General Gossip.

NZ Truth, Issue 135, 18 January 1908, Page 3

General Gossip.

The ' proprietors of Wolf e's -Schnapps continued their prizes for the second Test same. The batsmen who scored 50 runs m either innings secured a sovereign, and 6d for each additional run, and 'five sovereigns extra for the century. Tfye bowler securing the first five wickets gets £5, and each fieldsman 10s a catch. In the first game Cotter got £5, and Hill, Carter, Noble, Armstrong, Haslitt, Trumper and , McAlister also got small amounts. The 101 scored by Noble an the last game against Victoria is his fifteenth m Sheffield Shield matches. The indiscretions of Cricketer Braun£ would be a ripping name for a new blue-purply novel. How it would sell ? The flirtatious cricketer is indebted to the Australian dailies for a huge advertisement. At the recent test matches he is said to have won the martyr's crown, with a sickly, worbegone expression. He looked a tall, tame sort of a person, and blushed like a water-melon as the rude urchin called out, "Did he squeeze Kiddie's toes ? Fie for shame, you naughty boy,'' etc. And now that his team look at his ample feet and inquire if it was the toe he pressed, that developed neuralgia and had to be strapped so regularly . at Strong's surgery, he has gone off his feed. Still, there is balm m Gilead for Braund and his feet. Another lady also suffered similarly, dni had her foot strapped occasionally. Evidently the sore toe complaint is as prevalent as appendicitis m swift, smart society. At the first Test match m Sydney 52,000 paid for admission, while 30,---.000 were dead-heads as far as the. Cricket Association was concerned. In the near future the. Association will have to fight for a share of the money received as subscriptions fo^ members of the jzsdney Cricket Club. Dr. O'Brien, the manager of the last football team to the colonies, donned his flannels to assist St. Albans on Saturday week, but. Addis- J on, the Eastern colt, dismissed him ' first hall m each innings. Old timers can't help speculating upon the fate of J ones '.cricket team if opposed to bowlers of the TurnerFerris period. AKso unon that of the Australian howlers if they had to get Fry. Jackson, ami Co. out. Haslitt is not the \ omu'csl j l^yer wl»o has represented Australia m

a Test match. That honor rests with T. W. Garrett, who played against L'ilywhite's team m 1877, when he was only 18£ years of age. Haslitfc is 19 years. Harry Moorehouse, the ex-Welling-ton cricketer, and now a resident of' the Cathedral City, has good reason' to remember- January 2, 3, and 4 of this year, for against Wellington and West Christchurch lie was dismissed four times without scoring. With all his illustrious deeds for his State, they say that when it was recently proposed to make George Giffien am honorary life member a technical objection was successfully raised., based on a contention that the rules did not make provision for the election of honorary life members. V It is a ; pity that the English matches afe-inst the Commonweal-h States are so arranged as to almost certainly end m draws. This sort of match does cricket an immense amount of harm, as it makes the | spectators think that the players ore not trying too hard, and that the game has only been arranged for ex- 1 hibition purposes, to gather m the oof. The public are no fools, and if once they get this idea thoroughly I engrafted, the attendance at; such games will dwindle down to a mere nothing. Major Trevor, m his article, also condemns this. class of fixture. First . society dy at the , Melbourne test ma :— "We'll go to luncheon." Secern, society lady : — "Yes, darling, and we'll^have Braun, d-oncherno !" And she knowed ! In the match Queensland v. N.S.W., Rev. Waddy scored over a century before he was run out. The reverend willow-wielder simply smote the bowling of the Brisbane boys as if bearing m mind the way Joshua smote the Philistines m the dim past. And he prevailed against them —yea, verily to the extent of 10f>' runs, and the Bananalanders stood aghast as the recording angel manipulated the scoring board. Ranji, the Jam of Nawangar, and ex-English ball-belter, is said to be looking for a summer residence near Brighton Beach m the Old Dart. The Jam saw Totties surf-bathing down there, and some cynical scribe attributes this as the reason of selecting Jbhe spot. The black fish has always been notoriously fond of white bait, though. Old cricketers m Australia are especially interested m the announcement that the eldest daughter of W. C. Murdoch, the celebrated batsman of bygone years, was led to the altar by an English merchant's heir On November 14. The marriage of W. C. himself, m the early eighties, was quite romantic. It took place at Melbourne, despite the fact that the bride's father had just previously, m the newspapers, contradicted a statement to the effect that the marriage was to take place. G. J. Bonnor, the bp-auteous giant of those days, was best man. During his illness m Brisbane, A. O. Jones, the English captain, cast ofi 2st. of avoirdupois.. In a : recent grade match across the Tasman, Puncan Mid diem arch captured nine wickets for no runs m the first innings, and five (all that had fallen thus far) m the second innings for 14. His first two wickets m the second innings were taken without score, so that actually his first eleven wi.^is were taken without a run being obtained from him. , In 1903 Armstrong claimed £18 10s for loss of time, for inter-State matches during the season. He was allowed £12 10s. . In 1903-4 he was paid £15 for playing as a professional m three matches. No Victorian amateur lias ever claimed more than the maximum, fixed by the rules. The Victorian Cricket Association brought him up witih .a, rewind turn when he recently, applied for £4 for services employed and loss of time during the. game against South Aussralia, andjrefused to play against N.S.W. until the amount was paid. "Army" had to eat very humble pie m the end. Among the spectators at the Basin on Saturday was Mr Vincent, of the N.Z. Cricket Council, who has beenj spending his holiday vacation m this | Island. Mr Vincent, who returned home the same evening, is an enthusiast m matters appertaining to' the summer p-gstime, and his ability was freely recognised at the conference of sport governing bodies m this city some months ago. Would • there were more of his kidney m the Dominion, sport would be all the richer for having such gentlemanly, able, and broad-minded supporters associated with it. One couldn't help being struck with the strong smack of Poneke Rugby about Midland when it was fielding on Saturday. In the red-and-.white ranks were "Tabby" Wynyard. Bil\ie Quee, Charley Mitchell, and Wighton, while "Baby" Tilyard was acting the role of substitute. One of the umpires, too, J was Poneke's vice-president and long-time support, Andy Wireh. Visitors from other parts of the colony tell me that Aucklafid was mainly indebted to Relf for the trouncing of Otago, and I notice the "Herald" writer acknowledges this fact. Outsiders consider that Wellington, with its best team, should give the Northerners the "go", of their lives. Nothing slower has been seen on the Domain than the display of the Otago XL at the wickets, wails an Auckland scribe. The northern display of the visitors was a fool circumstance compared to the funeral proceedings on the Basin Reserve at Christmas time. Stephenson's services were not available for Midland against Newtown owing to illness. Arnold Williams was nearly an hour late m getting to the scene of hostilities, and until his arrival Claude Hickson directed operations. Petone, I hear, has snavelled P. Connolly, who has played for Central Cumberland— Bill Howell's Club. The new arrival, who is well spoken of as a slow, left-handed break bowler, and was one of C.C.'s stock trundlers, had the following figures to his credit last season : Battinc, 9 innings, 66 runs, 4 not outs, average 13.20; bowling, 28 wickets for 737 average 2(5.32. Vare, who made his debut m senior cricket on Saturday against Petone, has a lot of strokes, but has a tendency to pull a straight 'un. i The -nim of £195 was taken at the 1 gates during the AucHand-Otngo throe days' match. This means the wining off of the Association's indebtedness c-n the Fn-rUsh matches gunrant-po and all oxpenses up to date v/ill be cleared- i