IMPRESSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1681, 22 February 1913, Page 6

IMPRESSIONS.

OF DOMINION CRICKET. NO. 4: THE GROUNDS. ' STATEMENTS.

[BY 6. H. S, Trott.]

(Specially written for The Dominion.)

Of tit© throe main provincial cricket grounds; which our "team have' played , upon I must certainly, giro the palm for appointments ami general npi>earancejto . - Lancaster ' Park atChristchurcli.' 'jtat! the.best wicket, and ajso tho fastest, was at Carisbrook Park, Dnnedin. At;, Wellington, tho Basin Reserve is a' ' fino ground, but the wicket is bad. It appears to mo to be top-dressed with the wrong soil. Something mora gluey and binding is required. Tho soil with which it is at present : top dressed crumbles after the first day's play,'and the result is that on' the following days you may. look out for shooting and rising balls. Tho fielding ground is "Al," and could hardly bo improved'upon,: The grandstand, to my mind, is .in tho .-wrong place. ' I always likoy.to"seo .tho' stands .built' straight* in •, line with tho wickets,.so.that the play"ers, and thoir 'supporters of the game can seo what the bowlers arc doing with tho. ball. When one is looking across the ,wickets, half;of the finer points of the ; game , are missed.- " . Basin Reserve—"You Must Have Proper Soi!" ; /; On tho Basin Reserve I beliovo fouii matches are played every Saturday, and 1 ft similar number during the week. This' i gives tho; caretaker a lot of work, and hardjy gives the. soil itself much cnimce to bind—let alone tho grass to grow. ■ What is wanted. in Wellington is iuito cricket, grounds'. , I had a look at iho ground on tho way to Kelburne, and, to I .tho eye, tho wicket there seems to be better thanat the Basin, but, of com se, firat-olaßs - matohes; there , aro out of tho' question, on account of ..being unable, to charge -for admission. , ' . Thero is another 'Wellington groand which; ;■ if properly fenced, wnuld make ,an ideal playing arena. .'jut, as all tho-grounds., around Wellington ■ aro top-dressed with the same kind: of eoil,(which I maintain is the wrong sail) ;you cannot expect to produco first class batsmen'of tho.samo calibre as 'we hive in Australia. . - .' \ I think;it would almost pay tho.'aul/mri-'. ' ties-of Wellington •province' to get from Melbourne a man, like, the M.C.C. curator, and giro him carto b)ar the, .and allow ihim to inspect " your diift cent soils.. 1 Ho'would then tell you the pripor : stuff ;for • to'ji-dressing., You must, have the proper.'soil.inlyour neighbourhood, aii I it T . only • requires a littlo interest by y oiir cricketersand civio ' authorities in '. the Hive just ,as'good; wickets in ..Wellington, as we have in .Melbourne. Lancaster Park. '

Lancaster Park ground at,Christohun h has tho best appointments.. It is a very • fino ground, as lar as the,publio ore concerned. Also the members and : players aro specially catered for,' as .the playing area is just about the right - size,' and tho , fence which encloses it sets it off. But', like Wellington, there is something wrong .with, the .soil that tho wickets-are prepar- • ed with, arid I would suggest- : to tho ;y.; 1 cricket authorities there' to join with Wel- . •> lington and have an' jexpert ; 'ovor. If all tho "provinces joined, I feel suro 'that the expense of this undertaking'wirnld not .cost '■ much, and it would soon be repaid by the i improvemoht itt -the game rigfit through- . o*ut the J)oiniiiion. Bett^r .crickct means . better attendances at - , tho matches. ■ Splendid Dunedin .Ground, i At Carisbreok ground, 'Dunedin, we ' -.' played t on' tho: best wicket, with one ex- • coption. " That exception ,was .Ashburton. Cansbrook ; played faster than either V Weilington -or and ..did not ■ -.look\os ififc_ would crumble, so quickly, : ; but-I put'this fact down'to tho amount ot grass .that was left on the wicket.: . .. Still, . like all: New. Zealand wickets' which v'o played upon, it ■ seemed—if,, a ruls was applied that the 'wiclfets could ... 'bo watered -after every day's play-7-that they would last tho three or four days ?, ? n d until now '.soil- and! ;the.. proper soil,is-obtained for top-dress-ing, ... it would bo worth while for the , ■ .authorities; ■ controlling : the . different grounds to have this done e'aoh evening' after the close of play. It is hardly fair ;,: tlla , t 'two.:sides .who, are' pretty equally, matched Should have their chances of victory _minimised by the tossing of- a .. : com. It is: easily .worth--50 or 100 runs', to any side which has , the, good luck to wm. the .toss on any ground in New Zealand. , ' ' , ■ . . Strange to say, tho Cariisbrook- wicket, ; -oa the occasion of our visit, played 20 per cent, bettor after, the rain than it did ■ before. If we had had . oil any of our Melbourne wickets...the amount of win which .fell. on . tho Sunday and Monday morning befort#wo,started. no sido would have'made. 100 runs. .Yet the wicket in ; ■ Question hardly showed the effects of the ': rain.' 'It was.xertiiinly soft; and one could 1 put one's finger easily into the, soil; yet , Then th 9 bowlers got on it.tho ball came, along -at a slow- easy nac3 and, had no , •..' devil'f . in it at-alh At no time did it get any worse, .but as'it dried ■ it.'really '' ' got. better. , The Appointments to . the' ground are weir up to date, and it is easily the second best, ground' which we • '■' played, upon during, our' visit. , Ashburton and the'Treo3. . Of the conntry grounds I must give the palm to Ashburton for, their'good .wicket. , /The gronnd is not an ideal one. for a -"'bowler for three reasons, viz.; the wicket , is good, hard and,fast, the fielding ground is hard and fast; and the. boundaries are' the smallest of any' ground'wo played upon. From a spectacular point of view tho beautiful foliage' which encloses ■ tho -. whole playing, arena. Jis g*and,.:and on .a hot day .is.niiichiapprecialed by-theispec-tators, who , can •'loll, under the beautiful ■ trees .and watch the gamo at their pleasure. . But, fromYa : batsnian'p point of view. , .these trees growing all ivouiul p. ground is bad, .as it al!ects l . . . when the'siin is going down, and it is . also bad for the fieldsmen.when catcher are given to them in tho field. Tho ball oft.times gets lost to the, eye against tho - ■ trees. ■' v 1 ,- . Tt speakfl '.veil lor '■•he people, ' of Ashburton that they can boast of one of .. the finest cricket pitches in Now Zea- , land, one of - the bsst. ; little cricket : grounds, and one of the most, enthusiastic little band of cricketers which it was my pleasure to meet throughout: our most enjoyable tour. Masterton—Rsmlniscont of Kent. ' At Masterton, in tho Wairarapa district they havo al;:o a very fino ; gronnd, ; frorri "the spectacular standpoint. It, reminded mb verj* much of that beautiful Canterbury ground in Kent, England. The only thing missing to mar the remembranco.was the absence of the different coloured tents which adorn tho ground duriiig the cricket.week carnival in tho "hop county." Masterton has a really pretty little gronnd, and- its inhabitants should be proud of it. What thoy sadly rct|uire is a caretaker who hiis had oxperience In •. the preparing of . .'cricket ' wickets, and, if .tho: authorities of cricket in New Zealand' tako _ my suggestion to heart about bringing an expert to your country to look for the proposed soil for toprdressing, Masterton should not'bn left out.- It is;really a good, thing. Masterton, that you have no fast '.howlers' in your midst, for, if,'you had, battinjr would ik> longer bo a pleas- . lire but ;a serious danger. Blsnlvsim Ground. , At Blenheim the ground is situated well, but it is far too small for a cricket ground. ' Of course, in the absonoe of anything bettor,.'it.does. -Land.'.they.tell' me, is pretly dear in Blenheim, but surely this ground could be exchanged, for . a much larger area a littlo further out .of'th'o town, whore cricket, tennis, and even bowls could be .played all together . in a united sports ground. I fancy a record lor sixers was made on this miniature cricket ground during our

rislt, but/ it does not give the bowlers half .a chance to get a batsman caught out when tho boundaries are so small. The gentleriian—an amateur, I believe—who prepared the lricke't which we playetTupon was proud of his efforts, and the wicket for a time did not play at all bad, but during the latter part of tho game an occasional shooter and a would come along showing that Blenheim soil is just , as bad as the others. Our Only Matting Wicket. , At' Tapanui ye played upon tho only matting- wicket of the tour. This was laid down upon a bed of clay, nnd although ■ none of our boys received any knocks, tho. locals did not relish'.several blows which they got-from Kyle's, fast deliveries. Thi9 is only a cricket, ground in name, for last season a crop was gathered off the playing arena, and we jfonisd it a very hard job-to get more than a single for tho hardest carpet drive'. With only 40 minutes to go, and !)G runs to get, it will be seen what efforts we had to make to try and get the required runs, but wo, only failed on tho stroke of time by two match resulting in a draw. Christchurch the Best Centre." In conclusion, I must say that Canterbury should bo easily the cricketing centre of the Dominion. , Players and public thero are catered for in. tho number of cricket grounds in theirmidst, and the country itself, being so level, is admirably suited for - and easily rnado into cricket grounds. Hagley Park, ono mil© out of Christchurch, 6eems to rao. a perfect paradise for cricketers, no fewer than six matches being 1 played on its soveral acres at the ono time;. As it'is a gift I believe to people of Ohristchnreh, it will be theirs for nil time, and it only, remaius for the wickets thems?lvcs to bo improved to make New Zealand ns strong in cricket as they have proved themselves to be at football.