CRICKET.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 272, 13 June 1888, Page 6

CRICKET.

The "Old Buffer" (Mr Frederick (Jale), writing to the London " Spotting Uie " on the subject of . b.w. concludes his letter : — I observe in a very long letter by " P." in "Cricket "' the writer fears that an alteration in the law will be death to second-cUit-s cricket, and probably many clubs Mill report to the old rule, and this will be two opposing rules in existence ; at the same time "P." need not trouble himself about second-class cricket on village gieens. As far as my experience on village green 1 - lias been — and that is not a small one — thab as f>ure ab a batbinan "legs balK "' in front of his wicket, so will the umpire give him "out" 1.b.w., because all the cricketers from bo> sot six years old and upwards, have been taught in the good old school which their fathers and forefather.? were bred and brought up in — which is that an English cricketer mir^t defend his wicket with hi« bat, and nothiwj else. On the &arne principle on \illage green:-, bairing the tent and hits over palings- of hou&eb, and through windows, village elevens will not hear of boundaries, and you may have to run down the road, up a yard, or into a quagtnire, for so long as the ball is M&ible it must be fetched home. Difficulties had to be met and dealt with. My poor dog, Kufu.s (deceased), a Carlisle dog, a cross between an otter terrier and a Dandie Dinmont, sometime^ ran away with a ball when the boy& weie playing a match, and if the boys kicked him he bit them. This was an exceptionally hard case on the boys, but they grinned and bore it. If you go to Chislelnust Common now you will see the fieldsmen in good matches pounding through the gorse and over the paling." after a ball. "P." need not lie awake thinking of the effect on county cricket. That is all right and hearty. Let us all pull together [as Billy Burrup ] (alias " Buffalo Bill *') rallies round himself in the Lmnbelh Vestry] cricketers ot all grades and classes, and keep cricket a chivalrous game of a bat and ball, and never mind what the out«ide world say, or what the crowd think. There are two classes of cricketers: the first class consisting of men who defend with their bat- : the second c-las-5 being those who "leg'' with their pad?. By the last 'Frwco mail we learn thufc

the American base-ball team will be ready to s-tart from Chicago at the dose of the present. National League Championship season, ami arrive in Australia shortly aftor (he Cricket season commences. President Spalding and Captain Anson of the Chicago Club will take out 22 players, and they will include not only representative exponents of America's National fjamo of base-ball, but players who can at the same time, creditably hold their ends up either in a cricket or a football match. What ho for Auckland v. America at Potters 1 What odd" on the local kickists 1 The team too, will consist of players who, in social respects, will be creditable representatives of the Ameiican professional baseball fraternity, many of whom are gentlemen, men with Uimer&ity educations, and in their ranks are to be found clergyman. The trip is a \ory impoifcanfc one, and although it is not likely to influence cricket much, it will assist to make the colonies known in the States particularly, as the team is to be accompanied by a special correspondent for the principal association of newspapers in the Btate.-. The " New Yurk Clipper" in commenting on the tour says :—"lt: — "It should be icmembered, however, that Australia, though an Kngli^i colony, has not the prejudice of the old country to present the opposition to the success of the trip tlmfc the base-ball players ot 1874 encountered in England. In fact base-ball has aheady obtained a foothold in several cities in Australia, and tlicie is no doubt that it .nil be greatly advanced in popularit> by this visit. The \ isiting tourists will stop at route from Chicago to .San Francisco at the piineipal Western cities, and a!)?o play one game at Honolulu befoie the King of the Sandwich Islands. It will be the longest tripovcr made by base-ball tourists. " The team will not be selected until the latter part of the American summer.