THE WORLD OF SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 12

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

IRTS AND OTHER PASTIMES,

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SP

1 : ; CRICKET.

y- : ■—o [Bt Tns Bheakzb.l ' t ... Brabin and Will?, who aro playing,for , East A against Central A, were'niembors .of -ftio East - B eleven when tho latter : team' played Central A; On this account ' i-pocial permission had to be . obtained from, thj Management Committee for tho . two 'pfayirs named.to tako, part,-in. tho match that commenced .last . Saturday. Cases of this kind, are'fpccinlly provided for in Clauso 33A'of tho . .Wellington Cricket Association's rules. Tho reading off lhis clause is.rather. interesting'. -It Myt?—"Should any club enter n two (2)' teams for tho one competition, such teams shall bo respectively distinguished as.[A' ! and'.'B.' Any members may be drawiifrom tha 'B' teanV to! piny with tho 'A' team, but beforo any. member.' who has , plajM with tho 'A'- team shall bo allowed ! to play with tho 'B' team, tho. perrais-. . fionvof the Managing Comniittco shall boj i first,-obtained. No - player shall bo allom to play, against any team twico in > any round I cxcept with-tho permission of . tho'Managing Committco." The opinion in'many quarters that as-long as this; clauso remains -unamended "it: prevents "district cricket" fropj being given a-fair trial. In the'first placo it is obvious that a B team ;of any club is intended to-be inferior to an : A team .of tho wma' club. ■ Now, if tho B team is' to bo kep);. tho inferior team from week to week because tho A team- draws on its best batsmen,! it is logical and 'reasonable to assumo. that the B 'team can' havo no

! . chalice , in- tho championship * matches. F ■ Therefore, say some, tho B team 6hould ,V ; bo in tho'junior competition'. If tho A f: and ,B • teamS - did not'' cxchango players, l nfter. the beginning of tho season, and ! . ibotb drew on-the junior- players in cases f. of emergency",' the state' of affairs would >bo iiltogether ditTorent, and tho B ■ team ■; would have quite a reasonablo chance of being champions. Tho, most objectionable phase of this clauso 33A is tho poSsiblli- . tiesdthat exist for tho packing of tho :• > A team when it meets-its own club's • B t«am, so that the former may secure a ■■ 3-point win.

. .The District. Boundaries. - > : It[6eems moro than probable that at the pnd of tho present season tho boun- • v darws of tho districts will bo consider-

fc ably, altered, with tho. object. of balancing thetii' a 5 little' better. s During tho past t two icasons,. North, South, and" Victoria I Collngo- havo -been hopelessly • oiit of; it |: ■ whfji compared to Central and East. Tho u- North! and South districts do not appear £ v to (Wntain a sufficiently largo proportion f, of . cricketers, and .'pither those districts [. . require to bo-enlarged or ek\ tho "Central J, ,■! and East territory requires to-bo divided r . into three;districts instead of! two. North nrpiar to be woefully short of youhger I : ■ players,'"and so they havo had to draw [.-,-on .their older members, such as Upham, ! ht.,Goorg* Dowsing;' l Wynyard,- Richardt : eon, ! etc._ As for Victoria College, the i • general opinion seems to bo that in. fui turo seasons they .should bo ruled out of (• .the Senior team,; and then tho test of [' their men would bo of material assistI snoe to.thc district clubs. Jf it is, to bo j■ district cricket, mako it district cricket.

. Promise,of.a Good Finish. - On account of Central A's fine batting performance last:'Satiirday,' tho clofo of thejr match'. Tfith East A' to-day will be watched with liioro than "usual interest.

I', Ho. far the/East-'A- team Jias not;been :;•! beaten this'se'ason, and tlio championship !i 9(os practically been Won by them. Still, tl/ey will no doubt mako strenuous eff; Boris to] kvert defeat to-day.' It is hardly u 9fkel.v'lkarCenttw'can sccuro' an'innings i victory; and-should they declare ;-their r. innuips cJoEQd'.nt; oncc, they: would .run (•the nsk'.of possible'defeat. - Blaraires'and Law's willj probably bo sent' to the Wick:• its to increase tho scoro to 350 or more

• . .before tho innings is closed. Their chances -.'.of ■ j tho .score, - ;.will then ( depend to somo extent on tho !■ manner in- which" members of, tho team ~ thfmselves, in, the field.' However, , if tho are to-day'treated, to as .good an exhibition of cricket as was the .' case last week, then it does not matter • "who • wins. ...

i . iiißruoe'jirasfunier ;«.'cloud last, season, !: • - "few; beginning,of'the present 'tea- }. Y®on'lie. fcliow<d return to. form, i ■as a bateman and ; a bowler. Now hn is patting better .than he lias ever previously ' done, and liko all good 'cricketers ho eccms ; -..to,-bftt-Jjettet against better bowling: At i ' the nickcts ho seems to bo always very t' active on his feet, and ho has also n wonderfully quick eye, and thus time and m again when ho plays back for defensive i purposes, ..lie willrchango his mind at the f last second, and bripg oft a Useful, scor- : ing- stroke.: Of a variety of strokes, I 1 Bruco seems to have a liking for the offt. uriv,v which generally keeps low, and'has [. - a lot of weight" behind it. "Wlien driving t to the on,* he' appears' to be'-nioro irfclinJ • ed to lift the ball, thoiiEh lie mostly places it out of retreh of tho field. On . Saturday*last Bruce was in great form, and his batting was more attractive to t. .watch on account of tho fact that ho eni - dcavoured :to .;scoro toff every ball.; that. ! looked hittable. Blamires, Beechey. and Jk ; Hawthorne all played first-class cricket, t/ • and iiveryone sesmed pieced to see tho ! fir-t-named obtain .his century. ' East A [ had a trying timo in.the field, and, taken I. all.round, tho'writer does'iiot think they I. did tho best for their, bowlers,,but Ma;I honey nnd Midlana did excellent work, f i mid -M'Gil! and' Grimmett shaped best (i ••• of the others. ' Both-Midlanb and Met-

honey did some, splendid ' ground ' and Mabojiey's catch thntdismissed Birch was. worthy/of Gresory himself. Birch : had turned ono of Ilickey's deliveries into a "full toss," and smote it hard. ' Malioney safely, lield it, though not more •: than five yawls from tho batsman. ■

Courteous, if not Encrgetic. "Thank you," said .a fieldsman in ono .of tli'ii matches at the Basin IteserVo last Saturday. Tho speaker was fielding at square leg, and tho batsman had,hit tlio ball past him. Instead of.chasing tho ball, the fieldsman (a substitute) induced ono of the players oil tho next ground to i-throw it "in. Tho spectators applauded this little piece of strategy, and oven tlio • batsman smiled, but tlio captaiii of tho fielding team seemed to think-his substitute did not know ' much about the game,'and he "had him changed shortly lifter.,' On Even Terms. .."Although, naturally, they received less attention than the match between East A and Central A, the_ two remaining senior games at..the.'Basin .on Saturday .were contests not lacking "in interest; Both were wfiged oil tolerably oven forms, and •it seems at thin stago unlikely that any one of the four teams engaged will havo a walk-ovtr. South and North had a stiff tussle, in which tlio opposed forces had to fight hard for cver>; advantago gained. Central B made a crccitable stand against ■ the Victoria College bowling,' and have a fair. prospect of whining tlio match. Collego have suffered a loss, which they could; ill" afford, by tho departure of Monaghan, who lias gone, to ...Auckland. -In the present match a number of juniors • are lifing tried, nnd their promotion may possililv herald a needed improvement in thi'bilting standard of tho team. A .Bowior Who Old. rindlay on Saturday rose superior to the leputation ho lius sometimes' borne cf being a . bowler • v,'ho does not use enough head work; Oil Saturday ho was , thts mainstay of tlio North attack, Its umst effective fcaturo was a clean sharp off-break which' proved almost unplayable. Employing it ho dismissed such ttout batsmen as Graco and Burton with apparent ease. It is a delivery that will take a lot of getting used to. rindlay did not rely solely on this masterpiece. His work had any amount of variety and lie altered pitch, pace, and turn in a thoroughly skilful.wav., In tho event tho' credit rested with him of breaking all that thero was, of strength in the South defence.' ' ( At the Other End. • ■ : Well served'by' Findlay at-one end North seemed for a time at a loss to find him an effective companion in attack. Twohill laboured painstakingly for a long time jvithojit fiosititfi result,

| kept tho talo of. runs well down, but took no wickets ,n His first thirteen overs. In tho fourteenth he. loqk tho first mid second .steps towards, the "hat trick" by inducing Murphy and Wngstaff in immediate succession to lift catches off his deliveries. -Twohill did no'moro execution at tho time, but his final dolivery ended the innings by knocking down Guthrie's wicket. Jtichardson, who lins a repntation for slow break*, spread tho field well out when ho come 011 to bowl, but did his work unassisted, his fourth delivery removing a.couplo of.Johnson's stumps. ' Batting and Felldlng. ' Of tho unsuccessful South batsmep Murphy gave ri fe\v.,. chance?, but on' tho wholo played good cricket, cutting and driving with... capital skill... Johnson plied a vigorous bat for his 'top-scoring honours.' Norris was another .aggressivo batsman who gave tho fieldsmen plenty of work.

" "Thoufeli marred by an occasional failure .the North fielding was good nearly time, and South ..(jbtained very ,few"runs that could have been prevented. Tlitre were numerous individual instances of-; good ,work. In the field Blaeklock stopped ft hot nno speeding to (,ho boundary that nine'fieldsmen out .of ten would have allowed ;to • pass them bv., Hannay was effectivo behind tho wickets. Considering tho'dhiourit of fast bowling that he faced', the total, of .extras is not heavy and n couple of.catclies thnf'camo to him were smartly taken.' Onco he had what 1 looked like a, chanco '{n stnmn Johnson, flichardsoh. ill tho slins, took a couple of catches cleverly and Lambert was another effective fieldsman. A good point about the North fielding was the spirit with which every m'ah in the team tackled.his work. : A Good Opening. '

Looking at tho. North total of 81. for two wickets,. it. may: be ...vended that tho - South trundlcM 'will have a hard tussle, to'proveht tliri.team froni exceeding tho..total of 17A, ) ivitJi M w|iich South completed th'eir innings.',•'-ltiohnrilsoii, thanks to;.sinwlj jading;?.i)(l». a .;gojiul, throw in by arrested m full career, .but Xaiubert • r.ml'Blacklock mado merry playj'aiid whijo their partnership lasted repeatedly sent the ball, flying. to tho distant limits of tho field. South were lucky in disoMing of Lambert at a cost of 37 runs,' tor ho was batting in. his best stylo until ho sent a catch to Walters, BlackJock is still to bo reckoned wrth, and judging bj* the way ho treated (IS lwwling on Saturday tho reckoning is likely to provo ,a long, one. : . v'i-~

A'Mediocre Attack. ' " ' , The' gamo in which' Collego'met Central B ,was chiefly remarkable for tho comparative, failure o£ tho Collego bowling.- .Saunders, op whonv tho burden of .tho work fell, ended with a .record-,of,;fivo wickets; fof 83 runs, lie bowled thr6e maiden?', .but 110 fewer than 14 runs werO obtained off ono of his overs, and another produced-12. j Theso of courso wero exceptions. -Tour was tho averago numberlof 'runs obtained olf each of his overs. On the whole the Victorian must bo reckoned to havo had an oil. day. 110 caught Sisson, however, in . particularly good style*, going ■ nearly half-way along tho 1 pitclc to receivo. the ball. 'Bowling honours in thq match, so far as figures go, wore taken by Howdeii, tho sixth bowler whom ; Collego put on. •, He departure, of >*-'the;.tail" remarkably, taking three wickets at a cost of HJ runs in 2.1 overs. A peculiar featuro of the Central innings'was that not > singlo Ixatsman. was: clean bowled. Kiglit,'were eivufiht, and'two stumped. It follows 'thrtt 1 tho College gelding was excellent; '' 1 . j

Hard.Knocks. ■ g t a behind ren-dered-yeoman service, und; got some hard knocks .for his'pains.. Smartly, catching I'orteOus, he . got a niisty ; bb'dy .blow to •remember tho achievement by. v Just before ho stumped Atkinson, aiid ended tlio innings of Central B, /Berendsoii jot another unpleasant thump, that 'staggered him for tho time, but as tho .succccding incidents proved did not. diminish tho efficiency, of his. piny.. Altogether lio caught two men, stumped two,. and kept, tho total of extras-down-to: six, of. which one was for a no-ball and five camp from leg-byes. It was first-class wiqket-keeping. The Central B'battiarr was not rqmarkab!o'"far brilliancy, tjUhougli j'jt) ri roved in defenpo.-*'AiAtkinsoii- I'-tattccl steadily' and methodically!, for;-h|S 53. Robinson, although ho> scored runs than either-Wilkinson orl'ortcous, who followed Atkinson'in the matter of scoring, gave as vigorous a display as 'anyone engaged in tho match. His score of 20 included four fours and,a'three, obtained in ranid succession. I r t ~