CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1919, Page 7

CRICKET.

TO-DAY'S FIXTURES. 'The fixtures for to-day are as follow: Senior.—New Plymouth Bv. Old Boys, at Pukekura Park; New Plymouth A v. Tikorangi, at Tikorangi; Freezing Works v. High School, at High School, Junior.—High School A v. Freezing Works, at Show Ground; High School B v. Whiteley, at Racecourse; Waireka v. Tikorangi, at Tukapa Reserve. The following will represent Old Boys: Bewley, Quilliam, Osborne, Monteath, Colson, Bottrill, Saxton, Oliver, Eggletop., Hughes, Sole. Heskett, with 22 against Waireka, continued his success with the bat. He is easily the most successful bat in the club, if n ot in the competition. He also bowled well in the first innings, securing three wickets for 9 runs. Saunders, so far, has been unable to get going with the bat and his scores are no criterion of his ability'with the bat. He has proved very \isef ul as a bowler, breaking up partnerships when most required. F, Robertson totalled 37 and with the ball bagged 9 for 13 runs. As in previous games, Waller has demonstrated that he is the best batsmen in the Waireka team. He is playing good cricket, having to face jnuch better bowling than usual, going in early. Without him Waireka would be a sorry batting team, a feature of their innings being that four of the team were •dismissed for a pair of spectacles in the game. NEWS AND NOTES. (By "Spectator"). With only four teams engaged in the Thursday competition, it is advisable that there should be at least three rounds, if not four, for the championship, otherwise interest will be lost before the summer is half over. In this division New Plymouth is leading in the aggregate points, but have played one more game than the other clubs engaged. With the strong member.ship the club possesses there is every probability that the strength of the eleven will be materially increased as the season advances. Inglewood is also capable of improvement, and if Gudgeon can be persuaded to resume his place in the team the prospects of winning the competition would be much brighter, as a good lefthand bowler would prove very useful. If Clegg secures the necessary practice he should materially strengthen the batting, so that, with Gudgeon and Clegg as regular players, Inglewood will be a team of possibilities Considering that many of the players are youths with no previous experience of cricket, Waireka has done well so fui\ • Many in the team are very crude in their batting and are dismissed with the first straight ball It is a pity that some of the older players cannot be prevailed upon to visit the younger men, and instruct them how to'stand at the wicket and defend the stumps. Enthusiasm counts for a lot, and with a little instruction the dub should do much better in future matches. Albion has yet to register a win. Like the Waireka Club, the eleven includes many players who are novices at the game, but there are others who, should they strike form, will put up some good totals. Inglewood are fortunate in that three of the four games played by the club have been decided on their own grounds, and in each instance they have succeeded in securing a popular win. Their first loss was that sustained last week, when the leaders of the competition, New Plymouth, reversed the decision of the first round, securing a comfortable win There is not the slightest doubt that playing on a concrete pitch is disastrous to the novice, as AVaireka and Albion have both fallen for miserable scores at Inglewood. On Thursday, Sutherland and Outfield were responsible for Albion's debacle, the former's analysis reading five for 2(3 and the latter nine for nine. Harkness is batting very consistently, and hit up 32 very steadily for Inglewood. With a strong defence he is proving a most useful batsman and should gain a position in the trial games. Nicholls (21) showed a timely return to form, which is pleasing to his comrades. O'Byme's 49 included some very fine strokes, and demonstrated him to be a useful man in a team, as his howling is -well up to senior standard. Albion's efforts wer« extremely feeble, 47 for two innings being exceptionally poor, Oliver, with 13, being the only batsman to show any confidence on the pitch.