THE WORLD OF SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1972, 31 January 1914, Page 12

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS AND OTHER PASTIMES.

CRICKET.

[By .the 'Breaker.]

AucWand-Welllostan. I writo as a fool; a fool because I am writing on Thursday evening, and cannot foresee which way the AucklamlWellirigton match is going. Still there ■aro things which aro worth saying. I , think everyone on tho benches in front of tho stand on Thursday was delightod with .the,chaiigo which the Australian tiip has wrought , in Robinson. He was otily a fast-medium when wo knew him last, but ho is a stiff proposition as far as paco goea now. Other Australian experience is also writ over him. Ho cannot, of cqurse, get much variety in paco, but ho can command a variety of length ranging from yorkcrs to halfpitchers. That's tho artillery that sets tho batsman Messing. He must havo givon the Wellington xcard a lot of confidence when, in his first over of windjammers, he bowled tho Auckland captaia with a ball which travelled down the pitch, in a splinter of a second. Taking Robinson (fast), Savmders (medium and •■. .break)., ;Hiddlestoiio_,<Variablo, break, : arid ■ googlie) • and.:Grimmett (slow, , break, and googlie);'. arid .a': good captain; to work"'the-change's,' it • looks like a great ':'""

Clbbos.—First; Century In Wellington. W. R. Gibbes.'who was star cricketer two, seasons; ggo, has got right back to form. Two. years ago he was .batting nn dlxwlirig brilliantly.' Last year ho and bowliiig:brilliaiitly. - ; This :■ yea.rho opened .the season with a .couple, of fine innings, and some work with-the ball that indicated that he was returning to the 'limelight. His century (not. out) in the suburbs Inst week; was the result of brilliant batting almost as good as the East Club man has ever shown. Hl3 bowling .was,, ci nit aI, and he had very had luck with the field. It mav bo taken as certain that Oibbes will be wanted for tho next representative 'match; All the flannelled set will be 'slad that tlje great Eastern is likely to be out agajnsf the Australians. A iioisoned foot kept him quiet in tho jniddjq of the season, or he might have been batting '-'against ''Auckland this week;; Another left-hander is wanted to strengthen the -Wellington batting. Figures that Talk. ' . If more of our players had Stan Hickson's bulldog way our interprovincial scorejs would soon read impassively. The fat but profitless '"duck, and the plaintive string of singles would vacate the chair in. favour of broad rows of eggressive "threes," and warlike "fourera," arid the pencils of Mr. William Hood and other ■ scorers would whisk along to a livelier tune. How well tho veteran, wears I This season ho has scored as follows:—108, 11, 81, 39, 15, 0, 63. Tho aggregate is 317, arid the average- -45. U. ■■■''■. Writing of a Central man naturally reminds ono of Kinvig, our latest club centurion. As far as figures go he eeems to bp al)lo to deliver' the goodg. His club aggregate is nqw 229, and his averago 38.1... . ';., .So Near It. ''.^..' Fred Midlane,'most'eonsistent of Wellington batsmen this seasonj is top of ,'tho club averages, and most of us were hoping that ho would get into three figures in the Hutt match. Alas for hopes in cricket! Tho world's famous ' ■glorious ''uncertainty" , materialised in a ball: that'-jiiiiipe'U up shurpj and—well, there it was: ' ' . ' :

Somo Ncrtii CSuS Avoc«2cs. Looking, over Wellington , North's score b;jok fliia notices that' 0. G. Wilson ■ Las .lioen • v'w.v consistent with the bat this-"-scaaon. Qiij.Y once (when M'Girr -spnl him li;;('t; 'in tho East A luatch) .-lias In; i'ii'ilud .'to run into double inures. ' His "ehil) scores so far- are:— %, 5, 17, L'ii, -J7 nut'out, 13, 21 not out, mill 17 not out. The aggregate is 201, ami tlie average 1 40.2. Quiun, now ■in tho representative eleven, lias club figures to his credit es folloivj—|;j not out, 37, 56 not out, 24. and 5. The averago is 50.0. Hiddlcstone, of , North, does not seern to scoro so well in club games-as he does in bigger cricket. Ilia' figures this season arc:—39, 4, 53, 20; 18, 10, 11, 5. Tho averago is 20.0. As Hiddlestone is always put in early his chanco of (jetting a not-ou't is' proportionately diminished. -.-■■■.

Crlmmett and his "Wrong Un. , ' There was one physcological moment when East B were batting to cot North out, Grimmett had sent both Qumu and. Hiddlostone right about face, North's total then being onlv l>l runs. Nest ball ho gave C. G. Wilson the '.'wrong; un," and all but got him. Bray, too, was nearly put in the- same over. If those two shots had come off there might have, been no seven-wicket win for North.'' If .was' the''■ turning point of the inatch.* "' : ' , Speaking; of G'rimmetfc'd "wrong un" ■reminds tho. writer of'the time when jhe gave Hemus. the. first , taste of it in a: match,' Wellington x. Auckland. It just shaved t'hn Aucklander's lee stump. Homus looked hard, first at trnrnmott and, then at the pitch, and, no doubt concluded that Grimmett was j'^Lifi l " 10 vequircs wntehing. TJndqubtoaly ho is.

'Positions In Junior Championship; ; ! Championship matches in "all sradee ( aro postponed. owing to the representative .match, Auckland v. Wel.lington. The position jn the junior championship is as follows :—

to .:"■■■■. I |"l '-s .s ■ ■ ■■' in F-co t—i s= >—i Th 'Artillery g ■ 5 __ _ jg Pofirua. ....',.... 6 4 1 I j.j Central 6 S 1 2 n , Petono ..■...■..„ 5 8•■ — 2 t) i North 0 B—3o (Old Boys 4 ■ a — 2 0 'Erfst 5 2 - 3 f> Victoria Col. ... G 2 — 4 o Wellington Col. 3—l 2 2 Brooklvn G 1 — 5 3 Hiitt; • i — _ A 0 The first four teams will from now form Grado A, the remaining ecven to form Grade B." The matches East v. Unit (ordered to be. replayed) and Old Boys r Wellington Collego (wliere only counted in the above table.

Position in Third Crarte, The six leading teams in the Wellington Cricket Association's third grade competition, and the points they have gained,' are: —Institute, ■, 22. points; Petono. 19; St. David's, 18; JolinsonvillQ,.lZ;Karori, 12; East, 11.

Kiwi In Adelaide, "R.I-J.Q.," writes in thn Sydney "Be- , foroo" as follows:—"Tlio New Zealand«rs displayed !iiirprisingly good batting form.« Reese was unfortunate in not bciiiring a double centiii'y, tliougli ho was lucky on Monday. lie should have been out threo times. His first innings (!)6) svns i;nq»cstional)ly a (irst-clnss display, lUcse onttiiif; and driving with great pOTor. and tilcmg all the opportunities .-fforrrl by t."'io absence of ' outfields, Sneddon's was also first-class displny. Ho hns 'a splendid defence, while his driving is of great power. He is a voreatilo fiatsman. Gp'ierally the whole of

the batting display pleased, although the bowling was very weak. I regard Jiomiott as the most reliable on the side, though Sandman and Robinson are very useful. In fielding they Jiare a lot to (cam yet. They are too slow in reachthe ball and getting rid < f it; while inaiiy of ihoir returns aro inaccurato. i should say they prolited considerably h.v thoir Kastcni expe:fience, wKich should ho of great value on their return."

"Entirely to Blama." '.'Not Out" of the "Referee" writes tho following timely lines: —"As one browses on his daily newspaper, at times the idea flashes through his brain that thqro art) turbulent spirits among us, never happy unless unwittingly stirring np strife in cricket. Why try to make of our grand old game an eternal cock-pit? Battles for principle and good government have been fought and wqn, aiid the power and position of the Board of Control are now unassailable, yet wo road articles and reports in some of the newspapers which might lead the blind pr the ilfrinfqrined to think that things were not so settled as they actually are. In rogard to the matter of the tour in Now Zealand, the Crjckot Council of the Dominion is entirely to. blariio. for the position. which arose. It has not done justice to itself; but, in one sense, New Zealand is young in cricket, and that may explain much." Prioketers in New Zealand must appreciate the gpnerous treatment of tho Board'of.'Control.

Stray Singles. Dan Reese's performances with bat and'ball on the Australian, tpur 'average) up ahead of tho performances of the other members of the team. He heads the batting average with 34 runu per innings. His bowling figures are easily better than Patrick, .who heads the bowling list. Patrick took only ono wicket, whereas Reeso, who is next in order, took more wickets than any of the other bowlers, except Sandman. ■

A Sydney authority considers the best eleven that could be ohqsen to represent Now South Wales at tho present time would include V. Trumper; C. G. Macartney, W. Bardsley, E. l>. Barbour, C. J. Tpzor, It. B. Minnett, C. Kelleway, T. Andrews, B. J. Folkard, 11. Carter, and R. J. A; Massie.

C. G. Macartney, ■in five consecutive innings for New South Wales'this season scored 501 runs, the figures beinir 195, 117, o'i, 142, and '53.

On the assumption that tho leading players will be available for the trip to South Africa next season, a Sydney writer eolects the following'as the first twelve:—o. Hill, V. Trumper, W. W. Armstrong, V. Ransford, W. Bardsley, 0. G. Macartney, C. Kelleway. J. Ryder, H. Carter, H. V. Hordern, R. j. A. Massie, and W. J. The next four favoured aro: E. P. Barbour A. G. Moyes, D., G. Steel, and F. Baring.

Re- various things the Wellington Cricket Association lias done "The Native," of Christchureh, writes "more in sorrow than ia anger." Evidently "The Native" agrees that "man ' was made to mouni." Poor old fellow! ''Hemus, of Auckland, was tho onto t of tha, New Zealand touring tcair/ wiio hatted in every, innings—l 6 innings in all. Mr. M. A. Noble was married to Miss Men' Ferguson, of Park Road, St. Pe.tors,. on' January 14,, in Sydney. ■VJCoiv South Wales and Victoria have played 92 matches.'. ' Tho former has won 52 and tho latter 40. Of tho last 31 miitcljM Now South' Wales has won '-'5 and Victorin (!.' J. B.' Hobbs continues starring as •a batsman on the South African tour pf tho M.C.C. His latest is 137 against' Transvaal. Playfully mentioned in the scorer's box last Satin-day that John V. Saunders now has n batting average of 39, mostly not outs. I Capital form with tho ball was shown List Saturday by ilyan of Central. His length was capital, and tho break (either way) was- always there when lie wanted it. The joys of being a groundsman: I m a personal friend of Mr. Luke's," said an irato AVellington citizen to Saunders last Monday morning, "and I shall.'take the earliest opportunity of informing His Worship of your unwarrantable conduct, sir!" The "conduct" iiiquestion was merely stopping a parcel o youngsters from running on the wicket which was being prepared for the Auckland-Wellington match. . It ia stated that Smeeton, the Auckland representative batsman, goes to England at the end of this 3eason. Howe; the Victoria College' player, who ' has found a placo behind the stumps in i the Wellington Eleven, allowed only two balls to piss him during Auckland's first innings. One from Clarke, tho fast fcon-ler, got an-aj- to the boundary. The other went for a single.

Mie wioket-keepingon the opening dav or the Wellington-Auckland match was good on both sides Mayall's dismissal or iUidlano was delightfully fast work. H. L. Collins, tho youthful right-hand who has been included in tho Ausrtnlian team to visit New' Zealand, will probably prove a thorn in tho side of our bowlers. His scores for New South' Wale 3 this season are 54, 64 (not out), 8, 104, 73, 111, and 0. Hβ wound up last_ season by making 282 against Tasmania. Tho prospect! of a little leather-hunting when ho lands are bright.

Comparing Eobinson and Clarke as bowlers on Thursday, some spectators fancied Clarke thp better. This judgment is a little dilncult to understand. Clarke, in tho writer's estimation, is far below the Wellington man. ' '

For tho Wellington team selected to play against Auckland, Mr. Midlane dropped seven of the party that toured the South Island. Tho batting in the south was disappointing, particularly as tho team was thought strong in that department.