CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1920, Page 7

CRICKET.

THE PLUNKET SHIELD. AUCKLAND v. CANTERBURY. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Yesterday. In the Auckland-Canterbury match the scores at the luncheon adjournment were:~' CANTERBURY. First Innings. Patrick, c- Sneddon, b. Coaies 39 Blunt, not out -....■ 60 Gray, c. Rountree, b. Smith 1 Sandeman, c. Sneddon, b. Coates .. 8 Sandman*, c. Sneddon, b. Smith .... 1 Reese, b. Player 33 Thomas, riot out ................. 3 Eitras ..>,........... 4 ! Total for four wickets : ......; I*B Auckland, Last Night, Canterbury batted first, and compiled "255, Blunt (72) being the highest scorer. Smith, with four wickets for- 76, was the most successful bowler for Auckland. .

In their first Uratnp; Auckland have -scored 186 for tw;o.wickets, Horspool (92) and Hismus (not out 71) being the highest scorers.

OTifiQ r. WEiaaNETQN. : 'Diinsdin, .Last Night. The Otago-Wellington cricket match "was resunied.this morning in beautiful weather. Otago had matte 268 in their first 3trike on Thursday, rind Wellington had lost six wickets for 106.

After 58 minutes' play this morning the visitors were all deposed of for 164, or 104 behind Otago. Otttgo started their second inninga well, but as play advanced the bhtsmeii failed somewhat and eight wickets were down for 144. Then Torrance, Hutchison and' Beeby gave a fine exhibition of batting, and the score had reached 288 before the last wicket fell.

When stumps were drawn Wellington ftad lost two wickets for 17 runs.

HAWKE'S BAY v. CANTERBURY;

Christchurch, Yesterday. The cricket ma'fch," ITawke's Bay v. Canterbury, was.-resumed in ideal weather, batting. . Grant and Worker, the, first men, inade an exdellent stand, 50 appearing after forty minutes,' for 29. and two run* later Worker was bowled by Napier for, 57, Young .and Hayes carried the scoring, along freely, 150 being hoisted after 90 minutes' play. Frequent bowling changes had. no effect and at luncheon the score was 133 for two wickets (Hayes not out 43, Young not.out 35, extras 19), ,

Christchurch, Last Night. In, reply to,the visitors' 278, Canterbury ran up 598 ..(Grant. 29, Wormer 57, Young 238 not out, Hayes 173, Reese 20', Caygill 28, Nixon 15, Taylor 61). Napier got four wickets for. 130, : Spackman 2 for 70, Monfries 2 for 51, and Charles 2 for 93.

VICTORIA v. N.S.W. By , Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan. 2, 10.5 p.m. Melbourne, Jan. 2. In the cricket match between Victoria and South Australia, the latter in the first, innings lost eight wickets for 185 (Rundell 79, Townsend 44).

NOTES BY "SPECTATOR." Those who witnessed the first day's play of the Nomads -v. North Taranaki fixture were hardly. prepared for the fine win secured by the Koine team on the second day.. The visitors were a strong combination, and the substantial win against South Taranaki confirmed this opinion. Their fielding was particularly good, and the batting was better, in my opinion, than • demonstrated. What the visitors' lacked was a reliable medium paced bowler. There was plenty of variety in their attack, but against good average batsmen it had no sting, only requiring watching. This was proved bv the manner in which Hasell and Lash played Collins and Ongley. Collins, wiih a run of 15 yards, got on the pace, but the direction was faulty, many of the balls being almost out of reach of the batsmen. Evidently he expected the home eleven to step across and tip them, as on one occasion there were no less than seven men stationed in the slips. Ongley, a "google>" bowler, was easily playable by the pioneer batsmen, but got his revenge with the later men, who were all at sea in their attempts to score off him. Broad, .a left hander, had no luck, but Smith, fdurth.cfiange, also a left hand'er, proved a difficult boiler to score off. . Of the batsmen Cave, In the first innings, presented a solid front to the local attack and monopolised the scoring, some of his hits being gems. In the second strike he was dismissed by Johnson before he .got. going. Neither Ongley nor Hindmarsh made any scores, but both are fair batsmen. Butler, in •both innings, had a short stay at the crease, but whilst there he was busy and hit out at almost everything. Thanks to a good opening by Heskett (10) and Hasell 40 runs were ohtained before the first wicket fell and then Lash helped Hasell to carry the total to SO. This was excellent, the batting being brisk and yet not rash. It proved too good to last and the next 10 wickets i failed to double these figures, the displays of some of those in the team clearly indicating that they were either dead I out of form or else a long remove from representative standard. Heskett was very strong on anything pitched a bit short,, and his late cuts were good. Hasell opened very gingerly, and no one would have been surprised to see him go in the opening overs. After that he settled down and gave a crisp display of batting that should have given Ms comrades some confidence when facing the visitors' bowlers. Lash opened with three boundaries, all big hits. Arkwright, the wicket-keeper, made four attempts to stump Lash and, although he failed in this object, he secured Lashjs dismissal by accepting a catch tha.t, ran up Lash's bat. The Nomads were pleased to see his retirement. Johnson gave a very sound display. He was satisfied to pat several balls and then occasionally opened his shoulders and thus scored several useful boundaries. Clarke also batted very well for 16 runs, and was shaping: very well for a score when a l.b.w. decision sent him back to the pavilion. Palmer did not impress me favorably. He scored a boundary off the first ball sent down to him, and then was dismissed by a ball that lie appeared to be going to drive to the boundary, and then altering his mind, plaved buck too late. Nicoll has done well in past years, but was palpably out of practice and makes one wonder how he was selected. Robertson is too casual in condition. He anpears to be a sound bfttsmun,

but in the first innings he, failed to. connest with ..Collins' iast.. QV.ers. . Staiaton, going in last, quite failed to sight Collins and was dismissed without scoring. Against this he kept wickets admirably, whilst he handled, his bowlers very well. I was very pleased with Osborne's bowling, Jnjths first wniogs his trundling was very steady and kept the visitors', batsmen pTaying cautiouslv. Heaid not shape too good with .the bat, but his fielding was : excellent, and lie was beyond doubt one of the best men in the team. Johnson scored a triumph in the 3e . c .?"<l innings. Keeping ah excellent leagth. and just outside the wickets he was almost unplayable to the Nomads, who found it a difficult matter to keep the wicket intact when he sent dovn> the straight ball. Clarice, although not securing many wickets, t required constant watching and proved his worth. . The Sigh School ground was in excellent order, the pitch being easily the best in Tar'anaki, whilst the outfield was ojsn close cropped and indicated that (with care and,attention a.good playing area. can be secured as well as in other, town.!?. The attendance of tfie public was rather disappointing, bill this may be attributable to the distance froin town iand the fact that ininy criclfete'rs (juniors), who might have peep.' present, were at work, there beijig no holiday. South Taranalci are due to visit here shortly and. the.following eleven, to me looks a friflcn stronger combination than that which played ..the late fixture':— Heskeft, HaselJ, Lash, Johnson, Clarke, Bottall,, Eggleton, Osborne, Waller and Morrison. With BottrjJl anl .Eggleton unavailable, Partridge and Sutherland (2p\).