BIG CRICKET

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 11

BIG CRICKET

OTAGO V, WELLINGTON

...-._ GREAT BATTING , FINE RECOVERY AFTER COLLAPSE MIDLANE 184. An excellent start, a temporary collapse, and a wonderful recovery were the milestones of yesterday's play fin the representative cricket matoh between Otago and Wellington. The match was to have been commenced at noon, but as a misty rain was drifting across-the Basin Reserve at that time a postponement, was agreed upon. Eventually A start was made shortly before 2.30, and play was continued without interruption till 5.30 p.m. Wellington won the toss and went in to bat. The wicket was in good order, the outfield was fairly fast, and there was a prospect of the ball becoming greasy and hampering the bowlers. The home team opened very well. Brice. sent in two of the men who had distinguished themselves in the Auckland match, and they tilled tho role_ with great credit. The pair were Midlane and Baker. From the very commencement Hidlane was the master of the bowling, but Baker had : occasional lapses of uncertainty, ' and with the total at 54 he lost his wicket. Three other batsmen succumbed by the time 78 had been reached, and as two of these (Hiddleston and Burton) have been scoring well lately, and were considered- to be worth, many run 6, the position looked gloomy for Wellington.

Tho Rescue. However, Bray came to the rescue, and with Midlane, played through almost the whole of the remainder of the afternoon. It was a brilliant, chanceless partnership, it added 187 to the score at a critical 6tage, and it saved -Wellington from what might have developed into a rout. The pair started in to pull the innings opt of the embers when Crawford was bowling like a book—when -he. had dismissed four batsmen for 34 runs. Bray had the bad luck to be dismissed when his century was well within' sight, but Alidlane was still batting well when stumps were drawn. He is 134 on. The position now is that Wellington has lost five wickets for 267. Tho match will be continued at 11 o'clook this morning.

Alterations In the Teams. v Both teams were different from' the original selections. Otago lost A. W. Moo, a consistent bat and valuable bowler, who had a finger broken on Thursday while practising at the nets. He was replaced by his brother,- A. P. Alloo, who came to Wellington with tho Otago University team a week ago, and bowled very effectively in the match against the Wellington University team. : C. G. Wilson and J. Burns dropped out of the Wellington team. Wilson slightly hurt one of his legs in a match against tho Julius Knight Co., and the selectors induced Brice (who had decided not to play) to take his place. Burns's place as wicket-keeper was filled by' Paterson.

Wellington Coes In.

It was nearing 2.30 p.m. when Midlane and Baker went to the wickets and opened Wellington's innings. Crawford, bowling from the south end, opened the attack. Midlane took the first strike, and immediately showed an inclination to go for the bowling. He knocked two -fine boundaries off the first over. Baker sent the first ten up on the telegraph in/ the following over, and, as both batsmen continued to j)lay freely, the board soon registered twenty, and thirty was up in fifteen-minutes.' A lull then occurred in the scoring; Crawford was adjusting the field effectively and the bowlers (Eckhoff and Crawford) were sending along better stuff. Baker was not batting with quite his usual accuracy. , He lifted one into the slips, but it went out.of reach of the fieldsmen; he drove a hard one back to the bowler's end, and it was almost accepted; and he made a mis-hit which mighthavo cost him his wicket. So he had three lives before he reached .twenty. Fifty was signalled, after twenty-five minutes' play, and at this stage the first change in the bowling was made, Alloo taking the south end in place of Crawford, who afterwards replaced Eckoff at the north end. In his second over from there Crawford got Baker's wicket with a beautiful ball. The first partnership had yielded 54 runs, and tho retiring batsman had contributed 28 of them. .Crawford's' first victim cost twenty-live runs.:'

The Deadllness of Crawford. Midlane knocked Alloo about impartially, and. the score jumped to seventy in a few minutes. ' Without the addition of any more runs Hiddleston was giyen out ieg before to Crawford. Two wiokets were down, for 70 runs, and Crawford's average stood at two wickets for 33 runs. Gibbes replaced Hiddleston, and the rate' of run-getting slackened. Eighteen overs had been 6ent down before a maiden was bowled. This maiden was credited to Crawford an his ninth over. His two next overs were maidens, and the latter included Gibbes's wicket. Gibbes had been in trouble from the time he went to the crease, and he was nearly clean-bowled on two occasions in the fatal over. Crawford was now ■ bowling wonderfully woll, so well indeed that the last Bix runs had taken twenty minutes to make.' Burton, the nost batsman, had .only made two singles when a ball from Crawford came in a little from the off and scattered his stumps. The bowler had now accounted for four wickets for 31' runs. Midlane continued to bat with the utmost confidence, and the "bowling worried himwery little. His half-century was made in an hour, and at about the same stage the team had just passed 80. At '84 Alloo was taken off and Siedeberg put on at the south end. Alloo's eight overs had cost 29 runs. Bray failed to-get.the.measure of Siedeberg at the commencement, but -weathered the first attack- and then settled down very nicely for what turned' out to be a valuable innings. /

Hoisting the century. .Wellington's hundred was telegraphed after the game had been in progress for an hour and a quarter. This shows how greatly the rate of scoring had diminished, for the first thirty was up in fifteen minutes. Tho total mounted up gradually,, though singles were. the only things happening most pf the time. Bray's running 'between wiokets was good, and, as Midlano responded well, the-shorter hits were far more profitable to tho team than similar strokes in the other partnerships. The 150 mark was passed after two hours' play, and the partnership so far had added 70 runs. Crawford, who had taken a loiig spell, came on again to bowl. Eckhoff bad bowled thirteen overs- at an expense of 38 runs; Eckhold, four overs off which a dozen runs wero hit; and Siedeberg nine overs, which cost 25 runs. Tho partnership had added 100 runs after being in existenco for an hour and a half. The batsmen had each made fifty of them. Just a little before the match had been in progress for two hours and a half, a boundary by Bray sent up Wellington's second century.

Ovation for Mldlane. The applause of the crowd had scarcely died away when Midlane, with a boundary and a couple of brigl.fc Bingles,. reached his hundred, The crowd acknowledged w performance

with a great ovation. Bray was now sixty, and scoring rapidly, and a few overs later he was eighty. • Changes in the bowlers were tried, and when the batsmen had raised the score from four wickets for. 78 to 'four for 231, Stcdcberg was oallcd up - again. Ho made no immediate impression on the batsmen, and at 239 the visiting skipper handed the ball to Watson, who vory rarely bowls, but who managed to get Bray's wicket. Brico had just opened his innings when stumps were drawn. Midlano's innings of 134 not out includes thirteen fours and one five. Brav'hit ten fours. Singles predominated in the scores, and many of theso would have been saved had tho fielding been good. Details of the Scoring. x ' Wellington.—First Innings. F.-A. Midlane, not out 134 W. Baker, b. Crawford 28 J. S. Hiddleston, b. Crawford 6 W. R. Li Gibbes, b. Crawford 2 H. Burton, b. Crawford 2 "VV. Bray, b. Watson 82 S, Brice, not out • 2 Extras 12 Five wickets for .....'.... 267 How the Wickets Fell. ' l 2 3 4 6 , ' 70 76 78 263 Bowling Analysis.—Crawford took four wickets for 80 runs; Eckhoff, none for. 61; Alloo, none for 47; Siedeberg, none for 47; Eckhold, none for 12;. Watson, one for 8.

WELLINGTON V. WAIRARAPA

■ HOME TEAM SCORE FREELY. A match between a team representative of Wellington Wednesday players, and a Wairarapa representative team was commenced on the College Ground yesterday afternoon. Wellington won the toss, and batted for the whole afternoon for 273 runs, the last man being bowled a few minutes before the time agreed .upon for drawing stumps. The score, a respectable one, was not due to any great merit in the Wellington batting, but rather to weakness in the visitors' attack. Also, it was a batsman's day.' The wicket was hard and true, and the light mist which drifted over the ground at intervals made the turf, damp enough to make the surface of the ball greasy—a set of conditions whjoh no bowlor likes. The game is scheduled as a two-days' contest, and play is to be resumed at 10 o'clock this morning. ' Following are the scores: — Wellington.—First Innings. ■

TJempsey, 1.b.w., b. Barr 8 Tweedy, b. F. Fan-brother 24 Harris, b. Barr 29 Warne, b. Barr 28 Taylor, not out 87 Mummery, b. Barr ; 15 Sisson, c. and b. Barr 3 M'Mahon, b. Burnside ................. 37 Ryan, b. M'Oardle. 18 Smith, c. Ogier, b. F. Fairbrother 12 Luxford, c. Burnside, b. F., Fairbrother 8 Extras ..• 4 Total ...........' 273 Bowling Analysis.—Barr took' five wickets Tor 72 runs; Burnside, one for 52; F. Fairbrother, three -for' 41'; S. Wilson, none for 34; V. Fairbrother, none for 35; H. M'Cardlo, one for 35.