CRICKET

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 23 December 1911, Page 7

CRICKET

KNGLhSH TEAM'S TOUR. RESULTS. Xov. 10 and following davs—v. South Australia at Adelaide, won by an innings and 197 runs. (England of!" and South Australia 141 and 228). Xov. 17 and following days—v. Victoria, at Melbourne, won by 4!) runs (England 318 and 234, Victoria 274 and 22!)). Xov. 21 and following days—v. New South "Wales, at Sydney, abandoned owing to rain (England 235, X.SAV. eight; wickets for 11)8). Dec. 1 and following days—v. Queensland, at Brisbane, won by 7 wickets (England 273 and 140 for 3 wickets, Brisbane 21)0 and 124). Dec. 5 and o—-v. Toowoomba, at Toowoomba, won by an innings and 134 runs (England 340 for (i wickets, Toowoomba 1)0 and 110). December 8 and following days—v. Australian Eleven, at Brisbane, drawn England 2(i7 and 271) for four wickets; Australia 347). Dee. 15 and following days—v. AUSTRALIA, lost by 14(i runs (Australia 447 and 308; England 318 and 2UI).

REMAINING FIXTURES. Doc. 20, 27 —v. C'olts, at Sydney. Due. 30, Jan. 1, 2, 3 —v. Australia (second test), at Melbourne. Jan. 5, <i—v. Geelong, at Geelong. Jan. 12, 13, 15, 10 —v. Australia (third test), at Adelaide. Jan. 10, 20—v. Ballarat, at Ballarat. Jan. 23, 24, 25—v. Launceston, at Launeeston. Jan. 26, 27, 29—v. Hobart, at Hobart. Feb. 2, 3, 5, 6—v. Victoria, at Melbourne. Feb. 9, 10, 12, 13 —v. Australia (fourth test), at Melbourne. Feb. Hi, 17, li), 20. —v. New South Wales, at Sydney. Feb. 23, 24, 26, 27 —v. Australia (fifth test), at Sydney. March 1, 2, 4, s—v. South Australia, at Adelai' 1 " Local cricket enthusiasts will be well catered for this holiday season, as the local representatives will be playing two matches, both at the Recreation Grounds, New Plymouth. On Boxing Day and the day following North Taranaki will play its annual match against Wanganui, commencing at 11' a.m. The visitors will arrive here on Christmas Night by the mail train. They are a solid combination, a very even batting team, and include six bowlers. The Taranaki team is strong in batting, but local bowling has been very indifferent this season. The wet weather also ha® militated against practice. The teams are as follows: Wanganui: L. J. Furrie (manager), C. A. Holland. A. H. Addison, A. S. ('allan, A. Allen, D. M. Murchie, M. L. Stewart, A. Sanders. J. Tracy, U. M. Luxford and A. A. Horden. Taranaki: K. Blundell, C. Wilson (Urenui), G. Gudgeon, W. Matthews (Inglewood), . Perliam. B. Gwillim (C'urrington Road), X. Arden, W. P. Nicoll, A. S. Hasell (New Plymouth), K. Bain (United Service), H. Eggleston (Waitara). Emergency bowler, Dinniss (United Service). Weston was unable to get away, aa also was Clegg, first emergency. _ On New Year's Day and January 2 North v. South Taranaki will try conclusions.

Had luck in the shape of weather is persistently (logging local cricketers. Last Thursday matches had again to be put off on this account. J-ast Saturday's matches were a fiasco, owing to some misunderstanding somewhere. The previous week's matches wero postponed owing to rain. Usually under such circumstances it has been customary to put the matches ahead a week, that is to say, the postponed matches should be played a week later. Through some mistake, however, this ■ was not definitely known. Inglewood did not come in to keep their engagement. Xew Plymouth journeyed to the High School ground with a weak team and went down to Law. It is not yet decided whether this will be counted'as a cup match or not. I'aton. with 54, was the only one to make a decent stand. Elliott 'came oil with a line bowling average of eight for 2-1. "Cricket is gradually attracting more attention, and will in time be as enthusiastically cultivated as football is now." This was a pragraph in the principal's report at the High School breaking-up. The best encouragement that could be given the boys is a good wicket. They will never leiim correct cricket while tliey play under present conditions. The English team desires a third match with Xew South Wales, but it is hardly likely to lie ara raged owing to there being no available and suitable dates. A mistake, was made in restricting the days of the recent match, which was drawn. It- is not what cricketers and the public, in Sydney are accustomed to.

In that a.'-m ct it was di.-appoiniing; but it was doubly so from the aspect ot liuamv. f.luccn.-.iand lias met four English teams on levil lemi - ; Lli.it is. eleven aside, the vi-.imrs winning all four matches, two . with a.n inning- to -pare and two by six wickels. A curiosity in iiis I -class cricket from an Australian paper: "... the lii>t ball friuii .Minnett shooting -up oil' llearui.'s hat and giving Crawford an easy cateh at -lip. After llearne had retired, both Douglas am! Trunip'T followed him ami brought him back to resume his innings. It was a uiiii|iie incident and mystified the crowd. The explanation was that someone among the spectator- hill! called no-ball, and llearne, thinking it was the umpire, lashed out, and was caught. Trumpet, in a thoroughly sporting spirit, decided to let llearne resume, the Englishmen keenly appreciating the eoii-iin .-.u iua, lor ileiune was out In- the law of the game. lie was 42. and after addin;;' one was out, l.b.w. to ■Craw ford." J. M. I'lackham. the famous Victorian wicket-keeper, who is known as the l'lincc of Stumps, is to be tendered a bcnclit. The second Victorian match again-t the Englishmen has been set aside by the \ ictoriau Association for that purpose. As the result of a recommendation of Percy Sherwell. when he returned from Australia, the Transvaal Cricket t nion lias decided to experiment in the direction of a turf pitch at the Johannesburg Wanderers' jjrouud, and it is expected that n plot of ground suitable for practices will be ready by January. If the experiment be successful, the larger experiment of covering the whole of one of the Wanderers' cricket spaces (presumably the large enclosure on which tlie ■English matches are play fid) will be tried. The South Africans are convinced that they must have plenty of practice on turf if they are to acquit themselves well in the triangular matches. When oiw sees large patches of green turf in a place like Durban, which must sudor infinitely more from the scoreing blaze of the sun than Johannesburg, it should not be difficult to produce green swards.on the Kami. The expense in the initial, stages will doubtless be great, but under the direction of white men there should be an abundance, of rolored labor available. for such work, especially from among the coolies, who, as a rule, are born gardeners. Tli© first test match is over and is now a, matter cf history. The Australians have, as was anticipated, won the opening match. It is just as well that these matches are played right out. It is questionable whether tliev would be coneluded if there was a time limit, particularly if the visitors were in a bad position, because they certainly know how to stop a long time at the wickets without scoring many runs. During over five days an aggregate of 13G4 rums was scored, or an .average of 267 runs per day. The biggest day's total was on the first day, when the Australians put up 317 for five wickets. The slowest was the fifth, when the visitors exerted themselves sufficiently to amass 108 and lost six - wickets doing it. No wonder it is necessary to enforce stringent laws against barracking. The crowd certainly need some excitement for their money, and if the cricketers don't provide it they cannot 'be .blamed if they are tempted to provide it themselves. Outstanding features 'of the game were the fine debut made by the three novitiates in English test matches, viz., Minnett, who scored 90 and 17, the latter with an injured foot -received at practice; Kelleway, who scored 20 and *0; and Uordern, whose gooclies were unplayable, and had the batsmen stuck, up, particularly in the second innings, when he got the fine average of seven wickets for !)0. \\ itli his average of five for S5 in the first innings, tins' brought his bag to 12 for 17."), or the fine average of 14.0. His batting was also of the useful order, viz., 17 (not out) and 18. Owing to business reasons he will not be available for the third and fourth tests.

J1 tun per s century in the first innings places that incomparable batsman at ill e head of test match "centurions," though he certainly must have learnt a lesson in caution .from his opponents, as it occupied 1!)0 minutes. This also completed Trumper's 2000 runs in test matches. Mill batted soundly for 40 and (io, and Armstrong for (iO and 2S. Hansford was uncomfortable for 20 and 34. The tail wagged feebly in each innings, the last four wickets only producing (iO runs . Hearne with 70 and 43, the latter taking 141 minutes, did best for the visitors. O linn's 03 in the second innings was gathered together in just under three hours. Tn the first innings he was batting with an injured hand and onlv scored four. 'Poster 50 and 21 and 1 Woolley 39 and 7 .gave the most attractive displays. Douglas also surprised with his performance in the second innings, when he knocked together 32 in a style that quite upset his reputation for solidity. Ilis four for 50 and Foster's live for 92 in the second innings were the best bowling performances. Last week's test match now evens matters up, England and Australia each having won 35 otc of the 87 that have been played, the other 17 having been drawn. Of these matches 48 have teen played in Australia, of which England lias won If), Australia 27, and two were drawn, while in England, out of 39 matches, the home team has won l'O Australia 8 and 15 have been drawn! Since 181)7 Australia, has won 14 matches in Australia against England's 0, and o in England against the home team's