CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1978, 7 February 1914, Page 12

CRICKET.

' : ■ » [By The Breaker.] BACK TO THE BORDER OF MYTH. List of Matches—Auckland v. Wellington. This week I have been fortunate enough to obtain what politicians would call a "short-dated loan" of Mr. A. F. Wiren's wonderful collection of Wellington cricket records. Tho book reaches far baok—right to the shadowy Border- "' land of Myth—and has a plenitude of information on cricket duels which have ';■ been.fought out on tho sward (or maybe .'. on matting and tussocks) between Wcl- ■ lington and Auckland. The rival provinces were' first' put into holts by a Mr...May in 1860, and tho first match -was played near Mount Cook Barracks! The statistics of. all representative engagements between the two, provinces read as follow:— March 16, 1860, at Wellington; Auckland won by four wickets. December, 1862, at Auckland, Auckland won by 108' runs. November 30, 1873, at Wellington; 'Auckland won by .three wiokets. ■;■• December; S and 9, 1882, at Wellington; Aucklandwon by nine wickets. . January'B. and 9, 1885, at Wellington;' drawn, v . ■'■■''■' '. April 5 11 and 12, 1887, "at Auckland; -'Auckland'won by 'an innings and 101 runs:' January 6 and 7, 1890, at- Wellington; Wellington won by ten wickets'. December 2 and 3, 1893', at Auckland; drawn.''■'■■ January 10 and 11, 1894, at Wellington; Auckland won by one wicket. '.'■ February 22 and 24, 1896, at Auckland ; Auckland won bv four wickets. . December 2 and 3, 1896, at Welling- , ton; Auckland won by 62 runs. April 14,;19p0, at Auckland; Auckland • won bv 52 runs. _ January 7, 1901, at Wellington; Wellington won by an innings'and I' 3 runs'. ' December 25, 1903; Wellington won bv 90 runs. '-■•■'-, January. 16, 1906, at Wellington; Wellington won bv 214 runs. • ;. December 27, 1909', at Auckland; 'Auckland won by ten wickets. ■ December 24, 1910, at Auckland;. ■Auckland won by four wickets. \ 1912, at Wellington; Auckland won . by cue wicket. '..-.- January 19, 1913, at Auckland; Auckland won by nine wickets. January, 1914, at Wellington; 'Auckland won by 34 runs. .--The -total number of matches played between the,provinces is 20. Of these 'Auckland has woii 14, Wellington 4 r '-and two have been drawn. Centuries have been scored in various matches for. the respective nrovinces as > follow:—For 'Auckland: G7 W. Mills, 106, not out, in--1896: D. Hay, 144. in 1901-, Horspool,' .113, in 1914. For Wcllineton: F. Midlane. 102, in 1900; 135, in 1906., '";:. .;)-...'■. ■-~■■■■ '■/. First Encountdrln 1840. ;: -<' - Our forebears, seem to have been a little absent-minded about.their.cricket engagements. Mr. May went up'■ to Auckland, from Wellington, in January, li? 60, and came back.'to.tho Empire City with a challenge in his pocket. .It was the. first' interprovincial cricket match ever played in New Zealand.' and the , WdUngtmihms. "No" to it. • '"*"'"''• ; ■ . .'. tTlien Auckland held ' a :mecting to 'jiriitkc:■'-arrangements;";'fbr.: the visit;' for "travelling „was' no joke in those ; days. Thero • were few roads, .but plenty of -■warlike, Maoris carrying , arms 'against' ,"tlio Queen's lieges'; : aH"6'vcr the island, 'so', of course, there were,no overland , tripsr;-: Everything-;had\ to' bo done by ;sp'h,'''However'the Aucklanders we're bent'on coming,.and. (according to Mr.. .fWiron's records) we'find that tho Auckland meeting'passed: . a ex-I '.'pressing .ita.- thanks :.to ■ "Mr. W. P. liirkwoodjitho spirited owner of the s.s' ■White Swan for haying; unsolicited; ex- ' pressed his-willingness 'fo'-convey -'the , Auckland'cricketers' v tcv Wellington aii'd' back on exceedingly; liberal.'terms." 'Still good. . ' But when were Auckland,-, coming ? There wero no telegraphs to advise, and ' 'mails wero 'only as fast (or as slow) as the steamers; Wellington, however, put oiv its war paint, and waited for the next arrivalof tho Wliito Swan. She brought, alas, no Aucklanders. It -was not till the month of March-that they . materialised. .' ■ .■■' When they did come they* found the , Wellingtonlans quite unready. Two or three of tho best players lived out of town. Also (familiar occurrence even now) '.'some were at the races." However, they played. The match took place March 16,1860, tho wickets being pitched somewhere about the present site.of St. Patrick's College. As usual in those day's of rough wickets tho bowlers had, much tho best of the argument, . and- a goodly number of batsmen flew the sign'of tho-water-fowl. How They Shaped, Here is iiow thoy shaped':—Wellington —First innings—G. Brewer, c. Harris, h. Russell, 1; W. Brewer, b. Russell, 6; 'A. Ramsay, run out, 11: T. Bould, b. Dobio, 3;. A. Bradfield, b. Russell, 0; E.' Buck, b. Russeli; 0; L. Buck b. Rusjell, 15; H. Harvey, run out, 4; Valentino b. Dobie, 4; Irigpeu, c'. Harris, li. Russell, 6; G. Phillips, not out, 1; byes, 17; leg byes,.2; wides, 1; total, 71. Wellington second innings—G. Brewer, not out, 0; W. Brewer, run out, 6; A. Ramsay, b. Turton, 3; T. Bould, c. Russell, b. Turtoh, ! H. Bradfield, b. Turton, 2; E. Buck, b. Turton, 5; L. Buck, .IP"White, b. Russell, 1: Valentine, b. (I'nrton, 3; Ingpen, b. Russell, 0; G. iPhillips/c. Weir, b. Russell, 1; Harvey, c. and b. Russell, 2; byes, 6; lington, 110. 1 Auckland first innings—G. Ireland, b. iW. Brewer, 0; Weir, b. E. Buck, 0; Russell, b. W. Brower, 0; Harris.'b. W. Bre.wor, 3; Dobie, run out, 0; Turton; 1). E. Ruck, 4; Steedman, run out, 14; Kissling, b. Buck. 10; Simpson, b. Buck, 0; White, b. W. Brower, 0; Harris, jun., not out, 0; byes, 8; wides, 4; total, 43. Auckland second innings—G. Ireland, b-. W. Brewer, 2; Weir, b. Ramsay, 1; Rtissoll, not out, 10.; Harris, not out, 1; Dobie, b. W. Brewer, 0; Turton, b. W. Brower, 16; Steedman, b. Ramsay, 31; Kissling, b. Brewer, 1; byes, 7; total, 69. , _ ■ Steedman's innings for' Auckland seems to have done the trick, for Auckland won with four wickets to go down. - On the Saturday evening a dinner ■took place, af, which Sir- Charles Clif'ford presided, when toasts aud pleas.nnt speeches marked the termination of the first struggle between the sister provinces. Second Match In .1862. The visit was repaid by the Wellington,ians in December, 1562, the convincing. Vgiound being opposite theiokl ; JunctidiV Hotel in Auckland.:' They believed in starting early in those days (says Mr. Wiren's Chronicle), for play began at 9.30. Lankham, the Auckland skipper, having won tho toss from Lovi Buck, sent his men to tho wickets. Simcox, with 25, was top scorer for tho northerners, while Steadinan and Kissling mado"l4"e"ach.' The former's score included_ a hit for six—apparently tho first "sixer" oier hit in New Zealand. ■ There was nothing 'startling in Wellington's first innings, except perhaps the smiillness of the 6caros, while, m the Aucfelandors' Becond essay, Lank-

ham and Alpe made most of the runs. Wellington again fared badly in their second tenure of the batting creast-, and fell for tho same total as in tho first innings, viz., 22. Auckland won by 108 runs. The band of the old and celebrated 40th Regiment, under Sergeant C. Murrell, performed during the afternoon. In tho evening a dinner was given in a largo marquee erected on tlio ground, about 60 being present. Mr. W. Young, Collector of Customs, occupied tho chair. In match wero tho bowling averages carried out, and -t wculd seem, then as now, that tho batsmen had 'all tho limelight to themselves. V The Old Warriors. . What sort of players were they in those days? Let Mr. Wiren's chronicle answer. "It is somewhat difficult (the book says), especially at this distance, to assign to those old warriors who took part in these matches the exact position that they would fill in the cricket of to-day. I venture to say, however, that several of them would havo secured places in our senior club elevens, while two or three would havo been quite good enough for interprovincial honours." ' ' ' Well, ''onsidering the class of wickets they played on, who is there to say that this is not so? An Interesting Finish. The public who attended on tho last day of the Auckland match were rewarded with an interesting, almost exciting, finish. The opening batsmen, Howo and Hay, played confidently until an unfortunate misunderstanding cost 1 Hay his wicket. With 50 on tho slate without the loss of a. wicket, Wellington's hopes were rosy, but the following batsmen sadly, failed, with' t"ho result that the board very shortly starved six for 801 Midlane and , Grimmett—tho young veteran and the colt of tho East Club —played a big uphill game, and looked at one stago like pulling it off. It was not to bo, for tho former lost his wicket, and Wellington's hopes rested on-Rob-inson, tho mighty hitter. Robinson proceeded immediately to' "wipo the floor." His effort, however, was not sustained, and he left after electrifying the crowd. Grimmett continued on in masterly style, but Saunders could not stay with him long enough, and Auckland got home by a small margin. It was au interesting finish well worth seeing. the Right Temperament. Probably no player in the city possesses match temperament more than young Grimmett. Going in against Auckland at'a time.when tilings were "very blue," he played the game with utundismayed by ( the poor display of somo of the preceding ;batsmen. The., player born with this tempera'ment is half-way on'his iourney to fame ibeforo the fellow who lacks it starts. ;To be a. great batsman a player must ;have the temperament, an easy conIfidenco, as distinct from over-confidence, >nd must use his brains. Many a batsman fails to realise that in making his runs ho is involved in a "battle of brains" ,with tho bowler, and when he neglects to use. his head his end is near. Some players use their heads in big 'cricket so little that they seldom get going , , The Team to Meet Australia. v . j are.iife,.iegarding 'the eleven to meet, the Australian team. i Witli the object of testing the best of the material," the solo selector has tried a lot of new blood, which has been rather disappointing. In the present case ability ito stand tho strain will be a qualifying factor. As against this the fact that the Australian tour is largely an'educative mission should ciihanco tho prospects of the colts. It is to the latter, we must look . for our future cricket, and the opportunity of a really good objecUlcsson should 1 not bo missed. The Australian team is a powerful batting side, and the Wellington public are,, lib doubt, in for a treat by some of\thVworld's greatest exponents. Are the Players Keen? Are Wellington players keen? Apparently not. On account of tho largo amount of leave from business which the regular members of_ the representative eleven have had this season,. a golden opportunity presented itself to those players not yet tried when a team was being dispatched to Napier. '• A fairly strong eleven was secured at the finish by including two members of the ground staff,' which necessitated the postponement of senior matches. A great opportunity for some of the colts to force their ability upon the selector" was missed. Some day, perhaps, the', players will become keen, and not until .then I will the game reach a high standard.