CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1919, Page 10

CRICKET.

INTEKESTING REMINISCENCES. A GREAT AUSTRALIAN PLAYER. I have always thought, says a correspondent of The Times, that if Darling, lift Australian captain, had made more nte of M .A. Noble's bowling in the teat match at the Oval in August, 1902, the result of that match, which ended in a [.•krious victory for England by one wicket, might have been different. Darling was a fine general, and did not often nuike a mistake, but on this occasion he n-lied too much on Saunders. Determination was a marked characteristic of Noble's cricket, and his experience and hard work, at a time when "the Human Catapult who wrecks the roofs of distant towns when set in his assault," as J mop was once describod, when on a vifcit to Philadelphia, by one R. 1). I nine, the poet laureate of American orickct, was knocking the cover off the Iktll, would have been invaluable. Noble first came to this country with Din-ling's 1891) side, a combination worthy of comparison with tho everfamous 1882 eleven, and at once made a great name for himself .During the winter of 1897-98 he had appeared with conspicuous success against Stoddart* side, and the Jam Sahib (Raniitßinghi) huh MacT.aren, both of wham uatted superbly throughout that somewhat disastrous tour, held his bowling in high csiccm Li.ke all the great Australian bowlers, Noble set great sUre by length, bit lie was also what may be described m a lively bowler, for he waa always <rj, lining the ball, and, as he eoi:Rl break it back, and also make it swenv he was thought by the best judges to be one of tho greatest exponents of medrum--I'iiccd, right-handed bowling. As a point hn stood alone, his nearest rivals boivg til- fellow Australian F Layer, tli!> .run Sahib, and L. G. Wright, of Derbyshire.

A GREAT CAPTAIN. Noble was also a very fine batsman ■ wish a cast-iron defence. Ho was hot. as a rule, a fast scorer, but his style was pretty to watch, and he could play most of fhe strokes. As a leader he was second to none. Ho had great influence over his men, who believed in him absolutely, and as a consequence he got the best out,of them .When the came over as captain of the Australian eleven of ■ POO lie proved himself a consummate s.iver of runs, "blockading," so to speak, a batsman's most productive liits. His irstom was, so soon as a batsman appeared set on a good wicket, to have ;in outer, as well as an inner ring of fie dsmen, and, if occasionally the chance of a catch went begging, it was most annoying to a batsman to find his best hits turned into singles or at nios./ twos by the men on the boundary; and to make runs at any thing like a fast rate wns a matter of the greatest difficulty. Noble would, for example, place a deep extra cover and a deep third man, as well as a long field to a left-handed medium-paced bowler like Whitty, with the result that boundary hits were few and far between, especially when the Men on the ring were as fast and as good throwers as Eanford, one of the most beautiful long fields I have ever teen.

Noble captained Australia in tne test match at Sydney in December, 1903, when R. E. Foster played that wonderful innings of his, and if lie had then adopted the tactics which he subsequently put into practice in England I do iiiit think that that masterly batsman would have made as many as 287. Noble kipt third man up to bowlers like himself, Lnver and Howell, and Foster frequently cut the ball past third man with those glorious wrists of his to the boundary. On that wicket the chances of a catch at third man from a batsman of Foster's type was 50 to 1 against. Xuble was a splendid sportsman. True as steel, lie was a generous winner and a generous loser. He is, I think, the best all-round cricketer Australia has ever had. Writing of the test match at Sydney in December, 1003, brings back to one's memory the magnificent dividing of R. A. Duff on that occasion. I have seen all the greatest mid-offs of the last 30 years—"'Sammy" Woods wringing his hands after stopping a more than usually hot drive oft Tyler's s'.i ws; E, .Jones, the Australian, lieavy of build, but extraordinarily quick On his feet; George Hirst, like a sandbank, the ball seeming to bury itself in him"; C G. Macartney, so near the ground and as active as a cat—but never' have'l seen finer fielding nt mid-off than Duff's during England's first innings in that iriatch. "Tip" Foster bombarded him hour after hour, but nothing within reach got past him, and his picking up> tnd stopping were superlatively good right up to the last ball of a \ertMy trying day. It is rather curious how few- great left-handed bowlers Australia lids produced. Since 1878 England has had Mcrloy. Peate, Barlow, Briggs, Peel, Hirst," Rhodes, Blythe, and F. R. Foster, wiiile Australia can point onlv to J. 3. Ferris, J. V. Saunders, W. J. Whitty, and C. G. Macartney. Ferris did wonderfully well here in ISBB and 1890, two wot seasons, but subsequently he completely lost his form, and the general opinion seems to be that he is not to be numbered among the really great.

Saunders was a difficult bowler on a st;cky wicket, but his length was not always reliable, and he never quite realised expectations. Probably Macartney ranks as the best left-handed bowler Australia has ever had. In any account of Australian lefthanded bowlers, two names must not he left out—those of T- Kendall and Frank Al'an. Mr. A. 04. Steel," in the Badminton Cricket, tells us lhat he played Kendall's bowling in 1882 in Tasmania, and that "he was about as nasty a left-hand-er as any batsman could wish to meet." Allan, "The Bowler of the Century," as l:e was called in Australia, was a memtev of the first Australian team that visited this country—that famous eleven that on 27th May, 1S?8, defeated a powerful M.C.C. side a Lord's by nine wickets in a single day, and established the fame of Australian cricket for all time,