THE WORLD OF SPORT

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1611, 30 November 1912, Page 12

THE WORLD OF SPORT

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS & OTHER PASTIMES-

CRICKET

[Br the Breaker.]

Membership Gains'and Losses. What-is going, wrong; with pome of our elevens? Why, .the - dwindling memberships? : - -.Like. Cassius; in ohakespearefs "Julius Caesar/', some of these little bands havo now a Tatlier . lean and hungry, look." ' East's junior eleven is now,, nearly non est; same; with South, Templars'have broken up. 1 his .is . an very .ugly for the future, cf: the game. ■: On"tho.other hand, one gratifying increases. ; It is, for-instance,, boom timft with . North. -That club ,w. now running five, respectable elevens,including tho Karori eleven,. which is under its' jurisdiction. ■ . Never before has, the membership of this club been'so large. As to''the'cause of this happy state of at■fairs, jthc'.'North ..men themselves, -hardly seemto" know why it-has happened. Like -".Topsy," in the story-book, it just ■ grow'e'B.''.v Perhaps the change, ot-tne club's practice Aground to Kelburne which is in:the .centre.'of a promising-looking district—may -have', helped some. _ ■_ By the. way, one notices .that Jlr. Ue/mentson, who'used ,tq jostle a lead.pencil in tie interests of East, as scorery is now discharging si like duty : for :North. Mr. Clementsori has, : it. is said,• moved into their district. . r !

play one cannot help leaning to the opinion that East A has established a position which, will result in the defeat of East B.

East B, batting first, were soon disposed of for 102, and the A team then usea up the remainder of the afternoon in compiling 152 runs, whicll they made at a loss of seven wickets. So when the match goes on this afternoon the A's will have fcur nien.left to face the Jxuvling. Baker and Johnson,., the not-out men, may stay quito a while, and the. result may he that tho B's will have no chance"of avoiding a first inning's defeat. It is thought unlikely that the A team will try and force a .three-point win.

A, Dull Innings, East B's innings was almost featureless; it was positively dull. Their 102 would have been.reduced considerably had the fielding been (jood. At the opening of . the A team's innings it looked as though B was about to receive an unmerciful beating. Hickson and Midlane when in the thirties looked good'for a century each. _ However, Hickson, after nearly accounting for. the life of one of theumpires, was got 1.b.w., and Midlane was dismissed, through an excellent catch by the bowler, Stephenson. With this pair gone B's shares' rose quickly. They got rid of the remaining batsmen, with the exception of Baker, at a very satisfactory rate.

Central' Club News. ; ■ . The .Central Club wiU. be' represented by its' full playing strength f to*lay, with the exception of Cooke,- who, owing-.jto his inability-to piny to-day, was dropped'trom the torn last week.,:. Ke is a surveyor, . and ag somet of his work, Jn. th© field, ! he is riot.available ever? week.; • ' ■ ' ■ Robinson, ■ fast, bowler - tuid -a dashing bat, is' now back- : .in Wellington playing with Central. He has not yet quite struck form either with-bat,or. ball, butdoubtless he . will, get -better.Last - season he was a-real service to the club as a bcwler, . "and when: he-.stayed .long enough .at the wickets'his method was such as to make all bowling look easy..- He ought to be. damming loose .stuif.over the fences before the'season progresses* much, v

Hutt in Extremis. . Hutt had vpry poor resources,.to :pit again adverse fortune iyhen they met South last Saturday. 'The greasy state of the; ball was bound to make run-getting- easy, and., effective bowling correspondingly difficult, but even.'.when allowance is made for this handicap'it must be said.-that the bowling ■r as deplorably weak. : > Some of the Hutt trundlers failed to get either length or direction, and in the case of one or;two the best thing they, could accomplish was to send-the ball where the batsmen could notreach it. Rodgers'-bowl-ed with steady patience, but there was a' deadly 'monotony: about his work which completely, robbed it of effect. Most decidedly his "attack lacked' 'the element'of •"dov.il",":' . .

A Neglected Asset. Hutt's solitary asset in the way of an attacking'force was Judd, and Judd was not used as he should liave been., Judd, the skipper, was too modest about putting on Jiidd the bowler, and the resultant state of. affairs was good for South and bad for Hutt. r If they;,find themselves in a similar tight plaoe again, the rank and file of tho Hutt eleven should deputationise their skipper and ask him to throw modestly overboard, and get hold, of the balL whenever th 6 bowling is going to pieces. Of all .the mein who bowled for Hutt on Saturday; ?Judd was the only one who threw 'his body into his -work, and gave it dash and variety. While Judd- was bowling the game stiffened up visibly, and the batsman of the moment had to pay strict attention to .business, ...

The! Discovery of Styles, of Hutt C.G. Styles, who took a fair share of tie Hutt bowling !, on'.Saturday, should be' an. acquisition to'the suburban club.- Ho is an' Australian/ wlio played for a'number of years inVclub cricket at .Port Williamstown'' (Victoria),) and' acquired somethiiig of' $ reputation as.a leg-break,bowler. • On Saturday; Styles did not'show to any gr-eat advantage, but this is not to be'wondered at, for he has been out of the .game fori five years, and' cannot be expected,to jump back, into form all. at once. 1 "'' ;' His resurrection is said to bo due to' J. V. Saunders,, who encountered him on a recent visit to; the Hutt, and advised that he should'be pressed into, service by .the local eleven.

■A-Notable Recruit., Blenkinsop, who made his first appearance in .senior cricket in this matoh, is a youngster of great promise, who made an all-round reputation playing in junior gTade for the Templars' Club last.' season. His. style in batting. is singularly free, graceful, and effortless, yet .he propels ; tho ball . with a. power that a. ; professional strong man might envy. One mere pat for which he )ra9 responsible on Saturday, drove the ball with a magnificent sweep, clean out of the ground, and brought the batsman six runs. : Blenkinsop is just tho kind of recruit that South stands in need of.. With a fewmore of his stamp, tho team 'might abandon: its present condition of "respectable medibority," and make a bold bid for championship honours; The Hutt eleven could very well do with a few recruits. One of those standing in the line, of promotion is WtfCaw. now playing in junior- cricket', who'is building up a refutation as a batsman. M'Caw learned his .cricket under J. Board, the wellknown coach at Napier. _ The rain-resisting properties of the senior wicket at the Hutt are phenomenal. The out-field was drenched on Saturday, but the wicket was perfectly firm and true. The soil of-which it is formed was obtained'from Napier.

Worth Deals with Petone. The bowling of: Southall for North against Petone last week was "too much of, a good thing" for the suburban eleven. Southall had them all thinking, and, the field was placed in suoh a way that if a. batsman hit out at all ho was gono. (Dalgleish lasted a fair time, but he sent a few. in tho air that mignt be termed "chances" off'the city man. Brico and .■Bennett.'got over double figures, the former playing very carefully for threequarters of an hour, yet, like his colleagues, a tip in the slips, sent him to the pavilion. Otherwise his innings was chanceless.. 'Bennett went ,in to hit and the plan came off. Ho got the only six of the day, and a not-out as well. None of the other Petone batsmen did any good. M'Kenzie threw his wicket away by hopping out to hit, : and being promptly stumped. Tregear was run out ; before he "took centre," owing to a misunderstanding between him and Hardham. Bray, the 'other North bowler, . kept a good length, and w ; ns by no means punisned. Phillips played a fine innings for North, find topped the score. He gave an opportunity, and looked very lik,o making a century when he was run out. He was "well supported by Blacklock and Bray. Tho wicket was decidedly bumpy, and played worse than has been the caso any day this season. North's fielding was distinctly smart, and some of their outfields brought off good catches, but perhaps the "catch of the season" was when Hiadlestone was taken by Hardham at long-on, who judged the ball to a seoond, and had to run quite thirty yards. Petone's fielding was not up to thoir usiial. .■A; Gate, tho Petone "keeper," received a nasty smack on the eye from a hall fast off the bat. Ho will, however, be Tight for to-day's play.

Father M'Monamin, , Tho Rev. Fa their M'Menamin, parish priest at Petone, is practising consistently nt tho nets, and will probably put on tho pads in earnest after tho Christmaa holidays. Judging by last Saturday's form, North should wrest a throe-point win from IV;on!; to-day. The latter were n little lucVv in 1 the first ianings, in disposing of Phillips, Blncklock, Bray, Crombie, and Jiiddiistono for under 10. If theso samo men "lay it on" to-day, tho game is over. East B's Chance Rathar Flimsy. Oho can never bo oortain how a cricket match will ond M. but after Saturday's

Baker's Batting. During the afternoon spectators several times complained that Baker's batting was too slow. As a matter of fact his was tho nicest display of the match. He was extremely cautious throughout, but his strokes 'were, exceptionally good, and when he .did attack the. bowling there was no room for doubt as to who was master of the situation. It must, be taken into consideration that he was. playing in a bad light, and in any case the qual-. ity. of .his work easily compensated for any want of rapidity ln.Tiis scoring.