CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 212, 7 March 1914, Page 7

CRICKET.

.«. A WESTRALIAN TUL'K. Sydney, .March 5. The propo.v.-d lour "of t:ie -\e\.- South Wales team 10 Western Ausiralia at the end of March may fall through. The Western Australian Association has stipulate;! ior a team to include Trumpet- and Macartney; failing either, lSardsiey. It i„ liudcrsumd Macartney bas staled bis inability io go. Trumper, being si way, U unlikely to be able lo' go West. THE .SICXIOU COMPETITION. NOTES AND COMMENTS. An epidemic of low scoring spread itself among cricketers on .Saturday la?t, a four innings senior match only realising 130 runs, and one -unior team uf nine men knocked up the noble score oi seven runs. The low scoring in the match hefween New Plymouth and Law can be assumed to two causes'—lack of practice and the wretched state of the snorts ground. The latter reason mav be said in a measure, to cover the former, for unless the ground is in decent order cricketers cannot practice with any profit, arid arc therefore not likely to do so at all. The wicket on Saturday favored the bowlers rather than the .batsmen, hut not sufficiently to account for the disgracefully low scores made by both teams. The ground was in a state bevond the descriptive powers of a polite vocabulary, otherwise the scores would have been doubled. There was only one. thing for the batsmen to do, namely, lift the ball, with a boundary stroke, into a tangle of long grass and docks for two. Consequently, undue risks were taken, and lack of practice due, as previously remarked, in some measure the state of the ground, did the rest. This is a state of affairs which, if unremedied, will kill cricket in New Plymouth. Even such veteran devotees as "Teddy" Lash are not "oins/ to stand this sort of thing any longer. It. is an unaccountable position. Xennid couii,» can be cut, bowling greens can be shaved, golf links can be tenderly cared for, but the New Plymouth Sports Ground cannot be "under-scrubbed." And I what is the reason"; Ask the Ground* Committee. in the first plac«, they could not get a man to do the -work. In the second place, the blades of the lawn mower "got broken" —like the china which the hired girl handles. Now :io one will risk his own lawn mower by attempting to harvest the hay on the ground, and no one can be found to mend the broken mower and so let the Grounds Committee risk it 3 own machinery. Lately some of the cricketers have taken the matter in hand and have been cutting the grass in the evening with hand mowers so that the ground should be in better order to-day. It is to be hoped the Grounds Committee, will be able to make some better arrangements soon. The South Taranaki team will be visiting New Plymouth shortly. Their own ground at Ilawora is exceedingly well kept. In connection with the question of bad grounds affecting practice, the remarks of Mr. Frank Laver, of the Australian- team, in an interview with a representative of the. Christchurch Sun, are worth noting. Mr. Laver said that the most crying need was for the better care of practice wickets. At present these were very much neglected on most grounds, and most batsmen practised in "any old corner" of the "round. It was absolutely necessary to the making of a good batsman that lie ah uld practice on as good a wicket as he would be called upon to play in a match. If more care were expended on the practice wickets, he was sure that the much-needed improvements on the playing wickets would quickly follow. The trundlcrs had an exceedingly good time on Saturday, and some startling analysis were obtained. Elliott took seven wickets for 29 runs, Lash six for 19 (in one innings only), Mason seven for 24, Nicoll four for 10 (in one. in nings). and C. Foreman twelve for 3(1. The New Plymouth tx-am has drafted in several newcomers recently. Most prominent among these is Stainton, late of the Eden (Auckland) team, an excellent wicket keeper and good with the bat. On Saturday he took a (beautiful catch behind the stumps, thereby dismissing Lash for a "duck." -Ron. Quilliam, who keeps sticks for the Law team, also a fine performer, stumped two of the New Plymouth batsmen. A feature of the match on the Sports Ground was l the good fielding of both teams under difficulties, Nicoll took a beautiful catch in the slips, where he ; s always seen to advantage. The extras in three of the innings were two in each case, and in Law's final dash there were none at all. At the close of Law's first innings on Saturday, when New Plymouth were leading by three runs, the victory for them looked so certain that T.ash, who was not at all fit, left the ground, obtaining a substitute to take his place in the field. When, however, New Plymouth, had been disposed of 'or 28 runs the Law men, scentincr a victory yet began hurriedly to look for Lash, and despatched :\ motor cvclist in pursuit of him. "Teddie'' accordingly arrived post haste on the back of the hike, but was not needed after all. The High School boys made a disappointing showing htritinst the T ; .k~raii"i team, only reachim' ."3 runs for their first innings, one of the lowest score! they have made this season. Monteath played poorly, but Oliver batted better The Tikorangi howling, as some of the analysis show, was alto"cther too stron for the boys on the who'?. AWAKINO v. TONOAPORUTU. An enjoyable day's outing took pla<e last Saturday, in the form of a cricket match between teams representing Awakino and Tonsrnnorntn, regulthio- in a win for the latter team by the small margin of three runs.. Followinir are the scores:— .AWAKINO Erwan, b Tavlor, 1; Main, b Taylor, (i; Terrih. b tavlor. (); Sofi'e. b Carson, 12; McCowan. b Tavlor, G; Walsh, c Sparke, b Purdy, 31; black, b Raven, 1!)-, Rogers, b Taylor, 1; Pukcre. b Tayior, fl; McGill. b Taylor, 2; Webster,'not out, 0; extras, 8; total 92. TONGAPORUTU. Waters, b McCowan, 19, Tavlor, b Terrill, (!; Wagstafl'-, c and b MeOowan, S; Westfield. b McCowan. Hi: Raven, b McCowan, 0: Purdy, h Terrill, 33; Rattenbury, 1) Terrill, i); Sparke, i,t. Black, b Terrill 0; Carson, not out, 3: O'Dounell, run out. b McCowan 0; Glentworth, e and b McC'own> 0; extras, 7; total, 95. VICTOR TRUMPER. Thus the Christchurch Sun en Victor Trumper, as seen in the recent match between the Australians and Canterbury:—By common consent now th'

greatest batsman m the world when in ioi'in, \ idol iiu.iipur has dune mure to popularise the gaino tuaii any otliei player of past, or present, Uiue.-. Incidentally, lie lias upact tlie eaiiujin of tile text books by his brilliaiu i.nwitliuao.v,.• Trumper is bound by no laws o. bai ting; he prefers making i>ic .stroke wliieli the text-books say .-hotild not In: made oil' the particular bran.l ot luwiing which may be sent down tu him. There can be no anticipation of li.s strokes. There is no surmise wh-n In pulls a ball pitched a yard on the oil right round to square leg. oi' c-.r.s a leg-break to between first slip and .m> eond. Sometimes he plays most orthodox' strokes, and plays them witii the easy grace of a master. But usually h' is daring almost to a fault in hi* l hatting, daring because he is , ueh an absolute master of the art that he succeeds where another not so resolute, lithe, and tpiick. would fail hrnor.iiniously. Trumper has every stroke of modem cricket in his bag. and he makes , them with such a wristincss and crisp-' ness of hitting that the making of a boundary shot seems tu bring forth no effort whatever. When Trumper i ;i in form his hatting is a rare example of almost perfect co-ordination of brain, eye. and muscle. Driving, cutting, liookip '. pulling, <or glancing, each stroke is made with such grace, ease, and precision that he has set a new standard of skill in hatting'. "Attack is the best defence." ■ is Trumnor's motto, ar.d ho usually coes for the howling vigorously, and with a fine disregard of orthodoxy, and so he has made of cricket a game for the multitude to enthuse over.