CRICKET

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 282, 25 May 1912, Page 7

CRICKET

THE AUSTRALIANS IN ENGLAND. RESULTS TO DATE, v. Notts—Lost by six wickets, v. Northamptonshire— Won by an innings and 64 runs, v. Essex—Won by an innings and 132 runs, v. Surrey—AVon by seven wickets. ■ v. M.C.C.—-Won by five wickets. The serious business of the tour starts on Monday, when the triangular contests will be inaugurated in a match in which thn two visiting teams will be pitted against each other. It seems fitting that the two younger aspirantß for supremacy in the grand old English national game should be the first to open the ball in the contests. The Australian team's chances on present form must be considered very bright in this opening match, as of the five matches already played Australia has won four and lost one, whereas South Africa has won two, drawn two and lost one. Each team has met Surrey and M.C.C., and whereas Australia won each with wickets to spare, South Africa won the former by 52 runs, but lost the latter by 108 runs. Faul!;nc\ the brilliant South African batspriii. bus been indisposed, but is now liimse!." I'-t more.

< Macartney's fine performance with the i bat in the matches played to date, in i which he has scored 84, 4, 127, 208, 123, 25 (not out), 74, 20, a total of 665, or an average of 05, makes one ask 'the question again, Why was he left out of the test teams in Australia last" year? The selectors of those teams must now have their eyes opened. Bardsley has also struck form, and in six completed innings has amassed 34, an average, of 72. Syd. Gregory, the Australian" captain, also started well with 36, 42, 130 and 71, but his last four attempts only resulted in 2, 0. 11. 0, and his average suffers somewhat. Mayne, Jennings and , Matthews are also performing decently with the bat, but it was not until the M.C.C. match that either Miunctt or Kelleway struck form. Both these men should do well before the tour is concluded, i Emery has been the most successful J bowler in the four matches in which he j has bowled, he having taken 34 wickets : at an average cost of 15 runs. Kelleway, I with 14 at a cost of 10.5, has also done well. He took nine for 104 in the M.C.C. match. A feature has been the number clean bowled by Emery, viz., 21. Whitty has gone off in the last two matches, and his average has jumped up from 12 for 178 to the same number for 288. Carter, behind the wickets, will be the .most missed of the recalcitrant six, for although Carkeek has stumped two j and caught eight of his opponents in four ! matches, extras against him total 137. Prom these must be subtracted an unknown number of no balls. Webster, his understudy, has been very costly in one match. Out of a total of 492 only 425 came off the bat, the remaining 67 being credited to Mr. Extras, but for at least fourteen the bowler was directly responsible by sending down no balls. Mr. Extras promises to be a very useful individual to Australia's opponents. Essex has good cause to remember W. Bardsley, as in 1009 on his first visit to England he showed his partiality for the bowling by knocking up, with V. Ransford, 355 for the third wicket. This time, with G. G. Macartney, he goes one better, the third wicket partnership realising 3fi2. England is leaving nothing to chance in the triangular matches. One test trial, England v. the Rest, has already been held, and another started on May 23, in which,, as will be seen from another column, Warner's team is batting strongly. All cricketers this side of the line will be pleased to see that "Plum" is evidently at his best again', as he has notched a century. C. G. Macartney, who has been batting so brilliantly for the Australians in England, is only 26 years of age, having been born at West Maitland, Australia, on June 27, 1880. He made his debut for New South Wales against Queensland on the Brisbane ground in 1905-B. He performed brilliantly against A. O. Jones' English team in 1907-8, aggregating 453 runs for an average of 34, and taking 16 wickets at a cost of 26 each. He made his first visit to England in 1009, and quite justified his selection as a batsman and bowler. Compiling 638 runs in 40 innings, he had a batting average of 19.33, and came out third in the bowling with 71 wickets for 17.45 runs each. He has a great variety of strokes, being especially strong on the off side, with a nice late cut. A steady left-hand bowler, he possesses good command over length and flight, and is a fine field at mid-off. Macartney played for a season in New Zealand two years ago, and took part in the Plnnket Shield match for Otago against Auckland that season. He did little of note in the match, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for Auckland.

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