CRICKET;

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 14 December 1912, Page 12

CRICKET;

[Byjthb Brems&xJ

.;. Tho Wednesday Captains. Now that tho . energetic ; Wednesday. :' * • • people have properly, got their, house in . . order for the cricket season, -ft' word or- ■ two on the captains who liavo been electv ed by the various clubs may not be out _o£ v place:; In mentioning them, it is'quite : ! oeasy to be complimentary without'indulg- • - "'iing'in'the weird exaggeration and general ■ ■ 'banality of the usual sports writer.. Rivals C.C. have placed that splendid i ; Y v personage, A. A.: George, at the helm, ■v -What lie has done for cricket in Wellington, and what lie has endeavoured to do, ! . . would—as most people know—fill a book. His smashing drive to the .off;, is also i. ■ sufficiently -known.- to those unfortunato fieldsmen who have faced, the ordeal of '- - stopping it. ,These things, however, are - r.ot quite, the point which- the writer i ' ; wishes to make. lam going to make bold i. ,■■■■"; to.say. that no other captain—Saturday ■ '■■■ or Wednesday—plaoos his field quite so ' well a» A. A. George does.' He.- undert - ■.stands, his bowlers to a :"T," and, kriow-themi-he knows,; to.a ; foot, where to '. ■ .'.anchor each fieldsman. Having committed myself thus far. in'pleasant, view, I feel disposed to fire- off just one little bit of i growls.. I don't think that Rivals fieldsmen Quito play up to the admirable lead given by> tW skipper, last Wednesday, Or. M'Evedy brought off 1 one of the most i- '-'. brilliant catches -the : writer has ever seen. Nowi.Rivals C.C.. couldn t you, as ■ a team, work up a little more of that eort . /of thing? . 1 \ : Vivian C.C.: marches to the word -• of -I cominaiid as delivered by "len" Cprding— - ' batsman, bowler, and brilliant field. I ! have sometimes thought that the average 1 ' showing of the Vivian men in the; field .v : beats all the rest of the Wednesday .men . .. put together. At the same time'l hardly think that tho most is being got out of - the men. What I mean is that the cap- . tain is just,a litle bit too modest in dealink with his men. He should "shake them up- just a- little bit more. I Bombardier J. Smith is O.C. command- ; . . : ing Artillery (at cricket), , and everybody - iknows him.. He is one -of the -oldest 1 ; . in Wellington, and, up at the Mount,-Cook barracks, "he is. sometinies j faiiiliarly-.referred to "as the. man who ■ w),bowled Giffeh." He did, too. As a bats- : 'inin; most of the ■■ Wednesday, bowlers : know; how hard it-is to shift him once i . ho gets, his eye in—and that, as a rule, , ' doesn't' take very long. Possibly, h'ow- ' ' ever, few appreciate., him at his right j .-; worth' as a captain. He seems to read, off ( ' by intuition exactly the "strength" of ; . ;tne batsman who happens.to.be at the 'crease, and he is very quick to put on I "VjUst the right eort. of chauge ia his side's | '• '' ... bowling. ... i "Tom" Taylor, captain of the strong i'r : ../vUnion, eleven, probably, has to do less thinking over-his bowling than. any.other . ■ Wednesday skipper. The writer is some- - itimes vain enough to think that he.could direct, the operations of Union'C.C. him- -' ■ : 'self—it seems so easy. All that is really ■necessary.is to put on Victor Harris, .. : " with his deadly slows,. at one end, and I "something .fast" at the other; As a .... practical cricketer, Taylor can show his ' ■ friends and enemies' a, page or two. He .. . can. lxit, bowl, field, 'and keep wickets. .Does any fastidious, critic ask anything ;-. . more? -. ' :/ To the newly-constituted YJIiC.iL midweek club, the glad hand is duly extend- , ed.. ."Dave" Sciater is.,in charge. Last lie figured jn thoiPost and Tele- '''' team'oil Wednesdays, , and. in the i ..■•f"i:^Vel)fngt6ii.Association's junior grade on 1 ft . capfjjft the writer is 1 : .' insufficiently "posted up" to say much, but i ~ it can easily be said that the Y.M.C.A. " '.'captain"is ft good field, a steady bat, and ■wliht is much more to the point—a jolly ■ good sport. .-. last, but very; far from least, comes Gourlay, captain of Oriental. He is one I. " . > 'Of! those,, cricketers who, in ..my-, opinion, . .. lias never received' due mention in the public prints. Hardly a Wednesday goes , , ' ; without seeing, him .make a score, and, '.' '.' V ",'as for his 'bowling, one could hardly wish his worst enemy sadder .experience than c/i.tttf minutes facing the Oriental captain on. a rough wicket. . If. he knew Gourlay .'. aiul valued his personal safety, he would possibly throw down his bat,-and.run. f . . ..-. It is solemnly related that he once bowled' . . batsmen"off:his .'(the batsman's) V -ball ; that-hits ■ you in the eye ; !&Kd.n4 cannons} into; the;: wicket' can j hardly : bo classed-ns'vaudoviile;:''All,thatj- . by .the way, however.'.- The,•point is that ; ;;' 'G6urldy's brief; term., of office as captain ;' j ''/of: Onentar 6eeihs. tovhave -had. great ef- • ; ' - feet. It worked capitally>in- the. field. on L -? ; "" . 1 ; , Proposed Trip to Levin. ■ - , I are"t>eing'niaie to-form a.mixed ; : eenior-;.;team'"*-to go- to Levin on Boxing Day and play Hordwhenua. A good day's - v outing is promised the party. Some North Club News. - The North Club .seniors are looking | ; forward with confidence to a full win •; ■. ito-day.. Confidence is a,. good thing,- ■ but I >• ; there is such a thing as over-confidence, .. f' in the train of which) neglect "of practice ot the nets, is often found; . D. C. Collins, who figured well in ; yciniversity and other> big cricket, at ; . r -Home is due .back here, in a few. days, ~ :;;* K and "provided' he settles in' Wellington ■ ■ the North Club are in hopes of securing . ~ him. It is stated, however, that there i ' is. a possibility that Collins may not set- |■ tie in the city. : J; ' None of tho North Club's fast bowlers ; - - 'camo off last week, all the wickets being " taken by thp break bowlers. Fast bowling appears to bo the club's weak spot, Scratchy Batsmen: What is Your , Philosophy? - } .;;;. ' East A are to bo beaten this after- ; , - [noon. 'There seems to be very little doubt i | obout that. .On "last Saturday's form the ; - I-team is inferior to the North, team in ,1 every department of the.game. As a 1 '-' ('Capital wicket was provided, there was ; Ino excuse for the poor start made by i'theEast batsmen."Fortunately the "tail" Vroade a very creditable showing, and this ! «lone saved the side.-. The hero of the day was M'Girr, whose j . 'dashing display was an object lesson to ." the many cricketers who imagine, that ~ ;a. batsman should "scratch about" for at ileast' half an hour before attempting to /make a run. TV) those batsmen (?) one • j might well use tho words of a well-known •' .... '.of . Divinity: is your "philosophy of life?" " AndLContinuing this system of catechis.ing,. "What was the position that M'Girr had to face?" Whence went in four wickets had fallen for 16 rnns. All theso . wickets had been captured by Southall, " and, however difficult that bowler might really have teen, his deliveries looked 6oft enough to the spectators. One could I - see plainly 1 enough, trom the grandstand that it was only necessary to time them ! correctly and hit them hard enough, and they would surely go over the fence. ; ." What could be easier? At all events there were several of us in tho grandstand who figured it out this way. M'Girr seems to have grasped the situation just as readily. He no doubt, formed th® co/iclusion that if one were to be ' : .- beaten it was well to be beaten honourj : ably. Besides, the spectators had been charged for admission, and thoso few that paid the required charge certainly did not go to the Basin Reserve to see i. ' a displav of "scratching." ; By the time M'Girr went in some of those sitting round the grandstand seem- ; <?d inclined to sleep. The batsman showed his disapproval ot their conduct by hit- ' ting tho ball among them several times. Even when Southall gavo him something ! tempting on the off, tho East man frer queii-tly, pulled them round to tho on. He showed no respect for nny of tho ■bowling, and had hit Luckie rather hard before the latter clean bowled him. This innings by M'Girr was a really delightful display from the onlookers' point of view, aiul was, moteover, the whole backbtfne nf the East scor 0 . The batsmen who followed did well) but ths howling had been made a trifle easier ior ; them. Who Laughed Last? i South.ill and Luckie were in form with trie kill. The latter had moro "style than usual in his run bofo"e delivery, and one or two o£ the crowd found some-

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS & OTHER- PASTIMES.