NOT AS A TEAM

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 86, 8 October 1931, Page 15

NOT AS A TEAM

NEW ZEALAND DEFEAT WOOLLEY'S FINE FORM MILLS ATTRACTIVE (From "The Post's" Special Correspondent.) LONDON, 29th August. Jt was against Kent at Canterbury that the New Zealand cricket team suffered' its third defeat on tho tour. Tho match was played during the Festival Week there, and every provision was made for enjoyable cricket. The outtield and surroundings were in magnificent order, whilst the wicket was hard but easjf paced, so that tho bowlers could get very little "devil" out of it. The attendance throughout the match was first-class, and during the three hot . sunny daysplayers and spectators alike felt more like cricket than has been the case during the greater portion of the wretched summer which the tourists have been unlucky enough to experience. Kent, captained by the ever-popular ..Percy Chapman, finished third in the • county championship this season, mainly duo to the splendid performances of Freeman, and, towards tho1 latter part of the season, Marriott with the ball and the, famous Frank Wool- , ley, Ames, Ashdown, and Hardingo with . the bat. TEEEMAN'S INJURY. Xowry won the toss from his brother- . in-law, and nnder the ideal conditions mentioned, everybody settled down to watch the New Zealand batsmen pile up the runs, as everything was in favour of high scoring. Mills and Dempster opened up in such bright fashion that n.ll -New Zealand enthusiasts thought that their expectations would be fulfilled. Such, however, was not the case, for aftor tho dismissal of Dempster when he had scored 34, the batting waß very disappointing with one exception —the display given by the graceful lefthander, J. E. Mills. There was very little excuse for such a mediocre performance, as, during the Dempster- ■ Mills • partnership '' Titch'' Frecrnan ;w'as incapacitated. Whilst fielding at short leg, Freeman received such a severe blow on the left shoulder off a ball from a full-blooded hook shot by Mills that he was unable to take part in the attack for tho remainder of the first innings, and thus Kent was greatly ; handicapped by the absence of its best ■ bowler. , ! \ : MIIiLS AT HIS BEST. Dempster started off in his usual • bright fashion, none of tho bowlers icaining any respect from him. He seemed quite at home to Marriott and Freeman, and, in fact, during the first seven overs from Freeman Mills and Dempster claimed 29 runs between them. It was a tremendous disappointment to all when Dempster, just as he appeared well set, attempted a big cover driv r e off Marriott, miss-hit, and was caught at deep point. .. •■ Despite this mishap, Mills never let ■np jind by well-timed and powerful hook shots, drives past mid-off, legglances and chop strokes through the slips, obtained his highest score ot the tour—l 63. It was tho best knock ■that. I had ever seen Mills play. He found the boundary no less than -o times during his innings. There is no doubt that when this player is going well-one might easily comparo him with Duieepsinhji for style and grace. Every stroke was effortless to him. ah the jrower' appears-to come., from jnst work,: the 'result ; of well-nigh perfect timing.-': -.;: ". .-,.:■ -. •- ■ < ' : . .'■:- ■ INCONSISTENT BATTING. It-just-goes to- show how inconsistent ■thfrest of the- New Zealand batsmen , ■were, when it can bo seen that MiHs, 'out of'a tdtal of 337, scored 163 Lowry and Page were tho only .other, two batsmen to make any headway against the Kent bowling. Lowry began m his own characteristic fashion being specially severe on Marriott, but after having scored 34, a magnificent catch in slips by Chapman sent tho New Zealand captain back to *h ? \ pavilion. Page, a little lower down in the bat--snf order :than is generally the custom, playe,d the correct game, taking, into account' the adverse change of circumstances, and was left not-out with a "Sit^dlng during- the innbigs was of a high standard, whilst Mailiott was the most successful bowler, securing five *or 102. This, bowler is one of the leg-break variety, accurate,/and in speed a little faster than Koger Blunt. He does not possess k,wronc-'un, but relies solely on length and spin. On account of his speed and low trajectory it is almost impossible to iump oiitto him. As he very rarely bowls a loose ball—if anything, every '•ball is just short of a length—he nearly always does without a man in the outfi6Levett, who kept wickets in order to give Ames a spell, performed quite creditably: This player kept Wickets jn one of the- Gentlemen-Playerd games in the early \>xct of the_ season, and earned great praise for his clean work. WOOLIiEY'S 2000. 'If the New Zealand score was mainly tine to one batsman's efforts, Woolloy and Ames were the two responsible for Kent's total. Woolley, during his innings of 224 runs, completed his 2000 . runs for the season. Ho scored his runs ■out of a total of 347 in just over three hours, so that it may well be imagined how quickly he obtained them. When he gets properly going, as he did in this match and as he has ,done m several matches in the past—against the Australians, too—there is no one to compare with him in the world. He never lets the bowlers find a length. What length they, had at the start in this innings, he destroyed with mighty hits over long-on, and these were off cood length balls outside tho oSstump. When a fieldsman was placed out tliere to block this particular shot he hit straightcr or squarer at will. At one time, whilo Matheson whs bowling Lowry had three men placed out In-the'deep and only one slip, yet tho ' ball beat the fieldsmen. , ''"" Admittedly there are times when a ■batsman of this type, "by chancing his arm." can do nothing wrong, and this happened to be ono of the times when ■ Woolley could do no wrong. Ho simply hit at everything, and whether it was a drive, pull, hook, or cut, the ball, • iince it had beaten the fieldsmen, simply flew to the boundary. Unless the ball was hit direct to a fioldsman there was •no chance of cutting it off. It did not 'matter what bowlers were put on, tho \ result was just the same. It was > Woolley's day. < Although Woolley playecl so magnificently, the New Zealand team has only 'itself to blame, for immediately after he had scored his century he gave three chances in the outfield, catches which should have been accepted, and on account of this a further eighty or so runs wore added. AMES AGAIN. ' Ames, partner to Woolley during a long stay at the crease, also gavo a great display of batsmanship,and even if he was overshadowed by the inimitable Woolley, his innings must not be overlooked. Not possessing the free and powerful strokes of his partner, Ames nevertheless played a very stylish knock of 115. He was quite content to let Woolley do all tho hard hitting, whilst ho himself waited for the. loose ball and treated it as it deserved. Apart from these two the remainder

offered very little resistance, Hardinge who scored 45, being thd only other player to look at all troublesome. Surpriso was expressed amongst tho critics that tho New Zealand ground fiolding should bo of so high a standard and yet tho catching so poor. It was simply one of tho things that happen in cricket.

Morritt and Vivian woro tho two most successful bowlers, each securing thrco wickets, although their averages suffered considerably during tho AmesWoolley partnership. "* EASILY BEATEN. New Zealand, being 111 runs in arrears, opened up tho second innings disastrously, Dempster, Mills, and Page being dismissed in the half-hour left for play at the end of the second day. On tho following morning, after such a bad start, New Zealand never recovered, and although Lowry, Blunt, and Weir fought hard to save the situation, the innings closed, leaving Kent with 49 runs to win. Thcso runs were obtained for the loss of ono wicket. Although Titch Freeman was sufficiently recovered as to be ablo to bowl on tho third day, New Zealand's bete uoir was again Marriott, who obtained tho excellent average of seven for 58. Now Zealand's loss must be attributed to the fact that, firstly, theteam, through sheer carelessness, did not mako nearly onough runs in the first innings when- the opportunity was there, and, ! secondly, the dropped ciitches wero inexcusable and expensive. ■ ' ...'..