IMPRESSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1663, 1 February 1913, Page 7

IMPRESSIONS.

CRICKET IN THE DOMINION. THE BAITING. HITTERS, BLOCKERS & OTHERS. JBY Q. H. S. iTkott.] ■ In our national, summer game, batting undoubtedly stands' first. The general publio lovo to see,a hitter at the wickets, yet thi old orickoter and judge of the game prefers thoeolid batsman, who plays the' game as it should, bo. played, viz., every .ball along the carpet. Even "tho stonewaiter has his use on a side. How often has he savod tho innings, from total Collapse P. Yes, every kind of batsman goes along to make up a combination. , Jly opinion is that when selectors are choosing a eido they should study their batting' very closely, and in" selecting' a team should try to have two stonewcllcrs in It. One might fail, and then perhaps the second' one will 'como to light. Four . or Ave of the solid order, und a couple'of good . hitters go : a long way in making a grand side.. During our present tour of New Zealand I have closely watched the principal batsmen in .Wellington, Christchurch,'arid Dunedin. Auckland I did not see, as they were cut out of cur programme. But, in tho three places mentioned,.! 6tt\v men of very great promisemen who, if they had the opportunities .that men.in Australia : get, I feel sure , would mako their names famous in cricket ■. history. V' '.

In Welilngtoh-Beechey, /Blairilres, aftd . Midlane, ' ' , , ■

Boechey,. of who is a left' . -handed batsman, struck .mo as being a . player. with great possibilities. His de- . fenco is sound,-and liis: strokes on tho offside—both the drive and tho cut—aro executed witli great brilliancy, and preoision. • Mind, the Wellington wicket at tho Basin " Reserve is not a wick'ot that the brilliant tinan can shine on, for .tho bair . comes along at two different paces. An occasional shooter and a bumpy ball will often .■ come along jn the same over, yet tile runs WJnpli Beechey got there in our match were made m a stylo that quite, convinced' me " - taw .on-our last, true Australian wickets order" ft -tctsmiin of tho highest also scared well in our match; ■ and his batting, 'especially :in tho first innings, was both brilliant and sound; He has, however, got tho bad habit (also pos- : byi great number of . New 'Zealand --batsmen) of putting his leg in front of his wicket- when playing balls pitched on the £ ,ii ! Gtll mp, . Thi3 raaj' not'be such a fault pn your , slow New Zealand wickets! ; but on our fast ; ones; it would be serious, ;,V n ° w c ?s il y -.«e„that, bright Uhrough- ■ . 'out the i Dominion,- English conches have y i^ k, ln3tillin S> to students tile' ■ will I 1!? , y protect their wickets 'Sv» ? feff..'W'.Aqstrolia, d« hot: • .1 «Wo:on'Bood.#icfcots, -,Wo ~ 'encourage it only when' :.'tlw>,wickets are ' : - :S:It A"* to cramp: tho , and . stops hiin from : making .those glorious off drives. If Hidlane could broken off his-bad habit, I feel sure ' mt d ' ot more runs, ' i Tho Eev. E. 0. Blamires is a batsman of ;the man brimming over with confidence—which., after all; is one of the main attributes of making a man a successful , batsman- /He tales all «h?/wi^

Or„'««2h!°™ e « 1 *H' : - ""other. man ln" Wellm o tou whom I. admired,- not so much for his styM with the . bat, but tobis .dflteminafaon iatVa: crisis.-: He was the coolest man m tho field whan just -.-oil' n^i^ ere l , rWlln ? e . d ,. fo win < : »nd I Wl W ! ° 001,111 h , avo got . tha nins had he- had .anyone who could have stayed with hiin/ Certainly ho got out : last -mail,, tot-threw > his wicket, away in l&fcV .e"™®- the last : man,' Bouthall, : arrived. I will not at •- all be snrpirjsod to sco him Vs ono ; 0 f: tho best Sir r fu n t D ure m ° n ZcalaDti in the

Christehurch—Capital Batting -Sido. In Chris tchuroh wo met a much better batting - side than tho trim at "Wellingi tho , uintil ro nl > ono swmed, to .be capable of making life 100. Patrick; .took -jiride .of place: in the tnlt °f runs.;scored,',but the man who - ?o D 7r '■ ?",? Hickmott,: .a youth of 19 (I believe), ■ who 1 played ,an innings of 43, and,,carried his bat right through the. innin»s ,-whon' i6ur -bowling was at its. best;, it was: a performauco which any older cricketer might indeed be proud of. Ho. gave'.no chance until the second last over of tho match, and, all through the tw.o hours that lie was at the wickets, he played the bowling liko a yeteran. . Ho is: not yet: a : finished bats-man-he ha.s a lot to lcarn-but I have no. renr, .u ho gets, the opportunity . of 6eeing and, playinjj against soma of our cracks, that he will, develop into a batstte highest order. :',iJ?,' ric k: also, played a greht/innirigs for iu, and, although -ho gave '.us' six opp-ii'-tumties of-, dismissing liim.- yet,' between the chances, he played a safo and mnsterJr reminding one very much of ; 'Z ft , rn!!! 'v; »io;.:.English captain, .in his Jtyle. ;Ho-is;.-.a,-fine back, player, but I : «<|l certain that lie could play .a lot more forward- with benefit to 'himself. ' Most of his runs, were, got by,powerful squiire cuts, and good on-hits., It is only . tho -dnve that ho wants to cultivate to makonim one of 'tho-best-, batsmen'in New Zealand

,Hayes is another good batsman, and I in l ? i . vo 4 ' na^o n lot more runs if he .let:himself.go":n ,bit. His defence is very sounil, and he hn? command of a variety i.'of :. strokes.' .' Bishop is' another' batsman. of_' tho useful ordor.: There. is li*i. tins finished. about. him, but he is messed with 1 any amount' of confidence. He ,is of .'course getting Up in years, but this fact'doss not dim his keenness, nor mar his. activity ;.in the .field. : ''Dan" ,Reese, :as we all know, is a fine batsman,-but I am afraid that ;ho. was just a wee bit too careful in oilrMirst match, And our bowlers were enabled to trap him out-beforo he .had got properly gting ,1 A Point for Young Batsmen. ■ ' I '.'Tom'.' Carlton gets a lot. of runs, but his .style is iiot,one,:tbat I should recommend.. r.n.v . young' ' cricketer , io copy. Still, there is one thing which lie does .When batting v;hich all players sh6uld do, and which I.think is tlie secret of -.■his batting-successes,'arid that is watching tho ball-from: tho moment that tho bowler-delivers it. In fact, this must bo' (lone by nil young batsmen if they intend to get to tho top of-tho: tree. Try ■it when yon next go in to bat. and sco how liiuch easier it is to play tho bowling whilst..watching the bowler's arm! Hitters, in Naw Zealand. During the trip we hava not come across many big hitters in any of the teams. One mnft' in the\ Canterbury eleven struck mo- would make a typicril hitter if lie would only wait and pick ■ the right ball to hit, and,that was Sandman. To in» ; ho looks just the cut of v hitter, but, in our match, ho played very quietly.'-Yet I saw hi in at practico hitting tne ball all over tho field, and doing Kino mighty drives. A hitter on a sidb is a good asSet, -but ho shoiild v always play his game—that is, to 1 hit. Many a match has been pulled nut of the fire by BJch. grand hitters iy> Donnor, li'Donell, Mttssey, and Lyons.. Impressions of Dunedin Men. At Dunedin wa came aoros9 some, very line batsmon.. Tuckwell, who camo across from Melbourne, and who intends settling down in Dunedin for some years, perhaps showed the best form. Hp is a batsman of the graceful order, and was considered, ovor oh our side; to possess tho qualifies-, tions of a' champion, but business kept' him out of itho,game for somo time, and ■ho was;lose. sight'pf. It is to bo hoped that, in his new home, he will help Otafto to wrest..f'tha' Plunkct Shield from its present holders, for ho is undoubtedly a great player. Wristy And free, ho cuts well, and can force tho gamo if neocsstiry,

Hopkins also pleased me, but ho has an inclination to havo a go at everything on tho oil-side. I feel suro thnt if lie curbed this inclination somewhat and picked out tho proper ball to hit, ho would make a lot moro runs. Al'Farlano is a local product, and ho does Now Zealand credit as a batsman, 110 watches tlio ball closely,, cuts and drives well, and plays as good cricket as any batsmen wo havo met on our tour. Ho is also a fine fieldsman, and, on ..faster wickets, should bowl well. I' place Mm easily in the first five batsmen we have played, against. No one else, with perhaps the exception of Eamsden, showed much form with tho bat in Dune-, din, and, although he was not very long at the wickots, ho Bhowed me that against weak bowling ho would have to bo reckoned with. ' i In tho other places which wo have played matches at, viz., Masterton, Blenheim, Ashburtou, and Tnpanui, I did not see any batsmen of great promise, although at Blenheim Pierpoint showed form that would easily secure him a placo in any of, tho provincial teams. . Advice—Don't Play so much with Your Pads I , ; . I My advice to the batsmen of New Zealand is to try to drop playing so much with their legs. This habit is all very well on bad, sticky wickets,' where the ball stops and gets head-high, and plays sill sorts of funny capurs, but, at the good, hard wickets I say play. the ball more with the bat. Many a ball can be hooked around to leg for four that you simply stop with yoiir bat iu front' of your tegs. Also many a drive on the off-side could bo brought off ,!>y making a yard to it instead of playing right back in tho manner 1 have described. . . ' . . If yon can secure visits from more emu teams from Australia I feel sure that your cricket would improve. It is also ( a very wise move to send tenms occasionally to Australia. Nothing improves tho young player so much as wAtohing better bats-, men on their mfttlo in these games, and playing better bowling than they are accustomed to get at home. • . • " A Word to Nervous Men. ••• Confidence'and'self-esteem'play air important part in ail big matches. If a player—never mind hotf good lie is at the nets fir in ordinary club matches—has any; nervous: moments'when a big match is in progress, he will bo a failure. Some batsmon get over their'nervousness.after the first couple of runs if they can battle through them, but they moro often lose their wickets during that period. My advico- to this sort of player is. simply this: Try and get rid of this feeling by grinding vour. teeth, and saying to yourself : ."Harry Trott says that he has folind a jolly sight better bowling in ordinary club games than he gets in the big games." '. ■ ' And I also know for a fact that if you will only-show a bokhfront to the bowler at tho start of your innings ho will, not bowl half as well to you, for he thinks just the same as you do and his thoughts are, probably to this .effect: "Oh, thi9 fellow .j!is '. a: • good i bat"; but .if he thinks you are nervous at all, he generally. smiles to him.self And tlunks:' "Oh, he's mine." Yes, in mv cricket'experience of over 30 years I feel more sure'how that confidence and tfimperamciit play a greater part in the. success of a batsman.; than anything else. Our Only Conquerors. v.; On pur'return "match, ngaiiist Canterbury "Dan",ftecsd showed Us batting form that quite convinced us'that he is in. a class-By himself and one of the freest • hittejs ■in the Dominion/ Right up until he got into the 00'$ ho timed and .hit every / ball with I'orco, and. precision.; l gan confidently recommend all young New Aealauders to.; copy this; graceful ■ lefthander if they wish to become batsmen. Young Paterson, who ecored 50 in tho same match, / played beautiful cripket, and with Eecso altered the whole state .of the game by putting on over 100 runs lor tho partnership; ■ Ho struck hie as being tho.making.of :d, very'fine batsman'in- : deed. He-has everything in his fiivour, being a young fellow who is not . likely, to bo troubled -.with a "swelled head"^anil seems .anxious to know moro about tho gamo; ho is bound to develop into one of your champions\of tbe fiiture..w> o«i