CRICKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 248, 28 October 1901, Page 3

CRICKET.

TOWN v. COUNTRY. j Notes by “ Biffer. '] i The annua! fixture between the Town and i Country districts was played on Victoria : Domain on Saturday afternoon last, when i ideal cricket weather prevailed. The j Country was represented by a strong side, I but counter attractions were responsible ! for the absence of several of the team originally selected to play for the Town, j and also accounted for the meagre attend- ; ante of spectators on the ground. Several j ladies gladdened the hearts of the players i jby their presence at the match. In future | matches we hope to see more encouragement given to the members of the fair j sex to grace the ground with their pre- ; sence. ()n Saturday last no seating j accommodation of any kind was pro- j vidr-d, and we feel sure that this defect I has only to be pointed out to the local j authorities to ensure some degree of comfort to ladies attending matches in the i future. | ft. Cole captained the Town players, and j A. Crawford led the Country eleven. I Cole won the toss, and deciied to bat, but j the Town players showed feeble form at . the crease, and the whole side was dis- j missed fur the paltry total of 43 runs, i The matting wicket appeared to play all i right, though many of the balls kept low |

j in an unaccountable manner, and these 1 completely upset the calculations of the ! batsmen. Macdonald, Porter, and Hill | were the only men who made any runs. I Crawford, (.1. C. .Johnstone, and iiarton | divided honors in bowling, and each came I out with good analyses, i On the country men going to the j wickets, it was expected that they would ! have hut little difficulty in topping the score of their opponents, but even worse ' form was shown with the bat than that I exhibited by the town players. Neale, a one-time member of Cheltenham College eleven, proved himself a first-class fast j bowler, and accomplished the " hat trick” in his second over by clean bowling iiarton. Charles, and Raymond with ! successive halls. Nine wickets were j down for 31 runs, and it looked certain j victory for the town side ; hut once more i the glorious uncertainty of the old game asserted itself, and the last wicket put on 24 runs, and gave a win to tho country eleven by 111 runs. Smith and Burch, the last two batsmen on the country side, hatted most pluckily, and literally snatched tiie game out of the fire for their team. They each made 13 runs, and were warmly applauded on returning to where the pavilion ought to he. ii. Leggett and Smith also deserve praise for the clever maiinor in which they stole runs between the wickets, and must have secured a ] dozen or so hv sound judgment and alert- | ness. They were like unto Gregory and | Graham, of all Australian fame, at times, I and wakened up the Town fieldsmen con- i siderably while together at the wickets. ! ; Neale and Gibson secured the wickets, 1 and the former secured 5 wickets for 1(3 j ■ runs off-1.3 balls—a frond nerfnrmancc.

There only remained but a short time for play after each side had completed its first innings, and the Town players went again to the wickets with a “ have-at-tiiee villain ” sort of style of hatting. The result was that Crawford, Burch and Hood had sent nine of them trailing their bats behind them to the improvised pavilion for the microscopic total of 23 runs when time was called. The fielding all round was fair, and the ground fielding creditable considering the state of the outfield. Messrs Charles Evans (Town) and J. A. Caesar (Country) acted as umpires in a most capable manner.

The result of the match indicates that the Country Club will have a strong eleven in the field this year, and will take a lot of reckoning with in the Shield contest. The following are tho scores : Town : Gibson, b llureh ... ... ... 2 Neale, h Johnstone ... ... ... J Macdonald, h Johnstone : ... ... 9 Porter, h Johnstono ... ... ... 7 l.oomb. h Crawford ... ... ... U Cole, e Crawford, h Barton ... ... 1 Hill, b Crawford ... ... ... 7 McConnell, e Charles, h Barton ... 1 McCrcdio, not out ... ... ... I Edwards, e Smith, b Barton ... ... -1 Kretchmcr, h Crawford 2 Extras 8 Total ... ... ... ... Jo Bowling Analyses : —G. C. Johnstono : S overs. wickets, if runs : Burch : J overs, 1 wicket. 12 runs ; Crawford : 6 overs, 3 wickets, a runs ; Barton : -1 overs, 2 wickets, 2 runs. Country. Hodge, b Gibson ... ... 6 Barton, b Neale... ... ... ... 1 Charles, b Neale ... ... ... 0 Raymond, h Neale ... ... ... 0 Crawford, h Neale ... ... ... 4 Hood, h Gibson... ... ... ... 4 Johnstone, b Gibson ... ... ... 0 Leggett, run out ... 5 Parker, b Neale... ... ... ... 5 Smith, not out ... ... ... ... 13 Burch, run out ... ... ... ... 13 Extras ... ... ... ... 11 Total ... ... ... ... (32 Bowling analyses : Neale : 8 overs, 5 wickets, 1(3 runs; Gibson: 8 ovors, 3 wickets, 24 runs ; Porter : 2 overs, 7 runs ; Macdonald : 2 overs, 4 runs. James Ilussey, the well-known ox-Gis-borneitc, had a hit of bad luck a week hack, while taking a morning swim on the Napier beach. It seems that the athletic •lim took a header into a breaker. He dived from a height of some feet, and when ho landed the wave had gone on, and poor Jim landed on the hard and merciless shingle of the beach, and not on the Pacific as he intended. Result: A dislocated elbow. The damage is not serious, but it will prevent the brilliant young batsman from wielding the bat with that ease and grace so characteristic of his style, which was so well-known to Gisborne players.

T. Gibson, one-time member of the old Te Arai eleven, is this season playing for the Seinde first eleven of Napier.