CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 217, 20 February 1915, Page 7

CRICKET.

POSITIONS OF THE TEAMS. SATURDAY COMPETITION.

THURSDAY COMPETITION.

TO-DAY'S MATCHES. The Albion cricket team will journey to Inglcwood by motor 'bus, leaving' the. Red House corner at 1.30 p.m., and not bv train as stated in yesterday's paper. United Service v. TilcoTangi, at Recreation Grounds; New Plymouth v. Law, at Western Park; Albion v. Inglewood, at Inglcwood.

NOTES. Saturday last saw matters evened uj somewhat.' For tin- second week in succession United Service were defeated, whilst for the third week in succession Law failed to taste the bitter of defeat. Undoubtedly Law has come to light this i round, and'bids fair to avoid tile doubt- [ ful honor of annexing the wooden spoon. The two successive defeats that th u leaders have suffered has brought New L'lvmouth to within striking distance of them, and Inglewood might have been in the same position but for unfortunately having to forfeit to New ■ Plymouth a few weeks ago. Should New I Plymouth manage to stave oli' Law's attack to-day, the meeting between that club and Service next week should lie worth seeing. Law, however, shows gnat improvement, and may be undefeated this round. Law put U)> Hl(> runs against Service, Bewley (Iti) and T.sish (12) opening weil. ' Bewley played a good innings, but it was marred by a couple of chances early, which should have been held. United Service, thanks to Bain, opened well, and looked like winning. Itain batted very vigorously, landing Lash three times into the hospital grounds. After he had gone, for 47 out of 48. no one was able to play Elliott but Purdue, who came out of his shell and compiled DO (not out), lie showed some nice strokes, though he had a | lucky let-off from an appeal for stumping. In the second venture the consistent Lash played fine cricket for 4."i (not out), and destroyed United Service's prospects of winning on the second innings. Little played two fine innings, both not out. Law will be without the services of Keg'. Ouilliam, who has gone to bat for I the Allies against the Germans, flood I luck to him. | New Plymouth had a close call against Albion, winning on the first innings of a low-scoring match by 5 runs. Clarke and Tievsm. for Albion, .'indNieoll and Ileskctt, for New Plymouth, were j responsible for the smallness of the ! scores, ITeskett was cheaply disposed lof twice. Clarke was the only doublescorer for Albion in the first innings, as were Colson and Olliver for the w'inJ ners. Nieoll and TSottril] got going to j some purpose in the second innings for I New Plymouth, and the dose was re--1 neatcd for Albion bv Clarke and MarI tin. Tikorangi suffered defeat at the hands lof Tnglcwood. on their own ground. I Tnglcwood only scored 8(1, but Roberts went early, and If. Foreman (13), G. Foreman (lo) and Crilfin (I'2) were the only ones who could stand the bowling of Meltae, Smith and Pullen. and the innings closed 31 runs to the bud. Clarke, of Albion, has already taken 'B4 wickets in Saturday cricket this season. There are two matches to go yet. Will he get the hundred? Had hj,. not stood out in the last Law match he niight have gone close to the coveted three figures.

Next Saturday will see tlic conclusion of tli ( . third round of the week-cud competition. A proposal lias been mooted for ii fourth round, and, if feasible, the idea is to lie commended for various reasons, but, primarily because it Will keep up the interest ill the fames a month longer. With the prospects of a. fine sunnm r, (here should he' plenty • of time to get in another round: indeed, save for unfinished matches the fourth round would be finished bv the first Saturday in April. However, the probability is that two Saturdays will lie required to complete unfinished matches that have a hearing on the ultimate championship result] anil, if so, it may he found impossible to fret in a fourth round. Should a fourth round 1>" played, it is (o he hoped that the Association will take into account the fact that the presence of f o „ r town teams and (wo country teams in the competition has caused the latter a great, amount of travelling end so arrange the fixtures that each town team travels to Thglcwood and Tikorangi this round. So far each town team has travelled three times out of fifteen, whereas liurlowood had to travel eight (imes. and Tikorangi seen. The reprcscntufive team to do battle next Tuesday and Wednesday against AYanganui for the ITanke Cup has been chosen, and no doubt has formed the main subject of discussion anion;; cricketers. If 71111st he conceded that ihr selector (Air. 11ain) has niamnred his difficult task very well, and has picked from the material available a strong team, and one that should do credit to this end of the province. In fact, it will not surprise the writer if it returns home with (he coveted Tup. Regarding the composition of the team, it is certain that all are agreed as to eiL'lif of (he plavcrs. licra'rdin.' the final Hire., there will prohablv be considerable discussion, as' there' are probably a round dozen whose claims could not be overlooked. The selector, however, no doubt took nil the eircum-

stances into consideration. Hasell this year has not done so well in club matches, but ho is a big performer on turf. Osborn c has been out of form lately, but lie can be expected to hold his end up when put to it, and is, moreover, a good field. McGie also is a very nippy fieldsman. Taken all in all, the team is a good one. It possesses some good batsmen, and has no tail, unless o;i;. develops unaccountably. In fielding it is very strong. There are two smart custodians of the sticks in Roberts and Robertson, whilst the twelfth man, Stainton, is also an adept in this department. Matthews, of Inglcwood, has been keeping wickets well this year, and has previously travelled with the team, so that one expected lie would have had x chance of making the trip. He can make, runs rapidly, too, on occasion. In the, bowling the, team is weak. Though the presence of Clarke, the fast bowler, will strengthen it, there is not enough variety, yet practically every member of the team can trundle. A left-hand bowler would have been useful. Braund has been trundling well, and so, too, has Whittle, "Mason, who has nut up some good performances with the ball for New Plymouth, would probably have been selected, but. he was unable to make the trip. The team as chosen is as follows: Heskett, Nicollf Roberts, Lash, Robertson, Gwillim, Hasell, Clarke, McGie, Osborne, and Bain, with Stainton as twelfth man. The team will choose its own captain. The choice will probably fall on Bain, who, as selector, should know how he intended the team to be handled. For purposes of comparison, we append the batting and bowling averages of the selected players, as well as some of the other leading averages:— BATTING AVERAGES. i

BOWLING.

•a a 5 c o H o °3 United Service .. 13 10 — 3 15 New Plymouth .. 11 7 — 4 8 Jnglcwood.. •. .. 11 .. 13 7 C 1 4 3 Tikorangi.... .. 12 3 — n —13 .. 12 2 1 9 • -15

I'lio cnix 5 4 — o ;$ — l 4 Tik. it y r> 3 — 4 - -10

to o -p o 'A -p °' To o -p o H oS ■ri Robertson .. 4 — 07 202 73 Roberts .. .. 15 3 13!l 072 50 Bain .. ,. .. 10 o 111 001 42.0 Hcskctt .. n — 140 300 33.2 i Lasli .. .. .. 20 3 04 420 25.2 fiwillim .. .. 5 _ 87 118 23.0 Bottrill .. ... 11 2 05 208 23.5 Clarke ..• .. 21 ;< 07 300 22 Colvilc .. .. 10 1 )a 17S 10.8 Marsli, fi. .. 8 1 43 120 18. Hiisell .. .. r> — 35 70 15.2 Bnwlpy .. .. 20 1 51 274 14.4 Mi-fiio. .. .. 15 1 30 200 14.2 Xiooll .. .. 14 1 41 170 13.7 McKpnzi,, .. 12 — 33 101 13.4 MrRap .'. .. 12 1 20 121 11 Osborne .. 15 4 43 120 10.0 Mason .. 1-2 2 31 110 10.0 Stainton .. 12 1 27. 77 7

Huns. Wkts. Avor. TSrauml 40 14 2.85 Whittle 125 22 5.03 Clarke 520 84 0.19 Rain .104 58 0.27 Mason 322 40 7.0 EjniMnn 342 40 7.4 TTo'«C-ctt 185 23 8.04 Medio 138 17 8.11 Colvile 131 10 8.18 Smith iU 31 8.2 Osborne 122 14 ,8.7 Kllintt 424 45 9.42 Xicoll 370 37 10.0 T.ash 575 54 10.0 Roberts 3!)fl 30 11.0 O. Foreman .... 402 42 11.0 MeRac 30S 31 12.8