CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 200, 21 February 1914, Page 7

CRICKET.

THE SENIOR COMPF/JTTJON. j POSITION OF Till'. TEAMS. The following table shows the position of the teams in the senior com- • petition up to the end of the third .round: Played. Won. Lost I'U .-.United Service S li - 1•Tikorangi '■> <> 3 J - Law « -1 1 8 . >Ncw Plvmouth S 2 ."> 4 ' High School :t -<i ;i 0 NOTES AND COMMK.VJ'.S. I As the above table shows, Tikorangi and United Service are. still running I .neck and neck, with Law now four | joints behind, but the unfinished C matches when played may materially I' ■ alter the position. * New Plymouth has ' a good "leg in" for victories over both . .Law and United Service; Tikorangi has • a match to play with Law, which' may , go to either side, and United Service has a match t» play with the High • School boys, which in ordinary cireum- , stances should mean a victory for the ; •Service men. The conclusion of the ; fourth round should see an inlerc.-ting finish. The fourth round of the senior fixtures will be commenced to-day. This round ■ •will see the High School team again in the field, and they will be assured of , a hearty welcome from all cricketers , 1 wlio have followed their plucky and . sportsmanlike play. The weather, that time-honored sub- j jeet of small talk, the' sheet anchor of .all nervous young men at dances and , ■similar social functions, was the principal topic of conversation among bedraggled cricketers last Saturday. The I senior games both at Tikorangi and at [ New Plymouth had to be abandoned. I On the Sports Cround there, was a wild |-rush for the dressing sheds, and subseI quent heroic dashes to rescue ha*s, boots and other more-or less stoddcH paraphernalia. The little god who watches over cricket, if there is one for cricketers as well as for sailors, has evidently recently determined that the United Service team shall not be beaten, and judging by {Saturday's game, be bad even eonspired with the clerk of the weather to attain his end. When the rain stopped play, New Plymouth had taken six of the Service men's wickets for the. disgraceful total of 46 runs, and at one . stage the analysis read five wickets for | five runs! It is long since this strong 1 team made such a bad start. The con-" i elusion of the game, if it is played, •, should prove interesting, as the Service i I men will run their opponents hard for I ,-t second iiiiiiags' win. The collapse of the United Service { batsmen was due to a combination of poor batting and good bowling. Mason and O'Donnoll were both "on it." The former bowled a maiden over and then O'Donnell accounted for McOie with his j first ball, which was a good one. There was not so much in the third hall, although it took Osborne's wicket, but the batsman could make nothing of it, and made no score. Two catches in the outfield and the bowling of Mason aid O'Donnell accounted for four more batsmen, and then Bain and Sullivan made a stand until the rain intervened, j Bain hatted quietly, and was suffering I from the effects of a recently strained j back, but Sullivan rattled up the runs in his old hif-or-miss style, and boundaries came freely. O'Donnell came out of the struggle with the fine analysis of four wickets for 26 runs, while -Mason's two wickets; only cost 9 runs each. At Tikorangi the Law team also had a wet game, the rain beginning almost as soon as the match. The Tikorangi | men made a very respectable wore with j a greasy ball on a slippery pitch. ScrimJ geour played a nice innings for his 38 runs. The Foreman brothers also got to work on the loose stud', and H. Hicks troubled the bowlers considerably when he came in towards the close of the innings. His was an exhibition of confident, forceful batting, with plenty of power 'behind the wood, The bowling and fielding of the Law team was carried on well under rather unpleasant conditions. Elliott and Lash as usual proved a good pair. AN EX-TARAKAKI BOWLER. "Tom" Soutlmll, at one time the terror of Taranaki batsmen, has been "doing things" with the ball in Wellington. His bowling against the Australians is stated to have been largely responsible for the collapse of the Australians in their first innings. Soutlmll is a deadly bowler, as many Taranaki batsmen have reason to know. 11 is style is one which at times worries the umpire, who has to decide between a good ball and a throw, but the general opinion is that his bowling is all right. Trott subscribes to this opinion, and says Southall's bowling would pass Crockett, the well-known Australian umpire. "Tom" was responsible for some good work against the Australians. An onlooker at the Wellington-Australian match states that in one stage of the game Soutlmll pulled oil' a catch so high that only he could reach it—the spectators, indeed, were sum that the ball came down with snow on it! In making the catch, however, he broke the flesh of the little linger of his right hand, and his fielding may stiller for a time. Now, Tom, learn to bat! WIIANfIA. CRICKETERS. Cricket appears to be nourishing at , Whanganiomona, where some very good ■ material is reported to blush, for the , most part, unseen. In a return match i with the Stratford public works men played at Stratford recently, the i Whanga. were victorious by a good i margin, and no doubt when the railway : facilities permit, we may look toward . t'o seeing the Whangiiinotiiona team talcL ing an active pari in the Taranaki competitions.