THE CRICKET CRITIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 895, 12 February 1930, Page 15

THE CRICKET CRITIC

Highest Hopes Fulfilled The long awaited appearance of the j Marylebone Cricket Club team at ' Eden Park lias fulfilled to the highest ■ degree the pleasant expectations which have been cherished by cricket lovers j for months past. The two past- ! masters of the batting art have been j seen in action by those at least who were able to see Monday morning’s j play. And more than that, from the j cricket association viewpoint, the weather has remained fine. £3OO Profit on Match The treasurer of the Auckland j Cricket Association, Mr. J. H. Watts, j in reporting to the management com- i mittee last evening, stated that the 1 total gate receipts for the match were : £1,041, and that there would be a profit of from £3OO to £320. This is tho largest gate which has even been i taken at a cricket match at Auck- \ land, larger even than the Australian; test three years ago, and second only i to the takings at Wellington during the second test of the present series, which for the time being is the Dominion record. Three-Day Fallacy The result of the match, which made yesterday afternoon’s play very tame indeed, is just another example of the hopelessness of the authorities in thinking that three days is enough for such a match. Of course, there are outstanding exceptions, as with the first test in Christchurch, out gen- , orally it is futile to expect a visiting team’s match against the major association teams of the Dominion to be completed in less than four days, or parts thereof. Brightening Up Play This severe limit in play is said to bo one effort to brighten up the game, but such is seldom the case in effect. In fact, it was the knowledge that somthing phenomenal would have to happen before a definite result was possible that explained the dreary nature of much of yesterday’s play. The odds were" on the match being drawn from the beginning, and this become a certainty when Gilligan persevered with his slow bowlers before the tea adjournment instead of bringing on the fast men at a time when they might have cleaned up the Auckland tail and left England sufficient time to have a sporting chance of wiping off the lead. A Great Batsman Once again G. L. Weir, last season winner of the Itedpatli Cup for his fine performances in the Plunket Shield series, has shown his calibre as a batsman. Tie topped Auckland’s •score in both innings, and had it not been for his efforts, Auckland might have been in a much worse position when tho game ended yesterday. There is little style about Weir’s batting, but lie has an almost impregnable defence and few batsmen can drive as cleanly and powerfully as he. If he can maintain such form, there should be little doubt about him finding a place in the New Zealand team to travel Home at tho tail end of next season. Good Umpiring One particularly pleasing feature about the M.C.C. game was the fine umpiring of Messrs. W. A. Duff and F. M. Andrews. Several of the Englishmen expressed the opinion that it was the best umpiring they had met in New Zealand, which makes one wonder why the New Zealand Cricket Council went to the trouble of appointing two I Southern umpires for the third test at ' Auckland. ; “Little Tich’*

It is queer how diminutive players captivate the imagination of the crowd at cricket. Cornford, the smallest man playing first class cricket in England, has been very popular in Auckland. lie ij a dapper little figure on the field, and the greatest of keepers behind the stumps. And he can bowl, too, as he showed yesterday when Oilligan pat him on. The crowd gave him a great reception tiien. He brought back memories of the brilliant little K. J. Schneider, a member of Richardson’s Australian team on the same ground three years ago. Schneider’s death shortly after his return to Australia cut short what promised to be a great career.

Big Men Popular, Tco Dig - men are popular on tho llelcl also, only in a different way. The Auckland crowd has not yet ceased wondering liow it is 17-stone Barratt can peg away for so long with a good run up to the wicket and a medium - l'ast delivery. Barratt makes liberal use oL' his handkerchief throughout the day. Another of the giants of the M.C.C. side is the vice-captain, O. F. Earle, who is remarkably agile off the held also. But he is an even more popular man at the batting crease. The Wellington Match The deciding match for the resting place of the Flunked Shield for the season, Auckland v. Wellington, at Wellington, commences at the end of next week, and it is expected that the Auckland team for tho trip to the capital city will be announced during the next day or so. If ail tho men who played against England are available, there should be little doubt about Auckland being represented by a side which will make a bold bid to retain the emblem of Dominion interprovincial cricket supremacy. When Wellington Was Beaten Auckland is leaving no stone unturned at this end to make a win possible where an Auckland team has never won before. For the first time, the members of the team* will have sleepers for the journey, and the manager of the team has been warned .liat if the Shield is lost he is not to put in another appearance at management committee meetings. By the way, Auckland is taking the Shield with it, just in the remote chance of having to hand it over. Three years ago, Wellington came to Auckland without the Shield and got beaten. It took Auckland 12 months to persuade the Wellingtonians to send it on!

The Strength of England Tlio match served, in some devious way to demonstrate to Auckland the cricket strength of England. One of the strongest, and on its own wicket, perhaps, the strongest team in New Zealand outside the test side, had tfie worst of a drawn game. An attack which would have worried any Dominion side could not curb the genius of Duleepsinhji and Woolley, and met a wall which it could not shatter in Worthington and Gilligan. This the work of a side which contains at the most probably not more than two allEngland players. Medium- Fast Bowling

The trio of medium-fast bowlers, Vllom, Barratt and Worthington, iormed the nucleus of a type of attack ,\-liich is far from common in New Zeaar.d, and they reached the height of heir usefulness yesterday on a wicket which at last was showing some signs of wearing. Every one of the three was much faster than Auckland’s fastest, A. M. Matheson. As Nichols, the only one of the visitors who can be classed as a fast bowler of the first flight, was not playing, there is ' something still in store for Aucklanders when he takes the field with the third test team. Each of the three mediumfast men had his period of success during the match, but taken all round, Allom was probably the best of the bunch.

Trip to Gisborne The management committee of the Auckland Cricket Association last evening decided to send a team to Poverty Bay, the dates for a match there being suggested as February ”8 and March 1. Arrangements for the match were left in the hands of the country sub-committee, which will cooperate with the former Poverty Bay representative player, Mr. J. IT. Miller and report back to the executive at its meeting next week. * * ♦ As Auckland had made a good profit on the M..C.C.' game, the management committee of the A.C.A. decided last evening to renew its offer to the New Zealand Cricket Council to relieve the Otago Cricket Association of £25 of its guarantee for the Englishmen’s match at Dunedin.

SUBURBAN NOTES

Auckland’s grand batting stand against M.C.C. at Eden Park on Saturday detracted largely from the interest of players and spectators in the second round games of the Suburban Cricket Association’s competitions. The day. however, produced some bright performances, and surprises for the few enthusiasts in the stand. Notable was Ponsonby’s victory over Ellerslie, by 2D runs on the first innings.

Ponies* success was as merited as it was hard-earned. But they have to thank G. Morman, whose spectacular batting display for the sixth wicket was the turning-point in their fortune, and gave them a fighting chance of victory. Morman has been playing good cricket this season, and this is not the first occasion on which he has contributed a valuable quota to his team’s total. Frequent changes of bowling never troubled him on Saturday. He drove powerfully to tho off, finding holes in a well-placed field, and his leg glides, which invariably found the boundary, were delightful. He gave two chances early, but once he recovered from those frights he never lifted a ball within measurable catching distance. Sixtyfour of his 77 was in boundaries.

For the second time this season, L. Breese. tho Harbour Board batsman, reached his century on Saturday against Albion. What a different Breese in the second innings! The bowling was all alike to him—he drove and square-cut deliveries to the boundary as ho liked, knocking up 139. which included 23 boundaries, in little over two hours. The crowd on the stand was amused at a bowler of Gedye’s calibre throwing up a full toss to Breese to enable the batsman to reach his century. The batsman was so astonished at the first “full pitcher” that ho missed it!

One impression left by Green Lane’s vain light against time to gain a threepoint win over W.Y.M.I. on Saturday was the submerging of all the arts of the game to the mere desire for pointgetting. Exciting, certainly, but the exhibition was purely one of wild swiping and sacrifice of batsmen to attain the end. It kills averages, and cruels good batting, that sort of thing. Five wickets were thrown away in ruthless fashion, and nothing gained. Lvcn had there been, it would have meant little to the competition leader, and would have only robbed the final of interest.

One of the most consistent and brightest batsmen and fieldsmen Green Lane possesses is E. Watts, one of three brothers, who are the soul of the team. He can generally be relied up ° n 10 ut> a substantial score, and his performances against W.Y.M.I. v. ere no exception. His shots were crisp, and well placed, and a powerful hitter, his strokes were generally boundary-getters. Scarborough, the fast Green Lane bowler, blossomed out as a batsman of no mean order on Saturday. He played a forceful innings for 45, in which he executed some nice offdriving.