CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 122, 15 February 1908, Page 9

CRICKET.

: ... (Br Breaker.; , ' ENGLISHTEAM IN AUSTRALIA. New South Wales, at Sydney.—February 15, - ■ 17V and 18: • ". . ' ■ ■ Australia (fifth test), at Sydney—Februarv 21, 22, 24, and. 25. . :. ' South Australia, at Adelaide—February 29, ■ and March 2, 3, and 4. West Australia, at Perth—March-12, 13, 14, and 16.

The weather was again fine for the cricket on Saturday, aiid spectators wero present at tho Basin Reserve in good numbers. The somi-final round was advanced a further stage,' but although scoring was high there was iio exceptional cricket displayed. Tho umpiring was even worse, than the cricket:. .

On No. 1 wicket Potone resumed with tlireo for ■ 63. Thoy were still over 200 -runs behind. Isherwood, who had been batting well on tho first day, was run out after scoring a further 10. It should liavo been a decided "out," only Monaghan got flurried and appeared to lose the ball and knock tho wickets over with : his hands." There is room for doubt whether thbVumpiro who gave.tho 'decision could see "what had happened. . Isherwood, however, stated that ho thought lie was out. Taylor wiys also retired "run.out" in. a doubtful manner. Tho Pctono innings, which was interesting-to watch,.closed for 138.

. Old Boys in their second innings mado 214. Beechey top-scored with ,75 mado by vigorous "play.- He was caught by Brice earlier in his innings, but'lie got the benefit of the decision. , ' '. • '

Birch was foolishly run out after having mado a careful 17. Tucker played steadily for 2d. Ho' was very unfortunato in being given, out, as ho.did not hit,tho-ba11.,; Lomax showed somo nice pulls in' making :30, and J. P. Blacklock got out with,a tired'stroke after, having scored 26. C. P. Blacklock, Monaghan,M'Lean,. M'Gill, Mason, and Jacobs also startedl

; '-The last , wicket 'of .Old- Boys fell at'the call of . time," and Potone liavo tho tall task of making 350 runs to win. , , '

Mason .' howled best for Old Boys, and Cobcroft," with six for 49, finished with good figures'for Petone;' ~ ' .

Tho game was remarkablo for tho feeling displayed.. .Sundry;umpires', decisions were freely , and indiscreetly, criticised and players ■should remember that if it : is wiso, or necessary to indulge in criticism, such indulgence should tako place in tho club rooni only. Mass meetings do not help ;to-popularise tho game. ' ' . f

on No.- 2 wicket Midland had- mado 52 for -two . wickets. •. Wynyard, and Wightou, ; resumed'and carried the score to survived an.appeal'.early ;ii) his-innings.Ho was especially lucky, as ,ho had./started, to Walk to .the dressing room. ' V ; -

Wynyard mado a useful G5. 'Beyond tho drivo he lias -no strokes worth- mentioning, but he certainly - drives : hard. . . His J innings probably decided the result of the' g'amo. Ac this timo Nash was bowling nicely ; and-none-of the other bowlers -that -had,'.been tried looked like-getting .wickets. ...Patrick's innings was tho most remarkablo oLthe side. Hales missed. an easy ono from him b.eforo his scoro' liad reached double figures. • V."',--lumps of luck Patrick continued, and he was not out-..with 107-. ... . L'liijaui y. ~i ' -i; sounder cricket for 58,: although when Quinn went on lietied both l.plum :uiu I'&uW- >'« a knot. Quinn only .bowled eight-'ovcrs. His : bowling was easily the best for his side; but this cannot bo said, for his a.vcrago,'.-th'o reai;sun„ being', that "numerous.•!' ,chances-.-jvere dropped off-liim. Ho should-have been tried much earlier than; lie was; but't-ho Wellington sido seemed demoralised as soon as its total bad been passed. Fisher's fielding, in particular, -was sad. Midland finished with 053, and therefore'they have an advantage. Thero were-two-interesting items in the Gas match., When Gas Co. innings was completed, tho two retiring batsmen had each reached the contury. This is unusual in Wellington cricket. On the other hand Newtown batted four substitutes, and the side was'oven then ono riian short.

A team. was, selected to go to Auckland, but as onoor/twn'.nlen could not got away, tho game lias boon; abandoned. 'Tho picking of Connolly for tho'Auckland trip was a remarkablo move oir the part of tho selection committee. Here we have a man who is not 'eligible, for club cricket- and who. has not played in any of the senior games, but is c'; sen 1 to represent tile province, By the-same argument, if 11 Connollys came to Wellinrr. ton at. tho .same-time as' this one did, they would all-'havp been chosen to reprc-Renr ilington against Auckland, and local cricketers, perhaps, would then realise the position. Andther-thing that would take a lot to explain away to a follower, of tho gamo was the non-inclusion of Waters. This player has been, batting consistently : well, right through 'the . season,- and) yet''ho ', was - not' '-'selected amongst the 12. , -' •

. I am informed that'the third-class players aro-discussing 'tlie'splitting up of the competition into' two-sections; .A' arid B, with a view'to the two Section winners pliiving off in March or thereabouts; A similar system was to havo}'applied, to tho juniojr' championship, but it is' unders'toood 'that -it' was recently abandoned, having • been- discovered' to• bo illegal, the rule: awarding tli'o championship on' points not;.havir.g been repealed. If this bo' so, the section system'will," presumably,'also be ultra , vires for the third-class, championship. . WEDNESDAY COMPETITION. ■; Tho representative match between the Wednesday - Association , and Horowhemia Association '.teams provided, a-very interesting and well-fought game on Wednesday, and one which Was much -enjoyod by both teams. Batting first, Horowhehua made a most unlucky start, but Windloy and Parata' mado a stand which added 36 runs.to the total,.and-Terry, with what was,; perhaps, the best played,'innings of tlio-day, producing 54 runs to his own credit, assisted by-, a useful 16 by Rawiri, brought the total up'to 140. Wellington commenced'badly,, losing A. C. Pearce and A. Mooro for 1U runs. The rest of thoso who batted collared tho visitors' bowling and atdrawing time tho total was 19G for seven wickets. A pleasing , feature of tlio game was tho catching and ground fielding of tlio visitors, who, in these departments, most certainly,lost;nothing by comparison .with the homo v team.; A good wicket and' a 'perfcct cricket day added to the general enjoyment; ..arid it is to bo hoped that maiiy such contests will take place between the two associations.- Thero, is cricket talent in tho team which played on . Wednesday, and matches played under tho better all-ryimd conditions cannot but, havo the .effect of sustaining tho interest of tho country players in- the game. THE VALUE OF FIELDING. A correspondent, "Ex-Australian," writes an interesting letter as follows:—I think everybody will agree with mo when I say that fielding-.is.a' most important department in the game. Yet, how often do you see a batsman score 50, or . even'2o,. runs without giving an easy chanco? Very seldom. It often happens that "a batsman is 'missed'before ho. reaches double figures! and ho frequently ends up by making a big score. One cannot help noticing Saturday after Saturday, tho number of easy catches missed by different players. I attributo this.weakness.chiefly to tho fact that players do not get sufficient, if any, ground practico prior to a match, which practice - ; is most - essential'-.both to old and young cricketcrs, if they are desirous of becoming - expert in' this department of tlio game. ■ Certainly a great many playors-in-dulge'in net practico during the week, but where .does fielding practice come''in hero? Thoro may be .20 players on-the'Basin lie-; serve, .with tlireo nets.between tlieni, and two or tlireo balls to each not., ; Each net. lias a batsman, and all :tho rest are bowling or wasting time.by standing about waiting for their turn to bat, after which they invariably leave tho ground; but as for going into the country and getting soino ' fielding practice, tho thought never enters their heads./ The average player is satisfied if ho can make 20 or 30, runs every Saturday, but never thinks of th 6 number of runs bo gives his opponent by missing catches or lotting tlio ball.slide away;to tho boundary-lino for 4 or more, when no run should have resulted. Not practico is right enough where thero are only a few players a'vailablo, but" it has many disadvantages, especially on the practice, wickets on tlio Basin' Reserve which aro'-'prac-tically' in - their "natural state." honce the

batsman cannot hit half the balls sent down, as they will either bump over his head, shbot, or conio in somo other unnatural way that he misses them time after time, and eventually loses confidence in "himself and is tempted to hit at every ball lie'receives, tho result being that . lie; does .himself.'; more harm than good. Then, again, the bowler, wether lie.be slow, fast, of otherwise, .usually bowls away with one object, vizT, to hit the sticks. In fact he invariably alters his stylo of bowling by experimenting in "leg theory," or "off theory," etc., when he is a medium or fast bowler. This should be evidence that net practico here is, to a. great extent injurious to tho batsman and the bowler and it deprives players of- their fielding practice. Cricket in Wellington would bo greatly improved if tho local association could adopt practico without nets._ Of course this suggestion only'-, applies. to the. senior clubs, and the difficulty should bo easily overcomo if a meeting wero called to go into the matter.' The course ! would suggest to practice would bo for each senior club to bo allowed tho.'use of ; one, match' wicket on the Basin. Reservo for'two nights a week,, say Tuesday and Thursday, which .would give the groundsman timo to touch' it up for Saturday. Let the batsmen-go to'the wicket in their order as usual, only lia'vo one at each end, and let tho other available .players take up their positions,'iii the field just as if they wore . playing a /match, and at the samo tiine giro each bowler a few ; overs practice. I'feel ■confident, that-it would bo t-lio.means of greatly improving our fielding and bowling. Our bowlers would' bowl in their natural way, and wo "might also ''.unearth some now bowling talent. ' Our batting would bo improved, •as each batsman wpuld bo more cautious than at, tho ' nets,; and - also, show : his strokes off to bettor, advantage.,,', ~

• Georgo Gunn was out l.b.w. .in his thnp ■first, innings on'.;tho Melbourne Cricket Ground.

'Test match crickot is reported to have improved W. W. Armstrong's form all round. His fielding is now ; much quicker than it was in tho first Test match, and his running be-tween-wickets is also milch smarter.

j. Hardstaff is the first batsman of the season to , reach an aggregate of 1000 runs in first-class matches,, his record to date being 1072, at an average of 03 per innings. Hir, batting has been'ias astonishingly consistent as it is prolific—46,1135. 0, 95, 53, ,71, 9, 12, 63, 34. 12, 19, 61, 72,! 66, 85, 106, 121, and 12.

Tho boot camo into prominence as an auxi-liary-to a few ~of tho. New. South Wales fieldsmen against Victoria, says tho "Referee." There occasionally , comes a timo. when the foot- may bo used good-'judgment, more especially when one;is trying to intercept the bal oil the fringo of ii concrete sloped cycling track.But in several instances members of tho New South Wales , team-would have dono better to have stooped, quickly and gathered in tho ball with tho hand. • ■ SUMMARY OF TEST MATCH RESULTS. 'i ■ : ■ . 0. '• Jj •• ' -E, .. '. ',2 •■ ■ • p g -3 •- a . ■ 'f-i ;@t - ; g| ■ 1 ■■' I?/ Pi 'A ' H . Melbourno .. 1877- 7 '10 2 19 ' Oval last) 7 1 3 11 Sydney 1532 '• 9 10 ' 0 19 Manchester.. 1884 3 2 3 8 .lord's 183-1 ■ 4- .2 3 9 ■ : Ad?laidc ..... 1884 .2 5 0 7 . Nottingham.. 1899 1 0 1.2' Leecls v: 1899 0 0 2.2 Birmingham. 1902 0 0 / 1 1 Sheffield ..... . 1902 0 1 0 1 ;iila-»Astralia.-. 1877 19 25 2 43 ,In England ~ 1880 15 6 13 .34 34 31 15 80