TROTT & HIS TEAM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1633, 27 December 1912, Page 3

TROTT & HIS TEAM.

PLAYING HERE.

MELBOURNE ALL OUT FOR 227. THE LOCALS BEGIN. GOOD FIRST WICKET SCORE. In brilliant sunshine the match between the South Melbourne touring team and the Wellington representatives was commenced on the Basin Reserve shortly after noon yesterday. The wicket was in capital condition, and some of the visitors praiso it highly. It was slower than the wickets which they are used to, but they reckon it an easy wicket to play on. Wellington were without Wilson (who ricked a shoulder), Saunders (who has a touch of influenza), and Findlayson (who did not get word of his selection in time). So far the match has been most interesting. Trott, the captain of the visitors, won the toss, and sent his men to the wickets. They played attractive cricket, and compiled 227 runs. Scott, whose reputation as a bat soars high, was looked forward to, but ho did not stay long at the crease, and showed nothing of his.real quality. Deas made a very good impression. Trott, who had made "ducks" at both Masterton and Blenheim, batted excellently for 43, and carried his bat, getting a good clap from the crowd as he came back through the gate. The good all-round form of- the Wellington team was."surprising the poor stand which they had made against tho New .South Wales' teachers. Their bowlers did well, .their fielding was very good, and the little -seen of their batting was good. Blamires brought off two brilliant catches in the slips, and Midlane, who fielded excellently throughout, took a fine catch on the boundary. Blacklock fielded smartly, and threw down Sykes's wicket by a particularly, sudden and accurate return., Broadly speaking, however, the feature of, all the fielding was the two brilliant'catches '. by. Blamires. Southall and Robinson bore the brunt of the bowling, and both bowled exceptionally well. 'Southall's difficult slows were breaking both ways; and the visitors.found him awkward. They commented very favourably on his bowling:'. Before lunch he was bowling from the north and had a slight breeze to assist his break. In the afternoon' the breeze was coming from the opposite direction, and Southall. was much less effective. Nevertheless he was the most successful bowler of the team.

The match will be continued this afternoon, when his Excellency the Governor (Lord Liverpool) will be present. Play will also be gone on- with on Saturday.

The Teams, The following represented the visitors: -G. H. S. Trott, W. H. MacCormack, S. Sykes, W. Scott, J. ,F. Giller, J. Kyle, A. Kenny, R. Deas, H. Kelly, T. Purvis, and A. Pentland.

;. The Wellington team was: J. P. Blacklock''•(captain), D. Naughton, E. Phillips, E. M. Beechey, E. O. Blamires, T. R. Southall, A. H. Fenton, C. V. Grimmett, ;C. W. Robinson, G. Schmoll, ans F. A. Midlane. The Game Afoot. i Trott won the toss and-deciding to bat,, sent Sykes. and MacCormack to the wickets. MacCormack,. who is a left-, hander, took first strike to Robinson, who sent down the first /ball at .a quarter-past mid-day. The batsmen immediately displayed keenness in running between the wickets. Three singles . were scored off Robinson's opening over. Southall was put on to bowl from the other end, and the South Club man's slows'were a useful contrast to Robinson's fast-mediums. ;Six we're .knocked :off .;Sgnthall's, over—a boundary and a two; In the next over MacCormack delightfully '|cut Robinson through the slips for .four. Southall bowled a maiden, over, and in his next over, he .badly beat Sykes, :but the batsman escaped. .The pair were doing nicely, and seemed good for a fair score, when" they were separated by a'fine throw from the field by Blackloc'k. Sykes had run up the wicket and' MacCormack called to him to go back, but before the reached safety Blacklock had.thrown the wicket down by a beautiful piece'of fielding from midoff. The score at this stage totalled 32, of .which, the retiring batsman had made 13 and MacCormack 19.

The Long Arm of Blamires,

Scott went to the'crease, but only one run had been added- to the total when MacCormack lost his wicket. He attempted ti>.get : Southall away through the slips. The ball was travelling fast and low, but the long arm of Blamires shot out, and the Central cricketer made one of the most brilliant ■ catches' which has ever been made.on the ground. Giller, who followed, opened carefully,' arid Scott was putting a great amount of wrist 'work into his strokes. "With 10 on' Scott was clean bowled by Southall. ' Scott played forward to the ball, but the slow bowler had him beaten all the way. . Three wickets were down now for 46. With the stroke which immediately preceded his dismissal Scott gave a chance by- skying the ball to 'the outfield, but Beechey misjudged it. ( Kyle filled the vacancy.. ■ When the luncheon : adjournment; was '■ taken at one o'clock, he had not scored; and Giller. was 6 on. Forty-eight :runs-had been put on for the hour's play. .'■': Southall had two wickets for 23 at this! stage.

Giller faced the bowling of .Robinson .when play was resumed. - He got the first ball away to the. off for two,, and altogether knocked eight-off the over. Half an hour after the resumption (an hour and a half's' aotual play) the first change in the bowling was made, Grimmett relieving Eobinson at the southern end. Kyle drove; the bowler's second ball hard for a single, but the next delivery was fatal to', Giller. Giller tapped a ball -weakly down the pitch, and.Grim-met* managed to.reach and hold it. Four wickets.were down for 76 runs, and Grimmetfs record'-was one wicket for one run. Kenny obviously disliked Southall's trundling, and scratched at it very uncertainly. Blamires just failed to hold a Irish fast chance given by Kyle —a very difficult chance.': Kenny was just beginning to open out to Southall. when he fell a victim to a .'great. catch in the long field. Kenny drove the ball high over ' the bowler's ■ head,, and Midlano, standing near the boundary; held it excellently. The retiring batsman had made 19, the total was ■ 91/. -arid Southall had. secured three wickets for 45 runs.

The newcomer,, Deas,. commenced work as soon as he arrived, and a four of his brought up the hundred, a sum which it had taken two hours to compile.

Deas scored'quickly, and soon passed Kenny, who,' however, repassed Jiim again at about 30. The pair had added 53 to the total when Deas called for a nearlyimpossible run, and, Blacklock returning smartly to the wfutcet-kceper's end. Deas was run out. He had made 30.

An Ovation for Trott.,Blamires was now bowling from the northern end. Trott, who went- in on the retirement of Deas, was given an ovation. Further applause greeted the 17-stone veteran when hie made his first score of the tour—a single. A two and a four to the visiting captain soon followed. 9

At 165 Southall was put on. to bowl again in place of Blamires. Trott banged his first ball hard to the / outfield, and the crowd were about to cheer the veteran for a fine boundary, when Midlane dnshed along, and, snapping tho ball up brilliantly, kept the stroke down to a two. The next over from the south end Fen ton delivered, and ho • was kept on awhile in place of Grimmctt. Within two runs of his half-century, Kenny was dismissed through a sensational catch in the slips by Blamires, off Soutliall. The ball sailed low, fast, and almost out of reach, but Blamires threw himself at it, and in his full-length fall rescued the ball a few inches off the ground. Seven wickets had fallen for 182, and Southall had taken four of them for 69 runs. He had at this stage bowled 20 overs. A few runs later Fenton went on to bowl in place of'Southall from the north end, and Robinson continued to ,bowl from tho south mid, I Kolly, th.e latest man la, scored slowly.

but a two by him brought up the second century. This when play had been in progress for three hours. Trott was scoring fairly freely, and was ably assisting his more youthful confrere to steal runs off short hits.

At 209 Kelly was given out as caught behind the wickets by wicket-keeper Schmoll. From the stand it looked as if the ball came oft" Kelly's pad. Further, felly declares that it did. Kelly was fho first of the visitors so far to fail to reach double figures—ho made nine—and his was the first wicket Robinson had secured. Robinson's record was one wicket for 58. The eighth wicket had fallen for 209.

Purvis was the tenth man to go to the crease. Blamires was put on at the north end, and with the third ball of his over he got Purvis caught in tho slips. It was a soft catch, the ball jumping high, over his head to Southall, who held it. Nine wickets were now down for 211 runs.

The last batsman was Pentland, who shaped rather nicely during a brief career. With his score at three, he lifted Blamires shoulder high, in the silps, and Southall held him easily. The innings closed for 227, and Trott carried his bat for a well-played 43. The innings lasted for three and a quarter hours.

Wellington Go In. Wellington opened their first innings at 4.25. Phillips and Naughton were the pair who started the batting, and Scott and Kelly went on to bowl. From the north end Scott sent down the first ball to Phillips. Only a single was obtained off the over, and Kelly's first over was a maiden. The bowlers were troublesome to the batsmen, and Scott's next over was a maiden. Phillips had notched a single off Scott's first over, and he cut the fourth ball of Kelly's second over through the slips very prettily for four. Scoring was very slow, and the game extremely dull for some time after Wellington opened. Five out of the first seven overs were maidens, and only two scoring strokes had been mado off the forty-two balls. Ten went up after 24 minutes' play. With the total at 16, Phillips mishit one high into the sliips, but it fell into a clear patch. The rate of scoring increased after a while, and at the end of 34 minutes' play the city team were 30 on. The batsmen were cautious, but were shaping well. A few runs later Kyle howled from tho 60uth end. His first over was a maiden.

Kyle, with the fourth ball of his second over, effected the separation of the opening pair, he clean bowling Naughton with a fast one. The score ait this stage was 32, of which Naughton had made 10. Kyle had taken one for none.

Beechey filled the gap, and after scoring a couple.of singles, brought forty up with a beauty to the boundary. He repeated the performance two balls later. Giller then went on in place of Scott at the north end. The bowling was particularly good at this stage, but the batsmen were taking no risks. Phillips was as solid as a rock, and occasionally, showed quality in beautifully-timed cuts. Giller tried bowling off theory, but Beechey left him severely alone.

The half-century went up after an lour and five minutes of play. A few runs later Phillips was nearly run. out while the batsmen were stealing a run for an overthrow.- Had the wicketkeeper taken the ball smartly, Phillips must have returned to the pavilion. A flick through the slips and a couple of other nice strokes, and Phillips brought GO up, of which Phillips himself had .contributed 31.

Kenny replaced Kyle, bowling from the south end. Up to the present 13 of the 29 overs had been maidens. A.big drive by Beechey brought up 80, after an lour and a half s play.

At 6 o'clock stumps were drawn, with Wellington 83 for one wicket.

South Melbourne—First Innings. W. H. MacCormack, 112441141, c. Blamires, b. Southall 19 S: Sykes,. 111111124, thrown out 13 W. Scott, 1414, b. Southall 10 J. F. Giller, 411224114, c. and b. Grimmett .-. ; .-sf:'.-;.-:.-...:..:.............20 J. Kyle, llUllllllfliXel-Midlane, b. '.; Southall ....; 19 A. Kenny, 341112121134411211122U41i, c. / Blnmires, b. 50utha11.;...... 48 R. Deas, 14412141121113111,. run out ... 30 G. H. S. Trott, 1242114412111111111111144, not out 43 H. Kelly, 1112211, c. Schinoll, b. Robinson .". 9 T. Purvis, 3, c. Southall, b. Blamires 3 A. Pentland, 12, c. Southall, b. Blamires .' 3 Extras 10 ..Total 227 ; Bowling Analysis. ''•■' ■( O. M. R, W.Robinson . 18 2 73 1 Southall '. '. 21 3 73 . 4 Grimmett 11 1 32 1 Blamires'-':" 5| 0 23 -2Fenton. ,' 60 16 0 Wellington.—First Innings. D. Naughtoh, 11211112, b. Kyle 10 E. Phillips, 142223113231242412, not out 40 E. M. Beechey, 11-1411121112, not out ... 20 Extras , , 13 Total for one wicket 83 Bowling Analysis. 0. M. R. W. Scott ; 11 5 11 0 Kelly ; 7 2 16 0 Kyle 8 3 26 1 Giller ;.. 7 3 9 0 Kenny 3 18 0 NELSON-MARLBOROUGH. (By Telegrapn—Press Association.) Blenheim, December 28. The Marlborough v. Nelson representative match commenced to-day in fine weather and on a good wicket. The scores were as follow:—

Nelson.—First Innings, Pere, c. Goulding, b. Benning 13 Neale, b. Eoss 61 Stratton, b. Whittle 13 Haycock, 'b. Goulding 58 .Richmond, c. Ross, b. Goulding 18 Eden, st. Wedde, b. Goulding 11 Ver.coe, c. and b. Goulding ]6 Mead, not out. 83 Thomas, b. Eoss 21 Bensemann, b. Goulding 27 Hodgkinson, c. Martin, b. Goulding ... 0 Extras 21 Total 348 Bowling Analysis.—Pearpoint, no wickets for 49 runs; Benning, one for 59; Goulding, six for 93; Whittle, one for 46; Eoss, two for 35; Cragg, none for 10; Martin, none for 24; Jackson, none for 1. Marlborough.—First Innings. Pearpoint, not out 30 Whittle, c. Hodgkinson, b. Haycock... 20 Mills, not out 3 Extras 25 Total for one wicket 78