CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 176, 24 January 1914, Page 7

CRICKET.

THE SFNIOR COMPETITION. MATCHES TO DATE. Phi veil. Won. Lost. Pts. Service ii •"> 1 ID Tikorangi 7 -4 3 8 Daw ..'. li 2 4 8 New Plymouth .. <i 2 4 1 High School ....:! I) 3 u Matches to be played to-day arc: Law y. New Plymouth, at New Plymouth; Service v. Tikorangi, at Tikorangi. NOTES AND COMMFNTS. As will be seen from the table above the position of the teams in Hie senior competition has changed considerably s'ince the table was last published. United Service hold- the icai'l by two points, with 'Tikorangi and Law running ncck-and-neck. and New Plymouth a bad third. New Plymouth, however,, has a good "leg in" in an unfinished match with Law, and United Service has another match yet to play with Tikorangi before the lir-l two rounds are complete, to .-ay nothing of the High School, so that anything may happen vet. New Plymouth lias gone down' badly. A. w'in by that team over Service on Saturday la.it would have opened up the competition nicely. Once again Tikorangi has been defeated, this time by the Law team, and by the substantial margin of T'J runs. The chief factor in the defeat of the team which was three weeks ago at the head of the competition, was undoubtedly the work of (he Law frnndlers, i who had the country loam badly beaten, it would appear as if the country batsmen have all selected the same time to get out of form. Not a Tikorangi j batsman on Saturday last made over 2D ] runs, and only four of them reached \ double figures.' . Hitherto Tikorangi's strongest point has been the absence | of a tail to the team, but in the last ] two nialehes the country players have exhibited distinct symptoms of sprouting one. ' E. Sarteu gathered in most of the ] wickets for Tikoranyi (four for H 7), J Jupp and W. Wilson being treated rather disrespect fully. However, only three extras were .-cored by Law, as against 10 notched by the Tikorangi men. which tells a tale. - ] Knell had a good strike for the Law I team. He has been doing well in the ] batting line lately, and on Saturday I capped bis performance with -17 not out, | which will help his average along con- 1 tome very nice stroke-, and. once set, has lately proved himself a hard man to dislodge. ( lion. Quiliain made I be biggest score ' he has bade this sca-ou. Hi* -111 runs were made liv slreiim.iH billing 1 . He '"pulls" badly'as, a rule, sometimes getting on his knees In do ii. but ill the latter part of his iiiiiinu- on Saturday lie baited much better. All the same, he dealt out some fearful and wonderThe New Plymouth team will speedily become candidates for admission to a ; borne for nerve-racked cricketers, if they have many more of the close and exciting finishes which they have eiicollliter(il in their last two matches. The close of'tiie New Plymouth-Service match on Saturday was even more exciling than that of' the Tikorangi-Xew 'Plymouth match of the previous week. The New Plymouth men batted a man sluirl. and certainly had the uor-e of what luck was going in not pulling off the malcli, ] and, incidentally, bringing the of.iiipotition to a much move inteie-tiug stage. Nicoll plaved a line innings, but the rest of the' New I'h ulii stock batsmen were broken reed-. If il hart no» been for his line exhibition of run-get-ting, combined with -toady play. New Plymouth would have been iiadly beaten. Jt'was a credit to any batsman to make runs on a wicket which favored the bowlers so much. The Holding in the New I'lymoulhService match wa.s mu of a high order. The New Plymouth men caught well, especially during Service's second strike, but otherwise their holding was poor. There was more sting in that of the Service men. Any young player might take Newall. of the Service team, as a model in fielding. lie takes the ball neatly, be it high or low, and throws in smartly ami cloaulj. What is the matter with ilain? lie seems In bo developing into a lucky "'puncher," and very rarely displays anything like the c'la-s of balsmansliip which distinguished him immediately after his advent to New Pl.viiinnt.il lie used to be a line type of a Mvlish. hard but clean-hilting 'batsman. Lately he has been mishitting badl;.. and in nearly every innings has one or mure "lives." It. is a pity to see -u line a liat. givin'.' .such wrotc'hed exhibitions, bid then, of course, every man has his "oil"' season. Til 10 NORTH v. SOUTH MATCH. The arruiiuoiuenls for a match between North' and South Taranaki have been altered. Owing to the Sports (! round being otherwise engaged oil Thursday, the match arranged for that date had to be abandoned. The North Taranaki men will instead (ravel (o llawera on Fohniar, ."i. and the return match will probnblv be plavrd at Now Plymouth at Faster. types of (t:ickf;.i:ei!s. tlif sla( kfr. The ■'•-lacker is a Ivpo „f cricketer whose pre-eiiee in New Plymouth U rather too much in evidence. The gentleman who arrives on the playing field just in time (often a little behindhand). illy dressed and ilinnll'Si-l. and who disappear., with astonishing rapidity immediately after stumps are drawn, be

is a "slacker" of (he worst, ami most selfish type. lie is as bad as the lellow who doesn't July his "sub." Anyone who strolls on to the playing fields in Mew Plymouth just prior to the commencement of a match cannot fail to notice the comparatively small number of players who turn up to prepare the pitch. Very often one or two (nearly always the same one or two) have to make a start with the work, and mere are seldom more than half-a-dozen all told. Each team takes it in turns to prepare the wicket for the match, and every member of the team whose [ wicket it is for the dav should be on hand to help with the work. Many cricketers apparently do not know it. but there really are ijuitc a | lot of things connected with cricket, | apart from the game itself. Tin; pitch I must be rolled, the matting laid, and the creases marked. When a match is • played on the High School ground by I one of the town learns, material has I to be carried from the sheds on the \ Sports Crouiid to the High School, j After the game tile material has all to j be returned to the sheds again. The enumeration of these matters seems necessary from the fact that so many cricketers are apparently unaware ot their existence. This work should :iot be left entirely to long-suffering secretaries and captains. It would be interesting to know by what process of reasoning l the class of "slacker" referred to arrives at the conclusion Unit he is exempted from all the work connected with the game he professes to support. lie never sees more than one. side of the game. Of the true inwardness of running a cricket club he knows nothing. One question remains for him to answer: "Who would do the work if the faithful few neglected their duties as he does';" The following will represent Warehouses v. United Service 11. on the High School ground to-dav at 2.15 p.m.: -Green, Okey, Douglas,' Wilson, Rich-) ards, Hawkins, S. Hooker, McAlltim. j Shcppcrd, W. Hooker and another. '