THE CALL OF CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 4

THE CALL OF CRICKET.

HOW TO HEAR IT[Br Gyro.] A cull there was that charmed, Still charms to-day— 'Tis when tlio umpire's voico " Pronounces "i'tay:" That's all very well as far as it go©V but what of an average at tho olid. ••! tile season amounting 10 110 111010 til I.03? What prestige is there in string of nothings when you tiro only ... cricketer, and not a lirst-clasi compel-' tor in au egg-hiying competition'( I do not know whether anyone warily, to answer. All Ido know is that t- 'i? younger lot of Wellington cricketo'isi start out, year after year, in pursvjti'J of small batting averages with an - :■.-■ dustry worthy of a better cauoe. >>1' this respect tlio young cricketors oP Wellington aro in nowise different fr<t:<i f other redoubtable young bloods : m Tai-; liapc,. Dunedin, Cuvier island, and tin*- 1 Snares. l'orhaps this was why tho clouds ova I '- Wellington shed a wagon-load of tears' on Saturday, Jind banished cricket. 3u- , cidentally they blotted out what n-j doubt would have been a.striking umj\ : of "duck eggs." : Tho disrepute of Dunedin and Cuv:'! 1 ; Island need not be stressed too niu. ii 'llie same symptoms aro visible enov :.Y ! at tho Basin Resert'o any practice nig 1 ... ! Someono "goes in" at East's nets, , North's nets, or Central's nets. T\ , colts m tho eighth oleven aro wlieelin w j up tripo, and tho gentleman who itf j , batting whacks them at tlio rato of 18| J runs a minuto. This happens on a\'- ( Monday night, and is repeated on Tues-<| [ day, Thursday, and Friday. Then tho; , gontloman who has scored 110 fewer than; 11,863,459 runQ during tho week (at thai | nets) faces tlio "real Mackay" on Sa; ; - : 1 urday, and is swiftly out for next >0 l nothing. Lamontablof Undoubtedly lamentable. It is 01 :• J of tho unrecorded "accidents ai'V j fatalities" over which no coroner's i;w : , quest is over held. Wellington—if it only knew—has good crickoters as any centro in N<i\r, Zealand. Some say better, and 110 o'i:«i can assort that, theso boasters er<vboasting without cause. It is oil ;:•■■• cord that Wellington lias failed to. capture the Plunket Shield so far. It; not on record that Wellington fail-.'-j to clutch tlio silver and oak trop merely through bad fielding. Tlio bi ,t' j ting was good enough; the bowling w .■ better; but a blizzard of chances drc '■ t ped through inept hands. In 0 ) match with Auckland 110 fewer than *... easy catches hung, liko Mahoniot ■ r coffin, for a fraction of a second "t , tweon earth and Heaven." Then the r Heaven-born opportunities decided 1k... ! earth had tho greater call. That is tho inquest on Wellington' j cricket in 0110 hit. . Liko residents of other ineffective , localities —Tibet, the Gaboon, Tonga<: and so forth—Wellington's budding* j Trumpers try to do in matches what* t they liave never tried to do at tho nets/ t The result is what might bo called & l natural one. Tho player lias tho 3 but not tho scores. His record at tho 1 f end of tho summer is very much liko 1 , 3 that of poor Maud Muller in the song— l 3 a story of what might havo been. ; r l'orsiflago 110 doubt is easy, but direct practical advice is just as simple, and. l the writer would liko to put it as quickly as he can. Take tho fielding first. In ■Wellington on- Wednesdays thoC nets at the' Basin Reserve cannot bo put up because the mid-week games aro ' going on. These matches finish between six o'clock and coven, but a lot of day--1 light remain's. Could not _ ;this f.bo! pr6-* ■ iitably'used -for' short; catching (thai - > slips, for instance) off tho roller, or? "country" catcliing off tlio batP Why, l not one "fielding night", a week P Bowling would make a long story, butj ; batting is Bimplo enough. Tlio book of' good counsel runs as follows: —(1) Th«, \ batsman who desiros to • succeed must' first got into training, partly becausd 1 ho has to run at sprint speed between . tho wickets, but chiefly .bocauso train-; ' ing will give him tho confidenco that' he requires against his arch-enemy, tlio, bowler. (2) You cannot do in a- matchwhat you have not done in practice. | (3) Therefore, in practice, never bat toj ] tnpp. (4) If tripe bowlers aro on simply? miss your "hand"—do not go in. (6)' Flay exactly the gamo at tho nots that ! you mean to play in matches. (6) Totally disregard the captain who enjoins! t you to "play steady" or "lash out" as] tho caso may. bo; you can only play;! your own game. (7) Once you touch! ! what .you feel to be your form, do not bat\too often at tho nets—twicer week, ought to ho enough, and never 011 a;' ' Friday. (8) Turn a stony car on tho ! old hands who will flock round tolling' : you what to do once they notice that your average is growing; whether you : play too much forward or too much back ib merely your own business. Lastly, do not sit for hours in the shade of; tlio pavilion at tho Basin, and tlien. hop out into tho sunlight to bat; the; ■ eye cannot accommodato itself to suchj changes at once, and tlio band, in tho meautimo, is very apt to striko up tlio l "Pavilion March."That is tho lot. i After- all it is only Dr. William Gils bert'Grace 011 1 'How to Score" brought, up to date. To give it a season's trial might mean a good deal moro than a respectable average. It might, indeed, mean that somo colt or other will really, hear tho magic call of cricket. ■ UllCt" hoard, it is novcr forgotten.