THE WORLD OF SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1605, 23 November 1912, Page 12

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

, „ A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS & OTHER PAST I EVi ES.

f CRICKET. '

pluck bladeis of gras3 from an Australian pitch, but yoii • can scratch it. These .wickets last wonderfully,.'five or six days play will sometimes find them almost as good as at the start. 1 . "South' African crickot means 1 matting wickets. This is a heavy drawback to our players when thoy go to other countries. You cannot get a turf wicket in Africa. At least no attempt in that direction yet mado has been of any avail. A carefullynursed and tended turf ticket at Johannesburg, which had been in preparation for months, wont nil to pieoes after being played upon once." j An Exciting Finish. For an exciting finish the match between Petone and East A had no equal in Petone, and as the various batsmen in the last half-hour hit for the boundary or even a single,' the crowd fairly yelled their approval. Brice, who was caught when attempting to make the'winning hit, was loudly cheered as he came off. Of course, the game should not have been allowed to have reached such a, close finish. Petone had a big chance when East went out for 139, • but Dalgleish, the Petone skipper, showed bad -judgment in not putting in batsmen ; who could get runs,- and put the issue beyond doubt. :For instance, had Brice and Finlayson gone in first the former would have put on easily another 20 runs, and the latter would have helped. Then there was Barber, Nunn, Tregear, and Hardham, all to go in before the opening men. If, then, . these coiild not get runs, it was certain {hat the tail could not snatch a victory. ' As on the first day's play, Tucker punished the bowling , to. some extent, and Midline, who played a fine innings, gave his .wicket, to the 'keeper by unguardedly hopping out. Hickey and M'Gurr, the last men in, gave the field a lively few minutes, especially the former, who would have nothing but 'boundaries.- Gibbes was out to win, and when he knew Brice was set, he. was content to bowl wides. Grimmett was the most effective bowler for East,- and secured a good average. Brice seemed to be playing the whole of East.. He gave no chances, and had very bad luck in being caught on the winning hit. Finlayson-ran up, 27 in a marvellously short time, ...while Rowley got the same .after an hour's play. Finlayson and Brice bowled splendidly. ■ The fielding of East was an eye-opener to the onlookers, and the batsmen Bad to step lively on the pitch. I'etone's fielding was also , commendable. ' , ■ Notes., /Heard in the pavilion:—"Of course, 1 must get bowled first ball when She comes to.see,the match!" Two cricketers at the Hutt on Saturday were chatting with, a lady spectator bsfore going in to bat. One of : them was bowled first ball, and the other' had the misfortune to be run out before he had a strike at the ball. The suggestion that a benefit match' to Yictor _ Trumper...be... arranged. this season has met with hearty support on all sides, 'and^in/the:,other States. To the.proposal that it bo Australia -,v. The Rest of Australia, i'however, there,: are some obstacles (sa^s- the Sydney '"Beferie"),-: an import ant one being that the. Australians arriving in /detachments will not- all have reachod'Austrilialuntil January. A more successful match, in the circumstances, and a less expensive one, would probably ; New:South!Wales.v.:The Eest of Australia, sitriilar to 1 -"those: arranged as benefits' to J: J; Kelly and S. -E. Gregory.

7 [By the Breakee.] '.' • A Clean Hitter: i : !■; The feature of the i match between . '.North, arid Central /was ..the- batting of ; /Wilson, the ' Ota go batsman. He : was : ■the v 'most ' prolific . though ■ -that is not why his-innings calls for ; j: / /particular; praise.. It. was the quality of las batting,-which ; makes :ono remember his -two . visits to; tho crease. Going in I : '->vhen the bitting was loose and somewhat ) . i iiricertaih. jhis' masterly style was, at once i: applaiuded'a's a refreshing .treat. He did , $ot wait to spar round and feel the bowl-. r: ing.. -{Phe'-first'ball'Was a.littlo loose, and ./.' lie whacked'it clean and hard across the : /boundary. 1 Next ball—another boundary! f: ■ !Ehat is Wilson's' Style.* in to I . icore,. ..not to fiddle about in front of :• the stumps, all tho .afternoon. . T BlacklockV; first yihnings was another ■ performance,,.of note. l The North cap-, tam's'. 61-was compiled-by, fine, vigorous^ f ' - tatting, and .itwas, .good:,to see him once , i ,• Jgairi scoring-: in his old,; free, style. -He : . .went iii for 'plenty "of ,big : hitting, seven. ;/ . $3urs";'arid six .threes-'being ; ;among his. • strokes;' . • .' , . J'-Onei caniiof refrain from,, .mentioning I V 'Naughton's' effort":bn .' behalf of Central. 'R)rty< among ,:such poor- scores /was' a .big. total, -but the winnings .was good, chiefly • ; fecause it. was a,great attenjpt to save the situation, an attempt, however, which failed through lack of . support. . Sit is evident that some prominent mem- !.. •' bers' of s the v East ,Club l ' are a little- -pr- : ; tiirted as to the future of the club. Hie j- iSistence of the B team is the 'alleged cause of the trouble. Members point out- ... that they havennyo y junior tenm at 1 all, and that they. have - barely enough: players i- ito keep the A-and the;B senior .-teams t ■ going'.,.'.,They : say'.that it would be bet-. ter even now to, have one senior and one, j . 'junior:.,team Ithanl.th'e two senior: teams : and 110 junior eleven. They hold that, , 1 /the club may find.itself in. a serious posi-: . : /■ tion in 'the future if -it has :no : young I- players 'bdming 'on to-fill the seiiior-ranks "... .• as f"...;; . v. IVarsity's Prospectsi Against," Central. ; fej'Victoria,College may possibly make, mat- ' 1 .: iters interesting: for' Central this;.after-. noon if there is anything-m.'fo.rhi.'Hutt-';V' '■defeated Central in the. first match, ,and,. :. then College proved their 'superiority-'over' : Hutt: On this r form, of cours«, College i y -ought to' be equal, to :beating Central. ) . But cricket :cannot . ,be worked ,out as : t: Easily, .asT-:th)at;>,one '.occasions. - - How ;; : ■ Jyer,,--if'-the:.College fieldsmen: w jll. only. \3ceep on th'e.ale#;Sauriders''and'M'lntosh;: !' , lean secure .the;wickets,' witli- Dickson_ to J? .help, 'them!': '"'last''Saturday the' fielding . f " iff ..the;,:?Yareity. : ,team, against Hutt . was . Almost as bad as. ever, and more,.than one :,catch. "was "dropped. 'Names have been | .previously _mentioned,..,and,:need;.not.be . repeated. ... - 1 .- 1 - ; ' .Saturday,'. the; Hutt , f vl iea&gave a. clever .exhibition of. fieldiiig. S./ /.'/In^.theifixst; half"hoiir,? particularly,''the ' !; - : and at- .dif- [ i- st^s.iTshei'Wood, 1 Aldersley„_'and . Bobk brought.'off tlieat: catches, ;;while. 1 Judd's return, which'-.'dismissed:.Fanning,', :.' : very smajftrpiece of work. With |; .: the'/men'workingr.fiovwelljt'looked'-.tis. if -; tho'CoUego txital .'would.not.reach 50,, but 1 Mlntpsh 1 and' Dempsey stemmed the rot. I'attcii's big .'initihgs was.mai-red' bv a. • 6'od^e't > from, those. : .he and vigorcus idis- ■ play. ''. Had the"'outfield' been as it'ought- -' to- navo -batsmen would : . .surely have reached his century, for time 1 . after, time the.ball 1 just stopped short of 1 " the boundary, after being retarded by !■' long .grass ..that., was soaked with rain. Players on both sides complained about f the condition of the outfield, though the ; wicket itself was good enough. . f East B and the Weather.' ' ' - vV . Weather, which, it. woidd be wasted i ; politeness to call unseasonable, had riearV ly as much to do as East B-with putting : „ iip the hopeless odds against which:: South l:'i. battled at Kclburne Park on Saturday. . Soaked pitches and drizzling, rain'to make them wetter necessarily, make- an ,un* -— / rewarded. of \bowlingj 1 and under - . the. circumstancesAthe-'non-success ■of the. South trundlers—a' faithful band of ' seven—should-: not'.bo set down to their ;. discredit.i' :tJp>;to p.ni.i when thicken-. . irig" ;play to • a standstill, : ■ East had'-been steadily'compiling.' runs, and still had seven wickets in hand. To : declare the innings closed, under these. • circumstances, would have been . foolish,' • , for South could, easily have played out I time, though; they had no hope of overtaking : their opponents' lead. ■ Conditiona;so far favoured the batsmen ; asi.to,.discount the.'merit of their performance, which, otherwise, would • have been , reckoned, praiseworthy:' WagstafE. !' was responsible for .the best batting of the j day. He is apt to be a trifle reckless:in: '.' . .. beginning an,innings,:and'.not unfrequent-'! ly is out for a small score .in'consequence, ;:: ; , biit.ohco set he wields,a'- punishing bat,' with any amount of : enterprise and 1 not a little skill.; .On Saturday-:he .was';-in', his 1 ■ jbrat form, his strokes to the oft.being par-, ticularly good, and his half-nontury, not .'out, was ißowles and i;. Hutchings - also. ;, acquitted' 1 themselves' i:' svell. ' ■ , ; '.Vr;7'. Although;the.state of the'-weather help"-' tho Easti meh' to .make .'runs . easily 1 with little;risk;- they did not ' necessarily gain thereby.f-.'Oh the.'pre-rious Saturday, :. .in fine, weather, "they had Afairly and i: . squarely beaten their opponents on the ' 'first innings.. "Thoy might very'well.have ] repeated the achievement in'the • second | 'innings and gaiiied a threo,.instead' of : a . two point win, if fine, weather had ruled '.on Saturday. ■' . ' '.. .;• '■ 1 ,'A Christmas Tour. . In continuation of'what ihas been .an : .annual custom for some :years the i, •"> jjnemlwrs of ! .the -'East'-'. District Cricket iClub mil make; up a team to-visit the ■- J Nelson district , during "the approaching ahd- New :'Year .'holidays. The : .team has not- yet been selected,-but these. .-. '.Christmas tours 'are; .deservedly : popular, ■and no difficulty is anticipated in'making ,up tho accessary stTehgth..:'Folloiviiig : ;is, I the proposed itinerary .'".of;S ; -the '..tour /Tuesday, December«24—Leave Wellington 1 ' ;: • .for Nelson. Wednesday, -'December ; 25— ■ yjLt Nelson..Thursday, December 2G—Leave ...' Nelson for Motueka. Play -Motueka arid back to Nelson: Friday, December '- 27tLeave Nelson " for Brightwater. - .Play ,: Wai-iti at Brightwater (at .11 a.m.):: , : Saturday, December. 28—Play Brightwater at Brightwater/ Sunday, December . 29— • [At Brightwater. Monday, December 30— Play combined teams at Brightwater. :Tuesday, December 31—Leave Brightwater i V- :for BlenhednC: Wednesday, January 1— jPlay Wairau Club at Blenheim. I'hursI llday, January- 2—Leave for Wellington.' .' ' i®f Wickets-i-By a "Googley", Bowler;.' In that interesting little'"paper. Cricket" the South African. 1 ;,, "googley" :'ibowler, A. _E., Vogler, has sbinething to- : ' 'say concerning the differencie^.in/wickets'. >•:' lsn. England, Australia, and South Africa: i ' }—"In England during a fine/'season,' the: i-averago wicket is good, not superlatively good, but in favour of the batsman at the '. .start. It is apt to wear, and in/some ; ;few eases to' crumble, and thus tho side ;/ ibatting last is sometimes placed /at a mg disadvantage. In _ fine..' weather 1 no captain has any hesitation' about his ' course after winning the toss.; But, it was i . quite different in. the rainy season of 1912. In the oourse of a single inatch one'might , have, several different types of * wicket, possibly a plumb-pitch to start with, then one slow and easy after rain, ' later one cakod by the sun's action, and then, perhaps, one again rendered easier bv a further downfall. And this was not the worst, either, for one might find the ball coming at half a dozen, different paces from one wicket owing to'tlie fiict that it had dried patchily, retaining the moisture in some places,- and letting it through in others. "In 'Australia the wickets are turf. But that does 'not mean they aro like English wickets. In the first place the weather is so much more settled, Tain ' being quite/th® exception. For a big match the wicket is under preparation 1 for nearly a fortnight. At one stage it is under water, and sucoessive saturations ! and rollings bring it to tho 'true of a bil. Inrd table.'and give it a surface-that can i onlv "be*' qb Efla-Zfid* You