CRICKET

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1926, Page 4

CRICKET

PLAY IN NORTH TARANAKI COMMENTS ON THE GAMES. (By “The Man on the Terrace.”) FIXTURES AHEAD. Next Saturday.—North v. South Taranaki, at New Plymouth. December 3 and 4.—Hawke Cup match, Wanganui (holders) v. Taranaki (challengers) at Wanganui. December 4.—Town v. Country (North Taranaki), probably A and B teams at New Plymouth and at Tikorangi. December 18.—North Taranaki juniors v. South Taranaki juniors. December 17, 18 and 20.—Town v. Country, at Wellington. December 21 and 22.—Minor Associations v. Wellington, at Wellington. The team chosen by the selector to represent North Taranaki against South next Saturday is in all but one case identical with that selected in this column last week. The other player chosen here was Petty, of High School, but this promising bowler has not been given an opportunity of bowling in a better class of cricket. We feel that the all-round strength of the side would have benefited by his inclusion, especially now, so it is understood, Easton is not available. The player who was not selected here was Grayson, for up till Last Saturday he had not given any signs of regaining his form of two seasons ago. Then, Grayson was a delightful left-hander, liking the leg stuff and not afraid to get out of his crease and drive. If his innings of 60 on Saturday can be taken as a sign of old form coming back, he is an acquisition to the side. But in spite of this, we feel that a bowler of pace who could relieve C. G. Clarke and possibly skittle the wickets at the tail end of the opposing side, would have completed a wellbalanced eleven. With the exception of the bowling, the selected team well represents our strength. In batting Kingston, Nasmith, C. Lash, Grayson, Jones and Gibson are all in form, and the fielding should be good. With the ball, Bottrill, Clarke and Quickfall have been bowling well in their last few matches, but we are in need of a fast bowler to relieve Clarke. It is to be hoped the team will give a good display. THE COMPETITION MATCHES. In last Saturday’s game the bowlers triumphed over the batsmen in two of the three senior matches. With the exception of the Western Park-New Plymouth match at Pukekura Park, the batting was over-cautious when it should have been confident, and reckless when care was needed. At Urenui the High School eleven met the local team but although they dismissed their opponents for the paltry score of 25, cannot claim to be out of the wood. The Urenui ground is a difficult one on which to gather runs. The grass in the outfield makes it hard to reach the boundary with the orthodox carpet drive and the wicket has its vagaries. When there is added to this the fact that the bowling of Easton, P. Fuller and Blundell is by no means to be despised, it can be easily understood why only one team (Western Park) has thus far scored over one hundred runs in an innings. Despite these disadvantages, however, School having an innings lead of 26 runs, and nine of the opposing side out for 56, should win without difficulty. It was poor batting on the School grounds where the Old Boys A and B teams met. The B team, batting first, compiled 97 after a slow innings in which wickets fell at regular intervals. With the exception of the partnership ■between C. Lash and Palmer, there was no bright spot in the innings. Lash scored 20 and made his runs with forceful shots. Lash has the great merit in batting of getting well forward to the ball, to smother it if there is a break, and to drive hard if it is in any way over-pitched. Palmer made some uppish strokes in scoring 22. The A team’s bowling was good, Bottrill securing the well-deserved figures of five for 35. The same team’s batting was largely a repetition of their collapse against School the previous week. They did not look like reaching 100. Papps (29) made some capital shots through coyer and lifted Strombom for six, but the others were not inspiring. Bottrill and Earl, who are included in the North team, both made bad errors of judgment. The former mishit a half-volley and the latter hit across a leg ball. Strombom bowled with good length, but secured his wickets rather by the batsmen's mistakes than by any deadly quality in his bowling. The fielding on both sides was good. WESTERN PARK’S GOOD SCORE. The best innings played tMs' season was the general verdict of those who saw Western Park compile 226 against New Plymouth. It is rare indeed that nine players in a side can reach double figures. That they did so epeaks much for their batting strength. The most pleasing innings was that of Grayson, who pulled the short ball to leg and drove in his best style. His total of 60 included eight fours and a six. Dykes was next with 29, and showed that he is developing as a batsman. He showed good strokes in front of the wicket. The player of most promise in the team is Young, who shows signs of becoming a capable batsman. Though only a boy, he has got sound ideas, in particular that soundest of all cricket ideas—- “ Move your feet.” He played forward confidently to the fast stuff and was back quickly to the slow break. This is the stuff of which batsmen are made. The table of championship points to date is as follows: SENIOR GRADE

JUNIOR GRADE NORTHERN DIVISION.

School B 4 1 8 3 Band 4 4 First round matches still to be played: Technical School v. Band; School y. Council B. WESTERN DIVISION.

COUNTRY ASSOCIATION.

First round now completed. In view of the forthcoming Hawke Cup match between Taranaki and Wanganui at Wanganui on December 3 and 4, it is interesting to note the Wanganui trial representative team picked to play against the Wellington legal fraternity at Wanganui on November 30. The team is as follows: J. S. Barton, E. H. Bernau, 0. S. Dempster, J. M. Hussey, R. P. London, D. M. Murchie, G. Orr, C. 'F. Treadwell, U. G. Williams, V. B. Willis, L. A. Wood. Wanganui -will undoubtedly be a hard proposition this season. They have a strong team, and some fine performances have been registered in the club games this year. J. S. Barton (Old Boys), well known for his utterances from the magisterial bench, has been in splendid form with the bat, and compiled 71 in a club match last Saturday. Other good performances last Saturday were:—Batting: Orr (Wanganui), 70; Williams (Wanganui), 57; Dempster (Technical), 53 not out; Ken - (Technical), 41 not out. Bowling: Williams (United), five for 53; Thakobau (Technical), four for 51; Bunny (Collegiate), three for 7; Mason (Collegiate), three for 16; Bernau, (United), three for 52. NORTH TARANAKI JUNIORS. DRAW FOR SECOND ROUND. Following is the draw for the second round of the junior competition in North Taranaki: — NORTHERN DIVISION. November 20.—Waitara v. Old Boys, at Waitara; School A v. Technical College, sft Avenue Road; Band v. Borough Council B, at Tukapa No. 3. November 27. —Technical College v. Waitara, at Tukapa No. 1; Borough Council B v. School A, at Tukapa No. 3; Band v. Old Boys, at Western Park. December 4.—Band v. Technical College, at Tukapa No. 4; Borough Council B v. Old Boys, at Tukapa No. 1; School A v. Waitara, at Avenue Road. December II. —Borough Council B Technical College, at Tukapa No. 3; Waitara v. Band, at Waitara; School A v. Old Boys, at Avenue Road. December IS. —Technical College v. Old Boys, at Tukapa No. 1; Borough Council B v. Waitara, at Tukapa No. 3; Band v. School A, at Avenue Road. WESTERN DIVISION. November 20,—New Plymouth v. Avenue Road, at Tukapa No. 4; Oka to v. School B, at Tukapa No. 1; Borough Council A v. Western Park, at Tukapa No. 2. November 27.—Western Park v. School B, at Tukapa No. 2; New Plymouth v. Okato, at Tukapa No. 4; Avenue Road v. Borough Council A, at Avenue Road. December 4. —Western Park v. New Plymouth, at Tukapa No. 2; Okato v. Avenue Road, at Okato; Borough Council A v. School B, at Tukapa No. 3. December 11.—Western Park v. Okato, at Tukapa No. 2; School B v. Avenue Road, at Tukapa No. 4; New Plymouth v. Borough Council A, at Tukapa No. 1. December 18.—Okato v. Borough Council A, at Okato; Avenue Road v. Western Park, at Tukapa No. 2; School B v. New Plymouth, at Tukapa No. 4. SOUTHERN DIVISION. TWO DAY MATCHES TO BE PLAYED A meeting of the southern division of the Taranaki Cricket Association was held at Hawera last night. Present: — Messrs. H. R. Penny (chairman), L. Crawford-Watson, C. Mel. Young, J. Neilsen, E. G. Betts, V. Hobday, G. Mahoney, M. Priest, and T. McKenzie. A good deal of discussion ensued on the question of adopting the two-day match system. The chairman pointed cut that in such an event Excelsior and Okaiawa were the two lucky teams, as regarded the fixtures, since they had done their amount of travelling under the one day matches, and it was decided by lot that Okaiawa should travel to Stratford. It was decided that the second round consist of two day matches, and that clubs be allowed to play 11 bona fide members, irrespective of whether they had played on the first day or not. In the event of wet weather interfering with play it was decided to leave the question of allotting a further Saturday in order to complete the match to the executive. It was decided to hold a Town v. Country match on Saturday next and the Country team was selected as follows: 11. Hughes, Crawford-Watson, Hobday, Priest, Le Fleming, Crawford, Atkins, V. Betts, Fitzgerald, Harrison, Bairstow; emergencies, Barclay, Kitt and Edwards. The Eltham Club asked for a ruling on the Eltham-Okaiawa match, held at Eltham on Saturday last, and opinion was divided, but on reference to the M.C.C. rules the meeting ruled that the match was a draw. SECOND ROUND FIXTURES. Senior Grade. The following are the fixtures for the second round in the South Taranaki senior competitions:— November 27 and December 4. —Excelsior v. Okaiawa, at Hawera; Midland v. Manaia, at Manaia; Stratford a bye. December 11 and 18.—Midland v. Stratford, at Hawera; Manaia v. Okaiawa, at Okaiawa; Excelsior a bye. January 8 and 15.—Stratford v. Manaia, at Stratford; Excelsior v. Midland, at Hawera; Okaiawa a bye. January 22 and 29.—Okaiawa v. Mid-

land, at Okaiawa; Excelsior v. Stratford, at Hawera; Manaia a bye. February 5 and 12. —Manaia v. Excelsior, at Manaia; Stratford v. Okaiawa, at Stratford; Midland, a bye.

Matches 3-pt 2 ■pt T’l Prd.Wins.Wine .Loss.Pt New Plymouth 2 1 1 — 5 High School .. 2 1 1 — 5 Western Park 2 — 1 1 2 Old Boys A .. 2 — 1 1 2 Old Boys B ., 2 — — 2 — L'renui 2 — — 2 —

M.P. 3-pt 2-pt T’l Wine. Wins. Dn L’t Pt. (Tartars ...... 5 3 1 — 1 11 Technical School 422 — —— 10 Old Bovs 5 1 1 1 2 6 Council B .... 4 1—1 2 4

Matclie 3-pt 2-nt T1 Pl'd. Wins. Wins.Loss.Pt. School A 4 2 2 — 10 Council A ... 5 »? 2 1 10 Okato 5 2 1 2 8 Western Park 4 1 - 3 3 Avenue Road .. 5 1 - 4 3 New Plymouth 5 — 1 4 2 First round match still to be played: School A v. Western Park.

Matches Played. W T’l on. Dn. L- Pt. Tarurutangi 4 2—2 4 Tikorangi .... .... 4 4 — — 8 Brixton .... 4 2 — 2 4 Egmont Village ... 4 1—3 o Beil Block .... .... 4 1 — 3 2