SPORTING NOTES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4192, 30 December 1884, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

(By "Calmsk Ou.") Much will have to be done to the Recreation Ground before it will be fit for playing first-class cricket matches on it. If after the season is over it got thoroughly turned up, had a little top dressing, and some close groAving grass sown, it would be greatly benefitted for next year. The match which was Avon hy HaAvko's Bay may be considered a lucky and fortunate one, due almost entirely to tho play of AVhite and Wood, iv faoi: when one looks at the figures and sees that eight men contributed thirteen runs, six of Avhich Avere for an aceipental '' lost ball," to the total, though the score Avas a good one, a stranger is apt to ask were the eleven fair representatives ? The first three Avickets fell rapidly, and then the dash of the two players I have named st-iyed what might havo been a panic. AVhite is a peculiar stylo batsman, but as he is effective that, should cover all faults of style, and though his score owed a good deal lo luck, every one on the ground seemed to expect, that hu would make a score. AY .od on the other hand is a very pretty bat, and the same may bo said of Tuke, but there was not enough seen of the play of the others to give any line by which to judge them. The Napier bowling sadly lacked variety, and the best of it was not handled as well by the captain as it might have be._i. Newton was taken off with the score at 17 for two wickets, twelve of Avhich were debited to him, but it Avas sharp work. That it was a mistake the same innings showed for he secured two Avickets for four runs when again put on. Edwards was taken oil' apparently because he was hit for five, for even including that stroke he had then secured two wickets for twelve runs. Downes avlio was kept on long after he should havo been taken oft was severely punished, and a change should have been made Avhen Wood and Downes Avore bowling, very much earlier than it Avas. Of tho AVellington play I need not say much, though in my opinion they were superior to the local men at all points. Nicholls and Roberts are grand bats, while Alpe and Williams have both been good men in their day. Lawson I take to be their best bow er, though Cox had the average. Every ono had been bowling fast, the slow bowler was tried, and though it was poor stuff it got the Avickets, and getting the wickets some folks got enraptured with it. I am not sure that good bowling was needed to get the Napier tail. I have seen Spofforth, Boyle, and Palmer stuck up, and as a last chance Horan put on and get tho_ Avickets, though his bowling is only straight, and that reminds mo that whether it Avas due to the ground or the bowlers I know not, but there -was very little devil in the bowling. To havo properly played Cox the batsman should have met the ball at the pitch, or lacking the confidence to do that, try McDonnell or B. B. Cooper's stylo — play within an inch of your Avicket—though the latter wants some practice. Close finishes delight the public and at-fr-t the notice of the sporting Avriter. Verj often by reason of that close finishing busings a horse gets second place that Avas full of Tanning, Avhilo the first had everything taken out of him. There is just as much fault in not taking enough out of your horse as taking too much out of him early. We had an illustration of Avhat I mean by making a judicious use of a horse early at tho late V.R.C. meeting, when Commotion beat Malua at two miles ; the old horse with Power on his back made his own running and won. Those who remember the old Australian horso Saladin -will know exactly what I moan ; ho was a one pace horse, and away he Avent at that pace from the start. AVhen half the distance was covered he held generally a good lead, and then it was just a case of could the Speedy ones catch him. Hero is what another says on that subject; —"During ;i visit to AVilliam Day, that famous trainei told tho author ho could have Avon the Derby when riding Promised Land, if In had followed his o*vn inclination and made proper use of his horse, instead of riding a Avaiting race, at the suggestion of hi' father. He spoke much in favor of making tho running, or at least of making the best use of a horse, from start to finish, and strongly condemned tho flashy stylo ' of winning by short heads that makes jockeys lose so many races noA\*-a-days.' He said that, ' though the public are caught by this sort of thing,' many races are thus thrown aAvay. If tho jockey Avins, they talk of his Avonderful finish ; and if he is just beaten, they declare that no one else could have got Avithin a head of the Avinner, Avhile, all the time, if he had ridden judiciously, ho might have Avon easily by a length and alialf, or, maybe, much farther. Day gave a St. Legcr case in point at Doncaster. • You had better have a bit on my horse : I'm going to Avin to-day,' one of the cleverest of our jockeys said to me. ' AVell, the horse hasn't done much yet, has he ?' I asked. ' No, he hasn't, for I have never had my own way about riding him ; but to-day I have leave to ride him as I think best, and I shall beat them all.' And so he did. It was Jim Goater, on Rayon d'Or." It is about time that some action was taken in tho matter of hack races by our leading clubs, for from one end of tho colony to the other dissatisfaction is being expressed at the manner in Avhich they arc now conducted. I see thero has also been trouble as to the value of stakes, and in some cases where a horse has received £200 including his own sweep, he has been held to havo won that amount, Avhilo elsewhere very properly, his own stake has been deducted from the value of his Avinnings. What is Avanted is a tribunal to Avhich all such disputes could be referred, otherwise mistakes will occur. Archer has 235 Avins out of 560 mounts, thus eclipsing all his provious records.— Glen Innes in New South AVales that first gave a thousand added money to a race in these colonies, is now to the fore with a £500 mile and a half contest, the winner to be sold for a sovereign.—At a recent day's racing at Newmarket, Wood and Archer rode the winners of the seven events.— TJllyett heads so far the batting averages of the Englishmen Avhilo Flo Avers has the best boAvling aA'erage. —Matchlock a son of Musket will represent the Hon J. Whito in the Normanby Stakes at tho A.R.C. Now Yoar's Day meeting. A friend in Queensland has forwarded "Augur" of the Australasian a copy of the Queensland Racing Calendar for ISBO, the compiler of Avhich Avas imposed upon by the report of a bogus race meeting. It is described as that of the " Baol Budgeree (no good) Jockey Club Meeting," and the convincing ground tho "No-I-Never Plains." The placed horses in tho Maiden Plato are given as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and their owners, Messrs Brown, Jones, and Robinson. For the Publicans' Purse it is stated ■■ a lot ran; so many we could not count them; and the Bael Budgeree Handicap is given as being won by Power of X, Plus One being second, and Minus Tavo third. "Won by 20 lengths, on the post," is the verdict on the finish. It is difficult to understand how so palpable a fraud could have passed without notice.