CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1984, 14 February 1914, Page 12

CRICKET.

KANCAROOS AT THE BASIN. [Bvt The Breaker.} . :.' Going back over several seasons,. tho I averages of the Wellington team chosen. ' ' to meet Australia are as follow-; — ■ !'■ ;.' Batting. '. . < In. N.O. Runs. 'Av. H.S. ,'Gibbes ...... 14 3 450 40.9 81 •Midlano ...' 21' 1 ' 534 26.7' 87 Saunders ... .26 7 108 5.7 21 ) :;3lobinson ... 12 1 182 16 45 •'Grimmett ... 20 3 368 21.6 41 iSouthall ... -5 1 15 3.7 9 ■ M'Girr 10 0 277 27.7 88 Hiddleston... 7 0 311 44.4 170' .D. Hay ...... 9 1 245 30.6 50 Joplin ...... 9 0' 193 21.4 80 Howo ...... 5 0 136 27.2 47 E.M. Beechey 11 0 176 16 45 ■'h Bowling. ' J'. .'iWkts; - Runs.", At..' ■ tGibbes. 11 411 37.3 "Saunders 86 ' 1507 18.2 Robinson 21 413 19.9 "Grimmett 50 993 19,8 . : Southall - 12 / 199 16.5 .M'Girr ......... 7 307 43.8 Hiddleston ... 14 289 20.6 . Beechey 2 71 *35.5 /The Previous Australian Teani. ' ": It; is interesting to look over the 1 figures-of the last match between an Australian and a . Wellington team. Tho match was played on the Basin'in 1910. • Wellington made 107 and 208, and Australia 130 and 367. Tho details of Wellington's first innings are: —Midlano 10, Tucker 7,<Mahoney 0, Foster 7, Bnce 1, Blacklock 14, Laws 3, Patrick 25, Kinvig 8, Rob- _ erts 17, Hickey 0; extras 13. Total, 107. 11l their second innings the local bat-s- ---. meu scorod as follows:—Mahoney -19, Foster 0, ■ Midlano 67, Blacklock 20, Patrick 2, Tucker 9, Brice 0, Kinvig 17, • Laws 18, Roberts 24, Hickey 5; extras 32. Total, 20S. Australia,, first, knockMayno 5, : Simpson 51, ICellaway. 24,' Smith 17, . ' Dodds 8, Armstrong 4, Facey 5, Whitty O. Gorry 3, Bardsley 3, Emery 3; extras 7. Total,; 130.f, : •: ■ • i .. Australia, second knockMayne 58, Dodds 53, Bardsloy 39, Armstrong 8, Simpson 18, Smith 85, Kellaway 85, •Facey 11, Emery 37, Whitty 0, Gorry 9; extras 10. Total, 367. .' In the Australians' first innings . Patrick took fivo wickets for 13, Kinvig three for 36, and Brice one for 34. .In the second venture, Hickey took :thrc9 for 52, Blacklock three for 54, and Patrick ono for 74. t In Wellington's first innings tho wickets went to the following bowlers: —Whitty, three for 16: Emery, two for 48; Facey, two for 7; Kelleway, one for ,16 f and Simpson, ono for 5. In tho second innings, Whitty, three for 59; Armstrong, four for 56; Kelleway, ono for 17; and Emery, one for 32. \ "V/o Bat." ' . The toss "up used to bo a feature in .'Australian cricket Press reports, writteii by the great "Felix" and others in the olden days of. Australian cricket; What., sort-'of a coin .it was,, what W. • G. Grace, or Stoddart, or Giffen, or some other'captain called, and.how: he looked wheji lie called wrong,.and how, tho . otheJ jcaptain ifioked; and what he'! • said, were'all chronicled. . . ! ' ■'• Well, there was not much in the toss for'the'.-Wellington-Australian''' match.' Sims threw - up., a- sixpence on the asphalt,-:and .Midlano .went after, it down the slope, and fished it 'ont of tho gutter. "We bat," ho said, and that ivas'nll. The Pitch and the Rain, Rain had !; ivet the wicket'for., the big match so much over-night' that the crowd wero kept waiting for an hour before Howe and Hay -went out to take first' strike for Wellington, The Australian : captain and Midlano inspected the';turf at 2 p.m., and decided to-'wait till- 3.15, so soft was'the pitch at the southern end. .- - ; -.n":..-,J After the ; rain' thel-wickct was, "of course, easy..' Break could bo got, but no; "jump off;''"which, when all is said and done,-is the'important thing. t The two pioneer, Wellington's faced Armstrong: and i ; Eansford ...with some confidence.. ~ . ■ ' . What! Drying Wicket? "What I" said an enthusiast at the match, "you don't mean to' say that . Midlarie is putting his side in against 'Australia/on a drying wicket?"' - It is'about timo that this'old myth . about* "drying wickets" .and the terrors 'thereof was knockcd on the head. Whatever .may bo tho terrors in Australia, they do not exist in New Zealand, though a number of crictet writ- ' ers are for over fond of mentioningthem.What really happens here ■ is' that .tho ball .will bito ,, for every inch of spin which the howler puts on it, hut tho ball comes so slowly off the wicket that there are oceans of time : j to watch it. Malley's Break.- , .■ When Mailey was put on to bowl a small knot of enthusiasts collected near the screen,to sight his break. He was put on when Gihbes and Midlane were ftt the wicket'. '■ Watching him yesterday, it seems that he "does" about 6i,s. to either rtay. In most overs four out of the sis balls turn in from the leg side. '■■■'. - Some Stray Singles. Considering what poor paraphernalia the official scorc-hoistor (Mr. Victor Harris)/has at his command, he mannges wonderfully well. Besides the main board, he keeps a little sideshow, going for the benefit of the grandstand people. In the bad old days these folk never used to -be able ' - to glimpse tho score at all, although they wero paying twice as much as tho public on the benches. - Of tho present Australian visitors only two werd hore in 1910—Kellaway and Armstrong. Hay and Howe seem to bo something like the,famous Siamese twins. They start well, keep neck andjieck in the scoring, but when ono departs the other seems to pine to go too. It was so in the Auckland match, and only threo minutes separated their dismissals yesterday. There are three left-handers in tho Wellington team —W. R.'L. G'ibbes, G. Howe, and E. M. Beechey. Previously this season only one left-hander (Howe) was in the team. Tho times at which the Wellington batsmen went to the crease yesterday wore; Hay and Howe, 3.15 p.m.; ifidInne, 4.2; Gibbes, 4.5; Beechey, 4,28; ■ M'Girr, 5.25; Grimmett, 5.33; and Joplin, .5.44. Armstrong was allowed .eight balls in ono over. It looked liko becoming i a "Kathleen Mavov.nieen,'' or indeterminate over, when tho umpire awoke. When ho was here four years dgo, Armstrong, the Victorian all-rounder, made small scores in both innings—4 in the first strike, and 8 in the second. Midlane, whb 'has not got the habit of scoring well in big cricket, is, ijuri'nusly, .moro successful- Australian "bowling than the best New Zea- , land bottling. He mado 43 in his first irinliig? .against the South Melbourne men last season', and in 1910 knocked lip 67 off the Australian bowling in his second' ' In the present match, 'unvovor: he has not, so far, come off. '

Yesterday Ransford and Armstrong bowled, with the whole of their field, bar one, placed very close in. They had four men close up on the on side, and only one in the slips.' The solitary sontincl in tho "country" was straight out over tho bowler's head, and placed deep, The Australians evidently have an oyo to the wicket when they go in to bat. Juat near the start Howe knocked up a little piece of turf with his bat. . It caught Hansford's cyo at once, and ho pointed to it, evidently directing its removal. ■ • • Kellaway, who is visiting here with th6.;Australians, but not playing, made a big score on tho Basin Reserve in 1010. He compiled 24 in his first innings, and 85 in his second. ■ Victor 'l'rumper's fielding "on tho end of the bat" was brilliant yesterday. Waddy kept wickets for the Kan-, gaioos yesterday. Ho is not the regular -keeper, but did creditably. Armstrong Bent down a no ball in his > second over, and two moro later in the day. • Tramcars have never been observed to break the speed limit when circling the basin on big cricket days. Yesterday tho ytook less risk than ever.' The old nonchalant alertness of the Australians in tho field wais always noticeable yesterday. When Noble trapped Howe in the slips he just threw tho ball on to Armstrong as if nothing in particular had happened. The Greatness of "Harry" Trott. Some very interesting records have just.been compiled respecting the great career of Harry Trott, the 18-stone Victorian, who was hore with the South Melbourne team last season. These were recently published in extenso in, the Melbourne "Herald." Trott is now 47 years of age. Like many famous cricketers, he opened' his account .with tho ignominious "duck," and was promptly dropped by the selectors for the next match, against Carlton. Fortunately, however, Mat Minchin, ono of tho best known plavers of the.time, saw in Trott what 'the selectors did not, and ho stood cut ;.f tho team at the last moment to givo him his place. Trott justified it bymaking a hundred. From that r.n he never looked> back. Up to Ihis time Trott was winning his spurs purely as .a batsman, but, before t-no season was out, "Jimmy" Slight, tho captain of South Melbourne, discovered that he cculd also bowl. Figures that Talk. In seventeen seasons, between 1884 to 1013, Trott mado 5259 runs, at an aVerage of 45.73 per innings, and took 226 wickets, at an average cost of 18.87 runs. It- was about two years -ifter his entry info first-grade cricket that Trott won a placo' in the-Victorian eleven and against South' Australia, at Adelaide, he made. 50 not out and i'O idd. Sinco then he has played -102 i.m'in<>s irt/ representative cricket. . Ho has played 157. iirst-grado innings in Australia, which have yielded an average of 26.10 ,runs, and 245 innings in'Knpjand at an avorage of 22.36. His bowling average", in ; Australia : was -26.03,' and in England -1.39. -He has taken part in 24 test matches. His highest score was 143, his total runs 931, and his average :for his 42 innings 22.K5. Ho took' 29 .Test wickets at an average cost ; ..The ' grand total f:om tho time when Trott seriously entered upon Ills career is as under:— Runs Wickets ■ ' made. Taken. • South -Melbourne 5,259 i!GG Bendigo 4,186 257 ' Representative.,. 9,116' 407 . Totals _ ;. 19,561 930 Peculiarities of His Career. The first year that Trott went to England was 'in 1888/ and though his average was only 19.tu for 1212 runs, was 0110 of the finest achievements of his career, for it was about tho woist season over experienced. Onjy six ;;ersons in the whole of Kngl iiid' scored oyer 1000 runs, and'Trott was ono ot -them.' Upon each of; l;s four, visits he topped the thousand; namely, 1212 ir 1888, 1273 iii 1890, 1496 in'lß9a, end 1297. in 1896: Perhaps tho .'greatest innings he ever. played was. in a Test , match'at Lord's in 189G,-when he<niade 143. It is a peculiarity cf his' career that time after time ha was dismissed 'when in tho. vicinity of the sixties,! which is-partly'fcccjuuted for by the! fact that ho was u lixe batsman, always ready and willing to take risks. His temperament would net allow liim to play a long, slow innings.' "When studying Jiis; bowling figures, it should be remembered that l-o was only on when the wickets wero perk-ct, anil lis could probably mine en. tho fingers of both hands the number of opportunities ho had m first-class ?nrket on bad ■wicket's. . Others got them, but seldom did he: '" Memories of the Best. ;. Trott is undoubtedly ono of tho finest judges of a cricketer known, and this made him an almost ideal captain. When .vMelbourijo writer recently asked him who) ho thought was the- best batsmen Victoria had ever produced, he replied: "Though figures may not bear mo out, I consider that Harry Graham was about tho finest batsman wo evor had in tho State. Of course, tho greatest batsman 1 have seen iu'my timo is Victor Ti'umper. The biggest hitter was Percy M'Donnell. The Ueac left-handed batsman who ever played for Australia was Joe Darling. My opinion may be questioned, but it should ■be remembered that Darling could play the two games—the bad and good wicket game. "When my first-class career was commencing Spolforth's was just about ending, but still I think that Charlie Turner was the greatest bowler I ever saw; and 'Jack' Ferris was tho best left-handed bowler that has played the gamo. There has not ),een a more 'heady' bowler in my time than Hughie Trumble." A«v Obstinate Star. Little C. G. Macartney refuses to cease being tho cricket wonder of the ago. After all his -string of big figures ho ran up 201 for New South wales against Victoria in tho Sheffield Shield match, in which New South Wales scored tho great total of-G75. • Tvi.aeartney has this phenomenal sequeneo of scores on the Sydney Cricket Ground in the last two vears: 125, 96, 94, 76, 91, 10, 154, 105, 117, 54, 142, 201. Tho soventy-six was not out. I.ouis N. Parker, tho author of Jcseph and His Brethren," which is to be staged at Melbourne Her Majesty's, confesses that ho first conceived the idea of writing this play years ago. Two or three times he commenced work on the script, but abandoned each , effort, feeling that his ideas had not yet matured sufficiently to enablo him to do jtistico to. the subject. Later, he made tho acquaintance of George C. Tyler, tho noted New York producer, with whom ho discussed the possibilities of the play. Tyler.was emphatic on the subject, and said; "You had better go right ahead." So Mr. Parker went ahead. The result was one of the greatest successes Iho dramatic Stage in England and America, has ever known. ' ' The famous "Koslyn" Writing Fads always in stock. George and George, 101-183 .Cub# Street.—Advt.