CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2001, 7 March 1914, Page 12

CRICKET.

i'", : L Bbeaker.] ••.'■••:;'■ . ■ : t".-.-v: 'V-'^.-.."> '.•" Owrespondant's Conundrum. '' A correspondent—Mr. W. J. Bannin, of'Carterton—writes:'Wilt you answer ilie following-question through ' your paper. ; .The bowler,sends down a ball tflfich' hit's tho leg wicket, leaving the bail;dfooping from tho off wicket and £ inch down tlwcentro wicket. I-have ijirittenito:; several noted cricketers, but ■yisroJs.;a,,:differenCo. ; qf opinion.: The ijiies., say .that- the.bails, must bo dislodged; in this case they aro only displaced. Trusting' you - >vi3l obligo with fn* answer; for.tho of Wairarapa cricketers,'...' :

.'« Answer.—The ' batsman is not out., llulo 21 states that tho striker is e.ut only if the' wicket is "bowled down." Tho definition of'"bowled down" is givciiJiiii Rule AD -.which reads: "The tficket shall be held to bo 'down' "when cither of tho bails is struck off, or, if both bails bo off, when a stump is struck out of the ground." , : ■'..',: It is possible that some might'hold that the bail is "stuck eff" when one end is' hanging out of tlio'.' groove on ;the wicket;. /.I.'iiat aspect of '.the mat- • tev was referred by the writer to a nnm- • her of leading Wellington players., They Were unanimously of opinion that, in .the'easo described, thci bail/was not "struck off." If both cuds fetchedloose ity'would be .even though it afterwards caught between tho stumps and did not actually fall to the ground.

Men We Might Sea. . _ "What.'is wrong with thisidea? During the tour of the Australians people in Wellington have liee'ii a good -deal impressed by some of the form shown against the .visitors in centres not very remote-from here. There Was, for instance, the lino innings .played by M'Alahbiy.at Gisbornc, and-thcro was Holland's effective bowling at'. Waiwauui. Then, too,, the Wellington repiesentativo, eleven which was defeated at Hastings'reports that some '.very; good talent dwells in Hawke's Bay. Indeed, tlie riames : of/quite a formidable eleven ithut could-be'got together at once suggest themselves—Hoard, M'Mahon, Napier,. Creed,: Holland, ltev..,-E. 0, Blamires, Caye,/ Butterworth, and so on. "Now'how would it do if our association, asked such 'a combined, eleven, to play a.:match'in 'Wellington? It is fairly certain,that : .they/.would-draw a gate if, {hey were willing to come. It conltl'.npt be:done this year.-because no suitable; date' remains, but it might be done;next-season; It would be interest-, ins; to hear from some of-our district cricketers what /they-think of the proposal,-. One 'is''almost-suro''that the Wellington ; Cricket' Association wouldi not be,unfavourable to playing such a.fixture.'- :. / : ■ -.; .'■• ,:>....'•'■ ' ■' ...

Trie Smitsrs at Ternuka,:, V'.. '..Speaking of-.tho big-performance, by the ', Australians :at Temuka,' Hansford stated yesterday : that, 'while tho Australian side liked Crawford's big innings, they, were . much more itaken witlr tho .way;in which Trurnpergot his'runs;, ,>By ; .the.way, this, .smiting at Temuka reminds'the writer,,of,n word of advice toV.Wellington.,' 'from/.an . .experienced (Jrjbketeri"which hei'sta'ted I was "to bo id'next notes." : And a, very'' good word ■ of'advice it- is, ;too. He points out 'that nearly every mail on tho 'side is, ljablo to. make a ; cehtury.-'.(or/tYv6 -centuries)/against oven this .best: of bowling,' >if ; -he -once- -gets *set. HQ'ithinks..,tliat.,the./W!ellingtbh .bowlers miisfiiiikSi'a.' point/of "gojng' for'' "each' Australian as soon as -lie comes in, and : the, field must drop no chances. , Well,' what advice could bo sounder! .Any man on tho' Wellington side who drops.a single 'chance, will probably havo : ;a-,lot to 'answer for.' .} :.:<-.: : -: ..".■■

Positions of trie 'Te'tfhis."^ ~ . . p Tho following''tabic'.shoVs* . the posi-" tirins of the city '.'foams to date. It has to bo remembered, .however, that Central and East A played a pointless draw:— * ,

llt .■'■.■'■■ : P. W. L. pts. Petona 7 G 1 17 North ..,7 5 2 14 Central 5 1 '12 East A \...^.i.\':',.' l 3.8 East b ...;^;^;:;;r,;:7. ; ; : '3;';; 4 8 Old Boys 7 College .•.KiS<»f\w« s .«7'»' ; .V-.2| ',■ '5 4 iHlltt . U A Utter pp^rumper.', in Wellington, j^ l - Christchurchjcnthjisiast,! who. has seen cricket in tli'ei'wofld) states that ho ha'K/fieYerrlßeMdVs'nch masterly batin the match against.^nt«rbury. ; V ; .Mr. Cloggio partioular:lyp.iot'iced that,v:as soon as tho Cansf rJuiyilisMppari'J withdrew' a, man .i'roml'jany^part..of-the field to,,reinforce ti s'^?-:i9*ip. r i',Sa r |)'. ';.VTrumper at once change(U-£ifc«tyl6 / '» : ahd sent his shots left.','';A batsman renu.ireS;;to,'Cbei:;ia';consummato master of that.. ■ ' Jniilflin£jn;;s^iior' Match.

A'coninbufo'r writes:—"A rather regrettable incident occurred during the course'of the Petone-Central first grado mateh last Saturday. Naughton, of the CentraTClub,"had boon.severely hit 611 the' leg,' and'wished to,retire for a few minutes to recover, himself. Hickson, - tho Central skipper, asked that Naughton should be allowed to retire, and the Petone captain said that ho was certainly agreoablo to Naughton retiring, but on being asked if the Central man could continue his innings, said that if. 1 lie went, off the Hold he could not como back. It is only fair to tho majority of tho members of tho I'otono team to s'tato ■ r that they; did not endorse their captain's action, and that they expressed thoir regret to the leader of'the Central team." ■■',-'.

' Trumper's 293. j '•Against Canterbury, Trumpar madoi .. 293 runs in 3 hours 10 minutes. Tho innings included 44 fours and 3 sixes. "Tho in -tho "Weekly Press," says of tho innings.—"Thoßo who wero privileged to sco 'the incomparable Victor' may go on their way rejoicing that they have seen the' best batting tho world has produced. At any rate, it is beyond my imagination to conceive anything bettor. Probably the occasion will be a glorious opportunity for Canterbury's detractors, but we shall not be downhearted, Certainly, Canterbury's batting in'.the.first innings was disau- . pointing, but as everyone knows, cricket 'is.'such a funny game that one innings in a long way from being convincjng. The Australians have got bettor sides out for smaller scores. And though the . visitors piled up such a big scoro,_there is more than a crumb of comfort in the reflection that apart from Trumper's innings—l don't count Sims, as he is a fluntorl/ury man—the sido was out for a /ary moderate score. Tho trouncing may. be taken philosophically, .whilst wc proceed to profit by'tlio lessons learned.. Sho game should do an immense amount of for Christ'jhurcli cricket, for it ■ will -'doubtless stimulate' interest in tho game,"-not only by players, but by the .general-public." , . ' ' . . Tlio Esserics of tho Contract, The umpire has a well-established position-.in cricket, and his dictum has nil the force of law: It does hot follow,

however, that the same unquestioning rospeot will always bo paid to his watcn as is paid to his rulings. Thdro was a case in point on Saturday, when Old Boys at tho fag-end of the afternoon, had used up nearly all their batsmen in staving off a threepoint win. As tho hour for drawing stumps approached, it began to appear as though the resources would not last out, and naturally knock-off time was looked for. .If punctuality had been observed, there would havo. been an amplo margin of safety, but a wicket fell just beforo 6.30 p.m., and when Taylor went in Old Boys had drawn their last cheque. Stumps wore pulled up finally just four and a half minutes after' tho half-hour by the Post Office clock. This was ascertained by comparing a watch afterwards with that respected timepiece. -■ •■ ■'''~■''•''

The fact that Old Boys were still at the wickets when a halt was called obviates tho necessity of bringing any appeal against. tho wateli or watches upon which the umpire relied, but on the ground there were some protests from tlie side-lino 1 against the prolongation of play. To this Midlane, the skipper of L'ast A, responded by calling cut that the- umpires would seitlo" the. matter? So they did, and no doubt it will end there, but the consequences might have been interesting.

College arid C. C, Wilson; An obvious lack of balance in the contending teams made the.North-College match rather uninteresting in its final stage -on' Saturday. As a team, College Hero submerged, but eomo individual members rose superior to tho prevailing droop. Fenton's bowling,-for example, was notably good. -Tlio wicket was in a. stato less favourable to the trundling industry_ than the' one.next door, on which.Gibbos and M'Girr were lowering the Old Boys, but Fenton put quite a lot' of "devil" into his work, and came out of u losing gamo witli a fairly good average., ■.''.'•

Far and away the most, interesting 'feature of the'ul'teruoan's play, however, was the batting of C.,G. Wilson, of North.. Ho opened out a little cautiously, ami for half, an hour or so treated nearly everything that came to him with moderation, but as,soon as ho was set lie opened out, and hit the ball all over the-hold. His style is free, varied, and forceful, and there were more boundar r ios than singles in his score. Even the stroke t'hat cost him his wicket was a good one. The ball wits hit hard and not very high towards the street boundary, awl the fieldsman who gathered it in was stationed on the far side of a neighbouring game.

Somo stray Singles. J. Vernon• Eansford has, a good, word to say for New Zealand cricket. Talking with a friend in Wellington yesterday, lie stated that his opinion was that our play had improved very perceptibly since he was hero with the Mel-, bourne CO. team somo years ago.

Since- the Australians opened out. in Canterbury a canard that the Wellington match was "framed" is being well Eet on foot by non-cricketers and children. It is well laughed at by cricketers.

Hansford left Wellington by the Sydney, boat yesterday in answer to a summons from- his father. Mr. Ransford, senior,/finds' it Medessary to proceed..to. Migland;''and VertioiV'isW'manage tho Melbourne business in his absence.

You can walk a long way without finding a better bowler or a better tryer than ltyan, of Central. Last Saturday, against tho strong- l'otonc side, he only bowled four overs? but he lowered three .wickets. j

Herb. M'Gir'r's fast ball was coming back in the match against bid Boys. From this it is safe to conclude that tho wjclcqt Was' "doing something."

Clau'db Hicksoiv's catching in the match Central v.' Pctono is described by/members of his side as very fine. ; Central men state that since- Kobinson 'cam©' back'-'from Australia, ho has shown a disposition to make runs every time he bats. On Saturday last ho was going ."great guns" when he had the bad luck to bo run out.

Tho fine bowling of Stan Brice on the first day of tho Potoiio-,Contral match could.have).been no mere Hash in.the pan'. Ho 'was well on the spot again in the second innings. Onco more yninn, of North, was prominent, with a respcctablo club score against College, "in. the writer's judgment only timo is wanted to mako this lino oricketer a prominent asset on the Wellington representative • side.

. Congratulations to "Wire" Baker en his re-elevation to tho "reps."

Gibbes's bowling had 01d_ Boys well beaten 011 ■ Saturday. The wicket, : however,, helped Jiim. The only Old Boy who really got set was 1). Hay (first innings) and E. M. Beechey (second). .

The friends of D. Hay think that his running between:'tho wickets.; leaves a good deal to bo desired—especially in', a representative'cricketer.";'

' Ken Tucker' generally carries a joko about with him. "Two wides; and a straight. one, and out" was how he described his own first'innings on Saturday. When ho returned after a brief sojourn at the wickets in the' second innings he was understood, to sav that ho would seriously consider -Whether bowls was not better than cricket. Not yet, I hope, Ken! In a, recent mid-week match, Artillery v. Chemists, a fieldsman received a whack from the ball which ignited a box.of matches in his, pocket. Tho conflagration, however, was extinguished without ringing up for the brigade. : E. V. Sale, the well-known Auckland cricketer and Association footballer, was on Wednesday evening last tho recipient of a presentation from tho members of tho Corinthians Association Football Club, in viow of his approaching marriage. Tho presentation was made by G. H. Kent, president of tho club. Exception was taken at tho _ meeting of tho Otago Cricket-Association 'last week to, the items, £34 tips and £210 players' allowances in the balance-sheet of tho New Zcalanders' tour of Australia.

The engaging of a- coach for Otago qicket for three years at least will bo arranged within the next few weeks. Euiest Jones, the famous fast bowler of Australia, plays for the Lumpers' C.C. in tho West. Against South Fromantle a few weeks- ago ho took nine wickets for 17 runs (the other man being absent). Tho West Australian correspondent of the "Referee" writes that "Jones clean-bowled all nine wickets." He is not the express bowler ho was in his best days, but occasionally strikes something like liis best form.". The visit of the Australians will play havoc with the season' 9 average of some of tho Christelrareh men. The Saturday's play in tho Canterbury match saw 97 hit off Wilson without u wicket, and ibis will pull his average down. Sandman also wont - wicketless 'for S3 runs. ?.iany of tho batsmen would faro badlv, too. Whitta in particular would suffer, for it is the first time this season ho has failed to score.