Cricket BAY SEASON OPENS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 29, 28 October 1937, Page 13

Cricket BAY SEASON OPENS

"Mid-off.")

Mediocre Scoring in Games at Cornwall Park TECH. PERFORM WELL

(By

Weather conditions were favourahle indeed for the official opening of the combined cricket competition in Hastings and Napier last Saturday, hut tfiere was a contrast in the run-getting. The two senior fixtures in Hastings provided smail scoring hut in Napier, in the solitary jnatch, Tecfinical Old.. Boys held the stage all afternoon to compile the big score of 291 xuns. gjpft wickets and heavy oiitfields were the order at Cornwall Park where onco again will be the headquarters of cricket in Hastings tlxis season. The use of a heavy roller is eseential and it. is to ba hoped that the association will make the necessary arrangements with the horough authorities for the playing area to be given a proper rolling. Cooperation in this matter and it should be possible to provide a first-rate cricket ground at Cornwall Park. Actually the showings made by all four teams at Hastings were most dis* appointing, even taking into account that Saturday was of the opening of the season. It will be necessary for full advantage to be taken of the practise wickets if anytfiing like good forra is to be revealed early in the season. It does not appear to be appreeiated by inany of the players that a-11 too frequently the results of the early games in the competition have a very material influence upon the ultimate fate of the championship. Keen Contest Anticipated, Though there was exceptionaily lojv scoring in the meeting uei,w9e^ the rival Uld Boys of the tvvo High Schoola the indications point to a" keen struggla for honours oq Saturday when the linai stages will be embarked upon. At the prcsent stage thc Napier eleven are aitting pretty with a lead of eight ruus on the ilvst iuuiuga and for thla tney really havo to thank Tom Mahoney who teaoluusly hung on to his wicket \to compiie a score qf 23, wkich undcr the (jircnmstances and compared to otimr perfowances on the sarne park, was quite a good etort. TJjie Hastings side set the standard at a mere 60 runa, Harold Rainey and Phillips collecting the bulk of the wiokets. The former bowled well but for all that hia average was a fiattering one. The .home side "4^104'' with the bowling ahd therein lay their down. falb Snaddon played quite soundly but both Craven and MitcheU really took the honours for there was little halfhearted about tkeir batting. Though the aggregate was admittedly small the team appear to be stronger than last year and with form they should meet witk greater sueeess. The Napier innings was most identi. cal with that of their opponeftts, the Uowling beiug far f rom accurate or even of good length but the batsmen laeked coniidence and played themselvea our, The one redeeroing feature of the afternoon 'g play, however, was the flelding, This was good and both gides moved smartly in the field, Hastings I*ead Rugby, There was briglitor seoring in the other game at Hastings and during the ui'terwuou they scored over 200, but here again euch side ecunplcted an innings with Hastings haviug a good Ipad of over 40, Hfater, Beuth and Dyor provided the wain batting strength for itugby in their innings of 32, the iirstmeutioued, a uewcoroer l'or Jiygby'from Napier, shnping well whiie both Beuth and Dyer reveaied promising fornt, The "hittcrs" of the sido did not havc long visitations to the. crease but brief and breezy they were. • Tlio Hastings leam put up quito ihe best performancc of the four teams seeu in actiow' at Cornwall Park when they compiled 124. Most of Ihe credit goes to Geddis aml It. Mitchell who contributed 35 and 24 respectively, Qeddis gave a good opening innings and it looks as though he is going to enjoy a good eeason. .With |he dismissal of this partnersliip there was a fairly rUpid fall of wickets but Cyril Martin and the younger member of the McCarthy family gave a bright dipplay to consolidate the lead on the first innings, and pave the way for an outright win whieh appears to be on the horizon. rechnicaa in Scoring Mood. On Nelson Parlc^ Napier, the wicket arovided played true with the outfield Sxirly fast for so early in the season. is usual players were dilatory in taiang :he field, tho seniors being exactly 21 ninutes late in commencing. Cnmnctuality appears to bo part and mreel of the game in Napier and the ;ime that is wasted between the officiai ;imes of starting and iinishing ou« ifternoon 's play amounts to nearly one 10UT, Long before the afternoon tea adioumment there were inany, stitf baclcs 0 be noted in the Unitcd eleven ancl n eonsequence many ruus were proicnted to tho opposition. One notable

Oxception was the work of the ex-Higk School boy Proetor; he dismissed Burns with a fine catch on the square-leg boundary and late in the day took the ball to Oapture four wiokets at small cost. Reee opened the season's scoring with a four and then continued on for a score of 72 in the course of whieh he rau E, Evans out through poor judgment. The running between the wickets of most of the Technical batsmen was generaUy poor and Ted EUis was another victim to lack of understanding, The United attaek at times was very erratic with Armitage, Hawthorn and Younghusband tossing np bftUs that landed at the batting end almost on the seeond bounce. HQweverj it is not the good ball that always secures the wicket for Younghusband put up an atrocious ono that Burns should have despatched for six but instead landed it in Proetor's hands, At the time Burn3 was batting in good gtyle. In amassing 60 Ted EUis was a little more restrained than usual but A. Kaufer in collecting 37 shaped attractively, The Rugby representativo A. Bowman mado an- auepicious cntry into senior cricket by eoutributiiig a forceful 33 and Mr Extras, due to ihe previously meiitiopocl stiffi backs and poor sense of direotiou on tho part of the bowlers, addod a handy 2S to the totai. United, at the moment, do not appear eupable of occupying the batting crease all of next Saturday afternoon. The Junior Centnries. There rvero bright doiugs in the junior division in Hastings, particularly among the trundicrs^ soiuq oi' Avhoni registered remarkable avorages. Easily the best batting eil'ort was that oj* Whitehead who contribuled tho iirst century of tho season on behalf of tho Villagers, The niost eiHeient allrounder, however, was Carrington, of Mahora, who apart fj'om knocking up half a century with tho bat played havoc with Hastings to coilect 12 wickets in the two innings. Eugby, Havelock North and Whakatu are now leading with seven point3 apiece (each liaving secured an outright win and a win on the first innings), while Fruitworkers, Mahora and Hastings have four points each, Otane, High School A and Old Boys one each and School B none. The junior matches in Napier provided some tall scoring^ chief of whieh was the 335 on the part of Scinde, the newly-promoted eleven to the A division. Their opponents were Harbour Board, who, winning the toss obligingly put the opposition in to bat. Moss, the new Rugby representative half-bacl?, opened and sliowed his appreciation of the gesture by knocking 15 off the first over of the day. He carried on for a splendid ]1G and liis partner Dowriclc, the Pirate five-eighth, reaclied 93. Both are well up to senior standard. The most altractive batting in the junior grado was that of Fox. Higli School, who compiled 43 against United, _