowling really collared. Aβ showing the steadiness and precision of hie bowling, it may be mentioned that after a 3 and a single liad been scored off hi« first over, he thensent down eeven maidens in succession. His three wickets for 54 against iuch Ibatsmen, and on inch • perfect wicket, if a performance of which be may well be proud. Fnmkish kept his end going well, but suffered in comparison with tie Lancastrian. Hie direction appealed to be more erratic than usual, and ac the Englishmen hardly ever failed to punish hit leg bails, this blemish was brought into prominence. He varied his pace cleverly, however, and two of his three wickets were the result of this. His figures were three fo r 88. Four other bowlers were tried, but they only served to bring out more conspicuously the fact that the team is ehort of good trundlera. . The men did a good solid afternoon's work in the field. It Jacked the sureness of tneir splendid dsplay against Wellington. This may have been occasioned by the ence in the batting. Many of the strokes yesterday went with a force that the fieldsmen are quite unaccustomed to. The result was that although they rarely failed to stop them, they failed frequently to pick them up at the first attempt. All.the .same most of the men performed brilliantly at times. One thing they are to be .congratulated on. That was their capacity for holding catohes. Of the three catches made two were exceptionally good ones, and the only possible chance dropped was a hot return to the botfcer by Taylor when that batsman had mode only 8. THE VISITORS AT THE WIOKETB.

Warner having won the toss from Orchard, elected Jto bat, and the Canteibury men trooped on to the field with unusual punctuality. They were soon followed by Warner and Burnup to open the innings for the Englishmen Callaway, from the pavilion end and Frankish had charge of the bowling. A nice drive for three to Burnup, four for byes," and a lucky snick ti the English skipper for three', were responsible for sending the first figures on the board. With, the total at 18 Warner appeared to give a possible chance of stumping. The runs, almost entirely off Frankish, came steadily, Callaway sending down seven maidens in succession after his first over.' Warner then.sent him to the fine leg boundary, putting 40 on the board. Play was slow}, but* eveintually Burnup sent 50 up as the result of 65 minutes' play, Warner having 20 and Burnup 24. The Kentish crack then became more aggressive, a pretty stroke to the leg boundary sending 60 up. This resulted »v Reese taking the ball from Frankish, and four overs later Pearce relieved.Callaway. Warner hit his second ball—a full tossto the on for four, all run out, and a shortpitched one to the boundary in the same direction. ' Eighty went up, and 90 quickly followed, Reese's five overs having produced 19. The English skipper sent 100 up with a two ,to leg, tho last 50 runs only having taken 35 minutes to compile. Warner 44. Burnup 47. • -..Callaway' took the v ball Bninnp reached his half century with a drive for two. Warner followed suit by .driving Pearce twice to the boundary, and.a like stroke to Burnup made three fours and a-single in one over from the Midland trundle-r. Frankish relieved him, and a late cut to Warner sent Iso up. A similar stroke to Burnup, and Callaway in his pext over gained loud opplauee by bowling Warner. 126—1—57. An adjourn- ! ment was then made for afternoon tea. ! On .warning Face paaitneired Burnup, but tlie latter, alter adding six put an V.vv <>■£.« into Sims' hands at third man. -SS—-2— 65. TayioT, the renowned Yorkehiie bjt, was next, but soon lost. Fane, who, afj*r driving a full toss to the boundary, baok cut one sbarpfiy .into the, slip®, where Callaway' lurouight off o, sntt-rt catch. 138—3 —5; Dowwbn joined .Taylor,- and, opened with a late cut to the boundary; 140 up. Two magnific-at drives, to/ Dowson m Fronkish's next over saw 150 recorded. , The Surrey man opened his _4»uld«s to the next baE, and Orchard created quite a sennation by bringing off a mignificenrt. oatth law <$r.iwn alt, mid off. 152—4—13. = Bosunqutit f62awed, and twuce drove Calhvwwy. finely to the off boundary, sending 160 up. He then square out Fminkish Jar -4, and- ColIwway's next over he s»r* a ball crashing into the sight board, 170, being ; pieced on the board in quick jUtae! Calloway had his revemge next for Basaoquet *eni cne sharply bade to hian» «u>d though he fun-bled it 'more than once, he ultimately 'held it amidst the applause of the oolcokere.l73—s—l6. Johnson joined Tavlor, and with a, couple of drive* for 3 each, sent 180 up. Taylor sent a full toss sharply back <b Rj_nkis&i, who failed to take the catch, and in the nexfc over Callaway bowled Johnson with a beauty/ beating him all the wlay—lfco—frr-7—-the sesult of thrto hours' play. Thomrpson ym oeact, and .p-ay became slow, Both bowlero being well on the spot, and giving the batsmen little ohni-ce of scoring. Taylor sent the second oentnry up with a boundary to the on, the play hhving just three hours. D, Reese took tihe boll from Callaway, and Thompson with aaa» fine drives sent 210 up. The some batsman was chiefly responsible for sending 220 up, and Lawrence then relieved Frankieh. Both men were now scoring freely, and 230 quickly fbHtywed by 7M, were hoisted. Sims hod a turn with the ball, but the batsman made a jest of it, going out and meeting most of the balls on tlie full, and cotttinuing their course down the pitch. Time was soon aift«rwaads called, the score standing at 262 for six wickets. The following are <&c scores:—: LOBD HAWKE'S TEAK. First 'Innings. C. J. Burnup. 3_.H_l-233_2-l-ll.ai-11.12 414132, a Sims, b Frankish ... 65 P. F. Warner. 143311194211-4118111332448, b Callaway .... ... ... ... 57 F. L. Fane. 14. o Callaway, b Frankish ... 6 T L. Taylor, ISIIS-1112-41.3U_1U-111111 2221 not cut ... ... ... 60 E. M. Dowson, 4144, o Orchard, b Frankish ..."•- ... "... ... 18 B. J. T. Bosmque*, 4444/ o and b Csill*way ... ... „. ... 18 P. R. Johnson, 183, b CaUaway ... 7 E. J. Thompson, 13224811411112411, not out . ... ■" .., M Byes 423, leg byes 8112, wides 11 ... 17 Total for six wickets ... ... 263 The match .will be resumed at 11 o'clock this morning, and given fine weather there should be another large attendance.