Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 277, 21 October 1905, Page 19

Cricket.

THE deterrent of roost sports m Wellington was in evidence lavt Saturday, viz., wet weather, and the cricketers did not get that outing on the Basin Reserve that was, promised them. Am hour's pnaota.ce was obtained! on Monday, but the wicket „ was heavy. Up to the time of writing the Reserve has been a closed bowk as far as the cricketers were concerned, and the decision of the Championship Committee not to commence matches before Saturday week did not come as & surprise. Unless something happens, all senior matches will be played on the Basin Reserve this season,, the wioket at the Athletic Park not being considered good enough. ♦ * * There has been a lot written and! said lately about the Cricket As-socuation and their connection with the Bason Reserve. And all because that body, in their wisdom, came to the conclusion •that they could not grant practice wickets on the Reserve to Wednesday cricketers. I am quite prepared to admit, in the first place, that cricketers labour under a great disadvantage when they cannot get practice, and the Wednesday players had my entire sympathy when, the decision of the Cricket Association, was made known. But, the talk about the Association acting the part of the dog in the manger, and making a close corporation of the Basin Reserve, is mem claptrap. The Association have control only over a defined area of the Reserve, and I make bold to repeat an, assertaon I have made before, and that is that it would be better for the Basin Reserve,, both from a beauty as well as a utility point of view, if it was handled over holus bolus to the Cricket Association. The original deed under which the Basin Reserve was vested in, the city distinctly stated that it should be used for cricket and other recreative purposes. And it was usndier this diced that the Wellington Cricket. Association got their control of the area that is now kept in. order by them. The money expended by the Association in the up-keep of the Reserve year in and year out entitles them to some standing in the matter, and the control they exercise is only a fair one tinder the circumstances. We have been told' that the Wednesday cricketers contribute twenty-five per cent, of the money referaied to above. lam afraid the person that told this to the writer in the newspapei must have smiled when, he saw it in print. It, perhaps, will surprise some people to know that Saturday cricketers have to pay a shilling ground fee every time they play, besides a capitation fee of 3s 6d a year. If I put the season down as likely to consist of twelve playing Saturdays, it will be seen that each individual cricketer pays los 6d a season at least towards the expenses of the up-keep of the ground. The Wednesday cricketers pay the ground fee in common with others who use the Basin Reserve, but I have yet to learn that they pay the capitation fee. The above is intended to justify the Cricket Association's 'Control of the area under its government. If the City Council or the Reserves Committee of that body care to vest another portion of the Basin Reserve in the Wednesday Cricket Association, and let that body work it so that they can make good practice wickets, out of it, they will be treating them 'fairly, but I don't think the Council have any right to dictate to the Cricket Association what they shall do with the portion on which not a solitary penny of Corporation money has been spent since it was first formed into a cricket ground. The Cricket Association have not now sufficient grounds to satisfy the Saturday clubs, and could do with more. I shall hardly be believed, perhaps, when I say that to get sufficient practice some of th© players have to go to tibe Athletic Park. I am pleased to know, though, that the Cricket Association are endeavouring to meet the wishes of tihe Wedinesday players, and aire placing, a portion of the Reserve between Nos. 3 and 4

wickets at their disposal. I hope to see the matter amicably arranged, but I certainly think the Cricket Aiisacaation die-serve better at the hands of the people of Wellington than to have mud thrown at them eveay time somecxnie reckons he has a fancied grievance, or some would-be agitator uses the Basin Reserve as a peg to hang *a diatribe against tine cricketers on. I have no brief for the Cricket Association, but I certainly think that bcudv is not being treated' fairly in the present discussion. • # • An old friend writes as follows — "Every unbiassed person, will read your aptly conceived and well-described cricket notes with infinite relish, for without doubt there has been a lot of underhand! shuffling 'and manoeuvring to shunt Messrs. Ashbolt and Warren, lons and experienced officers of the Cricket Association. Cricket would long aigo have gone by the board m Wellington had it not been for the'o* eelf-sacrtncing and devoted attention to the game. "No efforts appear to have been made to form the much-needled and greatlvdesired Scoffers' Assoc-ation, which should be a valuable adjunct to the umpires' body, and the signals must not be lost sight of either." • • * The "Athletic News" • — "Howell — Bilowl — has not played in any test match. What did he come to England for?" I wonder when the district scheme sub-committee is going to be called' together? Will Mr. Worth stir up the powers that be? McLean, whom! I miscalled l McDermiott last week, is a G-asworker, and, practised with that team on Monday. I had heard he was libelly to play for Newtown. A son of Mr. W. L. Murdoch, the old-time Australian Eleven captain, is now attending a big English public school, and his average for the past season works out at 45.22. At one stage during the final test match, Armstrong delivered 138 balls — 23 overs — in two hours, for 19 runs. Only fourteen balls were scored from, and they produced one three, three twos, and ten singles. The Bulli wickets at the Athletic Park will not be ready for use for about six weeks. In the meantime, a grass wicket is being prepared on each side of the Bulli one. All the wickets on the Athletio Park will this year lie north and south. To show the strength of the bowling of the Yorkshire team in last season's English cricket, it is only necessary to mention that up to August 24th Haigh. Rhodes. Myers, Hirst, and Ringrose were m the first eleven names in the bowling averages. Third-class cricketers forced to play on the matting wickets at Miramair may find some small consolation in the fact that such crack batsmen as Fry, Jessop, Bosanquet, and others speak enthusiastically of a matting wicket. They all frequently practise on cocoanut matting. The Newtown Club have unearthed a player who played in the same team in South Australia as Clean Hill and Gehis. It was not known that he knew anything about cricket till somebody started running down Gehors, and l in his championship of tihat player he let the cat out of the bag. Let usi hope the find will prove a good one for Newtown. Nine hundred poundls ahpiece after paying all expenses! No wonder it is a bit of a job to get into an Australian Eleven when there are such handsome

pickings as these to be gathered m. What strikes me as strange about it, too, is that the Australians are still amateur cricketers, although they pocket about three times as much <as professional cricketers would for the t>ame tour. Tlie poet gets to work m re the winning ot the toss by the Hon>. F. S. Jackson in test matches : — Oh, isn't he a quaint old! bird? He spims the coin without a word ; As it flies up like a starling, "It's tads !" shouts Captain Darling. But it's ''heads" for England's "lucky bird." Darling has given expression to a sentiment which is worth .recording. In refusing an interview to a London journal, he said : "I cannot give you an interview, because I have undertaken to impart no information to the press. In any ca&e, Ido not approve of the system of cricketers writing for the newspapers, as it seems to me that they enter into a very unfair competition with the professional journalist." A new Gasworks player who misled a notice last week is Curry, who represented the West Coast against Warner's English cricket team. It will be remembered that he top^scored in the match played at Greymouth for the home team, and his defence was favouiably commented upon by "Plum" Warner. Photographs taken of Curry at the time, in the attitude of batting, made him out to be but little taller than the bat he was wielding when in position. He has the reputation of not being a very prolific scorer, but he is a terror to sihift. Some cricketers, after practising one evening, were talking in the pavilion about record performances. After a few wonderful records had been related, one of their mumiber, noted both as a bad bowler and batter, began: — "Well, chaps, Aw dorn'd suppoase as yo'll beleeve me, but Aw once sooored' a 'hundred runs and followed it up by tekkin' nine wickets; and Aw hey noa doubt, but how Aw shud hev 5 tekken the other J un • but " "But what?" queried his listeners, as the speaker hesitated. "But my alarum clock went off, and wakkened me up!" Then, he dodged out of the tent to escape a shower of bats and stumps.