Championship Final.

NZ Truth, Issue 141, 29 February 1908, Page 3

Championship Final.

Last Saturday saw the start of the final senior championship match, Midland v: Old Boys ' The Boys won v the. toss,' and ;from the bit of chat going on at the tide they would sooner that Midlands, had won it which would, as it proved, before the day was done, have- been disastrous 'for the Boys. '■" '" 345 for: 5 wickets is the /state ol the" ££.—;} when they start again, today. ■'"■/■ { Old Boys? test friends didn't expect this surprise packet to be opened on them, siiHi.. as its been, said before- many a time, "You, never know, till the numbers go up,"- and the numbers were going up all right. I've had to, say a few words about the crowd of onlookers this season When they could get their afternoon's amusement for nix andi although there was a sprat collected by way of admission to view the final, there wasn't any aavice offered free gratis and for -nothing, as is usual on most Saturday afternoon's^ which proves my argument that it only wants a ;bit of a stumbling block at the gate "and you get the enthusiast without the balmy hoodlum ; and the crowd 7K<3t -their tanner's worth -without a doubt. ' Seems strange, but the fact remiains that when tfco price of a long, or short, 'liquifier is charged for admittance to the Basin one sees, the best cricket, and tiicrcli no get away from this fact last Saturday. However, to go on, with the bloora-in-sc game. Beechey and Jacobs opened, for Old Boys against Upham arid Mitchell, and,they got right away from the jump. Jacobs is not r.ecjconed as any sort of a.big spud, but he got going well and strong until he got m front to Mitchell when he was 26, and the total 54, so , it can be seen he wasn't idle. 1 Kfen. Tucker came along, and his usual, luck stuck to: him,, as he (was missed nearly, and again when 27 had been smote by him;. . Rather funny seeing him put one up m the slips and both; Upham. and Mitchell getting a chance at it, but AcfTHcr of them worrying about it. What the deuce they were thinking about ? Well, perhaps Miss Price could tell us if we put the question to her some night at the Opera HouseHowever, Ken. played ducks and drakes with the bowling until Mitchell got a snorter on -to him when he had made an even 60. Lomax came along to assist Beechey, who had been all' this time playing the deuce with the bowlers, but tW 1? Lomax person struck a bit too much W:hen "Wighton sent him up one to Jiave a go at, missed it and made room, for Jimi Blacklock, the smdter. Blackie laid the wood on well 1 and strong, and there was considerable fast scoring going .on with strokes e»vc~ywhere and anywhere, but Hickson sent the smiting James up one that he didn't fairly get hold of, and up went the leather a hundred feet or so while Upham calmly walked along and,stood under it, but the wind shifted the- drop of the sphere a bit arid "Uppy" was as nearly • as damned dropping it through overreaching. Still a miss is as'good 1 as several yards, and the .Mddlander didn't drop it, but Blaclcdeird added a'solid and good 32 to the total. Monaghan meandered m and got to work fast, and Beechey looked like tiring but livened ..up ',< .again and

things were still goinig merrily, great applause for batsmen and then again for fieldsmen who did good work. Manson got a round for one of the smartest pieces of field work- of the day. A long fun after a hard drive fielding it cleanly and returning smartly deserved the applause. •Beechey's downfall happened along m the person of Quee, \yho was waiting deep out mid-on. It was a good catch and the burly "Billiam" bucked up to the occasion , atsa made no race* of Beechey. The hitter of. the day and season received an ovation which he should be proud of. The other games stopped, and from all found, the field he was congratulated m the shape of hand-claps by the players ; but the roar that went up from the players was enough to make him walk groggy. ' . It is to be hoped this sensational bit of hitting is not going to give him any sort of swelled head, because if, m the interim*, he feels anything like that coming on the best thing to do is to chuck the game and get the top-piece seen to. Anyway, if your listening Beechey take your bit of good luck. calmly, and play the game for what it is worth, as there's heaps of cheap "specs" possibly ahead of you, and you never know when, you've got to wear 'em. Well, "• to go on with the game. There's no t get away from it that Beechey's innings Was a real good one, mostly made up of vigorous drives along the "carpet," I was going to say, but it's a darned rummy looking carpet just now, and anything that went high . till his downfall came along went away sure _ and sound to where no one was within cooee. . . : v He dealt out. stouch to everything on the off, and the only thing that struck me was why Upham and Co. didn't give him a taste of leg- theory, with a few ' hefty blokes spread around on the on side, this might giave upset calculations a' good" bit earlier I'm thinking, ain't you thinking a bit now, iV'tfppy" ? What. has gone wrong with' JVfonaghan this season, anyway ?, Hasn't it, been stated as a fact. that he was our grsatest swerve bowlers ? What's wrong with N him as a swerve bat, anyway ? He hasn't been reckoned with much as. a bat, and I don't know exactly what his average is this season, but I guess it is a bit above his bewiing average. "Moony " is going well and - strong and starts again to-day with 38 up, and no doubt will try and make the pace m case the. rest- of the team hayeu't got any staying powers. Wills is his partner with 9 up, and peThaps some more to play, and with a bit of luck 400 should be topped for the innings. That old consistent- scorer "Extras" got 20 n£t out also. He's a good bloke that chap, Extras,' 1 ' pretty nearly every time ; but he might have been a bit more only Arnold Williams was keeping a pretty strong liand on him. There was a strong appeal for sturiiDing at one stage of the game, but Beechey survived it, although no one can convince Arnold he didn't fairly get Mm, but you want about three pairs of large size eyes to give him his just dues when he's fairly on the job. There was also a chance of a runout at one stage, when Patrick' .beautifully fielded a ball, but .returned it m a rotten manner, not giying I the wicketkeeper half a chance. Still, this is all m the game. The bowling was good to passable, but the wicket was of no assistance to the trundlers, and it is astonishing, notwithstanding everything being against the groundsman, that he was able to prepare perhaps the best wicket of of the season for batsmen. The fielding was ■ patchy to brilliant. No doubt a lot of stuff that wasn't stopped should have been but when you take into consideration the outfielding, the scouting might have .been heaps worse, and perhaps no other team would, or could, have done better. I noticed Manson get a belt under the chops that stopped and made him think for a while when going at the fast drive. The leather instead of coming at him true took him somewhere m the vicinity •of the collar, and Chas.. didn't seem to like it. A desperate attempt by Hicksan to throw a man_ out created a bit of 1 anuisement -and cost a couple of runs. The wicket wasn't far, from Claude, but the vim and swing he put into the chuck made one fancy the stumps were a couple of miles ,ofi— ho missed the spot he aimed at. Puts you m mlind of a female sort of throw, don't it. The light finished up 'badly, and was variable _ all the afternoon. It is to be hoped it will be more pleasant all round this afternoon, and as good a wicket as last week, then there 'Should be some work for the scorers again.