CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 70, 20 October 1906, Page 2

CRICKET.

(By Scout)] Wellington knights of the willow were favored with fairly decent weather lor the opening of the various championship competitions, and as no rain^had fallen for the past week or so, the pitches were m good order and the outfielding was fast. A gusty nor'-wester was somewhat unpleasant for the spectators who were m strong force at the Basin Reserve, and more so for the fielding sides. A surprise was the up-ending of Phoenix by Old Boys for a mediocre 70 on a batsman's wicket. The resuj'i was not altogether a triumph oE hall over bat, though Monaghan and Tucker trundled steadily, but was the outcome of superb ground fielding and accurate catching by 'the ex-collegians. In seasons past, Old Boys have • ruined their chances against the strongest combinations by indifferent stopPing, poor returning, and faulty catching. Saturday's display was a- revelation to their supporters, and if the same form is maintained throughout the season, there is. reason to believe that the ex-collegians will shake up the bis: guns very severely. At " any. ' rate, they are going the right . way to work .already. . :, Don Fisher brought off three lovely catches, -"two", of th?ri j being beauties. : - The Parliamentarian excelled himself ' m the field. . ... '..'.-' ..„.,.■ ' „"■;. There was nothing much to rave about m the Phoenix betting, '(job-.. croft (16) was going along nicely u - nrtil Monaghan knocked -his stumps out of,, plumb,, and, Brice (16): was. commencing ,to make matters merry-, foe" the •fieldsmen when.. Jacobs sent .him , fountainwards with a catch- off ..the'. colt. . ■ . . -/'. ,;.; , " ; "\... " '. iTi:; r ; ;' McLennan (11) was the only other double-figure contributor. The bowling figures of Tucker and Monaghan; rccul well at the finish of the Phoenicians', innings, which: realised 70. When play had ceased, Old Boya r::e.; m a comfortable position,* the margin m th?ir favor being 15 with six wickets m hand. Tucker had notched 67 out of the 35. compiled by his side. His was a blemishless innings m the way of chances, though a. confident appeal was made against him for l.b.w^ his tally at that stage being 41.. ■:"•;..,.::, ,{■...: . „ The' Old Boys' coach brought many of his characteristic scoring strokes into requisition. His "timing was" hardly as accurate as is his wont, and he was "sounder on the leg-side than on the off, which is a new departure for Tucker. Two of his col-leagues-Wills' and Birch, were sent to the right-about with the dreaded duck opposite' their names on the scoresheet, while Beechy and Monaghan gave no great trouble to either scorers or fieldsmen. The ground fielding of Phoenix wae very moderate on the whole. There were a few noticeable cases of laxity on the part of the fieldsnien m the matter of catches offered. On Saturday's showing, it woul'i appear that there are no stars amongst the new blood m the Newtown ranks. Judging from their efforts against Gasworks, players m rival combinations, will have I. many chances. of increasing their batting averages at the expense ofthesbuthenders. : , J . Newtown got first strike and notched the ' tidy score of 163 against somewhat weak bowling. Waters, who top-scored with 55, batted freely and finely and gave only one chance. His leg-hittjng and .off-driv-ing strokes were cleanly ana crisplyexecuted pnd were productive of many runs to his credit. The display of Humphries (34), who opened with Spraggon (17), was an admixture of steady defence and hard driving. His skipper hit lustily but evinces a disposition- tp "sky them" m the long-field. Rathe (2) and Smith (11) notched their runs mainly by sound, straight- 1 driving- Carolane (12) shaped fairly well. The Gasworkers fielded correctly. McDermid kept wickets, capitally and accounted for three men, two of whom were smartly stumped. Excellent catches made by Currie, Lingard, Ashbolt and Hawthorne, th» last-named netting Alpe handsomely.. McKay, Currie, and Hawthorne wer* the most successful performers m the trundling line. Gasworks started inauspiciously, McDermid foolishly running himself out for a blob, and Harris putting a similar figure opposite, his name by getting l.b.w. to Miller. Ashbolt and. Dredge put a healthier complexion oft the game and their association was responsible for over 80 runs, this serviceable partnership bemg broken up I when Spraggon gat one past ' Dredge,, i who amassed 39. < -'.shbolt was undefeated when' time" was called,' with 35 as his contribution to the runrgetting. Dredge and. Ashbolt are two of the most consist-' ent run-getters m the Empire Cit&' and. are to all intents and purpose* the mainstay of their side. As the pa& are sood fieldsmen, the eyes of tl W selectors will have to be kept Hielf way during the currency of, the cojk tests. -; Spraggon, who came on late at tite bowling crease, captured a couple of wickets with medium-pa*d balls, which kept low. Milleir sent down some good halls, but the trundling on both sides, to he correct, was not ot . a high order. When stumps were drawn the Gasworks tally was 95 foil four wickets.

The Newtown men will miss Freddy Alpe, who has kept wickets so soundly during the past five or six years. His sight is not so good as he could hope for and that explains the reason for his retirement from the arena. In the Midland v. Wellington match, the champions obtained first s-vrike and their tenure of the batting crease lasted nearly a ll the afternoon. Billy Qwe's troubles were quickly over, Hales upsetting his timber stack before a run had been scored. An invaluable stand was effected by •lick son and Williams, S2 being hoisted "before Spottiswoode's second ball proved fatal to the stonewaller, whose 75 minutes batting produced 21. Ciaude played steadily and confidently from the jump. Arnold Williams (64) struck form at once. He gave a free and punishing; exhibition, some of his strokes, particularly two on the leg side clean along the carpet for 5 and 6 respectively, being very sweetly executed. ' A good catch by LuCkie, oG Spottiswoode, sent him to the rightabout. Patrick, the Victorian junior, shaped somewhat streakily during his brief sojourn at the crease. He repeatedly mis-timed Spbttiswoode and failed to get on to the off-deliveries of the Wellington trundler. Barron (IS) olaye'l freely for his runs. Murphy (15) was jnyng along m correct style when runoiitr Sisson batted quietly for his dozen and Stephenson (16) laid , on tHiMvood merrily: until he-a ttempted a^-short run, with the invariable result: "'■-'■'"■ <.'■' : ; ; ■;■■■• '•■■• ' . " '■■'•' . .'The Wellington ground fielding 'was clean- and few chances were missed by the • fieldsmen r Richardson dropped an easy' catch off Williams' bat, the Mid-ladder-then having 41 to his account. Mahoney was m good form with the gloves. : ■■ Martin Luckie made a name for himself by bringing off three good catches. Spottiswoode and Hales divided the wickets, the Victorian coming out with the best average. His bowling, however, lacked correct pitch, pace and sting, and the wickets which fell to him were mostly the result of weak strokes on the part of the batsmen. In the short time left for play, Riclardson. and Norton kept their wickets intact, the board reading 32 when stumps were drawn for the day. Midland, put 170 ; , on the- score sheet. They, tell me that Warwick Armstrong will be off to settle down m New Zealand, whesre he. is likely . to set. -a , good bille fc, Fancy losing Warwick !— "Felix' ' m the "Australasian."—A similar statement is made m the Sydney papers. When the Melbourne Club cricket team were round these. parts last season, "Scout" mentioned, that the attractions of a Wellington young lady had smitten the lengthy Victorian aiid the wedding bells were likely to peal ere 1907 was far . advanced. Perhaps this fact explains why Warwick is likely to settle down, m New . Zealand. It has been announced, and on excellent authority, that F. R. Spofforth, 1 the "Demon" Australian bowler of other days, has definitely given up the game of whioh he was one of the chief ornaments. It is twentyci^ht, years since Spofforth first went hanie., with 'the Australians, and made a; name lot himself and Australian cricket"' by helping to dismiss a s-tjrong M.C.C. XI. for S3 j\nd 19 at Lord's. It was that performance which marked him as one of the great cricketers of his time, and it was not long before he showed that he could challenge comparison .with the very best of English bowlers. If the complete history ever comes to be written, it will be found that Spofforth occupied a most prominent place upon the cricket stage of the nineteenth century. He was born m 1853 and so has had an innings lasting 40 years. It is some consolation to the longsuffering pressmen to know that improvements m the way of accommodation, m the enclosure of the Basin Reserve . pavilion set aside for the socalled convenience of press representatives and scorers are at last within measurable distance. At this week's meeting of the ' Cricket Association the chairman was deputed to interview the City Council officials with a view to obtaining their consent to execute the necessary alterations at the expense of the Association. Seeing that the Council :is not asked to pay the piper, there should be no objection on its pan; to the work being carried out. The matter will first have to 'receive tl)« consideration of the Reserves Committee which will m turn report to the Council as a whole. "Scout" has ■ already spoken to several members of the -Reserves Committee on the subject and there seems, to be no evident disinclination on their part to meet the wishes of the Cricket Association m the direction indicated. ' The idea of having a telegraph result board on, the Kent-terrace side of the Basin to denote the progress of the senior match on No. 3 wicket is a good one and should have been given effect to long ago. Spectators at the pavilion end and m other parts of the ground were able to ascertain . what •was going on m the Old Boys v. Phoenix match without soliciting information on this head from any interested friend who happened along their way.