General Gossip.

NZ Truth, Issue 140, 22 February 1908, Page 3

General Gossip.

For many years ; the man m . the white coat was looked upon by players and public alikev.. as ..merely a necessary excrescence.-;-: Som&thing saijl; you had ; to. put'.uji' with; it' because the;,rules'said. sOi';a ; chap of" no importance whatever ; was it.-. Not so :' ; very ; long ago,\ too, :'it^was; customary', to toast ith-e. umpire when- speeding ..jthe parting guests. , ''TheVpys■tet't then m the , gam&. never,- failed to , try. and ; impress his auditors with the importance of the, imposition.; Now-a-days;','there.,; are" many who ;recognise th'lsV.aivd the farj-ireaching ; influence which wrong decisions— not necessarily the fruits ;of incompetencehave upon vthe. result of a.|. game, and the individual doings ;o£, players', ;l . The : "Bully, recently; > "printed a yellow/, scare, sketch headed -'The next 'Test match," showing- , a. pig-tailed Chow landing m the Commonwealth and hurling a bomb at young Horsetralia. . ' Birt -the Chinkee ,is shown to be landing from the south with one foot m the Leeuwin, : and not from the north. Geography is not studied .m the. red rag's office. > :Jlarry Trott was proposed; as captain.-: of 'the : Victorian .team -against but .declined the honor,' te..marking,:that, F.> Layer was - moire m touch with :the capacity of 'the; players. Modesty -.fit ] this particular nature is not so common " among cricketers.. ./And ; Trott. - too/ ; ; > was :■ about •the finest. captain Australia ;has produced.-;'.:. ;-.-. : ■::■■::>?■■■ ::u.n- : -^ '■-'-■' . ■ ■,;Ranji,. who is now \ the'boss ruler of :a> few .thousand ni-ggerain an insignificant Indian State.l was .received by King Ned. at Buckingham ' Palace. -and was ; "pawed, I .; m the most effusive manner. : ■..■■■■■ -■'■ -- . The V.C.A. has decided to present P. A. Warrant with a souvenir of his visit tOf Australia, and particularly m; recognition- ,of his aohievements against N.S.: .Wales. ;> . ■ I , The 'Imperial ; ;. cricket ■ scheme appears rfca be receiving v good push, forward m. Fogland. ••:■ SoUth-jAfrica has appointed Capt. ! Wynward ; as its representative.: The fact of the Capt. . being; .. assistant-secretary to ; the Maryleibone e.C... would -seem to. indicate that the M.C.0.-'has a ; very biir hand m this ' triangular cricket scheme pie. ; L. 0. S. Poidevan i^ to represent the Australian Board of Control at the Conference to be held m London to discuss Abe Bailey's pet project. - . > . "Better fielding," says. the "Sportsman,'', has not been seen m inter-State "contests .than that exhibited :by the two Waddys m the recent match with Victoria. ' Their saving on the brink, and clean pickinßup with right or left hand after hard runs was a treat, and m.et with due appreciation. . ' ■ A batsman when Riven out by the umpire m an uip-country match ang-rily-flung his bat through theiir and struck one of the; opposing team, who immediately proceeded to chaw Mm- up, and ; then; tfie -band pliyed on that ■ hitherto ,' peaceful oval.-' Some men ( display i a shocking lack of self-rcstr-aint when they cannot get all their own way. . ' ; In the' GloucestersMre v. Essex match' at Bristol,* on Auaust 6, 1906. F. G. Roberts and . Dennett bowled unchanged" through both innings, Den- . nett securing all the y/ickets m the first, and the pair dividing the wickets m the second inning's. 1 Their respective:raverages wer'cf"' ' Dennett 15 ■ for 88,i:R6b;erts 5 for ill. ;, .' It seems almost a miracle, for a batsman;. to carry his r bat . -jitrlit tKcougli;;an innings .without scqririf a single ►yjiin.. Yet this, unipue iricident hapDonpd at G-helten^am\ College -m .1878, the mat^./b.eiijisk'Christorne v. iffarth ;Common. v^iieX former scored : \%.; ; latter- |^M^7 . .In the second:^i,i)nihfis ot/ffifM Common, J. VgliHan ■V/eht ihjfir'st, nnd carried his s.bat/^i (^t%:t^r.ou^^7iot one of the ; 'eleven l^rt^sclrihj^rom tlie bat. '"' 'The i^ii 'qhv/t^^Viunrt is often a. was in'-!|iSJW^^^|!ml6;Tnrrant was f ihdul^i tjifl ?iin V^i^filfth'^r : <J&.-I'he .thi^d' ; day of^tlfe- lsfsf ; . Cf nt. a(ly''.<*g(J >"fo. a CHllifiVi- if'^^ltfe^lnwnrjis; of 'farrTanf?sf 'bfttfing-liacl "evidentiy • ino'ved * the interiector.

In the 33rd contest between N.S.W. and Victoria, Charlie Bannerman sot a warm time from the spectators ' {Melbournians) for bowling underarm grubbers'. On a perfect wicket N.S.W. amassed 403, and Victoria responded with 482, a lead of 70 runs. Not much difference, yet mark the result. Victoria won by one innings five runs: Extraordinary! The wicket had deteriorated towards the end of the Victorian. innings, and.Palmer and Bruce got rid of N.S.W. for 74 runs. 1 It's been a unique season for the game up to now.Vnot^a Saturday has the weather intejse(red with play, and may. it continue so until the final is played out. There should be, if Capt. Bdwin can be squared, a rattling crowd to witness the start between Midland and- "Old Boys. The 'fiffht. should be ikeen. and worth watching. I fancy I the Mids. should about ccwEte but on top. providing their_ best is available and well for the struggle. . ' It's a great pity we couldn't get our best team away to- do battle for the Plunket Shield. Taking everything into consideration, I fancy Auckland would have had a hard row to hoe to retain possession of the bauble. However, it was a wise move m not sending a halfrand-half -.j team. Next season I hope ( r see j that bit of furniture conic down '-.eve. Martin Luckie nearly .lost his ,cket unsatisfactorily last Saturda-- In makini.2: a stroke he^ lost his. bat, wliich scooted • up . thY pitch, and ''the' ball dropped close to the rwi'dket. Livck-ie walked out for? his club, : and a fieldsman: picked up the ball and was about to down the wicket, when Williams sang out "Don't do that," and the fieldsman didn't. That's the sort ofispiirit -to play the game m. Says an Auckland writer -. "Wellihg'ton has cancelled ' its' challenge for the Plunket Shield oh the; ground that several of' tlie rep-, eleven could not make the trip to Auckland. The match would 'have been an interesting one, and it is very, much to be , regretted that a special effort was not made by tlie Wellingtonians. .Apart from the playing .side the match would have been of erreat financial assistaince to the Auckland Association, which is m need of funds, for with fine weather it is probable that the 'sate' would have been m the neiai'hbophood of a couple of hundred pounds." , Members of "Truth" . staff knockout considerable enjoyment by overr healing casual remarks about this conscientious but aggressive newspaper. The astounding popularity of the journal was endorsed tin Saturday at the Basin, when cricket enthusiasts bought eagerly for the purpose of belittling or. appraising the knowledgeable criticism of the play L J ers to ,be. found m these columns. A "Truth" man sat m the midst of a hostile Camp, ; wMch furiously denounced "Scout's"", shattering remarks about a popular idol. "What does he know, anyway,?" demanded a wrathful clubmate. "Hittem's forgotten more .. tnain "Truth" 6yer learnt," added' a fellow barricker. "Some nice stuff m that damned par per," added another. "Yes, the fellows on the: pajier. must' be drawing a thousand a year" (this with sarcasm). "Look here, 'Patrick deserves a par all on his own'in "Truth" of all papers. The beastly insolence of the rag." "H'y'are 'TRUTH' ! ! ! " howled the small boy, arid the papers were immediately bought up m the vicinity of the indignant remarks. Just tben fat Tommy Taylor put one through the Caledonian window; of thereabouts, and frantic Pctone applause drowned all conversation. Playing for Carter ton against MastQrton on Saturday. Smart notched 135. ■■-.-.. . ' The fourth Test match "gate" realised .£lS|9B. , Warwick Armstrong completed his first century . m 1899 against South AustraVia. ' He has reached the covet-, ed three. -figures on twenty; occasions ■m rep. contests. . . Cricket teams and hysterical women beatr a curious resemblance. You can never tell when they are going to collapse. It is rumored that Vie. Trumper has resigned from -the Stock Exchange and is thinking of opening an optician's business. Last week as a start, he successfully made a pair of "specs." A Sydney "daily reports that much excitement was caused by. Gregory and Hill sneaking runs. Good gracious, where were the police? Torrance, the O-tago left-handed bowler, who played so «mucli havoc m the t<imber-yard bf . . the Wellington boys during the ©ak'Ly of their first knock at Christriias'-time, has finished up his, engagement at Oamaru, and his movements are now. uncertain. ■;■.-.-.■' The proposed scheme engineered by a few*, enthusiasts m Dunedin for engaging, a coaoh next season appears to have died a natural death. Bobby Peel holds the uniciue honor of having twice made a pair.. Hartigan, the Queensland ovicke.tei\ has been presented with a irold watch at the Brisbane Town Hall, m recognition of his record partnership with Hill m rthe third Test match. So that is watch the master, eh ? Good lad ! You did the trick ! And yot it's.roußh to thus te told Dear Roger, .you've "got tick." And with the watch that mow you notch, . . Let's trust yoiir future showing— Will he eabh "hand'-T-some scoring grajid, . . "..'.'' That both of you'll "keep going. 0