THE CRICKET CRITIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 587, 13 February 1929, Page 13

THE CRICKET CRITIC

Not Important The Plunket Shield match between Canterbury 'and Otago at Dunedin on February 22 does not seem likely to arouse public interest to any great extent. As both teams are in such a bad position for shield honours as far as averages are concerned, the match has not much importance attached to it. Considering this, it seems that the selectors of both teams have an excellent opportunity of testing young players. Auckland tried out its youth on its important Southern tour —and with good effect. The Southern teams have been clinging to hardened players ofr seasons past and it would be to advantage if new talent were seen in action in the approaching clash. Varsity’s Recovery University did two excellent things when it piled on a score of 306 for the loss of nine wickets against Y.M.C.A. at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon. One of these wa.s a remarkable recovery when the odds were all against the Varsity men, and the other' was to show Y.M. the weakness in its fielding. No one contemplated a big score for the Varsity when seven of the best wickets had gone for only 102 runs, The innings was expected to end as tame as it had been for the beginning. Pearson, one of the opening batters, had played steadily for bis useful score of 37 and his was the seventh wicket to go. Then McDougall and Gee became associated and set themselves out to punish the bowling. They did not overlook the barest chance of scoring, and it was their abandon that carried the Varsity through so well. Gee went out when he had hit up 67 and McDougall, who was partnered with the colt, Lunn, was dismissed at 64. One of the pleasures of the innings was Lunn’s showing. He was unbeaten at 52 when stumps were drawn. Recently brought up from senior B grade, Lunn has had a few top grade games in which to test himself. Saturday saw his first genuine show of form. Some of his strokes were masterly.

Weak Fielding The Young Men’s fielding was more often simply shoddy than not. It was not an uncommon sight to see four men in the slips clutching blindly at a ball as it sailed by within reasonable reach. The outfield, too, lacked snap. Just because the English coach, Bowley, was absent, was no reason for costly errors in the field. A tighter watch on McDougall, Gee and Lunn would have paid the Young Men, who have a heavy task ahead of them next Saturday. Lyon, a young player with an energetic run-up to the wicket, bore the brunt of the bowling with success, and took three wickets. Elliott and Riddolls took two each in good style.

A Great Bowler Apart from Hammond, the English cricket selectors did the finest bit of work they ever did when they put J. C. White, the Somerset slow lefthand bowler, into the side. Up to the Adelaide match, the secret of the English bowling success lay in the fact that with W liite bowling hour after hour with his matchless length. Chapman was able to keep Larwood and Tate comparatively fresh. In the Adelaide match, however. White completely eclipsed the rest of the bowlers, taking five for 130 in the first innings, and eight for 126 in the second—a wonderful double for test cricket. White, who celebrates his 3Sth birthday on the 16th of this month, is captain of the Somerset county eleven.

Whitelaw in Form The ex-Grammar star. "Whitelaw. was the leading - light in Parnell’s batting against United Suburbs on the third wicket at Eden Park. He opened with Hay, and both set out to batter the bowling. They ran up 77 in steady fashion before Hay went out. after having notched 35. Whitelaw carried on with Duncan and knocked up a really good 79 before he was caught out. With only two wickets down for 148, Parnell’s position was recognisedly extremely strong, but the next few batsmen were baffled by clever bowling by Martin. Von Rotter, Kissling and Brighton all scored double-figure tallies, and, when the eighth wicket went, the score was 233. Aitken’s wicket went at 242, but Stehr and Singleton carried on briskly, so that when stumps were drawn they were unbeaten, with 45 and 15 to their credit respectively. Apart from the steady scoring, the game was not greatly interesting It was much duller than the other two senior games. Martin was a success for United Suburbs and secured a good 5-71 average. On a batsman’s wicket, this was a good display. Changes Needed? But for* the fact that English cricket is governed by immutable laws of tradition and personal prestige, A. P. F. Chapman might have to consider his position as captain for the fifth test, along with Hendren and Geary, none of whom has done enough lately to be able to regard his position in the team as secure for the fiF n test at Sydney next month—that is, if judged by merit alone. Although he has fielded brilliantly, and handled a team that really handles itself, quiet

well. Chapman has been a failure with the bat, and Hendren after a brilliant start at Brisbane has not done much since. Geary May Go Out The Knglish batting has developed a most pronounced ' tail" in the last two tests, and it was only the great bowling of White and the batting of Hammond which saved it at Adelaide. It looks as if Geary is due for a spell at Sydney, and Tyldesley or Leyland might well replace llendren with advantage. M. L. Page's inability to play will be a serious loss to Canterbury in its Plunket Shield match against Otago. He has been wonderfully consistent this season. having scored 191 for three innings, with a net average of 63.66 and a highest score of 76. Fourth on the shield batting averages. he is third in the bowling with four for

Suburban Notes

Harbour oßard’s Failing Off Harbour Booj*d is leading by two points in the Suburban Senior Competition, but the team has been playing so badly lately that it is doubtful if it will be able to keep this lead much longer. The side lias been defeated in both games of this series of matches, once by Victoria and once by Ponsonby, and both its batting and bowling seem to have collapsed completely since the beginning of the season. Glen Eden’s Plucky Fight The feature of the series of matches just completed—the second in the second round —was the magnificent opening score of Burton and Gedye for Ellerslie in the match against Glen Eden. Three hundred runs for no wickets is a record for the Suburban Association, and a record in any Auckland cricket for this season. When the side declared. after four wickets had fallen.

the score was 500. almost a hopeless mark to set for Glen Eden. .Nevertheless the Glen Eden team did extremely well, getting J3lO two innings. Breezy Breese L. Breese found something of his old. form lato on Saturday afternoon when he hit up 57 in quick time. The bowling did not worry him, and it was easily his best innings for some months. Another batsman who did well in the same match, although on the opposite side, was W. Eletcher. He made an interesting, though possibly rather slow. ST. taking nearly one and threequarter hours to do it. But it was a useful innings, apart from the score, because it held the side together and effectively prevented anything in the way of a rot. Coach in Form Bowling in great stylo, even better than usual, Cox, tlte Green Lane coach, took seven wickets for 39 runs on Saturday' against Victoria. Green Lane made only 173 in its first innings, and it was thought that Victoria would be able to pass this on the second day of the match. Cox, however, used the wicket, which was not too good, and tempted the batsmen to hit. As a re-

sult Victoria was all out for 123. Placing his shot neatly' past cover and gliding cleverly through line leg CWatts put up a splendid 106 not out lato on Saturday afternoon in Green Lane’s second innings. Clive Watts is one of the mainestays of the Green Lane batting side, and it is seldom lie fails to live up to his reputation as a batsman. Jackson’s Test Debut A. Jackson, brilliant Australian batsman, should have very pleasant recollections of the Adelaide cricket ground. Only a few weeks ago he scored 162 runs in an innings there for New South Wales against South Australia. That innings did it great deal to get him into the fourth test, in the first innings of which he went two runs better. Jackson’s first innings in the Adelaide test was a notable change from his usual procedure, though, for generally his big scores have been made in second innings. Jackson has had a good deal of representative cricket for his years—he is barely 21 yet—but it was held against him that he did not seem to benefit sufficiently by experience. However, he has come on fast since he toured New Zealand last season as a member of the Australian team led by* V. Y. Richardson. Jackson may fairly be claimed to be the most stylish batsman in Australia to-day.