CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 74, 17 November 1906, Page 2

CRICKET.

(By Scout)i

Delightful.' weather.^^ was again m evidence -when the senior championship matches were resumed on Saturday, afternoon. There was a goodly throng of spectators, who appeared to take the liveliest -interest m tho afternoon's proceedings. The wickets were somewhat on the slo\v side from the effects of: the previous day's rainfall, but they played cpini)ara lively, easy. .. ' ..'....; .. ' "..;".

When play was suspended m the Phoenix-Midland game last week, the former had compiled 179 m its first strike, while Midland's 'tally was 69 for the loss of four wickets, Williams (29) and Upham 1 (4) being the not outs.

Ten runs had been added to the score when Upham was well caught by McLehnan, his contribution being 14. Barron. followed and 'put together 15 by good, steady batting. Williams, however, was the 'most prolific rungetter during, the; partnership , the number, opposite- his name on the slate when Barron had : his timber-stack upset by Hickey beingt 70.

None of the- remaining batsmen made anything like a' decent stand, and Williams was' yet seven shdrt of his cehitury '\yhen Stephenson (last Man) came r oii th'e scene". Hopes were entertained .by the , drowd that /' i^tfeplie'^- i wpuja"ke'grt o up. v "iiis end long enoii^h. I'q.: enab'[e:"Afliol<r ;tp reach tJie coveted . ceiitory^ but' f^te' 'decreed btherwisei '.'., as 4he '," pwcomer stepped out to Hi'ckgyl the ba11,.- and befpre he could .regain ..his crease AcJieson had whipped:, ofi the bails, the innings closing-: for 167, or 12 short of the; nutn)icr ; registered by Phoenix.

Williams, who .went m first wicket down andVwds unbeaten at the finish of the 'Midlanders' -first essay, gave an almost; 'thattceless and correct exposition; pi'battina;.' It Avas a charming 'display^. and iiinbtiired with many sweet and ' sound strokes. Arnold took absolutely; ho risks, but Was content to! 'deal out" deadly punishment to 'any thing off. : the wicket. His cutting, driving .and placing were all admirably • executed. .. Especially so were his ■ leg-strokes, two of which produced five apiece. • Includc-d m his individual; hits were four 4's and ten 3's ; ■ „- ..:. -„£.;■,-■■;; . ■.' „

Judging by his slashing form „this season, 'Williams shas^come right 4ack to that : form;: wjucti So pleased lovers ,pt.,^l i ?-.»?y mhl - l ?iv,^pastime m former years. Everybody who evinces an interest m, the , game is doubtless glad so see Arnold shaping with all his old skill, and it is to be honed that he iwill Wield the bat with the same execution when the English matches come up for decision. .

, When his : : score was 72, 'Williams gave a. chance to Laws m the slips, off/Bricev butn'the appeal for caught was ; ; disailowed by the umpire, m whose; opinion the ball had been Rath* ered off :the;?tu.rL •

vTheOPhoeiiicians m their second attempt started ; none too promisingly. To the: .-.disgust/of their supporters and that section of the crowd which wanted to :seß-;.'tlie, cover knocked off the ball, Redgrave, got l.b.w. to Urham, and Barton only notched nine when the Midland express-bowler 1. nocked his wickets out of plumb.

Twenty-two was the reading when Brice and Coberoft became associated. Brice laid the wood on to capital account, and he quickly knocked up 28 before tlpham sent him pavilionwards. Brice gave a Jessoped exhibition, his hitting being 'clean and powerful throughout.

Fred Laws was dismissed for a blob, ..Upham splendidly catching him of! his dwn bowling. Burton assisted m a serviceable stand and notched a dozen before Murphy accepted a catch off his bat. Vie. Waters again failed to the fieldsmen or scorers, Stephensqn getting one past him, while McLennan 's contribution was a modest 6.

Skipper . Gobcroft, who had made 58 m his first venture, was m rattling form, arid, when stumps were drawn he wSs still at the battins crease \yith-52 to his credit. It was an admirable ''innings, cleanness, crisjness, freenesV and soundness being the essentials m building up his runs. On present form Gobcroft is the soundest bat in' our local competitions. He sets a slashing example to his men, and, for v the matter of that, to opponent's. In his score were nine boundary strokes." ■ Upham trundled with characteristic grit-- and never had a respite during the Phoenicians' innings. Altogether he sent down 150 balls and captured five widkets at a cost of 43 runs-r-a, very creditable performance. Williams Was pretty slick behind the stumps and the ground fielding generally was cteah and sharp and the catching certain. '■■■'■• i Barton brought off a fine catch it square le*; when Billy Quee got hard on to a full toss from Hickey. Biily swears that he was ignorant of the whereabouts of the fieldsman at that particular' juncture. ; . The game was resumed on Mondajr and when operations .were susf pended Phoenix had carried its score along to 177 for the loss of another Wicket., Upham effected Cobcroft's dismissal by brilliantly catching the, Phoenix ; skipper off his own bowling. Coberoft,'. who was. loudly applauded on- coming ; ,oft the field, had 73 to his credit, compiled by sound and blemishless cricket.

Little assisted Cobcroft admirably, his tally being 32 at the call of time and unbeaten. While Cobcroft and Little were together the score was augmented by about 50 runs— a very useful stand at a critical part of the innings. . •

As matters now stand is 189 to the good, wdtb two wickets m hand, and the. game may be said to be distinctly m its favor. ! The- < Midlanders are handicapped' by having, to bat m the evenings;' .-•< : '<■>■: </

The Wellington-Newtown match tyas continued. on No. 3 wicket. The rain on: Friday softened 1 the. wicket very much, but, it was an ideal batsman's wicket. Neither Hales nor Luckie performed with the ball- anything like they -did ■> on • the previous' Saturday, and I am afraid it^will- be a sorry time: for Wellington should they find a ' similar wicket when they meet some of the otfier senior teams.

Newtown continued. its -first innings, which closed on the "'first day at 34 for 6 wickets ; the other five reversed this and made 43 on Saturday, totSllliig': 77>; •

Newtowii followed oh and only for absolute wild hitting 'should have put up. a; Big score,, as there was nothitig m the' bov/lirig to take wickets. A. Day was the only one to have a real go at the bowling and he totted up 36 with a life, Gore dropping an easy one from him.

Spraggon, who made, 36 out of. the 77 m the first; innings m gopd style, was out for 17 m the second venture when he was batting nicely. He had a go ' at a straight one' from Hales, hit all round it like a thirdclasser, and then walked, to 'the dres-sing-room. ■'■.-• ""'" \ •.'.'.'■'

Smith, Adams and Miller were the other double figure hitters,, with, lfi, 1,2 and 14 respectively,, the whole tosal being 130, leaving Wellington 25 to get to win, which was accomplish^ ed by Mahony and Weybourne, #ith 12 and 11 and byes 4. Smith and Miller bowled well and stuck, both batsmen up repeatedly; but it was only a matter of waiting ■ and the,necessary runs came. ,!•,.' Spraggon should have been run 1 out m the second innings through not ac-

- uaintincc himself with the boundaries. The ball was hit on to the track outside a boundary, and Spraggon considered this, was good enough for 3 without running. , Mabony,,. however, knew better, and removed a hail as ' Spraggon walked up the pitch. Mahony appealed and there was * nothing for the umpire to do but give the batsman out. However, Skipper Richardson did not care about taking advantage of an apparent misunderstanding and would not claim the appeal.

The question arises, supposing Newtown required only a few to win, would the same sportsmanlike action have been conceded ? It would he well for all players to make themselves acquainted with boundaries. If m doubt ask the umpires. It must be remarked that all teams arc not skippered by a Richardson.

There were two serious offenders m the Wellington team on Saturday, Gore and Luckie both dropping the simplest of catches. It is Luckie's first offence this season, and let us hope it' will be the last, as he is fielding far above himself so far, the energy he thirows into the game might easily be emulated hy some other members of the team.

There was no excuse to offer for Gore's offence. He can be truly brilliant -if he likes, and is a treat to watch him when he is fairly on the job.

Tommy Taylor bowled very well for no wickets, and was the only troublesome trundler on Wellington's side ; 9 runs -for 7 overs and 3 maidens, reads well, but the wickets are missing. Hales, 5 for 41 m 10 overs, and,Luckie,. 4 for 29 m; 9 overs, first innings, do not compare with 5 for 40 m 17 overs and no maidens, and 2 for 43 m 10 overs respectively, m the second innings.

There were only 5 maidens howled m the second innings hy five howlers m 42 overs, and this shows it was a batsma'n's day, but not taken full advantage of. Wellington won by 10 wickets, but it should have been by an innings. In the Gas Co. v. Old Boys' match the Old Boys resumed with one down for 149. Harris seemed to stick the batsmen up a good bit with his

breaks, and Hay, Blacklock and Monnchan were stumped m quick succession.

Tucker completed his ceaitury, the first of the season, but with 10 added was bowled by McKay.

The Gas Co. 's fielding might have been improved upon, Jacobs beins dropped three, times m two overs, off Harris' bowling.

Wills did some, fine hitting, one of his smites landing the ball" m Kentterrace. "Fisher also clouted vigorously m agricultural fashion.

McDermid was m fine form behind the sticks, stumping three men and catching one; and not letting a ball pass him all the afternoon.

The Gasworkers made a good start m their second innings, Hawthorne (41), Waugh (28) and Ashbolt (16) putting on 83 for 2 wickets, but the rest gave.a very feeble' display.

They were seemingly quite afraid', of Tucker, who had gone on a second time. Waugh gave a good, oatient display of batting:, and Hawthorne's innings was quite m his old style of two seasons ago. He exhibited nice clean hitting all round the wicket, his driving especially being meritorious.

Why the Gasworkers exercised so strong a control over their feelings as to tireat the Old Boys' bowling with such great respect is a mystery. There was absolutely nothing m the bowling to warrant such a course. The trundlers should have been pasted severely.

Ken Tucker achieved the honor of scoring the first century of the season m senior contests. The hearty hand-clapping when the coveted tjiree figures were opposite his name on the score-sheet proved that the. feat was highly popular with the spectators.

H. B. Lusk, the ex-Aucklander, is m great form this season m Christchurch. Following on his big score of a week or two ago, he registered 92 not out far West Christchurch against Riccarton on Saturday.

The New Zealander, R. Strange, played an important part m the victory obtained by Paddington against Glebe a few weeks ago. Apart from his admirable run-getting on the second day, he kept his wicket up and played with very good judgment on the first afternoon, when wickets were falling like "leaves m Vallambrosa." Strange puts the wood on hard without any great effort, which suggests that his timing is good, his wrists strong, and possibly that he wields a tolerably weighty bat.

The New South Wales party, which is making such a sorry exhibition of the Queensland cricketers, has youth and strength on its side. Noble, Trumper, Duff, Johnson, E. F.. Waddy, Hopkins and Diamond are unavailable for the trip. A. E. Relf, the Surrey professional, made his first appearance for Eden (Auckland) against Grafton on Friday week. Not having yet got into foirm after his long sea voyage, the English coach was not very successful with the ball, his one wicket costing 36 runs. He showed, however, both m batting, and bowling the abilities which he undoubtedly possesses. His batting contribution was confined to a single.

Speaking of the South Africans, Relf 'said to an Auckland interviewer that on its visit there last season the English team, of which he was a member, had found better cricketers than they had anticipated. He confirmed the opinion of Warner that the South Africans would fast cottie to the front m the cricket world, aithoueh their wickets, which are made of ant-heaps with matting over them, would prove a drawback. The past cricket season m England he described as one of the best and most interesting on record. Of Hayward and Hirst's feats he spoke m enthusiastic terms. Hirst he considered the finest all-round cricketer m the world.

The New Zealand Cricket Council has decided to pay its honorary secretary (Mr Tim Raphael) £100 for the services he is to render in' connection with the English team's tour.

Mr Raphael says he will only accept the sum if the association does riot lose by the tour.

Kelly, who takes Billy Redgrave's place as assistant-groundsman at the Basin Reserve, hails from Invercargill. He is not a cricketer like his predecessor, but has other qualifications which should make him invaluable to caretaker Twiss.

It would appear that the Athletic Park Company is trying to work the oracle m getting one or more of the English matches played on its ground. The correspondence from the N.Z. Cricket .Council, placed before the local Association on Monday night, has more m it than meets the eye. Has the Park Company been m communication with the Council on the subject, and if so what has it got to say m support of. a match or matches being playjed there ? There's going to be a hullabuloo m the sweet by-and-bye.

A little incident occurred on the first day of the Phoenix-Midland match which may result m the former team entering a protest. It appears that Bar r on, the Midland batsman, was unwell and his team fielded one of its juniors (Bruce) m his place. Nothing, however, was mentioned that Bruce was a substitute and the Phoenix skipper was under the impression that he was a member of the eleven. Last . Saturday Barron was on the ground and Cobcroft intimated to Uphain that he (Barron) would not be allowed to bat. Upham, however, decided to bat him under protest. The laws of the game on the subject are :— 37. A substitute shall be allowed to field or run between the wickets for any player, who may, during the match, be incapacitated through illness or injury, but for no other reason except with the consent of the opposite sMe. 38. In all cases where a substitute shall be allowed, the consent of the opposite side shall be obtained as to the person to act as substitute, and the nlace m the field which he shall take.

Strictly speaking! therefore, Phoenix is m the right, but then it should be pointed out that Upham's neglect to inform, it of Barron's illness was an omission only, and as Barron is an old member of the team it was not like ringing m an outsider. Moreover, there are no points m winning on technicalities.

A somewhat similar incident took place m the Old B.oys-G.as Co. fixture,'when the former deic.red to oat J. P. Blacklock on the pecond day. In this case, however, Blacklock had informed the opposite side on the first day that he was riot taking part m the match, and therefore the Gas men were within their rights m afterwards pbjectinc;.

Dr. W. G. Grace made 1096 runs and secured 65 wickets m the cricket season of 1906 just ended. Not a bad performance for a veteran of nearly 60.

Yorkshire County Club will have about £2000 on the right side of the ledger at the close of the financial year.

Bill Howell's bowling performance for Central Cumberland against Burwood recently was none for 124.- The Penrith bee farmer will have cause to look on this aM one erf his most striking records.

Here is something for Andy Wiren, Dan McKenzie and Phil Bevan to note. An umpires' association has been formed m Melbourne/and its members on duty are paid 7s ,Gtl per Saturday, first grade, Gs second grade, and 5s third grade. It is understood they are paid by the clubs, not by the Cricket Association.

P. R. Johnson, of the English Cricket team, accompanied by Mrs Johnson, are coming by the Suez route. The other members of the team are on board the Corinthic, due here on December 4.

A remarkable howling performance by a lady is recorded as having occurred at Melbourne on October 26. For Coldstream v. Hyde Park, at Kew, Miss May McDonnell secured 13 wickets for 4 runs— six for 3 m the first, and seven for 1 m the second innings. ' Rumor had it that Warwick WindridKe Armstrong was offered, and had accepted, a good engagement m New ■Zealand. But the fact of his playing m the Victorian Eleven against South Australia is evidence that he is not bound for New Zealand yet awhile.