Suburban Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 541, 19 December 1928, Page 15

Suburban Notes

Senior A cricketers in the Suburban Association ended their play for 1928 at the Domain on Saturday afternoon with some semblance of a flourish. They will have a spell from active competition until January 5, although lower grade games will be in progress during this period.

Two representative suburban teams will bo in action over Christmas. An A team will go down to Christchurch on Saturday next to take part in the Walker Shield tournament, and a second team will play Wellington Colts at the Domain on December 28 and 29.

Out of fairly interesting competition during the first half of the season two teams have proved themselves to be the most likely to carry off the honour?. Ponsonby leads at present, but Harbour Board, more particularly from tlie point of view of batting, has to be reckoned as a serious contender. Ponsonby is certainly not going to have everything its own way, although it won distinction earlier in the season by phenomenally good batting against Harbour Board.

So 1928 closes with Ponsonby possessing a slight advantage. What it will be able to do after the holidays in the way of countering the inevitable challenge from Harbour Board remains to be seen.

Saturday’s play was good. Ponsonby’s bowlers, on a fairly dead wicket. managed to dismiss Victoria more or less cheaply in a follow-on, and the Ponies emerged victors by an innings and 32 runs. Victoria’s total for two innings was only 135, but the team is likely to surprise in later games. Cooper bowled magnificently for Ponsonby. He was certainly aided by a wicket which was not a batsman’s for most of the afternoon, but, even so, his 7-17 average is outstanding. He improved on the great performance of his club-mate, Barnes, on the previous Saturday. R. Turner was the only Victorian bats- * man to impress to any extent, and he scored only 18. Len Martin thoroughly baffled Glen Eden in its first innings with his clever bowling. His average was 3-26. In Glen Eden’s second innings, when it was forced to follow on in an effort to counter Harbour Board, he did n ot take a wicket, mainly because the ground had dried rapidly. Gunning returned the best average for the Board, 3-9, in this innings, and Glen Eden was defeated by over an innings. The result was expected. Harbour Board’s general play was much more clean-cut than tiie opposition.

Up to the last hour, the EllerslieGreen Lane affair interested considerablj*. Cireen Lane had scored 357 in two innings, and Ellerslie, with 133 up on its first effort, had 334 to get to win. It could have done it, too. Up to the last hour of play, the Eller - .she batting was surprisingly fast. Then Hollis went out at 63 and Arn Gedye was left to carry on. He did so casually and ended up the day with S 3 not out to his credit. Ellerslie was only 46 behind at the finish, and had only two wickets down for the good score of ISB. All the best scores

were in this game. Apart from the batting of Hollis and Gedye, Clive "Watts rattled up a brilliant 108 for Green Lane. lie gave his side victory. SATURDAY’S FIXTURES Suburban cricket fixtures for next j Saturday are as follow: Second Grade.—Richmond Rovers v. Takanini, Domain No. 1; F. J. Fawcett, Limited, v. Green Lane, Domain No. 2; Invicta v. New Lynn, Domain No. 3; City Council v. Otaliuhu, Domain No. 11 (friendly match). Third Grade A—Maungakiekie v. Ellerslie. Domain No. 6; Otaliuhu v. Kingslar.d, Domain No. 7: Richmond v. Eden-* dale A, Outer Domain No. 3; Gas Garage v. Avondale, Victoria Park. Third Grade B—-‘Herald” v. Richmond, Victoria Park; Royal Oak v. Auckland Meat Company, Domain No. 15; Manurewa v. Glen Eden, Domain No. 6 A. Third Grade C—Avondale v. Edendale T 3, Victoria Park; Ambury’s v. N.R. Ambulance, Victoria Park; Oratia v. L. D. Nathan’s, Victoria Park. Fifth Grade —Comrades v. Ellerslie, Do- j main (Saturday morning); Belmont v. ; Richmond. Domain (Saturday morning). J