Out Door Sports And Pastimes Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 132, 10 January 1903, Page 18

Out Door Sports And Pastimes

Cricket.

By Touchline.

THE Wellington Trades and Laboui Council have decided to piotest against the City Council granting anyone the right to charge for admission to the Basin Reserve. Mr. Barnes, who moved, the motion to the above effect at the Council's meeting, said "the Reserve was a public one, and. he objected to the public being charged for admission to its own property. The Cricket Association practically monopolised it five months out of the twelve, every week night and Saturday afternoons, and now we had to pay for admission on holidays." That is how Mr. Barnes is quoted in the "Democrat," the Trades and Labour Council's own paper, and the phraseology is his — not mine. Mr. Collins contended that no one could be legally charged for admission. As Mr. Collins is a member of the Conciliation Board, he ought to know the legal aspect of the question, but, all the same, I think his contention is wrong. Mr. Cooper, the secretary of the Trades Council, is a sport, and one who enjoysi the cricket matches on the Reserve. What does he say ? "It had to be remembered that the Cricket Association practically made the Basin Reserve. It was, in his opinion, quite proper they should be permitted to make a charge for admission occasionally. The Wellington Cricket Associa-

tion deserved the support of the public." The 'DemociatV lepoit of the discussion concludes — ' JNii . Barnes buefly replied, and the motion was put and carried by two votes. The Council decided to adjourn for thiee weeks." When I lead these two sentences together, I came to the conclusion that, after passing such a resolution, the only thing the Council could do was to adjourn for some time, and, from my viewpoint if such a motion is the sum total of their meeting together, the sooner they discontinue doing so altogether the better. • • • What is the position though, and who are the Trades Council ? Have they any right to attempt to guide public opinion p There are something like thirty trader unions in Wellington, and more than half of them are not affiliated to the Trades Council. Their weekly meetings are anything but a mutual improvement society, for, in my short day in Wellington, the Council has been reorganised a couple of times and even now is struggling to keep the unions that are affiliated to it from seceding. In tihei composition of the Trades Council, all the different phases of political life are in evidence, and the splitting of straws on semi-political questions' often end im acrimonious debate. The Trades Council is not a hapny family, and does not enjoy even, the confidence of the unions affiliated to it. — let alone that of the whole body of unionists in the city. The average attendance of delegates at its meetings is considerably under twenty, and when I mention that some unions send six delegates, and others four, it will be seen that the average attendance of unions is very small indeed. That much for the Council. Then, for its arguments. It may be news for the. Council — and especially for Mr. Collins I—to1 — to know that the City Council are given power in the "Public Domains Act to allow a charge to be made on twelve days- during the year to the Basin Reserve. That being so the charge for admission is a legal one.

Mr. Barnes, the orator that moved the motion, got right astray. He said the Cricket Association monopolised the Reserve. He surely could not have been on the Basin Reserve on Saturday afternoons during the progress of cricket matches. If he has, he wilfully closed his eyes, or he w ould have seen that the portion of the Basin Reserve controlled by the Cricket Association for its matches is a considerably long way removed from a monopoly. lam willing to prove the statement I make when I say that there are more people outside of the Cricket Association playing cncket on the Basin Reserve each Sa,turday than there are Cricket Association players. Mr. Barnes will doubt this, perhaps, but still these are facts he should acquaint himself with before seeking to lead public opinion on a subject he does not know much about. Further, how many people would have been on the Basin Reserve on Boxing Day if it were not for the cricket match then in progress. There are mairy people in Wellington who believe in get/ting as much as they can for nothing, and if they cannot get into the Basin Reserve by the way of Mr. Barnes's resolution, they will enjoy the match by stretching their necks over the paling fencei, and thus> save the shilling. And good enough for them, too, if they feel that w ay. I agree with Mr. Cooper that the Cricket Association deserve encouragement for the work they have done on the Basin Reserve, but I go further than he does, andi affirm that it will a good day for the city when the control of the whole playing area is handed over to the Association. It needs no intelligence for anyone to find out how much of the Reserve is in the hands of the Association — the patches devoid of grass on the Fountain side will make that clear to those who care to glance that way. One could go on, but I would like to remark that the deed of trust investing the Basin Reserve in the City Council expressly states that the Reserve shall be used for cricket and athletic st>orts, cricket being especially referred to — it

says nothing about it being a public park. The Basin Reserve is not on all fours with the Newtown Park, where the right to charge for admission cannot be made, and it is just here that Mr. Barnes and those that think with him on the Trades Council make the mistake. • ♦ * The interests of the Cricket Association, I take it, are fairly safe in the hands of the City Council, but, should the Trades Council approach the City Council by means* of deputation on the subject, the Cricket Association owht to send a counter deputation m its interests. There are orators on the Trades Council, and the plausible language — iii the interests of the people! — with which they will clothe their arguments, may have a little weight with the Council, and it therefore behoves the Cricket Association to be on the alert, and see that the small concession granted them of making a charge for admission on special occasions is not taken from them. • » • The following comments on the Wel-lington-Canterbury representative cricket match I clip from the Ohristohurch "Press" — The first day's -lay, taken all through, was not sensational. The pitch was easy for the batsmen, though just heavy enough to give the break bowlers pleuity of opportunities. Under the- circumstances, the 174 put up by Canterbury may be considered fairly satisfactory. The Canterbury batting was on the slow side, with the exception of the displays by Orchard and Strange. Orchard, who was top scorer, p^ot his runs by clean, hard, and well-timed hitting. At the same time, he played' a lot of good bowling with the best of defence. Sims played his characteristic and sound cricket. He met the bowling when at its best, and his valuable stand with Wigley for the first wioket smoothed the way considerably for the other batsmen. Strange's innings was almost a counterpart of Orchard's splendid and hard hitting, combined with good defence. Lawrence got his runs chiefly by good

stiokes, but did not appeal to be at home to the slow bow ling Ridley batted confidently and well until he had the bad luck to be bowled off his pads. Wigley was in a long time tor his 11, and seemed to be content to leaive the luii-gettmg to Sims. The Wellington bowlers performed consistently but Stephenson was head and shouldeis above the rest He \aiied his pace, and mixed his bowling with such eftect, that the batsmen were nevei ha.ppv with him. All his victims weie bowled, and fanly beaten and in most cases the batsmen heard the rattle of stumps behind him with astonishment- -the effect of a eood length baill with a, bis: break fiom the off Hales, Bnce, and Hickev all trundled steadih and though only a wicket each fell to then shaie, they weie not expensive Peifect cucket weather prevailed for the second day's pla\ Just before the luncheon adjournment, however, a sharp shower handicapped the bowlers somewhat but it cleared up before play was resumed after lunch, and remained fine ior the rest of the day. The pitch had dried somewhat since the first day, and was ieiall\ a, stockl batsmen's wicket, and consideiing this the batting throughout the da-^ may be classed as decidedly inferioi As an exhibition of bowling and fielding the pia\ was first-class, but the baitting almost throughout was slow, uninteresting, and poor. The continuation of Wellington's first innings provided nothing sensationaJ Williams and Richardson between them only added 13 to their overnight sco>re, and after then departure the brothers Hickson were the only ones to reach double figures. C. Hickson played a good solid innings foi his runs. He exhibited plenty of patiencei and sound defence, and, though he made his runs slowly, he made them b\ good strokes 111 all directions He was in for an hour and a kali His hi other batted m promising style making some beautiful straight dnves during his stay at the wicket. The Canterbury bowling consisted of Frarilush and How ell, with a few overs from Sims and Lawrence chucked in. The former pan trundled splendidly the whole time they were on. Howell got the better average, but he had more luck than Frankish. The latter's nguies — 30 overs for 30 runs, and three wickets shew how difficult he w as. If the Wellington batting was mediocre, Canterbury's second attempt was mediocrity itself The whole side was dismissed in an hour and a half, and, even admitting the bowling was good, this does not explain away such a collapse on a wicket thai gave the bowlers very little assistance. As befoie mentioned, Stephenson and Hales botli bowled splendidly. Hales had plenty of pace, his direction was good and, as he kept a good length, the batsmen were never happy with him Stephenson met with little success at first but varying his length and pace nicely, lie came out at the finish with the be*>t average When Wellington went in a second time, with only 120 luns to make, it was generally leckomed they had the game pietty safe, but still another wretched exhibition of batting saw sax of then best men out in an hour and tw enty minutes for 40 runs. Frankish bow led even better than he had done in the first innings and had the batsmen stuck up the whole time. He bowled 1.5 overs for 8 maidens, lb runs, and three wickets. Howell also was at his best, getting tin ee w lckets f or 24. The third day's play saw Wellington make a \en feeble attempt to reach Canterbui\'s total — the effort resulting in a handsome win for Canterbury by ()2 runs . » * I prophesied last week that the match v ould end the opposite to w hat it did — and I air. feehne sorry now I took on nnself the role of a prophet ♦ * * A coriesnondent under the norn de plume of O'Malley," writes — "While touting the Waunea (Nelson) with the New town team, at Christmas, I got out m a funny way I drove a ball hard back past the bowler (who was following up his delivery) and it hit the batsman at the other end. The ball went up m the air, and was caught. The umpire's decision in givinpr me out was the subiect of much argument pro and con and I promised to get a ruling when I cot back to Wellington. Was I out or not ?" Rule 22 of the Laws of Cricket reads . The striker is out if the ball, from a stroke of the bat or hand, but not the wiist he held before it touch the orouiid although it be hugged to the body of the catcher— caught .' The rule is plain enough— the umpire was coi rect in giving the batsman out • * * At the tune of writing (Monday) I behevo it is the intention of the Cricket

Association to lesume senior championship matches on Saturday . In view of the match against the English team next week, and considering the weak battinig displays of the Wellington representative eleven, in their matches against Nelson and Canteibuiy, m my opinion the more pieferable course would be for a practice game for the selection that will repiesent the citagamst the visitors. By practice game, I don't mean a match eleven against the next fifteen, or anything of that sort, but purely and simply an afternoon, a,t the nets, eacli player having a full fifteen minutes at the batting crease. It is hardly worth vrhile enlarging upon the subject at this stage, for no good can be done — the arrangements will all have been made befoie this appears in print but it seems to me that if our players are to make a decent fight against, the Englishmen they should have been give2i every opportunity of doing so. ♦ * * There is yet another Hill Solly" Hill, Clem's youngest brother, had the bad luck to be run out when he had scored 99 in an inter-college match m Adelaide recenth Another paragraph. Four of the Hill brothers (sons of John Hill, head of the well-known Adelaide coaching fiim)werc out cricketing on Saturday, December 13th. Clem in Sydney, made 28 H. Hill and F. Hill, playing for East Torlens Club, in Adelaide, made 56 and 23 (not out) respectively Stan Hill batting for Prince Alfred College, m the big match on the Oval, compiled -57 (not out) in fine style K. Burn and C. J. Eady are still among the foremost playeis in Tasmania. Noble is captaining the New South Wales team in its Sheffield Shield engagements. H. P. Kisshng, an ex-Aucklander, scored 84 (not out) in a match at Launceston a week or two ago. McGahey the English cncketer, has arrived in Sydney, and was expected to take part in a match on Boxing Day Canterbury have defeated both Wellington and Otago tins season, and wiH haive big claims to be considered the champion province of the colony. The names of the two piofessrtmals in the English team are G J Thompson and S. Hargreave. The colouis of the team are light and dark blue and gold Fred. Hack, the South Australian stoneav aller is said to be coming to New Zealand to live after South Australia's match w ith New South Wales in Sydney. Mr. F. C. Raphael, the secietarv of the New Zealand Cricket Council, w a.s 36 years of age on the 29th December "Bill" Howell, the New South Wales cricketer, was 33 the same day. J. R. Mackay, who made 37 and o7 for New South W T ales Thirteen against the Australian team, is 22 years old. Ho went to Sydney from Uralla, with 618 (not out) to his credit, and, since starting cricket, between five and six years ago, has made 27 centuries. Particulars of a remarkable drawn game come from Hobait, and is thus reported in the Sydney '"Referee" — On November 29 and December 6, the Derwent Club made 399 for tw o wickets against the Wellington Club, R. Hawson compiling: 230 (not out) and J. Hudson 123 (not out). The innings was closed, and at the finish of the second day, Wellington had made 271 without loss, K. E. Burn 127, and N Dodds 121, both not out.

London County Cricket Club averages — Dr. Grace, 21 innings, 100 Poadevin, 11 innings, 99 , Murdoch, 19 innings, 73. Of Murdoch, the London "Sportsman" says "On six occasions he has scored over a century and in all his career he has never played finer cricket than he has this year." Dan Reese is back in Chnstchuich fiom Melbourne. He expects to leave for England at the end of the present month, and is carrying with him letters of introduction to the leading authorities of the English cricket world. "Dan" is well known in Wellington, and many cricket enthusiasts here will wish him well in Ins sojourn in the Old Country. With the representative team in Chnstchuroh last week, things were dead in cricket circles in Wellington. The most interesting feature was "The Jebusite's" notes on third-class ( H cricket, including as it did many reminiscences of the days w hen "Goff " Warren, Harufv and Dasent were the Third-class Championship Committee. But, where was "The Hittite" when "The Jebusite" had to brine; in notes on the Enghsih team, senior representative team, etc., in the 1 third-class notes 9 Perhaps, he uah setting- ready his defence of the "moot point" referred to in said notes. F. H. Robertson, the "star" Taranaki batsman in the first match in the ironsand province against the English team, is the ex-Midlander of that name. "Robbie" was known in Wellington as a fair bat. and a bowler with an action that was doubtful every time. He was alsoi a good man m the outfield. His score of 52 included six fours, one three, and six twos 1 . Of his batting, the Ha-w-era "Star" says — "Robertson played good cricket, and hit hard and often, but his strokes were generally uppish. He infused such power into his batting that his boundary hits were in most cases safe over the fence."