CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1693, 8 March 1913, Page 12

CRICKET.

[By the Breaker.] MID-WEEK BATTING. v leading mid-week averages (com- , piled by Air. J. 0. Cusaelc, secretary of ythe Wellington • "Wednesday Association) ljread as follow:—

U : MID-WEEK BOWLING.

A Player Holds Forth. I. A well-known .Wellington player, rises TV-ith- battle : in his eye, and proceeds., to ihrdw-'a.'ipromiscuotis: lot,of : toad, metal,, principally at the district scheme. His ''shoto. are : as• f0110w..... .* Sir,—'.The'cricket reason is "drawing to a close, tut it will not.be unreasonable, to: ;cdtiriso' the working-of the • b local scheme even at this late hour.

: Thf} champions of . district cricket , 4 mtist be studying, tho classics to find' •• sufficient, argument, .for the., continu- ; anco of this "catastrophic" absurdity. • Ono only has to look -atj Monday's. ! papers to. see what. an... altitude ;\y_el- ' lington ci'icket has soared to. A quiet 1 - perusal .of. the journals will provide "sufficient evidence of the unworkable; •r-iieSS' of.district^/cricket.to pleaso. tho , most „drdeht 'supporter of it... ..On Saturday . last one';of the eight senior teams was' compelled,' to forfeit . its match. This, club—South—could not muster ..eleven men. When the. system ... . South put three elevens an the field; how they.can't Driistfr.eleven; .men. It.sounds, encoiyra&ing. Whan the system was.; i'naugiirated, ;Ea?t..lja(l somo UO players on its books; trouble in. getting twenty : two. together. Why . is ibis?'. Turn, to,'the "outside",cricket, , arid'.the Warehousemen's, Association . and-the Junior Association; there, will l» ;found oyer , two ,hundred players, ind amongst them, will "Be found t'he iiames of players , who, a year or two ago, "were, playing in.. senior cricket here... Why this sudden change? Siirely .it niust bo the system. Men lite V/ Waters,.. Goldfinch, A. Wilson, and Waugh do not go down several, cricket flteMs.aird play on , indifferent'—very . iiidllfferent—wicketi.Jfor ; mere capricfe. It niay.be the 'management is'at fault; if.sp, why is.it not.changed? .Sntely again those who arc.endeavouring to sMck to, the .good . old game can. feee thai Something is radically .wrong,' -and that some Zam-Bnk is needed. — . I am, etc., ' CRICKETER. The argument advanced by "Cricketer" ia Vigorous, .but ,".The, Breaker" is iinable Ip see how. the smashing of the district scheme, i or any other sort of smashing, is jjoihg. to, benefit cricket. WKa't we really seem-to need is a littlo less of the spirit' of "Smash" and a little more uf the spirit of genial unanimity. Southall's Record Willi the Ball. : In the roll of .honour of Ijowler's, published recently,...there., ~ivh4 .'omitted . one iinmo which certiiiuly_siiould have been printed high up oil flic list—the name of Southall. The long North left-hander has taken 61 wickets in ,'alub 1 cricket this irear at an average, cost .'of -9.78 runs, and in representative ci'icket 12' wickets at tho-rate of 1C.58 per wicket—not a bad record for about two-thirds of a season. . ■ Three years ago.' "Tom" Southall . was tiio. teiVor of all Taranaki batsmen, and undeniably one of the best .bowlers., in the country, but lie has been, three' -years in tiio backblocks since then, playing no cricket at nil worth while. Yet in tta first match in. which he played in Wellington lie made some of Central's best batsmen look exceedingly foolish, and had not a littlo to do with .winning the game for his club. \ And on Wellington pitches which do hot exactly suit a, slow bowler, lie is. still getting wickets, although .'many of tho quidnuncs «iid when tlioy, first saw him that when tho batsmen got used to him they woitid "bang the cover off him." Smfth, of Central. Smith, .of Central, has been batting very' consistently in recent matches, but his' 79 on Saturday eclipsed all his previous performances. It came at a timo whon much needed, and pulled the team o.ut, of a very awkward position. Tho match is not completely in lavour of Central yet, but had it not been for Smith's effort it would have boon mifch in favour of Hutt. In playing a steady game at tho outset, Smith did tho right tiling, but he showed equally good judgment later on in ''"oihg for the bowling" to make the most of his closing niinutes at,.tho wickets. There was a general sigh of disappointment when he was dean lx>7rled—tenth wicket. lie deserved Do cany his bat but. Very meritorious also were, the efforts of Mitchell and Patterson, both of whom helped to mako tho Central tail wag to Tome purpose.

South's Difficulty. Tho South Club is down, but not exactly out, The club was unable to place a senior team in tho. field last Saturday, but may figure actively in any matches that remain t'o be played. Against adverse circumstanccs, tho club has put up some really good performances this season,, and must certainly bo dubbed a sportsmanlike combination. Its failure to find an eleven last Saturday was due to the inability of. Laws, Patrick, and '.Smith to play, while two other .-members were doubtful, and could not guarantee to put in nn appearance. A Brilliant Catch. , There was one .splendid bit of fielding in the East B-North match on Saturday. The hero, of the-occasion, was. Walters, of this South eleven, wlio ,was fielding as a "substitute for East B, arid tlie victim was Wilson, of North. • Wilson mado a smartish find very clean, stroke to leg, which had every appearanoe of being a safe boundary, but after n,few short, sharp steps, stopped and held the ball just as.it was oil : tlie fence. -It w-as an, ex tremely difficult catch, and the spectators (not usually very demonstrative in Wellington) rose to their feet and applauded it rigorously. Two from Ten Leave's None. Some membira of the executive .of the Wellington Cricket Association are annoyed because of the manner in which the business of the association was thrust "aside last week. ,■ > . The weekly meeting night of tho executive is Tuesday.. Tho chief set down for last Tuesday nighfs meeting was discussion of the important question commonly referred to as "tlio district scheme." ... - The press representatives arid one member of the executive went to the meetingplace, arid i.found a football club in possession. Inquiries made it clear that the cricket meeting had been postponed. . It whs.then ascertained that tho meeting was 'to be held''the next evening (Wednesday) . On Wednesday evening three membars of the'exebutive attended.' These were .Messrs., Lyckie, Jlidlane, and Fanning. The. reason given for-the postponeirient of the meeting was that Messrs. Luckie arid Wilson, had to attend aii Easter Carnival Committee riieeting. ■ , One member of .the executive wishes to know why the business of tlie association could not bb transacted without the presence, of two of .its mfmbers. He also complains of the'abruptness of tlie postponement. Both these points seem sound. The re-' maining members of the association were .quite capable of doing all, the business, and there was no need whatever to create an eleventh-hour muddle because somebody wanted to go .to a carnival meeting If there is anything in tho complaint that the younger members of the executive receive no encouragement to state their views and propose their ideas,-this might bring things to a head. As,a, matter of fact, no member, yourig or old, ; should submit to discouragement. Century by Sisson. . W. H. Sisson, a one-time Newtown Midland and South cricketer,,.now,of tho '{Central, Junior cricket eleven, played a .very fine innings ou Saturday last in the second grade match, North v. Central. •Central compiled a total of 803, the highest to date in the Junior Competition, to which "Siss" contributed a well-played and practically chanceless innings of 127. -The only chance given was a. difficult one in tho slips, just before ho reached 50. His aggregate for the season is now 354 for 12 innings, two not out, average 38.10. How Goes the Third Grade? ■ '

"Interesting" is the right word for the Wellington Association third grade competition as the figures Tead at present. Karori is an top pro tern., 'but l the turn 'of these cricket colts into the straight 'shows that Brooklyn and Petone are also "lying handy," as the turf writers have at. , The figures read:—Karori, 37pts.; Brooklyn, 35pts.;' Petone, Bipts.; St. David's, 27pts.; Victoria College, 19pts.; North, 17pts.-; : i : Hut.t„.. 13p,ts.;. .Y.M.C.A.,- 13pts.; : Wellingt6b. .College A, lOpts.'; St. Mark's, 7pts.; College B, Gpts.. . Several of the teams not having sent in full results, 'these figures aro necessarily incomplete. The returns should bo sent, to the secretary in charge of this grade, Bos 578, Gf.P.O. Hiddlestone,- of North. ■ Hiddlestone's innings on Saturday was marked bjr, energy, little by the spirit oi: precaution. On rare occasions he showed some mastery of defensive play, but ii tho main simply hit out at everything that came along. As it happened, this policy' proved profitable, and Hiddlestone had 5G runs to credit before his .wicket fell to Do'oley. . Junior Association to Travel. l A match is to he played at Palmerston North during the Easter ~ holidays between elevens representing tho Wellington Junior Association and the Manawatu Association. Play will extend over two days. Canterbury's Bennett. Bpnnett. is. still 'bowling; in great form ,in Canterbury.. Playing lor Sydenham in the match against East Christchurch, concluded last Saturday, he obtained the remarkably good figures of eight wickets for 38 runs., Buttcrworth's 252 Runs. Butterworth, \vho was. here with tho ! Nomids tTiis season', made 252 in one innings. in Wanganui last Saturday. This is his best score in . New Zealand. His previous biggest was 141. 1 To Meet Our Mid-Week Men.The Auckland mid-week team which, is to play .Wellington at. Easter is, fairly representative and much stronger than the team that- travelled south; last, year. Breeze, .Catterall, Cullinipre, Eaton, Sutton, and Baker are all good bats, while tie'remainder .have at times this season stored heavily. It is nob a strong'bowl-, irig team,, nor .is it very good, at fielding. Tho principal howlers are Mackrell, Donglas, Cullimor'e, aiid . Baker—right-hand medium-paced men. Hopkinson bowls a slow, ball, working a. little from leg, but he gets few wickets in club cricket. Pell is a wicket-keeper above the average, and is also a mighty hitter. Wellington are favourites,.but the. locals are quite capable of bringing off u surprise. Shoffield Shield Matches. .Before the last of the season's interState matches (Victoria v. South Australia) commenced in Adelaide on Friday, February 23, tho position, of . the States was as shown in the following table .—

Tho Cross of Leather. After all, what would the poor old world without a little humour. Host cricketers know Mr. J. C. Trickett, who is ■not only president of tho. Union Mid-week C.C.; hut a sthunch bftttlet for thorn in every discussion. • It wns shrewdly guessed by some that Mr. Trickett would be "somewhat uliset" after tho recent capital win of Rivals ovor his own strong team. Tho wags determined not to let the occasion pass, and, on Wednesday last, a deputations-, headed by Mr. VV, Reid "oh behalf of supporters of Wcdn'csdAv cricket" Eolmenly waited on tho Union President and presented him with a cross (of leather) inscribed with a humorous reference to Union's, downfall. The speech in reply has hot been reported.

. , . eg o ti> : ' M 5 -g £ \_ - . S W h '6 <i tttor. Blannres , : HY.M.C.A.) .... 521 nsi' 10 3 74.4 tffinvig (Rival's) „. 309 115 8 1 44.1 i SlIGill (Union) ... 284 . 86 . 8 . 1 40.1 iWarno (Union) .... 199 55 6 — 33.2 [Wilson (Artillery) 249 *78 9 1- 81.1 .'(jourlay (Oriental) 303 71 11 .1. 3U.3 . Sclilaadt (Vivian) 57 31 2 — 28.5 jiVarney. (j£.M.q.AJ .-. 27 37 ■ 1 — 27.0 lilills (Vivian) .... 232 *72 12 3 25.8 Burke (Rivals)' 277 79 11 — 25.2 |Attneave X.il.C.A.) 141 41! B — 24.0 J Burns (Union) G7 *23 ,7 i 22.3 •vHull'(Artillery) ...'.86-57 4 — 21.5 George (Rivals) .... 191 39 10 1 21.2 l;PaCton (Oriental)... 105 33 ■{ — 21.0 ."Wiielan (Union) *...- 20 *19 3 2 20.0 '.Toms (Oriental) ... 39'••*38 3 1 19.5 -%AJpe (Oriental) ... 174 '■ .62.10 1 19.3 I'lVrrell (Y.Al.CJ.A'.) 181 53 10 — 18.1 Cording (Vivian) ... 197 ' GO 12 1 17.9 J Waters, (Union) 71 29 4 — 37.7 i-Dr. 'I'olhurst 1 . \ « (Rivals) i.M 105 69 0 - 17.5 f-ilajor Hughes , (Artillery)-3-1 34 2 — 17.0 i (Rivals)' 97 ■ 43 " 6 ■ — 16.2 Smith (Rivals) ... ,65 *29 . 6 2 16.2 'iTaylor (Union) .... 109 38 8 1 15.6 .LDempsey (Vivian) 180. 43 12 — >15.0 'Dr. Jl'Evedy .. . (Kivals) ; 86 *36 11 5 14.3 (• il'lntyre (Artillery) 124 1 47 10 ,1 13.8 G'Ktcrcr (Vivian) ... 135 *26- 12 2.13.5 Owles. (Artillery).... B4 36 6 . — 12.8 Smith' ' (Artillery) 111 22 9 — 12.3 '' Driver (Union) ..;... 02 45 5 — 12.0 j,Dot (Oriental). ... 24 .24 2 — 12.0 l<ifajor Hums (Artil- . .. .[— - lory) G9 27 6 - 11.5 j'Harris (Union) ..; 69 48 C - 1 — 11.5 '.Plant (Y.M.C.A.) 11 10 2 1 11.0 Haines ,(Union) ... 6-1 26 6 — 10.7 .Hayclen (Vhlan),... 107 >42 .'13. '2. 10.7 (Y.M.C.A.),/ 75 40 .'; 7 - 10.7 ITare .(Riyals) ....... 43 . ,15. 4 — .10.7 Dr. Gilmer (Artil- • iV lory) 95 , 36. 9 - 10.6 ■ Niven '(Rivals) 42-, 22 4 — lOi ,11'BIdowney (Orien- . .. .. ! tal).; 21 21 .2 - 10.5 (Trnscott ■ (Oriental) 83 .. 42 . 8 . — 1U.4 J; O'Sullivah ' ■S,..(Union) i71' -30, 7 - 10.1 , iffaylor (Artillery) 71 43 8 1 10.1 '.♦Indicates not out.

- . Rams. TftcCs.' JLVge: Klnvlg (Rivals) 12j ..'23. ,'5.1 UT-O'Sullmn (Union) 93 15 G.3 IHiUiios (Union) 147 , .18 8.3.. ' iNiven (Rivals) 119 ... 14 8.7 (Oriental)... 257 26 9.23 ft. M'Kav (Y.M.C.A,) 102 1ft 10.2 ISmitir(Rival's) 302 ■ 28 , 10:2'.' rM'Intyrs. ('Artillery) ,369 . 30 r; 12.9-: Bale (Y.M.C.A.) ■... 213 .Jl ■ 12.9, | Harris (TJnjon) 39(! 32 12.U '■'Gonrlay (Oriental),... 382 , • 30 12.20 LM'Gill (Union) ...... 235 -'■ 17 ' 13.14 lBnAe,(fovW., v .:. 220 , 11 . ,.15.10 (vman) 267 17 15.1J Iltempsey .(Yivi'an)'..841- .22 15.14 ''-Douglas (Artillery) ... 171 - . 10 17.1-. i.Bov. Blamires V- A?- ■ r 240j.V- 14 . 17.2 * (Artillery); 2GS; ;15 . 17.5 Mills'(Vivian) ......... 312- lo ' 20.2 ;^M^Y.kc.A.) ; 2(il 10 2G.4

Averages for Buns. W. Avg; South Australia 1749 50 31.98 Victoria 1326 54 24.55 N.S. Wales 2299 72 , 31.93 Agninst. Runs. Vf. Avg. Dfnee. South Australia ... 1712 GO 28.53 G.45 Victoria 1393 52 26.78 2,23 N.S. "Wales .2209 Gi 35.15 3.52