CRICKET

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1931, Page 6

CRICKET

NEW ZEALAND TOUR. AGAINST LEICESTER. A SPORTING FINISH. (Special to Press Association). (Received this day at 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, May 12. Leicester followed on. Tile weather was fine and the attendance small. Shipman and Dawson made a good start. LEICESTER, May 12. A sporting declaration by Dawson provided a keen finish for the game between New Zealand and Leicestershire. The County declared at tea with (i wickets for 273. The New Zeaalnd batsmen were left an hour to score 116 for an outright victory. The wicket was showing signs of wear. Six batsmne lost wick ets in attempting to force the pace and stumps were drawn when the score stood at 7 for 90. Leicester were batting better than yesterday. Merritt was the only New Zealand bowler to be really troublesome. Coleman g&ve an excellent display of hard hitting. New Zealand fieldsmen dropped no catches, but their, ground fielding was erratic. Talbot and James opened New Zealand’s second innings. James went cheaply: Cromb hit hard during his short stay. Talbot, Lowry, Page and Kerr were dismissed in quick succession.. Merritt and Dempster made a useful partnership. After Merritt dismassal the New Zealand’s hope ol victory vanished. The sporting risks of tile batsmen were greatly appreciated by the spectators. NEW ZEALAND—First Innings. Dempster, 1.b.w., b Astill ... ... 92 Mills, b Snary 67 Blunt, 1.b.w., b Snary 44 Kerr, b Snary 24 Pago c Riley b Shipman 103 Weir l.b.w. b Shipman 19 I/owry c Dawson, b Geary 17 Merritt c Coleman b Geary ... 1

Talbot not out ... 35 •Extras 7.7 ... ... 32. Total for 8 wickets (declared), ... 434 Bowling.—Shipman 2 fo r 'ss, Coleman 0 for 60, 1 for 72, Snary 2 for 81, Armstrong 0 for 23. LEICESTER, First Innings. Dawson c Page b Weir 21 Shipman b Merritt 58 Berry c Cromb b Merritt 6 Armstrong c James b Cromb ... 6 Riley l.b.w. b Cromb ... ... ... 31 Bradshaw e Lowry b Cromb ... IS Astill-c Dempster- b—Weu_ —— 58 Geary l.b.w. b Merritt 3 Coleman c Mill b Cromb -■> Sidwell b Cromb 23 Snary not out 6 Extras ••• ••• 21 - -Total - Bowling.—Cromb 5 for 62, Merritt 3 for 91, Weir 2 for 70, Blunt 0 for, 8, Talbot 0 for 25. r , J LEICESTER SECOND INNINGS. Daw'son b;■ Talbot 35. Shipman, c Blunt b Merritt -....•• ol Berry st. James b .Merritt 30 Armstrong not out *'; 1 . Riley c Cromb b Merritt 12 Bradshaw l.b.w b Page 0 Coleman b Weir ■••• Astill not out Extras I 6 wickets (declared) for • ■ 273 Bowling—Cromb 0 tor 32, Weir 1 for 65. Merritt 3 for 98. Blunt 0 for 6, Talbot 1 for 27, Page 1 for 17, Lowry 0 for 9. ;i; NEW ZEALAND SECOND iINN INGS James c Coleman, b -Snary • 2Talbot b Snary 11

Cronib c Sidwell b Coleman ;dO Merritt, b .Snary ;U...• gf BI Lowry b Coleman V 6 Page l.b.w b Snary -•• P Kerr c Sidwell b Snary 0 Dempster not out Blunt not. out ~ Extras 7 wickets for Bowling—Coleman 2 for 27. Snary 5 for 39, Geary 0 tor 22. Tlie match was drawn. ESSEX CORRECTIONS LONDON, May 12. New Zealanders first innings score against Essex—Dempster 1) Nichols •212;; Talbot b Daer 21. Bowling— O’Connor 0 for 32, Hipkin 0 for 31. Amended Daer’s score, Essex second innings to howled Merritt 23. Amended St. James to read Smith stumped James, bowled Merritt 0. N.Z. TOUR, 1927. In the 1927 tour, outGof thirtyeight matches, twenty-six were ranked as first-class, of which seven were won, five -lost and fourteen drawn. Of the defeats, three—Essex, Cambridge and Middlesex—occurred at the very outset of the tour practically in the first fortnight, with North ants and Kent later on as victors. In these first-class matches Dempster compiled 1432 ? with an average of 44.6, Blunt 1540 '(44.0), Lowry 1277 (38.6), Mills 1251 (37.9), Page 1154 (34.9), Dacre 1070 (31.4), Allcett 646 (29.3), Merritt 538 (26.9), and James 411 (15.8). Of the bowlers, Page took 23 wickets at a cost of 21.6 ru«s a piece, Merritt 107 (23.6), AHcott 34 (24.7). Blunt 78 (24.9), and Lowry 15 (30.0). Ccntu+ies were scored by Dempster

(3), Mills (3), Blunt (2), Dacre (2), Page (2), and AHcott (1). the highest being Dempster’s 180 against V arwickslrire. The best howling performance of the four was Merritt’s ten tor 130 against Derbyshire. It will thus he seen that Dempster (2.12) and Merritt (twelve for 130) have, in the fi r *t match of this tour, beaten their own records of 1927. A hopeful sig»! The efforts of the Australians last season against the teams that Xeu Zealand meet on this tour are interesting. Against Essex, Australia scored 156 and 264 tor six, while p.sst x replied with 67 and 146. At Leicester the home side totalled 148, to which Australia replied with 365 for five wickets.