REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET

Chronicle (Levin), 17 February 1949, Page 7

REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET

"Not Out")

Satnrday's Match With P.N. In Retrospect

(By

as tnere was no senior eompetition on Saturday, I am taking the opportunity of considering the merits of the various players who represented Horowhenua against Manawatu B. After the fall of the second Horowhenua wieket, the visiting players were certainly on top and the local players appeared in a very sorry light indeed. Prom this match it would appear that the representative team was a very weak one, but those of us who have followed cricket know that such is not the case. The poor performance was: due to practically all players hav-j ing an ofT day. j No one could do anything right.j Dome, who opened with RiceJ played an excellent knock. Per-, haps now the selectors realise their error in not including him in their, orig'nal seiection for the trip to' Dannevirke. His only slip of the day was the catch he dropped. , There is no excuse for dropping catches but then again, he had; many iviends on Saturday. Rice, the Horowhenua skipper, did not have a very good day. Ke was un- : lucky in the first innings in goingi out l.b.w. He played a defensive shot to a good ball but the pitch made it a world beater by turning it into a "shooter." I think that perhaps the placing of the field could have been improved — not the ' position but the men who were in the positions. Barraud is the best1 slip man in the district and should ' always field in that position. Mc- : Neile as the mid-off position stood I flat footed all day. An early ! change there may have improved' matters. McNeile, playing his first rep. match for this association, im- ' pressed as far as his batting is, concerned, but unfortunately his j fielding is poor. As a batsman | makes his stroke every fieldsman, should be on his toes. ' Galloway, a prolific scorer in ' club cricket this season, failed toi return form. Usually a keen fields- 1 man, one who fields rapidly and cleanly and returns smartly, on j Saturday he let one or two balls; past and all day seemed to have;, difficulty in gathering in the ball1 cleanly. G. Sciascia is having a| bad patch, both his batting and , 'keeping being below the standard he usually displays. As long as hei does not let this passing lapse; worry him, I am sure he will 1 return to the form we all know. K. Hudson has not had enough cricket since coming out of hospital to put him back to his old self. In his batting lately, he has shown a little indecisiveness which only leads to an early return to the pavilion. Ryburn, playing his first rep. game, appeared to be suffering from nervousness. He did not get. over the ball and show the confi-j dence he does in club cricket. Carmont, a good club man and one who always gives of his best, I mentioned in last week's notes. , Barraud, Saunders and Harris were j included as bowlers and only scored 10 runs between them in two visits to the crease. I

And now for the bowlers. K. Hudson came out with the best average, two for 23, but on the day, Harris was the best bowler as far as the local players were concerned. He did not have the field backing up his attack, otherwise he would have had a better average than two for 53 off 18 overs. He would be a better bowler still, if when things go against him, he could smile and say, "It's only a game. Better luck next time." Rice, after his excellent form at Dannevirke, couM not repeat the cffort. He appeared to bowl too many bowls outside the leg stump. Saunders and Barraud took one for 37 and one for 36 respectively without at any stage looking impressive. Carmont and Ryburn were both given a turn at the bowling crease but neither could stop the rate of scoring or breach the Manawatu partnership. These notes are probably dismal reading and it was a dismal day for Horowhenua cricket but followers will not be perturbed for they will realise as I have said before that the team was having an off day and next time are quite capable of reversing the form. We all wish them well in future engagements. The umpires for the fixture were G. France and K. DeCastro.