With Bat and Ball

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 203, 16 November 1927, Page 11

With Bat and Ball

A Cricket Causerie

B. J. Kortlang. ex-Wellington and New Zealand representative, is playing for Manly, Sydney, this season. ♦ * * Liverpool has honoured the memory j of famous Australian cricketers by j naming streets after Spofforth, Murdoch and Bannerman. * * * While the New Zealanders have been I somewhat handicapped by the lack of j bowlers—W. E. Merritt being easily ! their star—their batting is in all j probability considerably stronger than any of our counties, says London “Sporting Life.” This has the appearance of being a cricket record: It happened in a minor match in England. F. Smith opened the batting for his team, and after playing through the innings, which yielded a total of 20 runs, he carried his bat out after one hour and 40 minutes at the wickets. His score was a ‘duck’’—not out. Veterans’ Day Out The Ponsonby-Parnell match on Saturday was a day out for the veterans playing. S. G. Smith, wlip has scored consistent “ducks” this season so far came to light with a typical 40 and the ex-New Zealand captain, N. C. Snedden, knocked up a fine 28 before being bowled when he appeared to be set for a tall score. Anthony who can always be relied upon to come to the rescue, captured six Ponsonby wickets for 70, and bore the brunt of the attack throughout the afternoon. * * * Two Fine Batsmen In Hendy and Kerr, Suburbs have two very useful batsmen who should score well this season. Kerr played a faultless 51 on Saturday, and succumbed to a ball two yards off his wicket by playing it on. He is also a brilliant man in the field and promises to become a second Mills with the bat. Hendy, who hit up a chanceless 71 not out, is a typical suburbanite, with a free and easy style and plenty of power behind his strokes. He took longer than usual to settle down on Saturday, but when he did get his eye in, the Y.M.C.A. men had to do some rare leather-chasing—his score included seven fours and two sixes. Weir Brothers v. Varsity Weir Brothers versus University was what the Eden-Students game developed into on Saturday as far as bowling was concerned anyway. Between them they collected eight wickets, while Butler captured the remaining two. Alison Weir, the older of the two, earned a place in the Eden team last season as a batsman, but now it appears that he means more to the champions as a bowler than a bat. G. L. Weir performs equally well with both bat and ball, and if he keeps on as he is going he can look with a good deal of confidence to a place in the Auckland rep. team at no far distant date. Dickinson Strikes Form George Dickinson, Otago’s fast bowler and lively batsman, was the only Carisbrook player to make a showing against Dunedin in the opening cricket match of the season there. It was a case of Dickinson v. Dunedin, as a matter of fact; for the young all-rounder hit Eastman and Co. around the field in merry style while making 43 out of 55 scored, while he was at the wickets, and then took three of the four Dunedin wickets which fell for 18 runs. It will mean a good deal for Otago, and perhaps for New Zealand, if “Dickie” can recover his best form. Shore’s Batting Team The highest inning’s score this season was put up by North Shore at Devonport on Saturday when five of the home team

knocked up over 50 and the total had reached 418 before the last wicket was broken. Right from the beginning to the end the Shore men hit out in a merry fashi o n, Colebourne with 91 being top scorer. Frater and

Player, who opened lor on ore, were mainly .responsible for breaking Grafton’s attack, and thus made the path easier for those who followed. If the men across the harbour continue in such a mood they will overshadow Eden as Auckland’s crack batting side. Making Up The Loss

The fact that the Government has granted £I,OOO towards the lcdss suffered on the recent cricket tour of England is much appreciated by all followers of the game in New Zealand. This, added to what will be secured from the Australian Board of Control as a result of the match in Sydney, the total takings of which amounted to £7BO 13s, and the gates secured for two matches in New Zealand, should go a long way towards reducing the expected deficit of something over £3,000. It is to be hoped that the New Zealand games will receive plenty of publicity, meaning big gates, which did not favour them either in England or Australia. Likely Auckland Rep.? On his performances so far this season it looks as though Williams, the popular captain of the newlypromoted United Suburbs team, will be a strong contestant for a place in Auckland's reps, to defend the Plunket Shield early next year. His bowling performances for the last three Saturdays are as follows: Eight wickets for 46, four for 35 and six for 38; a total of 18 wickets for 119 runs at an average of 6.6. Although it must be admitted that he was favoured with bowlers’ wickets for the lirst two weeks such was not the case last Saturday. He bowled as well on what was essentially a batsman’s wicket at King’s College as he did previously at Eden Park.

Ponsonby at a Disadvantage Parnell should score well against Ponsonby at the Park on Saturday, for the Ponies will be without the services of two of their best bowlers in N. C. Snedden and J. Langridge. Mr. Snedden leaves for the South this evening to represent the Management Committee of the Auckland Cricket Association at the meeting of the New Zealand Council at Christchurch, and the English professional leaves for the same city to play for the Rest against the recently-returned touring New Zealand eleven in a match commencing on Friday. Thus Ponsonby will have to be satisfied with Newdick and Smith, as they will have no other reliable bowler playing. Parnell has two wickets down for 32, but Anthony and Irving have still to come.

Benefit of the Doub* Chatting about English cricket with Ces Dacre and Dick 1 town tree, they both remarked on the manner in which the umpires invariably give the batsman the benefit p| the doubt. Most

of the umpires are old-time “professors,” and are paid a good fee for their ! onerous labours. A bowler who bowls i round the wicket never thinks of ask- j ing for an lbw. decision, as there is j always the element of doubt about J the ball pitching the eight-inch j strip and continuing so that it would j hit the sticks. Local umpires are j prone to raise their arms to a lusty appeal, and at the Shore on Saturday an affirmative decision was given for stumping in a case where the wicket keeper made no appeal. Batsmen Should Cross The practice in England is for the next man in to- be always ready to meet the outgoing batsman as he comes in, and the newcomer is taking centre about the same time as the last man out reaches the pavilion. Here the two minutes is often exceeded by the incoming man. * * * A Coming Man The ex-Southlander, Frank Goodsir, created a very favourable impression by his bowling for Parnell against Ponsonby on Saturday. Although he did not perhaps meet with the success he deserved, Goodsir bowled exceedingly well, sending down a medium-paced ball of consistent good length, and varying his bowling well. He was unlucky not to have got Langridge early in the pro’s innings, Goodsir beating the Sussex man with a beautiful ball, which swung across the leg stump and went away just past the off pin. That Extra Hour At last night’s meeting of the A.C.A., the chairman, Mr. E. E. Nalder, expressed the hope that the extra hour of piay under daylight saving will be given a fair trial, before being prematurely condemned. Already, in some quarters, the new schfeme has been severely castigated, although it is to be noted that the critics who have so enthusiastically rushed in to trounce the new scheme had not a word to say against it when it was first mooted. It is easy to be wise after the event, and Mr. Nalder’s appeal for a fair trial of the scheme is a reasonable one. It will be soon enough to say at Christmas whether the scheme is a failure or otherwise, and in any case there is bound to be some inconvenience at the start in adapting present conditions to the new order of things. * * • Late Starting What THE SUN has not hesitated to criticise, however, is the funereal batting and lackadaisical attitude of a number of players, which was in evidence and duly referred to in these columns before the extra hour of daylight was available. There i 3 no excuse for late staring and exceeding the intervals allowed during the course of play, and it would be a good thing if the umpires took action to see that the rules are more strictly enforced. * * m “All Black’’ and Rep. Cricketer? To few men comes the honour of representing their country in both football and cricket, but it seems as though the ex-“ All Black” footballer, C. N. Kingston, and Taranaki representative cricketer, will soon be able to count such as his dual distinction. Together with Foley he put up a fine ninth wicket stand for The Rest against New Zealand on Saturday, treating the spectators to a rare display of batting. He captains Taranaki, and led The Rest at Wellington. He is also a good keeper. Kingston is better known as a Rugby footballer, as he played fullback for New Zealand in 1921 in the Test matches against the Springboks. A motor-car accident laid him aside for some time, but now that he has recovered he is devoting all his time to cricket. Still the Greatest Batsman Since the war Hobbs has represented the Players against the Gentlemen in 23 matches, and has scored 2,279 runs and averaged 71.21 ruffs per innings. In the period mentioned he has missed only four matches the Amateurs. Included in his aggregate are 10 centuries. In 1919 he made a century in each fnatch. The “Cricketer” makes the following comment on Jack Hobbs’s record: “At Scarborough Hobbs obtained his 13th three-figure score in Gentlemen v. Players matches. His innings of 119. which was a faultless display, lasted three hours and a-half, and contained nine fours. Six of his large scores referred to have been made at Lord’s, five at Scarborough, and two at the Oval. In 1919 his record was a most noteworthy one, for he obtained 113 at Lord’s, 120 not out at 'the Oval, and 116 at Scarborough. His 119 was his seventh 100 of the season and the 146th of his career. He is still our greatest batsman.” Dacre’s Great Batting The Sydney “Referee” was impressed with Dacre’s second innings against New South Wales, and eulogises him as follows; — “Dacre’s batting was very fine. He showed great dash after becoming set, and treated Gregory, Andrews and McNamee with leant respect. He hit McNamee for 15 in one over—a six, a four, a three, and a two — reaching his 50 in 38 minutes. The four was a splendid drive over midoff, and the six a glorious straight hit. Then, facing Gregory next over, he forced the first ball to forward square leg to the fence —a most artistic shot—and then lifted the fast bowler straight to the boundary. Dacre is the most dashing batsman of the team, and his innings are always worth watching once he gets among the runs.” BRIGHT BATTING AT PAPATOETOE In its match with Shore A on Saturday, Papatoetoe gave the marine suburbs team an afternoon of leather hunting, on the Papatoetoe ground, compiling the home team’s record score of 329. Opening for the home team. Dr. Valentine( 45) and A. Swaffield (39) set a good example, which was accepted by the majority of those to follow on, as eight of the team registered double figures, three of these being in the fifties. J. Henderson made amends for his previous week’s display by registering top score with 56, 17 of which were knocked up in one over. G. Leighton ran him very close for the honours of the day with 55, not out, scoring freely all round the wicket, and still going strong when the last wicket fell. Strachan. a new arrival this season, gave a confident display for his half century, and appeared set for three figures till Foster decreed otherwise, bowling him with a beautiful length ball. Winks (32) gave a good display till sent back to the pavilion by Foster. E. H. Burnside (17) and E. Kerr (15) were the others to reach double figures. Extras added 20 to ; Papatoetoe’s score. At the call of time Shore A had lost two wickets for two runs.