CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 3

CRICKET.

; - - [By the Breaker.] A Brisk Beginning. .' . Beaton though they Were, East B emerged from tho matcß against North,, ivhich ..... concluded at tho Basin on Satur-' day, with "a certainamount of credit. "At . the beginning of tho second day',p play East B put'up a great fight for victory in the first innings, and all but succeed- - ed in. getting it. Hales and Stephenson bowled in brilliant style, but Wilkinson and Southall rose to the occasion and obtained for their side a (lead of four runs, on the innings. Tho strength of East B in this match lay mainly in their bowling. Their bitting in tho second innings, 6avo for a - usefjil, stand by Hutchings, was Very poor, but' th 9 bowlers again asserted themselves when North went to tho. wickets for tie second time. —And a Slow Endifg, An hour remained'for play, and an additional 110 runs would havo given North a three-,instead of a two-point win. The chance, if .it was one, , quickly disappeared.' The East B bowlers set to work in a . style which suggested...that, given'time, ■they, .would have''turned defeat into an eleventh-hour' victory i Five. North wick- , ets went down for" about a score of runs, and.after.that North fiankly, "smother- • ed up," and waited on. the clock , to strike • • eix. Blacklock has often been seen doing brilliant work with the bat. On Saturday \ho was seen" blocking ball after ball. Once he'carried a ball to leg with a turn of the . bat that 'suggested ."getting to • work, but-the hope thus raised was illusory..-. As if. conscious'of ii departure from-normal,'Blacklock settled down.and steadily .blocked ball after ball, in a'way. that, onlookers found irritating. Bray, at the other end, pursued tho same tactics. It was alveary half-hour. The bowling ' of the innings consisted principally of maiden overs, as will.bo /seen'from the , - following- record:—Hales, \(8 overs), 5 maidens; Dooley.(8 overs), i maidens; Smith 1 (3 overs),. 2 maidens;. Stephenson (2- overs); 2 maidens. -The prevailing dullness seemed to infect- the fieldsmen, who strolled across,- when ends were changed,- in the most leisurely way imaginable. Had they raced across, however, the'final result would probably have : been tho same. \ Spectators and Stonewalling.^-- . -' "Possibly .'the . circumstances justified . North, but it - was very, evident that the man on the bank thought otherwise, and longed for .sonfe : livelier ending to a game that had not been without interest lh.'i its earlier progress. Non-scoring strokes . were, ironically applauded, and a ' lazaly-hitsingle—almost . the' oixly run in . half, on, hour—waif 'the;j signal for-quito ah ovation.; 'Similar demonstrations greeted the close of. the game. Evidently the pieople who turn, out to lo6k' at a game of cricket like it to be a contest all the time, and have no patience with merely defensive play.: .This may bo right or wrong, but there is no'., doubt that such an exhibition, as North, put up. on Saturday was decidedly weansomo to the onlooker/' ■ . r ', ' .. . Some Catches, v. \ '. One of the catches of • the season was' taken by Luckie on, Saturday. ' He had gone, over to tie boundary fenco to remonstrate with a spectator. ;wh'o was addressing : remarks:, to,, ,thev umpire, and • turned,round. j nst in time to sight the , ball as'itjwasrdescendinglafteruboing skied. .': by Halea i'lt '.vassal difficult ..dropping ' catch; but Luckie timed' it'perfectly and; gathered it in with every, appearance of' • ease. Another good ; long-distance catch •\ was, taken by Smith from Hiddlestone, One of. the best performances of the day ■was that of "Wagstaffe, who acted as wicket-keeper for East B; He stood up ; to everything that came'along, although the wicket-was uncertain, and very little got past him. In the' North second , innings, Wagstaffe snapped up a couple of catches in greal* style. Southall had a bit of bad luck. He tempted Collett into sending'a fuirly'-easy catch to Crombie, which;the latter missed. The fieldsman made a quick recovery, and Collett was , run out, but Soiuthall's-average suffered to the extent of . a wicket. . A Slow Game. ■ The Hutt v. Central match'last Saturday was an unexciting game. With Al- . dersley at J the!: top \of- his form,; Hutt's chances looked bright,' but unfortunately for them there was''no one to second his > admirable effort, and.his score of 74 was almost, as much as was made by the rest of his, side altogether. Jshcrwood started batting_ well, and piled "up 25 runs in a short! time before being bowled by Mitchell; For Central' Kinvig was batting very nicely, and had made 43 not out stumps tare drawn. It is 1 a pity the .'game >as'not longer, as he looked j very much like a stayer. Nor was the I . bowling out of the ordinary. Blamires was bowling well, but three wickets for 31 is not startling for him. The game beinff declared on the first innings, Ccn- . tralV second innings was not very interesting. t ''He Could Hit." . . .Some days ago'(says'."Felix" ..in tho "Australasian"), an -old. ffiend Vho has reached , that; .mature stage of' life when easy competence affords ample leisure, was walking through,, as he always calls it, "Kichmond Paddock." He is an ardent lover of cricket, was,, in fact, a good . cricketer himself. Presently, as hepasses the Melbourne Cricket Ground, just, on half-past 12 o'clock, his footsteps are arTested by the sound, the musical sound, of batflhd ball. Ho stops in his stride,and walks into the ground. This is his report:—"l saw a big man at;the nets, and two or three M.C.C; bowlers having a go at him.' He could hit. I toll you that I have not sepn- a bigger hitter on our ground since the days,' of " Percy M'Donnell and George Bonnor." As my . friond failed to-ascertain' the."name of the big-hitter,- I .thotiglit it \ras up to me to find it out. So-1 spoke to the old footballer, 1 George Moodie, aijd I ascertained from -him' that tho great noontide hitter was the, distinguished actor, Oscar - Ascho. - ■ - .■■ ■ For tho Plunket Shield.'y The match-against Canterbury for the Plunket, Shield at Easter is creating a deal of interest in . local cricket circles (says the "Ofago.! Witness"), and tho interest in Christchurch is also,well sustained. r;The. selection, of tho Otago team has given general'satisfaction, .and there are those'who think that if the Otago players put'their backs to the wall they can beat Canterbury. Otago.'s prospects, despite, the Invercargill showing, are certainly good, and there is no telling what the team, may, bring. forth.; ,So. far as is known at-present the only member .of tho' Otago team .who . is'doubtful-of makin" the,-trip : to Torrance. • In: the event of the Dunedin representative not being-nvailnble the selectors, will probably choose M'Lauehlan. whoso form has been noted for some time, and whose work in.the match against Southland last week created such a favourable, impression, -to "fill the: vacancy.' - - - ,; ■ ' , .:, : -■- * The MantldSof George Giffen, The young English crickoter, .T. N/ Crawford, 'burst, into, brilliant all-round form at the expense of Victoria in the final match for the Sheffield Shield. To compile 167 runs, and then capture eight wickets for 6G runs on a perfect pitch, is a very rare performance in these days of the iron-faced wicket in Australian cricket (says the "Referee"). ■ It takes us back to tho wonderful period of George Giffen, when he v;ns. the great batsman; and the great bowler of the side. The most remarkable of Giffcn's feats was the scoring of 271 in his oiily innings, and ' then taking nine for 9G and seven for 70 against Victoria in November, 1891. Ten months earlier he had scored 237. and captured five for 89 and seven for 103. so young men of to-day may imagine what, oort of an all-rounder was Georgo Giffen. These, of course; are not the onl.v deeds of renown at the expense of Victoria with which his name, is linked.-..1n February, 1888, he scored ,IG6'-and took, >.'<iht for Go and six' f'">r fiO. Iu March, 1880, he scored 20 and S2, and secured niuo for

91, and eight for 110. And in his last match against Victoria, February, 1903, the great Georgo scored 81 and 97, be"sides taking seven for 75 and eight for 110. His feats against New South Wales wore never -quite so wonderful as any of these, ,but in 1892 he scored 120 and secured seven, for 122. and five for 28, and in the following match he scored 75 and 10, and took six for 133 and six for-68. In taking ftp thoimantle of George Giffen ,T. N. Crawford would have to'play a very big part in South Australian cricket; and as ho is still a comparatively young man, there is no reason why he should not play that part. Vvith but little less success than tho once-famous Adelaide champion. Crawford had not previously compiled a ..century for South Australia, though ho had made one against the State and one against an English' team at Brisbane. In this season's first-class cricket he has scored very .well, yet not with the consistency that goes with the greatest of artists with the bat. He started with 28 and 7 against Western Australia, and then scored 47, 83, 0, 19, 8, 0, 20, 163, and IS. - - - ..