CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1599, 16 November 1912, Page 12

CRICKET.

- . [By the Bbeaker.] North's 216. North uphold their, reputation as a : strong batting ;sid© last week by compiling 216 runs' against last year's champions, Central, but the performance ap- ■ pears not quite so lemarkable when it is ■ remembered that more than half the score - came from two men, Blaeklock and WU- ' eon. : Wilson's 56 was marred by two easy chances, one quite early in his innings, but 'Otherwise his display-was -a. .' forceful and attractive one. ; . Blacklock -.". played a fine innings; batting with the utmost freedom and confidence, as his score of 64 shows, -with considerable effect. • Bray, who had made such a good showing the previous week, was unlucky enough ■... to bo sent back by-Mitchell without scoring. played well, making 20, and Phillips readied 22, mainly by exceed>',ing carefulness. ; It. is only; fair to say. the wicket was a comfortable one for batsmen, -and, that' .the boundaries were " easy. :. y ■ Mitohell, with' four wickets for 52. runs, t did the fet wprkjvith the.ball, although ! ■ Blamires secured 'a slightly better aver-. age by taking a couplo of wickets at .the > . - end of the innings. • • Bowling Problem for: Central. / : Central failtd rather, badly in'the.ir .innings, and the cause of their failure was; ■ : a*.new -bowler 'whom. North-have discovered. .-, Sojithall is: his name, and he hails from Taranaki: - With a 'high '/delivery, -he -drops a . slow left-hand ball, .which ' a good'deal, .and.'hangs 'soinetimes. 'He took ;two wickets!.'for ■ 17...runs, but he really ought ,to havejhad,at; least one more. The only batsman-wtorcould 1 play him at all was Little, wh6..dispiayed : '' unusual 'skill and patience.. Casey r also took a couple of wickets for 35 runs.' •' The combination of a fast and'a'.hanging- ; slow bowler proved' to -be very .effective, ■■'iqr not' a: single-batsman 'except Little : "seemed to be able to'get the pace of the wicket: or to, precisely time either, of,the -bowlers;.. - >, ; Central ;wduld: appear! to be in.a-fairly. ' . . bad -way.. They are ,173 runs <lown, with .six.;w;ckets in. hand, and : they have.lost , -'.-three of .their best batsmen in Blamjres, , . Cooke, and Beechey. - . East B Makes a PooivShowing. - East B -showed .'on. • .V..i; ; S.atoday,;any : thing like, tho .f.onu that they may be expected- to display, as the i!.v , season wears' on;"..' On a .batsmen's- wic» .-v-y-kef the Easterners did nothing at ali'until : ;'.- r ßutchings and Nash made the stand .that lifted, their. side frpm' ; a losing position ;i; ; 'rt» one -within-easy reach-'of victory. The'. : rate at,which. East's ; wickets fell , before .'. V the one successful 'partnership .of the', day stemmed the rot'argjies a. lack of prac- : tice. //.The. young ' batsmen, of' East ■ B ?/•' -',should be. able to. get in. enough practice |.; ,' :vwmehaw.' and, somewhere! to'obviate a' re- '; .. i of ;the poor display', made • on Saturday. '.-. ;, [ .' . ■ :• Lost Opportunities. ': ~ 'A,-,depj:6ssing' ;the..game was,' i -the'poor quality of the .fieldingi - . Catch . ' after catch was dropped when "East were ■ at the wickets. If anything/like a sub-: '■>• ... stantial percentage of these neglected' of-- , fcrings .had been gathered in, the. score ... --•'of thevteain that. has. now. established u ;• iJ.eood lead might have been cut down .by ; half.', ; .Almost the only good;feature in ...the, South fielding , was Schmoll's wicketvkeeping. Laws was a particular sufferer by failures in the field. Several catches' .• , .were lifted from his bowling. One, he ' gathered in himself, and another was col-; ' lected by Langford, but the rest went '"begging. •; Smith, of South. | "/ . ■- The South batting was even worse than ... that'of their opponents, and a steady- . going innings by Laws was its only re- • deeming feature.' The East fielding was .' decidedly better than that' of. South. V ' a fairly.difficult catch' from ilohg^driye.'by,.Laws, .in' deep-field,/-a'nd' , Smith..eclipsed this performance by . a •really brilliant catch that he, took from ; : hia own bowling. ■ The ball was returned by Schmoll along the line of. the wickets, and Smith took it in one hand, his body ,•■'.• extended-almost horizontally.. On paper,; Smith easily ; captured the ::' .bowling honours of the day. V Three .of V,'' .'/his four-overs were maiden's, and he,took ■■. two; wickets .for' the same number of ■ < runs. ;->Hp dealt, .however, only with the '-..tail of. the South; defence... Hales and. • Stephenson, who did. not put-up so good 'a snowing on the scoring-book,, had dis-. ;.t; posed :<if the better bats before Smith came . •••; on. ■ ;. And to Make 113. ■ -P'ay in the match, between Eutt and. College-last Saturday was not over bright, '; ; but the position of the teams was iriter,esting at the drawing of stumps. College, after a very-moderate opening,'.compiled a total, of. fun's... .At one stage the ' i ' score "stood at seven wickets for 90 funs, but an excellent stand by Caddick and M'lntcsh put quite a. different complexion . on the innings before tlio next wicket fell. :.v.-Hutt,made a poor start, and two wickets were down' before the; score had reached double figures, Saunders and M'lntosh , (College;bowlers) were causing the bate*. ; : ;• rneu'a' lot of trouble, and hot until Demp- ; sey repjaced .Mcintosh did the Hutt score cOmmshcq^to',.increase at'"any great rate. Patten;.was'the most useful member of the Hutt team.. In.addition to'capturing V,;; •; eeveral' wickets, ho showed excellent form• ■ with ths .bat, and tpwards the close of >.■ very confidently; Staples ...;■ on . 'the other hand: was altogether too ;.v. careful, and tcok . a long-time to put-' ; '.' f together his fourteen runs. .; ' ' If the weather is fine t'lres. afternoon, - the' finish ought to be an exciting.' one, .'especially if the remaining Hutt batsmen. ":'can.'p.Ut together .the 113.runs .that 'art' • .required to bring. the score up to the College first innings'total. ' . Ye Ancient ; • ."Felix" in the'"Australasian" pfhs the following .intercstiijg lines, about .famous ■v;. "old .timers";— ■' •' . Whilo chatting with our genial.friends, . .. '.from West Australia I - ascertained that : . tho-famous "express", bowler ,of former ? , E. Jones, still plays in the Golden ■ . fTWest. He- .is .now located at. Fremantle, vY though, ho cannot send tjiq ball, along. ; at; the, old noted pace,',he is still'fast for . a. few overs, and alihost.invariably, maintains a good length; •' 1 '• I{ Selk informs me. that' tlie old Joli-;V-monter, Hel. Eades, is hale and.hearty ' ■ 'In-Perth, and sends kind ..'remembrances '•V; to'old friends in Melbourne. A Sydney veteran who goes back 1 to tho days of Nat Thompson;, Ned Gregory, and Ned Sheridan tells me that the old time Bichniond and intercolonial player, Dick ' • Hewitt,'can be seen any day in or about •; ' ' King . Stteet,'. Sydney. . .'From the, same, • source I gather that old Harry HilliardS.;. - isstill' about; but gradually growing .; -;;.feeb!o. > > The brilliant Charlie Bannerman is also • ».-• to-i>9 seen, in Sydney, and wears fairly! i. ■ well. ' - i.Down on the Melbourne ground on Moni • day, I .had the pleasure of meeting the reJ. : ; nowned all-round player, lI.'A. Noble. He ' ~.,has..come. over for ithe Cup, and appears, f .;. to .be in admirable:condition' for cricket— " firm,' hearty, "and 'strong.''; He practices; twioefa week, and judging ty his scores- :'■ for .Paddington, his forni with the bat is' all r'ight;,^.' ' ' Petone and.East A,, . .. ... ' . After, disposing of. East-'A for the small: ';:.: total of 10(5".pn::Saturday-last, Petonos 1 .; chances were- excellent,. but five wickets ; lv.ere simpiy given away.. Three men weTe . e V'uinped, and Rowley- (who was confident : : v enough to' take risks) was thrown out by, V-: Midlane. . Worst of all was. Barber s run ;V ; i-o'.it-r-The .uicident must be sheeted homo '" to Nunn, .who placed'a ball-in tho slips ,• v! and"refused to budge. Brice tried to pull , ; : 'things together., arid batted soundly for, a '*" ; couplo of hours. Although'ho got few. '■'•; :, '',.ri!ns, he-held up the wicket.; Gate, who ■; r mado his first ;apTioaranco, gav<) a good t~- • acoount of himself. Finlapin ' was in ;'' great form with the ball ana sent.up some !• ■'■" "lieaiities." East could not afford to take •' n'ny-risks. with'the left-hander, who maina good length all the innings. His average was seven' wickets for 40. Barber : T. bowled .fairly \«11, - Jetoas's fieldimr .waa. ■■■

a distinct improvement on the, previous match. 1 ', Tucker, for East, - gave a striking exhibition with the bat, delighting tho onlookers with his off-play, and his clean drives to the boundary. Grimmett and M'Gurr, who were partners for some time sent tho score up in leaps and bounds. Bowling in fine form Gibbes and Hickey sent the first four batsmen to the pavilion in quick succession, but Gibbes made a mistake by taking himself off when he was doing well, and making good. More Daylight and Better Cricket.: Among the, most ardent "daylightsavers" in this city is tho enthusiastic head of the Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association, Mr. Martin Luckie. There are plenty .who differ with Mr. Luckio in. matters ,of .opinion, but there is not one who denies that ho works unselfishly and untiringly in what 110 reckons to be the truo interests of the game. One.of the things',he i 9 keenest 011 at present is the securing of greater opportunity for daily practice in the summer game. Mr. Luckie remarked in conversation with tho writer ,a few: days ago that he' had gone jnto the matter very thoroughly fr.om .the practical standpoint, and was quite convinced that if a "daylight-sav-ing" scheme Were in', operation in Weir lington, cricket would benefit immensely; there would be more cricketers aad better cricket. This would "result from the fact that tho young men of the city would have ample time for practice every after'noon. Now, he says, many of them finish work so lafe -that it. is scarcely worth while going to practice. : He does not advocate a Dominion Day-light-saving Bill, nor does lie .say that he would oppose one;.but he holds that the idea 'could , be worked well in' the cities, and should be introduced thens, and that if the rural districts' objected to its innovation they should not be forced to take it. , . . ■,