A RECORD DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 69, 23 March 1933, Page 5

A RECORD DAY

M.C.C. TEAM'S VISIT

CRICKET AT THE BASIN

ONE-DAY HATCH

Wellington enjoyed one of its most memorable cricketing occasions when England's touring cricketers, fresh from their conquest in Australia, were seen in action at the Basiu Reserve against a Wellingt&n representative eleven yesterday. The <lay, a perfect one for cricket, was memorable not so much for the performance hv ih P Ary r. ln a '- for the Co>«Pl'ment paid fl ! M-, C- C-, ln arra"Si«g its Test team to play here, and memorable, too, L?i,, , fiPe. cta, cle. °f a record gathering aiound the playing area. No event in the long history of cricket in Wellington 7w r aH v £ udl a lal '8e attendance as tnat at.the Basin Eeserve yesterday, and never before have a day's takings been s° .J" A Preliminary count showed tflat the gate receipts (including reservations) would amount to close on £SOO and it was estimated that the attendance was about 20,000, including, of course some thousands of boys and girls adnutted free of charge. In that r^pect v was a record-breaking day. FORM OF THE VISITORS. From a purely cricket point of view the match was, affected considerably by the loss of one complete day's play, but m being reduced to a one-day affair it was expected that in the main proceedings would be bright and snappy. The experience, however, was that brightness came, only in patches. Of batting technique and artistry there vas nothing very great from the visitors, and it was their pertormance m which the spectators were mainly, mterested; nor was anything very «=cePtional revealed by the bowlers. In the field the visitors, with an exception or. two, notably Duckworth as wicketkeeper, were, far from impressive, their work generally being well below that expected of a Test side. Slowness of movewent caused much waste of time between TT- iH iv alI >' England's team yesterday ■ did- not impress as one capable of beating Australia in four Tests out of • hve. The fact of the matter is that the ; -lest strength was considerably reducedior one thing the fast leg-theory merchants^ Larwood (en route for England) and \oce, were not there, and other regular Test men standing down were Allen, Leyland, and Wyatt. Moreover There was not the same seriousness in •tins one-day match as in the Australian engagements; in fact, the players yesterday appeared to take things somewhat , leisurely. The nonchalance of Hammond 'as batsman and general action in the field : gave that impression. Still, there was , satisfaction in seeing something of these famous cricketers, and. their ability is un- ■ doubted. None pleased more than Paynter, whose innings, as recorded in "The ; Post ' yesterday, was the tit-bit of a • moderately good-batting performance by ; England s representatives. Hammond, under a handicap, gave some evidence of his mastery, and Jardine showed some artistry. Several offered samples of ag- , gressiveness which is always a delight to the r crowd. NO FAST LEG THEORY. Spin bowlers were the main medium of attack against Wellington's batsmen, of Tr-1? neW were seen- Verity (left), ■Mitchell, and Brown put plenty of work on the ball without appearing very' dangerous, and Bowes, known for his "bumpers, was not very disconcerting, nor was Tate, a happy-go-lucky player, carrying rather much condition to be so effective a medium-paced stock bowler as in former years. Under different circumstances this set of bowlers would undoubtedly have been more effective than was the case yesterday. Of the type of bowling— termed •'body-line'"'—which troubled the Australians, there was no sign. WELLINGTON'S SHOWING. The few Wellington batsuiehi met the varied M.C.C. attack ably, and Dempster s batting display did not suffer in the l°ast by comparison with the best on England's side. Dempster never looked like going out, and when just short of the half-century he fell to an appeal for lbw. Foley displayed his usual stout

blade, and he created something of a rer cord in having three o's in his account. O'Brien, quiet'for a time, stirred himself to the full during one of Verity's overs and collected four 4's. He and Tindill were shaping well in the closing stages. Wellington -were given over two hours' batting after - the visitors had declared with 223 for eight wickets, and, although acquitting themselves well in making 141 for the loss of only two wickets, it seemed that .the limited time could have been used to rather better advantage. AVellington maintained a good attack against the English batsmen on a wicket which appeared to be dead easy, and the best figures were recorded by Blundell and Freeman, who each took three wickets. The support from the field was fine, Lamason and Dempster showing up conspicuously in the good work and Tindill performing capably as wicket-keeper. James, through one of his eyes giving him trouble, did.not don the pads and gloves. Tihdill's stumping of Jardine oft' Blundell was one of the gems of the play. In spite of periods of somewhat tedious! play the match, which, of course, was drawn, had interesting features in plenty and for many thousands it filled in a really pleasant day. The efforts of Messrs. P. B. Broad (chairman), A. Varney (hon. secretary), and W. J. Iv Christophersen and other officials of the Wellington Cricket Association, acting on behalf of the New Zealand Cricket Council, served to bring about a new and great achievement so far as cricket attractions loealb' are concerned. The huge crowd was handled splendidly. WELLINGTON'S INNINGS. When "The Post" went to press yesterday England's innings had been declared closed. Wellington's reply was commenced at 3.47 p.m., and this gave the spectators their opportunity of seeing something of England's bowling talent. Bowes and Tate were the opening bowlers, but it soon became apparent that they were not likely to be seen in top form. Their bowling commanded respect, though there appeared to be nothing in it to unnerve. Wellington's opening pair, Dempster and. Foley. Dempster quickly settled down to run-getting, and Foley, who was nearly run out early in the piece, held his end up capably. Euns came steadily, mainly from Dempster's bat. At 19, Mitchell was brought on, and he put plenty of spin on the ball, though without shaking the confidence of the batemen. The total had reached 25 when the second, bowling change was made, Verity, the Yorkshire left-arm bowler, taking over from Tate, whose six overs had cost only 10 runs. Dempster, who had been doing most of the scoring, cut the last ball of Verity's first over to the boundary, and in Mitchell's next over Foley placed a ball through the slips for four. There were other occasional scoring strokes, one, a cover drive by Dempster, sending the leather to the pickets. Apart from a few forcing strokes there was not much briskness in the play. However, ah overthrow to the boundary created some diversion, Foley getting five for a stroke which was 'worth only a smartly-run single. The half-century appeared after 55 minutes' batting, and Dempster thereupon attacked the bowlim; with force. From one of .Verity's overs he ..netted two 4's and a 2. This made the total 60, at which another slow bowler, Brown, was tried. Foley met the change with a splendid square-cut to the boundary. Employing the cover drive to effect, Dempster registered another 4 at Verity's expense. With the continued good progress by the batsmen, Jardine recalled Tate, who took over from Verity (none for 23 off six overs). SLOW MOVEMENT. Proceedings became somewhat dull again. The batting was quiet, and there was much" slow movement b.etween overs. A change was afforded when the batsmen took a risk in running a single. Jardine made an attempt to break the wicket before Foley reached the crease, and the ball, missing the stumps, went on to the boundary. This gave Foley his second 5, and the addition of a single made his total 30. Dempster required only a few runs for his half-century. Slackness in fielding and an overthrow placed still another 5 to Foley's account. Just afterwards Dempster was given out lbw on appeal by Tate. Dempster had batted well, though quietly :at times, in making 47 in ninety minutes. His score included seven 4's. The first-wicket partnership yielded 96 runs. 96—1—47. O'Brien and Foley defended stoutly against Bowes and Tate, and with slowness in the field the play was very tedious. At length' Foley touched a rising ball from Bowes, and was easily caught by Voee (substitute) in the slips. Foley's

folid effort included three s's and three 475. DS—!•—3o. CENTURY PASSED. Tindill started straight away with a snick through the slips to the boundary, and this brought the century up. The innings had been in progress for just over 100 minutes. Verity then returned to the attack in place of Tate'(one for 23 off 13 | overs). A period of quiet play was broken I wheu O'Brien adopted, forcing tactics fj against Verity, and this to such purpose 1 that in one over the Hawke's Bay player § registered four 4's—each one a good bound- i ary stroke. There was an appeal against I the light, but play proceeded until five I minutes to six. In the meantime Tindill I and O'Brien added materially to the | score by further boundary strokes, and I in one over Verity was no-balled three | times. When stumps were drawn Wei- I lington's score was 141 for two wickets— | O'Brien 2G not out, Tindill 12 uot out. 1 Details:— I M.C.C. I First Innings. | Sutclift'e, b Parsloe 3 | Paynter, c and b Freeman 52 0 Hammond, c and b Freeman 58 8 Ames, c James, b Freeman 3 § Jardine, Bt .Tindill,, b Blundell 23 g Tate, c Freeman, b Blundell 19 I Brown, b Newman ..., 28 I Verity,, lbw, b Bhmdcll 0 I Duckworth, not out 13 I Bowes, not out 11 I Extras: Byes 5, leg byes 4, no tj balls 2 11 B Total for eight : wickets (innings I declared closed) 223 J B Fall of, wickets: One for 4, two for 94, 11 three for 102,. four for 142, five for 164, I sis for ISS, seven for 196, eight for 198. I Bowling Analysis. | O. M. I?. W. I Parsloe 31 1 ;;7 1 I Blundell 10 2 bo 3 H Newman 15 4 40 1 | Freeman 15 — 71 3 WELLINGTON. First Innings. Dempster, lbw, b Tate 47 Foley. c sub (Voce), b Bowes .... 89 O'Brien, not out 26 Tindill, not out ....: 12 Extras: Byes 9, leg-byes 4, no balls 4 17 Total for two wickets 141 Fall of wickets:■ One for 96, two for 98. Bowling Analysis. , O. M. E. W. Bowes ]l 2 ">4 1 Tate 13 r> 23 1 Mitchell G 2 ]7 0 Verity 10 1 47 0 Brown ~ 6 2 13 0 PUBLIC SCHOOL MATCHES The following are Wellington Public Schools Cricket Association fixtures for Friday:— Senior Grade.—Eongotai v. Island Bay, Kilbirnic; Clyde Quay v. Berhampore, iSiewtowu; South Wellington v. Brooklyn, Newtown. Junior Grade.—Johnsonville v. Mount Cook, Kelburn; Te Aro v. Newtown. Kewtown;. Karori v.. Kelburn, Kelburn. Third Grade.—Kongotai A v. Clyde Quay, Kilbirnie; Bongotai B v. South Wellington, Newtown; Thorndou v. Ter- I race, Kelburn. 1 Fourth A Grade.—Johnsonville v. North- I land, Anderson; Te Aro v. Wadestown, I Anderson; Brooklyn, a bye. I _Fourth B Grade.—Bongotai v. Eidgway, I .Newtown; Berhampore v. Island Bay I Wakefield; Newtown v. Mount Cook I Prince of Wales; Eoseneath, a bye. I Fifth A Grade.—Eongotai v. Island Bay i Kilbirnie; Mount Cook v. South Welling- I ton, Newtown; Beha'mpore v. Brooklyn,- I Wakefield. I Fifth B Grade;—Karori v. Thorndon I Anderson; Kelburn v. Kaiwarra, Andet- I son; Karori West,' a' bye. . 3 HIGH SCHOOL MATCH I (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) • I TIMAEU, March 22. I The annual.match Timaru Boys' High E School v. Waitaki Boys' High School was I commenced at Timaru today in fine I weather. Waitaki made 278 runs in the § first innings (F. Smith 115, G. Gordon I /b. K. MeArthur 22). B. Eitchie took I tour -wickets- for 11 runs. At stumps 1 Timaru had made 165 runs for the loss § of two wickets (A. Souther 24. R. Wil- I Hams 38. E. Jones. 51 not out, F. Blue I 42 not out). i Timaru gave a bright display, Mttin« I up the runs in 90 minutes. Waitaki were I at the wickets for 4^ hours 10 minutes. §