CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 764, 12 March 1910, Page 13

CRICKET.

[Bt The Bebixeb.]

If Warwick Armstrong wishes to settle in the Dominion in the position of coach, well and good. But that is no reason why he should throw dust in people's eyes by stating (in direct contradiction to tho Australian manager) that Dominion cricket is improving. Like Rugby football, and other branches of sport, it is going back—very distinctly back, arid tho man who comes with the politician's set string of platitudes to "tickle the cars of the groundlings" is no true friend of any strenuous human activitysport or work. Perhaps Armstrong will pardon the statement that he might easily push his claim as a coach here .githout descending to this kind of thing. Xricket in the Dominion is not improving. The three matches of the eighth round of the senior cricket championship, which wore commenced a fortnight ago, will be concluded this afternoon, at the Basin Kesßrve. The round may prove the final of the championship, but, in any case, the. four matches of the ninth round opened on suburban grounds, last week will bo finished uoxt Saturday. - It is to be regretted that so many postponements of championship matches, have occurred, because at this late stage, thoughts of the coming winter and its sports are springing up, with the result that interest in cricket is - lessening. Next season, the Wellington Cricket Association will be bettor equipped 1 with grounds, and delays 'such as have occurred this season will then be inexcusable.. Dissatisfaction was expressed in certain quarters at the allotment of grounds for tho matches last Saturday. Tho Hutt team, which has struggled along gamely, and has done t well in keeping a senior eleven in the field throughout the season, ielt a certain degree of. annoyance at having to play! at Petone. ; There appears to'be some; cause for the protest which they have sent in to the association. The Petone Recreation Ground has only, one wicket which can' reasonably lav claim to being fit for senior grade matches, and this , wicket was allotted to tho match, East B and College. ' The Championship Committee visited the Hutt Recreation Ground, and representations ■ were: inada that No. 2 wicket there should be used for . the Hutt-Petone -match, in spite, of the fact that the boundaries were narrow.; The committee proceodcd-to Petone (so• the Hutt, people:■ allege),, and inspected; the second. wicket there - in dim light;; subsequently -./deciding that, tho .match should be played at Petone.' ■Tho result was that'four .members of the Hutt team had. to be .marked "absont" in . the score-book .when the match ,£<% played. ; Having no. .fast bowlers, .jtutt ;made only a...feeble attack when jPetpne\went. to the- lyickets, and when i their/ turnl came tho -batsmen were: down by Briee and Joyce.' ' '' . ■ _By the way,, Brice ought to be in tho Aew--. Zealand;, team;;:according -to Keif, the English .crack,'; who' ,: left. Wellington -is week • lor the Old Land,. remarked on the very weakness of the team' on:the'bowling 6ide. "Five, or six weeks .without; a came seems to have taken all the keenness out of a season Which is in the last stages oi decomposition, remarked a cricketer in explaining the absentee blanks in both teams playing on Potone No. 1 ground, ijast B had oniy nine men, and all of them were not "regulars," whereas College were without the services of Poster, P h iZ PSey ' Ward - and Griffiths, and hau three emergencies'. , The wicket was true at the beginning but very slow. The ball hung, and the r£ suit was a number of soft retches, batspiayln i B th ? ball to ° MM- M'Gill, of East B, played the best innings of the ™ was, content with singles for the post part, but played steady, patient 116 £ a ? e a chance in the slips innings y " lmme ' 21 ) played a good

College_ batting was . far below standard, wler f e °°d fifiures. Although Miller took seven wickets for 10 runs, ho was .'not bowling at alldanger?A" < s nmmott,.who got two for 17 in the first innings, and two for 2 in the second, kept :a good length with his slows. . I . Kndlay, the. Wellington College "express, was-.bowling better , than previou? season in senior cricket. He got three wickets for 39. Several chances were missed:! oft his bowling. Stainton, another recent recruit from Wellington College, got; two- for 20. He has alood reputation for batting, but he seemed to have caught: the "rot" infection, last Saturday. •, • In.the'match East A v. North, played on the Hutt Eecreation Ground, Tucier won-the toss and decided to bat. but whether his .decision was wise or not remains to boiseen. as the wicket and out held were very dead. Consequently the rata of Kormg ivas slow, only 170 runs being put on during the whole of tho afternoon. . j

At one enil of the wicket "shooters" were'plentiful, while at the other end the ball stood up" in remarkable style. Dickson and Midlane both batted very carefully, thfe fir&t.lO runs taking an hour to obtain. Dickson, who batted soundly l° r . ly s 21. jwas brilliantly caught, by Phillips at mid-off, Midlane went 6oon after—caught off his- pads. Mahony "scratched" 14, and Berner found the wicket too slow for him. He had finished his stroke long before the ball that-bowled him hit the wicket. Tucker batted solidly right through, despite a,nasty knock from a rising boll early in his innings. He 'laid the wood on to anything loose, while his defence was sounder than usual. Hutchings went for thfe bowling. His partnership . with •Tucker added 36 runs, of which he claimed 26. . ,:|

Of the , bowlers, Twohill secured the best average; nnd bowled very steadily, although it must be said that the wicket helped him. j At one time his average read 10 8 maidens, 1 wicket, i runs. Finlayson was erratic, but bagged three wickets', The ball which ho . got Mahoney with was a beauty, beating the batsman all . the way. North's fielding was good, and Williams kept wickets in something like his old style. He should, however, keep a keener eyo on his field, as 6moking in the slips is not good form.

In their match against Central, which was commenced on the Athletic Park last Saturday,, South only managed to complete an even century. . They had a woak team, ,Cobcroft, Taylor, M'lCny, and Tilyard being absent, and Vara and Patrick were lost for only eight runs. South oponed the innings with Burton and Varo. The latter taking strike to Laws shaped and looked like making a score, however, he played Miller's second ball back to him, and had to retire without achieving so much as a single. Burton jwas rather scratchy for the first few overs, but afterwards scored freely, making 13 off five strokes. Ho then played one back to Hawthorn, and retired with 18 tij his credit.

Dind followed, .and played vigorously from the start. ; After hitting up 26 (top score) ho was nicely caught by Birch off Hawthorn. Spiith came in to hit, and with soven sttokes registered eleven runs and then placed the leather into ICinvig's hands at 1 slip. Suckling was also on the hitting racket, and banged, away regardless of chances until Kinvig broke through' his defence—at' 25, Hawthorn secured fivo

wickets for 30—a creclitnbio average, and the best for 1 his match—and Kinvig and Miller secured two each. Central commenced their innings with Naught on and Birch, the former taking strike to Patrick. Scoring became fast until Schmoll accepted a catch from Naughton off Patrick, when tho latter had scored 14. Birch was partnered by Beechy, and both batted merrily. Dind now replaced Patrick, and the chango proved effective, Beechy being caught off him by Johnson, for 12. . Guthrie was put on in Smith'B place, but without result, as Hickson and Robcrtß had settled down to work, and scored as they liked.

Numerous changes were made, with the same bowlers it is true, but tho bowling, with the exception of Dind's deliveries, was without variety. Johnr son had only two ovors, which cost 12 runs. Vare was not given a chance, although he is credited with having secured over 60 wickets for three successive soasons in Queensland at a cost of six runs per wioket, In form, ho should certuinly prove of service to crickct in Wellington. . lirio Barbour has so far found it hardly more difficult to make runs in inter-Stato than in school cricket, says the ■ "Referee." Last season on his first appearanoe for New South Wales ho scored 10 and 0. This season ho has twice appeared, scoring 13, 124 (not out), 82, and 160. Unlike many young ones starting in first-class cricket, he bats with confidence and soundness from tho start, and leaves the more difficult, and therefor© ■ more risky, strokes until he has obtained a good sight of the ball. Mr. "Sundries" has scored heavily against tho /Australians in New Zealand, viz., 37 at Wellington, 38 at Auokland, and 70 at Christchurch. Apparently- C. E. Gorry and N. Dodtls havo not mastered the pace of the slower wickets over there, In the latest match at Christchuroh there wore 35 sundries in each innings, N, Dodds the wicket-keeper. The "Referee." Questioned at Dunedin about the prospects of a South African team in tie colonies Mr. Mackenzie, manager of the Australian team, said: "What Bhall ono say when the experts disagree? Gregory is said to have expressed the opinion that they will beat us in Australia, and Hill is said to hold. the_ opposite viow. I can only talk tentatively. In the first place, they play on matting wiokets, and there is the question how our fast turf .wickets will suit them. But I think that i_f they get sufficient time to practise on our wickets, - they* will not present great difficulties to them. Then we know that they havo some fine batsmen, and some wonderful bowlers of the Bosanquet type, who have mastered the problem of keeping a length to a greater extent-than cither Australian or English cricketers." Mr. Mackenzie shook his head. "I can't say; all I know is. that the visit will create the most intense interest."

In' view of tho approaching. test matches the performances of those who have played for New Zealand, including the matches played in tho Australian tour in 1899, are of considerable interest. Tho figures are as follow Batting. Runs. Inns. Avge. A. B. Williams (Well) ... 186 5 37.2 J. Baker (Otago) ............ 415 13 31.9 L. Cobcroft (Cant.) 227 8 28.3 Hugh Lusk (H,8.) ' 383 ■ 14 27.3 C. Richardson (Well.) ... '163 6 27.1 D. Reese 1 , (Cant.) ...: 432 16 27.0 W. Pearce (Cant.) ......... 161 6 26.8 K. Tucker (Woll3 285 11- 25.9 A. Haddon (Auck.) ....... 102 '' 4 25.5 J. Mahoney (Well.) ...... 174 7 21.8 E. V. Sale (Auck.) ....... 95 4 23.7 L. A. Cuff (Cant.) 177 8 22.1 H. De Maus (Cant.) 165 8 20.6 A. E. Ridley . (Cant.) .... 82 -4 - 20.5 Bowling. . - Avge. W. Pcaroe (Cant.) 9 for 173 19.2 K. Tucker (Well.) ...... .'4 for. '78, 19.5' W. Robertson. (Cant.)...' 18 for 405 22.5 D." Reese'(Cant.) ;i;' 15 for' ; 4oo 26.6 A.'Downes (Otago) ....'.;- 29 for 780 • ,26.8: E. Upham .■(We11.)'....... 41 for 1125 27.4 A. H. Fisher (Otago)...' 19 for 526 27.6 K. Ollivier (Caiit.) ...... 6 for 245 . 40.8 F. S. Frankish (Cant)... 15 for 594 39.6 S.' T. Callaway (Cant.) 14 for 609 43.5 J. H; Bennett (Cant) ... 6 for 291 49.0 As a result of their first four matches in :New, Zealand the avorages of the Australian :;,team. : are as follow ;— . '. , ' Batting. ; ' ■''■■ • v 11 - I - ■• ■.5 ~g J g ". ! a SI § A Armstrong ........... G 1 149 315 63.0 Maync' ................. 7 1 136 354 59.0 Bardsley : 7 2 56 165 33.0 Warne- .'. 2 0' 54 63 31.5 Kelleway 5 0 51 125 25.0 Emery 5 2 50 68 22.6 Simpson 6 0, 51 118 19.6 Smith ;.. 6,1 49 85 17.0 Dodds ■ 5 0 51 84 16.80 Whitty 4 1 10 23 7.6 Gorry 3 1 -11 14 7.0 Facoy: . 2 0 ; 5 ■10 5.0 Hopkins .3 0 2 3 1.0 Bowling. s 4 i m 9 • © d g -3 <3 2 •« o .a m ? < Warno ...» 17 6 40 5 8.0 Whitty 121 43 285 26 10.9 Emery ........... 74. 14 275 17 16.1 Kelleway ......... 40 8 106 5 21.2 Armstrong 83 18 283 13 21.7 Hopkins 46 13 .114 5 22.8 Facey 25 5 79 3 2G.4 Simpson 19 9 37 1 37.0