A DREARY STONEWALL

NZ Truth, Issue 1303, 4 December 1930, Page 15

A DREARY STONEWALL

Hutt Make A Score, but Take The Day To Do It SENIOR IN FORM WITH BALL 7" .'(From "N.Z. Truth 's ", Special Wellington Representative.) Wellington's senior cricket will have to brighten up considerably before it can be termed first grade. Apart from the efforts of a handful, the form shown by the majority of the players on Saturday was poor.

PLAYERS take themselves antl the game *•' top seriously, and m consequence cramp their, style. Brighter games were produced among the juniors than among the seniors. Tfie finest example of lifeless batting one could wish ito see was staged at the Hutt Recreation, where Hutt played Varsity. Hutt occupied the wicket the whole afternoon. They knocked up the highest score m the competition for,- the day, but that was no honor. Practically with-

put exception, the batsmen > played the ball with meticulous , care, nor did they evince, any desire to brighten the game or take the slightest risk. Their tally of 234 gives some idea of the rate at which runs were made. The game finished at 6.30. Biggar and Ross, both capable of good cricket, Avere content to . poke along, and only

the loose balls did they take any liber- j ties with. . For the time they were at the crease, they should have doubled their figures^ Ross especially. ■ ' Blggar. (32), gave the brighter display of the two, but he mis-tirhed an easy one from Aim which skittled his- stumps. Lees (46), Ross (43) and Birch (31) were the other top scorers, but it took ■the latter two the best part of the.afternoon to .compile their runs. Varsity's fielding was good, but there was • ample room fftr singles, which were missed by the Hutt batsmen. Varsity bowling is nothing, to write home about.. McLeod is good,, but he doesn't put himself on till the tail starts m. Why, he alone knows. Aim will do better when he strikes a better length. Harrison bowls an even, effortless ball, and generally manages to bag a few wickets. On Saturday, Leys took three wickets for 33 runs, /but there is nothing really deadly, about his bowling. Some of the, balls are short pitched and rise sharply. Leys, however, takes 'too much put of himself by his strenuous delivery. Old Boys, thanks to Browne, * and Bill, made a ' creditable showing against, the bowling of Petone on the latter's oval. Nothing outstanding could be expected m the high wind that was sweeping across the pitch, but for the 53 and 45 respectively of .'Brown and Bull, O : d Boys would have been m a sorry plight. .■'•All their star batsmen failed to get going thanks to Senior and Rotherham. Ronaldson compiled 19 before he was clean-bowled by Senior. Parsloe, another, good, batsman, went l.b.w. to Hope at 6; James (11), skied one from Senior which Rotherham. made no bones, about accepting, and Lamason was clean-bowl-ed by Rotherham at 17. .Browne' settled down to his stride

early and drove and cut for fours Indiscriminately. Partnered with Bull, the pair carried the score along at a great rate, but they both . became over confident In the end. Browne, fell to a straight one from Rotherham, and Bull snicked one from Senior to Rotherham. The rest of the side soon tailed oft!. ■ • Petone made a good start. Hamilton went at 18, but Roberts carried on till the call of time^and had 47 up. 1 With Smallwood, he should take the score well over the century the . second day. Saturday's wicket" suited Senior, who finished the day with the fine tally of five for 23. ' Kilbirnie and Midland provided another example of dull cricket, and on their home ground, Kilbirnie could not do better than 174. The highest scorer was Ward, with 37. He was run out, too. Baker and . JSTewman shared the bowlIng honors between them', Baker taking four' for 53 and Newman four for 69, , C. Bilby, of Institute, got amongst the Wellington batsmen and finished the day with a fine record — five for 27. Wellington made 131, young Morgan, with 47, being the top scorer. Henderson also collared four wickets for 28. Apart from a short stand made by Johnson, the Wellington side collapsed badly. " :