CRICKET MATCH-ROXBURGH v. CLYDE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 815, 30 November 1877, Page 3

CRICKET MATCH-ROXBURGH v. CLYDE.

(to the editor of the dunstan times.) Sir : —Will you kindly insert the following few remarks and obligel see by your issue of the 16th instant an account of a match played between the Roxburgh Cricket Club and the Dunstan Cricket Club, in which it states “ that the wickets were pitched on the further side of the river from the township, but the ground chosen was in very bad order, having more resemblance to a ploughed field than a cricket ground. Now Sir, I beg to state that in my opinion this is incorrect, [ grant that the ground chosen was not first-class, as wo cannot expect English turf in New Zealand, but at the same time, the pitch was chipped and the ground cleared of scrub to make the field .playable on, and as this was the first season that the ground was taken up, it could not be expected to be in first-class order. l As to the gale of wind blowing, and the statement that to this fact and the state of the ground' is mainly owing the ridiculously large number of extras scored by the Roxburgh men. We could not prevent the wind, and as for the ground, it was as good for one side as the other. In regard to its being impossible to stop the fast bowling of Mr Sains under those conditions, the Roxburgh men say that his bowling was no faster than either Hill’s or Howell’s, and our long-stop (Mr Hampson) only allowed 14 byes in the two, innings, and bad be been on the Dnnstan side, in ill probability, the extras would have been the same. 1 cannot see that the Roxburgh men were in any respect inferior to the Dunstan team except in batting, and the Club being composed of nearly all working men who cannot spare time to practice, this is not to be wondered at, and lam led to believe by those who know theDunstancricket ground that it is far inferior to ours, I think it rather strange that these comments should have been made now, when there was no mention of them during the time of play. —Yours, &c., Fairplay. Roxburgh, November 19, 1877.