CRICKET.

Putaruru Press, 19 January 1928, Page 8

CRICKET.

REPRESENTATIVE MATCH. Putaruru v. Hamilton. The above game was played at Putaruru, and ended in a narrow win for the home side by 16 runs. The visitors brought a powerful combination, practically ail of whom were senior players, several being members of the side which played Canterbury last week. The new concrete pitch played very truly and some excellent batting was witnessed by the big crowd present. Blair, of Arapuni, who led the side, was in excellent form, scoring 60 and 93, the ex-Eden player showing good form all round the wicket, while Cunningham, Renner and Waea also did well. For Hamilton, Badeley, Allen, Going and Dufty were outstanding. Details of the score are as follo'W: PUTARURU.—First Innings. Cunningham, c Tuck, b Allen . . 22 Martin, b Tuck . 11 Waea, b Going 28 Gray, c Allen, b R. Johnstone.. 2 Renner, c Wallace, b Allen 34 Jones, c Tuck, b Dufty 18 Campbell, st. Street, b Badeley. . 1 Blair, c Going, b M. Johnstone.. 60 Crowley, b M. Johnstone 1 Brown, b M. Johnstone 4 Patterson, not out 4 Extras 13 Total 198 Bowling.—Badeley 1 for 36, Tuck 1 for 26, Allen 2 for 21, R. Johnstone 1 for 27, Going 1 for 20, Dufty 1 for 10, Mitchell 0 for 9, Western 0 for 24, M. Johnstone 3 for 14. Second Innings. Crowley, c Johnstone, b Alien. . 6 Gray, c Badeley, b Johnstone . . 7 Waea, c Dufty, b Badeley 19 Blair, c Johnstone, b Mitchell.. 93 Renner, b Western 44 Cunningham, c Tuck, b Mitchell 2 Jones, b Going 2 Martin, c and b Johnstone 2 Campbell, c and b Johnstone ... 1 Patterson, c Going, b Mitchell . . 4 Brown, not out 0 Extras 9 Total 189 Bowling.—Allen 1 for 23, I. Johns'tone 3 for 11, Badeley 1 for 30, Tuck 0 for S, Dufty 0 fo- 18, R. Johnstone 0 for 9, Street 0 for 14, Wallace 0 for 9, Western - for 22, Mitchell 3 for 23, Going 1 for 14. HAMILTON. Badeley, c Blair, b Renner 58 T. Johnstone, 1.b.w., b Jones . . 6 Street, c Crowley, b Renner .... 17 Allen, c and b Renner 23 Going, c Crowley, b Renner .... 37 Western, c Patterson, b Biair . . 0 Tuck, b Renner 0 Dufty, .lot out 29 R. Johnstone, b Renner 0 Mitchell, b Blair 3 Wallace, b Renner o Extras 9 Total 182 Bowling.—Renner 7 for 71, Jones 1 for 43, Blair 2 for 34, Patterson 0 for 29.

W. H, PONSFORD. The Wonder Batsman. Yes, I think New Zealand is in for a treat, for I have never' seen “ Pon-n-y.” bat better than he is doing just now, writes W.L.P., in the Christchurch Press. In bis mammoth per- | formance against Queensland he scores} his 437 in 627 minutes, and | the rate would have leen much fast- | er had not the howlers, in despera- ] tion, turned to the leg theory for a | long period to prevent his scoring, j His 336 against South Australia was scored at the rate of a little over 50 runs an and 't must, be remembered that he was a very tired man at various times each oey. He has, of course, been seen in New Zealand before, but he is better than ever now. I remember that when I first saw him—it was in 1924 in Sydney, when he scored 110 in e >.-5, innings— I was far from impressed. He was by no means attractive, though he got the runs. He had a bad habit, which he has quite corrected, of pulling aside from the wicket, which gave him only half the bat instead of the full face, and he v/ss very weak on the leg side. Now a large proportion of his runs are scored on the on. In fact, he scores them right round the clock. He is still far from elegant in his posture—the rather

ugly crouch at the wicket prevents that —but there is no doubt about him when he executes Jus stroke. His timing and placing are extraordinary. Pie seems to leal with every ball exactly as it should be treated, while his defence is v.ell-i.igh impregnable. He doesn’t go in for swiping—in fact, t.e iias never hit a six on the Melbourne ground—but he hits them hard just the same, and anything loose goes like a flash along the sward to the pickets. The way that he can peg along day after day speaks volumes for his stamina and physical fitness, for there are not too many who can bat through a couple of afternoons and still score at the rate of 50 an hour. He is a rungetting machine—no other description seems to fit him.

Though he has proved himself the greatest run-getter of all time, it is had to say whether he can be called the greatest 1 e.tsman i t a:! time. For instance, he h.r yet to prove himself on a sticky wicket, and i:i adverse conditions. Till he dv.es that one can hardly compare him with Grace, while he is not .the stylist of a Trumper or a Ranjitsinhji, but he gets the runs, and gets them well, and you can’t argue against success. He is certainly ent’tle-l to be classed with the best the world has known, even, if, as yet, he can’t be placed above one or two of them. He has many years of cricket before him, and is always anxious to improve and ready to take a hint, so that he may yet be found to be the greatest of them all.

A Modest Marvel. With all his success, Ponsford remains quiet and unassuming, even shy, without the faintest sign of “ swelled head.” He is complete master of himself, on the field and off, and is the type of man who brings honour to Australia, as well as to Australian cricket. When the game is on, his >ne thought is for his side, and not for himelf, and he plays the game from the call of play to the drawing of stumps. In his spare time he shows schoolboys how the game should be played, and in eyery way he tries to encourage the young player and instil into him the points of the game. It was a good day when the Melbourne Herald ensured that this young batting phenomenon should not be lose to Australian cricket, for England, apparently, very nearly got him. The Herald offered him an attractive salary and an assurance that he would be allowed time off whenever and wherever cricket called him, .-.nd so the bank clerk turned to journalism, and his articles on cricket are a feature of the paper. And those articles, though they say many flattering and helpful things about other players, particularly the colt, never contain any reference to the amazing feats of W. H. Ponsford. May he long continue to grace the Australian fields on which he has performed such prodigious feats. Still Records to Break.

He still has a few records to break, but he has a lot of cricket before him, and, no doubt, will demolish some of them. Here are a few:—Six hundreds in succession in first-class matches, held by C. B. Fry with 106, 209, 149, 105, 140 and 150 in 1901. Four hundreds in succession in Sheffield Shield matches, performed by M. A. Noble in 1898-9 and 1899-1900. The highest score in Test matches, held by R. E. Foster, who made 257 for England against Australia at Sydney in 1903; the highest score in any match, held by' A. E. J. Collins, who made 652 not out in a house match at Clifton College in 1899; the highest score ever made by W. W. Armstrong, who scored 438 Dr Melbourne against Melbourne University in 1904 (Ponsford got within •i run of that against Queensland the other day, and, if he had remembered, would probably have exceeded it); a century in each innings in a Test match, achieved by Warren liavdsley (Australia), 136 and 130, at the Oval in 1809, and Herbert ,Sutcliffe (England) 1:6 and 127 at Melbourne in 1925 ; the highest score ever trade by an Australian in England. 1 eld by c. G. Macartney, 345, against Notts in 1921; and the highest score ever made by an Australian in a Test against an English team in Australia, held by S. E. Gregory (N.S.W.), 201, at Sydney in 1895, and J. Ryder (Victoria), 201 not out at Adelaide in 1924. Another feat which he has not achieved, and which, no doubt, he hopes that he never will, is to make a pair of spectacles in a first-class match.