CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 154, 16 November 1912, Page 7

CRICKET.

TO-DAY'S MATCHES. To-day's matches are:—New Plymouth v. United Service, at the Sports Ground; Inglewood v. Law, at Inglewood. The Law team will be the same as last week. The following will play,for New Plymouth against United Service:—Mason, Niccoll, Weston, Harding, Stohr, Green' Monk, Shepperd, Okey, Xewall and Hooker. Last Saturday saw the second batch of the first-round matches successfully « 0 t off. Playing against Law on the Recreation Ground, United Service put up the best score registered this season in North Taranaki, compiling 175 runs for seven wickets. Bain and Osborne were the heroes of the day. It was practically a chanceless partnership. Certainly once or twice Bain hit up a bit of soft stuff, but on each occasion the ball was out of the reach of the fielder. When 85 he was caught out with a ball which was a pretty stiff proposition for the | fielder. The Law bowling was of the mildest order, lacking greatly in sting. It was nothing but change about from one trundler to another, and the success of their efforts may be guaged from the fact that Lash's average of 4 wickets for 58 runs was their best' performance. The trouble with Law is that their batting talent is unequally distributed, be- | ing as a rule confined to Lash, Greatbatch, Bewley and Lawrey. A. Ander- | son and H. B. Reid have both made re- | spectable double figures once so far, but I on the whole the team's tail is weak. It was left for Walter Matthews to put Inglewood out of the fire on Saturday in their match against New Plymouth. Three ducks by the last three of their side to bat, spoiled the town team's chances. In their- meritorious match against Law the previous week, only one man failed to open a scoring account. Mason, who made 75 against Law, was off-color last Saturday, having some difficulty in making 13. Arden contributed a good steady innings, carrying his bat for well over the half century. It was a shrewd move on the part of the home team to send in .Walter Matthews to bat last of all, and it succeeded. Two of last Thursday's matches are , not completed, and will doubtless be finished at the end of the first round. In the Inglewood-New Plymouth match, the former eleven are all out for 152. New Plymouth have one wicket down for 53, and it looks as if they are in for a ! second win. One gathered from this game that New Plymouth will have to shave themselves up a bit in the field. They appeared very lackadaisical. For I one thing they should back up more, take notice which end to throw the ball to, and then throw it so that the man at the wickets can take it. The Inglewood fielding was, on the other hand, very good, the return by G. Marsh, which ran Weston out, being particularly so. Clegg ' and G. Marsh were the only outstanding scorers, and a feature of the innings was the number of short runs. In the other unfinished match, High School are favorites. They are all out for 140, while Inglewood B have three wickets down for 21 runs. High School are to be congratulated on their improved form, having on Thursday trebled their modest score of 48 in their opening match against New Plymouth. Urenui and Waitara both played their first match this season, the country team making no race of their opponents to the tune of 116 to 44 runs. An unsatisfactory feature of Thursday's cricket was the delay in starting two of the matches. The High SchoolInglewood B. game did not commence till 3.15. and was unfinished when stumps were drawn. At. Inglewood the first man did not go in to bat until 2.50. This match was also uncompleted. Not generally known that during the Australians' tour of England Hazlitt was severely handicapped by eye trouble, and had to undergo an operation. This .would doubtless account for his complete failure with the bat.

From Queensland comes word of a splendid first-wicket partnership in the match Woollongabba v. South Brisbane, between W. V. Hayes (137) and O'Connor (126), both not out, the score when stumps were drawn being none for 205. Hayes also had a big hand in dismissing Woollongabba for 85, as he took six wickets for 32. The East Melbourne Club have a trophy scheme which has for its object the discovery of the most useful allround man in the club, without in any way fostering the individual effort, incidentally, it determines the value of every member to his side. The system is one of allotting points for almost every material deed done by a player in the course of a match, and it is best explained bv the following means of allocating the points to players:—3 points for every wicket taken without assistance from the field; 2 points for every wicket taken with assistance from the field; 2 points for every catch taken; 3 points for every 20 runs made; 1 point for wicket-keeper and 1 for fieldsman who assist in a run-out; 2 points for fieldsman wh > efleets a throw-out;/ 2 points for every -tump by wicket-keeper. To qualify, pie ■"•; must take part in half the number of matches played by the club during the season. The scheme (according to the Melbourne Herald) is the fruit of much time and thought by Mesrs Hilckc, Healcy and Nodrum. It first came into vogue in 1908, when the widow of the late Harry Boyle gave an annual trophy to perpetuate the name of the famous old plavcr. The winners have been:—l9oß-0!). 11. V. Parsons; 190910, W. Scott; 1910-11, 11. F. Parsons; 1911-12, E. L. Carroll. From West Australia comes a good cricket story which is vouched for. W. J. Facy, who has now returned to Tasmania," was playing in a match there, and one of the batsmen went forward to play a ball and missed it. The wicket-keeper whipped olf the bails, and yelled: "How's that?" The umpire promptly responded "Dead heat!" and the batsmen continued his innings. Another cricket story is told of C. J. Eady. He was many years ago one of an eleven who toured the Sorell (Tasmania) district, and, after one of their games, they paid a visit to an old friend's place, where they spent a most enjoyable night. Before retiring to bed it was arranged that the cricketers should rise early on the following morning and go for a swim. This was accordingly done, j and on the way to the water's edge they had to pass a cemetery. One of the players saw the tombstones in the distance", and, turning to Eady, he said: "My word, Charlie, these fellows are out early for practice!" In his half--1 awake condition the tourist had mistaken the tombstones for flannelled crickNew South Wales will have plenty of fast bowlers to choose from in the interI State matches, which begin directly. Cutter and Scott have been rivals for a couple of seasons at least, but now Cnllen, also of Glebe, joins in as a possible Sheffield Shield candidate. He is (writes a Sydney scribe) taller than Cotter, but with a little less pace, but by using his

soon develop into a good bowler. Of course, he has not Cotter's experience. It was the lack of this advantage which deprived Scott of better howling figurey against North .Svdnev. Win.. the batsmen were set, he bowled too nr h on the wicket instead <,' trying to "lii ik them out.' But witliin the last L'w weeks Scott has. shown that lis is capable of something truly great with the slightest smile of fortune. Much interest was centred in a recent discussion in England concerning the effect of smoking on the system. Some of Sydney's best-known cricketers enjoy a whiff during the intervals, but Victor Trumper is ?. notable exception. The general opinion in England seemed to be that the habit affected different people in different ways, and that on a sound constitution no harm would be done by light indulgence. Several of the most hard-worked cricketers of modern times have been not only smokers, but heavy smokers. Take, for instance, Richardson and Lockwood, Surrey's famous pair of fast bowlers, who got through an enormous amount of work and never complained of "herat." When they were off duty one seldom saw them without their big pipes in full action. And it is a noteworthy fact that the hardest-worked player the world has yet seen—George Hirst—is also a lover of the weed. And was not old William Lillywhite, who played in his last great match at Lord's at the age of 61, a greater smoker than the average? In his case, as in those of the cricketers already mentioned, tobacco did not prove injurious, for he retained his skill until well advanced in years—and he smoked a pipe the day before he did. W. W. Read, another player who has left his mark in the history of the game, was also a heavy smoker, who would get through a large number of cigarettes in an astonishly short time. Yet his career was a long one—well over, 20 years—and he scored well to the end. On the other hand, there have, of course, been dozens of famous cricketers who have been non-smokers. "W.G.," Shrews . bury and Barlow are but three in stances. Occasionally the indulgence in tobacco may work harm, but one is fairly safe in saying that in such cases the "ill-effects are due to abuse of the habit, either through over-indulgence or inhaling. An English writer holds the opinion that the crusaders against cigarette smoking have always made onegreat mistake —they have failed to distinguish between those who inhale and those who do not, perhaps because they themselves do not smoke and never have done. ' )