CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 954, 22 October 1910, Page 12

CRICKET.

,7. .. ——4 — . ■ tßr The Breakib.] Old timers, who will bo down at the f■' ■ Basin V to-day to see Saunders ■, •at the j crease, .will probably .bo , disappointed, i :'«Kot that the formidableleft-h&nder ... v won't• tako wiokets,' or'- will -be hit all over .tho gi-ound, or'anything like that. ! ;. . Tlio fact is,that ho may/not bowl'at all. i . Jbr two weeks now ho has been bearing up against a muscular injury, sustained while working,' the..'cutter on the Basin, s , : and that' injury lias. been. gradually • gct- !'.-. . ting'worse. So he means to have, a rest to-day, or only to go on if badly wanted. Ho is hoping that College can manage l-.y without him .going on; but, of course, :if. Gollegq cannot manage, ho will take his 1 6haro of the attack. "•' - - '_ ?.■■■■ 'A Joyous Wednesday. 7 . Pleasure was writ over the faces of : ■ the .Wednesday. Imen : this -n-eek. They, - had unwonfcedly good wickets to bat on, •~~ v : and : their scoring showed that they were not slow in finding out that they were. p 7playing, on turf. that oould ' be" trusted. ;7.* s .Union's'.- opening-.-, effort (Waters 100,- ... 7 M'Gill 51) was ■as pretty; batting as aiiy 7 .7 "-cricket' Sybarite could 7wish7to watch.. > "7 . On other pitches, Jl'Eldowney and Wey- !*'• " o bourne also gaye, .exhibitions. Wey--7* ' V bourne's not-o;'t innings /. - particularly: ;. taught-.'the ; 'iVriusr'g' 7He seemed - to. know unerringly what/.-balls. to ' hit, •7 «nd. : what to. play, and, when, he did 'hit, !': 7. : . 'ttie ?old, -sombre, pickets the fence ('7 ; rattled.- Good wickets,; of course, are r7,':. -;the bowlers' eye-sore, but everyone -canj :7;.''7'iiot'be'suited, and the Knight of the. t.7':' Willow must have - his. : day , as . well, as [7 -. . tho Knight of the Pigskin.- • Towards 5 ; 7; ;-7; jo'clbck- a giod many of the .fast bowlers ; siad / .b(*ii taken off, ■ and'-the slow men r, 7.- < were - pegging. away,' endeavouring, to' jug|glo the batsmen'out. But of hardly any. ji, . «f tho latter could ; it be said that. ' . . : -7 lie . stepped to a twister, '-. - 7 And he somehow sort of, missed her, V: 1 - -i And she bailed him, and ho was— . Well bowled. (• 7.' The fact' seems to bo that- wo have, not 7 ;: -.' ■ yet : had the 7 hot 'weather - which makes i ' - hard wickets .that the slow leg-break k\V"? man loves. . Until tho suns of : summer :. . put V'juinp" .into, the ■ pitch, ;tho slow ... ' man "wheels them up" in Vain.

.Central A ;arid -South. ■; -/.V- /-./'.,;/';'.; X /l.When; a':team- keeps :its opponents;-in". ,: :.the' : field- for nearly, three/, hours,/-it. ;'cer-" .. tainryyshbuld iobtain.more than 70 -runs/; : -but the Wellington/South ;batsmen\were:' ,--.riiot.- able .'to put, -70 runs;- together;duringi/ -1 X&e/:time/. they were I/at /the., wicket" last" - Saturday, -afternoon, /for/ 'the -/;previous, //.week's'score of 42 runs' for no wickets .was; V; only,.increased, to 111. ', Up till tho; time ./that/the: fifth wicket fell there'/appeared . .:tb,,be, a-reasonable-chance of the team; /; (equalling/ the /scoroj'pf. Central ,A; . but;, ///.after / that, ; the /..team", 'was: hopelessly/ :;i/beaten.';:;: None-, of ./its members'; seemed- to ,' fliaVe'/any : idea -of .making, runs.' ; ;v'.They. , r.-.were apparently./satisfied/to, try "and save , the ./wickets and , let -the runs ■'■ come ;as ..■best they could, iand.it. was.surprising ;;<andj to-the spectators; rather tantalising). '-,/ that..'-the. ball -should; have been;allowed ;>•' to;hit, thejbat ,so;-continually,/instead' of /.-the bat hitting"the ball to;the boundary, ; -as; it*;should have; been; hit; time /and '-; again,-- for I dozens ;of i prime '.half-volleys'? ...,; .were/played; quietly back to. the bowler .or: /J;to;'jnid-off.;-/ ;//'/.,-.•"'/;/-//;//': : ';/'-- : ' : '.-' ;'.t''South lost the match, and deservedly,. '.. ibo, although Laws put in a bowling "performance worthy/of being/done; for: a ■,'; /^That say;-he .took .'.'.-': four --wickets for 14 runs -'during', tho/ afI"; ternoori, although the runs, knocked .off ■;'■ ids bowling /on -the / previous - Saturday ■ 'did: not make his- average ..read .quite; so for the whole, inninga. ..'/ ../'/.Some of the Central batsmen hit out .-'■'. merrily ..?ih / the -.-jbrief,. space „; that.-they". ,;' were at:tho wickets during'the/unfihished :. -second : innings;; / Bruce,'by being/twice '/.'' nbt;6ut in ; the match, foi'a.total; ( bf 39 .;; rrnns, - has' .secured a good :start i in.: the -/averages, ;ahd subh: a. fine/opening should, ;; -give';this'bateman,confidence.' ■./- "'-/ Summing up. on, the'match, it 1 must .be. /.'-Baid'" that,-, if the".batting;, of .the South -team iis ;.a- sample-of; what is. -produced ..;• under the district scheme, then it weiu , well" if ithe district'scheme knocked - ■ - on the : head. r /For it ■ wouldr.be folly/to :■;•■. expect; the / public;' to keep 'up.:. any: in- ;■': jierest in/the; sport ;if / they:; are offered -/no 'better exhibitions : .than" that given "' |y the South team last, Saturday. Many . Well&gten ' cricketers 'do ■ not seem /to a -batsman's duty."does not /.; end in. merely; keeping his ; wicket up, but '..•requires him; to get runs for his.; side as ; -quickly: as -he : can; with ; safety.;. At the .V-Tate that -:the; Wellington ;South ■- team ./were/'scoring last Saturday, .they would. ;."' itot -hav.e /got the-, necessary:, number' of /-runs to wm/on/thd first:innings until ; iabputß,30 'p.m., oven had they succeeded :'. :sin; keeping, the wickota up. /;/,/;:. ■

:; LCfaap^Wickets.' '. ~" V ;On Saturday last .at the jßasin there ..,:■.was,' on .the -wholejira tame: exhibition. of;. ..''cricket, and :a" visible, descent -from '■''-. the- ■,■■'■■ iform '■ shown 'on' opening day; Above- all,' ;,\ it :was: a: day. of. cheap wickets and the ,' .departure, in rapid : succession, of ' out-' .'.'manoeuvred batsmen - assumed at times ■"'.;■ almost the aspect, of a: procession. ...In '■■'■■'■.: each of the thrco senior matches there -'■' .was.a 1 , serious collapse in •;. the. batting ;'-: that;;had:'to ; win .or lose•'<on their .first ' : This .was ; the .feature in' the .:'-."' afternoon/, and -becoming early, apparent - . it detracted greatly-, from tho interest ,of ■"; the '■'••'''. -.'•''■■ ";'.;-":. -1 '.;''•; -The nvtch between East B and Central '', B, at opening,. promised - well. The bat-. ;:' iirig of Crombie and' Goldfinch and? the !. bowling ; of -R.. Wilson and Keys', combined for a time to form a display worth ;.:.'.watching;. But, with, the advent of the .:Vrot",'that ■ commenced, .when Goldfinch' ■.': . -had; departed, interest evaporated. The :. -other.,two matches had a less promising r opening,: but all three ended, so far as .-': -'.•■' the altimportant first innings. was: con- '.'■; -cerned, in unmitigated disaster. Heedless Batsmen.' ■''-.•.';■-"'.■-■, :-.-'■'■: It is a-reproach, often levelled at. New ■Zealand batsmen that/ many: of'them, are ''-.. ; poor judges of a run. .The events of Sat- :.;. hirday lend {a good.- deal of/point to'-this.. •■■'. In'tho three senior matches at tho Basin no fewer than eight batsmen ' were run out or thrown out. An occasional 6c■currence of this;kind may: be charitably .'• ■ ireferred .to a pardonable error- of judg- . . sir-cnt,..butWhen the thing assumes: such ,pi:oportioris it tells too plain a tale for , argument. '.- It is not only novices who .-'."■ iloiie their .wickets in thi&\way. On Sat-r-uiday Midlane opened,:• an innings 'in • capital style- He carefully, took the 'measure of the bowling, and; in due time, with every appearance of being comfortably settled, he began to hit out. "Then.he;was Tun out—a great pity. ,-;'. : Hutt and College. ; V 'Concluding their ' match with Victoria -.'. .'College last Saturday, Hutt on their local wicket were much ~ below senior form, at least of them wero. Monaghan emerged with, :tho rattling good average of eight wicke'ts'for 39, but it must be remembered that ho had little opposition, most of tho Hutt team being content to "scratch."- : Monaghan has to some extent lost, the Swerve which made him' such a deadly : trundler two seasons ago, j Still,, ho is a splendid bowler, and one:"can only hope that he may come back to his very best. ■ Saunders, of whom much was' expected , (in fact too much) was feeling the effect ,of an injury sustained a fortnight ago. 'It was a mistake keeping him on all through the first innings—he should have lad a change. , '•"■..■'''"" College fielding was very fair, Dempsey at times being brilliant. J. Burns was also good. ■'■''.„',' . .Tho.Htjtt team will need-reorganising if they are to have a say in'deciding tho championship. They are badly in need of a slow bowler and wicket-keeper. Both '■'■ these.positions can bo filled with two ." of tho best men in the district—Rodgers, slow bowler,,and Cato, at,the. wickets. It ds to be hoped that both these men will ■'■'• goon be heard of. Isherwood ,is another cricketer who is required in senior cricket' Hutt's 1 fielding.' is somewhat

'slack, and could be greatly improved. Dropped catches wero frequent, especially when Bums was batting. - ■ Brico and Staples were the only Hutt batsmen that dealt to any extent with i tho bowling. Brice's fearless style was 'a joyous thing to, watch. .' , . . ■ The wicket at the Hutt ground is improving each week, and no doubt as the season progresses it will be one of tho best in-the Wellington district..' It was a" trifle 'slow last. Saturday; which g-ava ah/advantage to batsmen---»(if they had availed themselves of it), but, as pointed out, ,it will soon .bo. perfect. Tho outfield needs' attention, as by tho look of tho grass one would say that it had not been cut for some time. - •

It is stated that a little over 1 £MOO is the' world's record for a oricket match, but it is estimated that'over .£SOOO was taken in the first.match between tho 1862 English team, and 22 of Victoria. Messrs. Spiers and. Pond, who promoted that trip, were fortunate,men.

A. .Holland, of Surrey, who has been wintering in Dunedin and purposes remaining throughout the. cricket season, has accepted the position 'of•' coach to the Otago Cricket. Association. The local association is to bo congratulated on securing .the'services of a player who has already, proved his capabilities-with several of fits junior. cricketers. ; ;

The fielding Competition,' inaugurated by. the Otago Association,-;-and carried out last 'season,' with-some:.:measure ' of success, is'.to- ,be continued this year (writes "Long-Stop" in the "Otago AVitness"). The O.C.A. is to be congratulated on -its : decision."-, The ..weakness of our fielding has'beeirVonly too evident in the pact, and if 'the competition is tho means of raising'./the.-standard it will have thoroughly justified'the :O.C.A. in its continuance."■<'■■ v. .'; ; i ; >