CRICKET

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 161, 6 January 1912, Page 7

CRICKET

ENGLISH TEAM'S TOUR. | RESULTS. Nov. 10 and following days—v. South Australia at Adelaide, won by an innings and 197 runs. (England 56!) and South Australia 141 and 228). Nov. 17 and following days—v. Victoria, at Melbourne, won by 49 runs (England 318 and 234, Victoria 274 a"nd 229). Nov. 24 and following days—v. New . South Wales, at Sydney, abandoned •wing to vain (England 238, N.S.W. eight wickets for 198). Dec. 1 and following days—v. Queensland, at Brisbane, won by 7 wickets (England 275 and 140 for 3 wickets, Brisbane 290 and 124). Dec. 5 and o—v. Toowoomba, at To.owoom'ba, won by an innings and 134 runs (England 340 for 6 wickets, Too.woomba 90 and 110). December 8 and following days—v. Australian Eleven, at Brisbane,-drawn England 207 and 279 for four wickets; Australia 347)'. Dec. 15 and following days—v. AUSTRALIA, lost bv 146 runs (Australia 447 and 308; EngJand 318 and 291). Dec. 27 and 27 —v. Bendigo 15, at Bendigo. drawn (England 170 and nine for 188; Bendigo 163). Dec. 30 and following days—v. AUSTRALIA, second test, won by eight wickets and 2 ru-ns( England 265 and 220 for two wickets, Australia 184 and 299 i. REMAINING FIXTURES. Jan. 5, 6—v. Geelong, at Geelong. ! Jan. 12, 13, IS, 16—v. Australia (third test), at Adelaide. Jan.' 19, 20—v. Ballarat, at Ballarat. Jan. 23, 24, 25-r-v. Launceston, at Launceston. Jan. 26, 27, 29—v. Hobart, at Hobart. Feb. 2, 3, 5, G—v. Victoria, at Melbourne. Feb. 9, 10, 12, 13—v. Australia (fourth test), at Melbourne. Feb. 10, 17, 19, 20.—v. New South Wales, { at Svdney. i Feb. 23, 24, 26, 27—v. Australia (fifth test), at Sydney. J March 1, 2, 4, s—v. South Australia, at ' The cup fixtures will be resumed on Thursday next, according to the order drawn up. The Saturday fixtures -will also be continued next Saturday. The North v. South Taranaki match produced many features. In the first place, a greater contrast in the first day's play could not be imagined than that which took place the previous week against Wanganui, when the latter did all the scoring. There is uaid to be a lot of luck in cricket, but if such reverse performnaces were shown on the turf there would be an enquiry; not that the cricketers were not playing the same "game" as some racing people, because the hat and ball man plays entirely for sport, but it shows that men, although apparently well, are not' always as "fit" in one match as in another. A few local records were put up, i which are worth noting. During ,270 minutes' play 498 runs were knocked up; 317- runs were scored for seven ■ Matthews made 30 runs off one over, hitting five balls but of six on to the'ter- | rave for six each, This Constitutes an ; interprovinciaT record. North Taranaki making 388 in one innings also adds to the list. Out of 181 scored by the Southerners in their first innings, Dunlop (87), Walker (40) and Pratt (2-I)'were responsible' for 148, which left very 'little to| the credit of the others. Dunlpp was inTOr minutes for 87 runs. '. Gwillim (Hi), Matthews (73), Perham (68), Weston (40) and Bain (39) ran up : 354 out of the total of 388, leaving 34 for the other six men, of which latter I number "extras" made 12. Gwillimiand I Matthews gave exhibitions of hitting, and each contributed eight sixes, to the enjoyment of all. - ■ Osbprnc being run out because he had stepped out of his crease to scrape some dirt off the matting was hard,, Hick, but it only proves that a man must, alwaysbe on the alert,, and if he wishes,,to do such things he should obtain permission. The second day's play was as disappointing as the first was interesting. ; The Northerners showed that runs could be ; made! that' morning, as they concluded their innings by making 72 in 30 min-. utes. ■ <" Three men from the southern team returning home certainly weakened them, and it seemed, that it gave the bowlers' the chance they wanted. With the exception of Punlop, who made 14, none of the eight men who batted did anything, and seven wickets falling for 21 runs proved a total collapse. In bowling, Blundell had a good average with three for eight, while, Bain did well with two for five, as also* did Gudgeon, with four for ten. During the innings of the northerners,; a batsman looked.round to see how far he had sent the ball. "Run, don't look round!" yelled a, spectator; "remember Lot's wife." "When Matthews was repeating his terrace hits for six, some.boys, who.thought they were out of., harm's "way, became confused when the ball kept landing near them, "and one suggested climbing up a tree for safety. The second test match resulted in an easy win for the Englishmen. Hordern's googlies failed to come off, and the failure of Australia's cracks to come off against the bowling, notably of Barnes, completed the disaster. Fancy four men like Hill, Trumper,'Kell>eway and Bardsley being dismissed. twice fo.r 50 runs. Armstrong and Minnett also went for *ix in the first innings, but the former was the star .performer in the second, innings with 90 runs. Minnett also contributed 34 in his second, venture. Ransford was to the fore' with two useful scores of 43 and 32. The tail wagged bravely. Hordern got 80 for once out, Cotter amassed 55, Carter 45, and even Whitty produced 14 once undefeated. Barnes' figures were five for 44 in the first innings and three for 00 in the second, or eight for -140, whilst Foster secured one for 52 and six for 91, a total of seven for 143. Two centuries went to the credit of the Englishmen this match, one each innings, viz., Hear.ne (114) and Hobbs (126 not out). >Hobbs was' missed early by Carter, and a disastrous miss it proved. Since the inauguration of the five test series- in 1894-5, England has won four out of the six second test matches played in Melbourne, and of these the last three have all resulted in England's favor. There will probably be some alteration in the next Australian team. Whitty may probably have to make room for someone else. As a bowler he has lost his sting, as in the two test matches this season he has had 185 runs hit off him for a bag of three wickets, nearly 62 runs per wicket. His batting also is very mediocre, and in four attempts he has totalled 23, which, with two not outs, makes his average 11.5. _ There will probably be some difficulty in filling the vacancy, possibly Gregory or Macartney may be tried. This would strengthen the fielding and batting, but would not help the bowling much, as Macartney also does not appear very deadly. Matthews or Hazlitt may be tried, or possiblv R. J. A. Massie! the young left-hander, may be given a

chance. McLaren, of Queensland, should also be in the running. • | 'ln the first test match Australia j scored 755 runs from .231 overs, aver-1 aging 3.20 runs per over, while England' scored 609 runs from 225 overs, averag-1 ing, 2.70 per vrta. ■*«\t*\ The old Australian fast bowler, Ernest '. Jones, is still knocking them about. At / Fremantle recently, in a match he sent | down 17 balls, 1 maiden, for 5 runs and 6 wickets, and performed the hat-trick. Dr. H. V. Hordern's 12 wicket& in his first match against England is a record j for an Australian bowler, though it has been equalled for England by J. Martin, who secured 12 for 102 at Kensington i Oval in 1890. In test matches against England among those who have scored 1000 runs or more Clem. Hill stands first with 2501 runs. His last performance of the duck's egg and four just put him over the two and a half thousand. Victor Trumper and S. E. Gregory are the only other Australians Who, have made 2000 runs against England. • Trumper's total is 2136, and S. E. Gregory's 2114. Whatever, be- the result of the test rubber, Australian cricket generally will he greatly benefited by this tour. It will benefit in. the direction of a development in bowling. The cricket-lov-ing Australian will see two men bowling, similar left-hand swerves, one of them on his own side, the other on the visiting side, and the inevitable comparison of their methods, and the interest aroused by their especial days of good fortune, must result in increased general knowledge of this kind of- ball. "Firstclass googly .bowlers will be under ex-J animation. An the most accurate bowler in the world, Barnes—perhaps too . accurate—will be present to exhibit the highest development of "non-trick" bowling. The "non-trk-k" bowler appears to be in the ascendant just for the nonce. "