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Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 971, 13 December 1882, Page 3

“Umpire” writes to the Hawera paper aa follows : In reading the Stjkr account of the Auckland-Patea match 1 noticed, with pleasure, that a few lines were devoted to that sterling cricketer Mr Samuel Taplin. In my opinion the Patea cricketers have never estimated Mr Taplin at Lis proper value ; for, instead of being picked as eleventh or emergency man in the team, he should be one of the first. The only way that I can account for the choice of the Patea match committee is : that Mr Taplin—unfortunately for himself —is on that committee, and it is his excessive modesty that stands in his way. He- will see such men as Read, Fulton, Jacomb, and Jacob chosen, while he quietly takes a back seat. If Mr Taplin was at all inclined to blow, or even see that he received fair play, his name would be put on the list before any of those mentioned. As a batsman Mr Taplin has few. equals and no superior on this coast, and,he is equally brilliant in the field, being as nimble as a kitten. That wonderful catch of his which disposed of the Auckland captain (of which special mention was made in the Star) was mere child’s play to him ; and catching a ball from the bat of a real live captain is not an ordinary, catch, Mr Taplin’s good cricket and ; quiet gentlemanly manner have won him many golden opinions in this district, and he alone deserves all the credit for the really friendly (I might almost say loving) feeling that exists between the Patea and Hawera Cricket Clubs. • ,