CRICKET CLUBS’ ANNUAL MEETINGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 148, 13 September 1927, Page 14

CRICKET CLUBS’ ANNUAL MEETINGS

EDEN’S GOOD YEAR The annual meeting of the Eden Cricket Club was held last evening, Mr. E. C. Beale presiding over an attendance of between 30 and 40 members. The annual report stated that iast season the club was represented in the Auckland Cricket Association’s competitions by four teams. The senior eleven, under the able leadership of H. D. Gillespie, won the championship. The senior B team was bracketed first with North Shore in the B championship. The fourth grade team, whose members were all under 17 years, finished third in its section.

The financial position of the club had improved. Trophies were persented to George Langton and Roy Gillespie for their outstanding performances in the fourth grade. G. Langton had an aggregate of 522 runs, with an average of 37.3, and R. Gillespie took 111 wickets at a cost of 5.2 runs apiece. The prospects for the coming season were very bright. Eight new members were elected. The following officers were elected: Patron, Hon. Geo. Fowlds; vicepatrons, Messrs. A. C. Caughey, N. T. Williams; president, Mr. O. Nicholson; vice-presidents, same as last year, with the addition of Mr. T. McNab; delegates to Auckland Cricket Association, Messrs. E. C. Beale, H. D. Gillespie, G. B. Cummings; management committee, Messrs. H. D. Gillespie, W. Cooper, N. H. E. Hockin, J. Blealdey, A. F. Weir, A. Barron, E. G. Jeffrey; hon. auditors, Messrs. W. B. Smith and A. Fostles ;hon. secretary, Mr. E. A. C. Auger; hon. treasurer, Mr. J. E. Mills. HARBOUR BOARD CLUB The annual meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board Cricket Club was presided over by Mr. D. Aitken, the president. • The annual report stated that the senior A team performed well in the Auckland Suburban Cricket Association’s competition, and the senior B team tied for first place in its section. The balance sheet showed a credit balance of .£6. The surplus of assets over liabilities was £37.

The following officers were elected: Patron, Mr. H. R. Mackenzie; vicepatron, Mr. M. IT. Wynyard; president, Mr. D. Aitken; vice-presidents, same as last year, with power to add; hon. secretary, Mr. W. J. R. Jaquiery; treasurer, Mr. H. E. Bennett; club captain, Mr. J. Munn; management committee, Messrs. L. Breese, L. Martin, G. McLeod, C. Wright, G. McConnell: delegates to association, Messrs. G McConnell, C. Hayes, W. Mann. Several new members were elected. NORTH SHORE CLUB A GOOD SEASON The North Shore Cricket Club will hold its annual meeting at Devonport on Thursday, September 15, in preparation for the approaching season. Last year, with two teams in the senior A, one in the senior B, one in second, two in third and two in fourth grades, the club made a better showing than it has done for some years. The Auckland player-coach, Mr. Bowley, was available for the club one day a week, and the special supervision he was able to give added to consistent practice, put the club in. the position of having annexed two out of five championships, while the senior A was -runner-up in its section, and the thirds and fourths might with a little more luck have been placed. Four Shore men, C. C. Dacre, Player, Frater and Scott, were included in the Auckland team, and Dacre captained it, with credit to himself and his club. Dacre was also included in the New Zealand team to tour England, and made its vice-captain. In the Auckland grade matches Shore senior “Colts” were joint winners of section B, alo r with Eden, and the second grade team shared honours with Y.M.C.A. The Vercoe Cup for the best bowling average, which goes to Mr. W. J. Coates, with an average of 16.35, commences an annual award. Mr. A. •Bray’s trophy for the first hat trick or first score of 150 runs went to Mr. F. Peoppels, a recent arrival from Australia: he put up the performance against Parnell. A- bat presented by Dr. Bennett, club president, for best marks at practice, was awarded to A. Long. In other directions the club made progress during last season. The joint efforts of the club a.nd the Domain Board had much improved the grounds, and more improvement is planned for this season. A liability of £l5O, a deficit from a campaign to improve the grounds, which was spoiled by the infantile paralysis epidemic and the embargo by the Health Department on attendances at public places, has been wiped out, and a piano and jazz board used in the campaign have been banded to the club. Messrs. Colebourne, Smith, Lipscombe and Walters are responsible for the satisfactory winding up of the business.

The club has the help of an energetic ladies’ committee, which controls the tea-rooms, and one of them, Mrs. L. Dacre, manages the Saturday collections with conspicuous success. The club has to regret the passing away of two of its strong supporters, Mr. Robert Clark, former secretary, and Mr. John Henderson, a vice-president.

Dr. 11. C. Bennett, president of the North Shore Cricket Club since 1916, has a long connection with the game on the North Shore, where cricket, as an organised game, was first undertaken in 1864-65, when the congregation of military, forces at North Head commenced. Captain Gladwyn Wynyard was first captain. With waning and waxing enthusiasm and periods of inactivity the club has survived. Its first outside: match was against the “Blackstones” (legal profession), on the Domain, Auckland. The Shore men pulled over to St. George’s Bay and tramped to the Domain. By the late eighties the club was at low ebb, but the arrival of Messrs. Rees, Bennett, and Russell saw a turn for the better. A pitch was secured on Cheltenham Flot, since built over, and water for wetting the pitch in dry weather had to be carried in buckets for 300 yards. In IS9I a start was made with the pitches on the Domain.

Garden rollers would hardly be suspected as a likely place for a little history or as objects of some rivalry for possession, but one that does duty on the Devonport cricket ground has something of a story. It is of stone, eased now in cement and was chopped out of “the solid” by someone unknown in the old stockade at Mount Eden (since converted into the grim looking structure that Mount Eden folk wish was somewhere else). It was used on the cricket pitch formed in the racks on Albert Hill, now a park. When the North Shore Club was formed its members were at a loss to get a roller, ('specially if it had to be paid for. So Messrs. Rees and Russell, both members of the “Devil’s Qwn,” conceived the idea of equipping Devonport Cricket Club with the roller that was at Albert Park. In a quiet way they went up and had a man haul the roller to the wharf, where, with difficulty it was loaded on the old paddle boat Devonport. The operation had to be conducted at high-water, so as to have the boat deck at sufficient height. Some nearby timber was “borrowed” to help in the task. Unshipping at Devonport proved more difficult but patience and the advice of a large number of spectators prevailed. Threats of legal proceedings and other dire results failed to get the roller returned, and for close on- 40 years it has functioned at Devonport.