OUT DOOR SPORTS.

Observer, Volume 5, Issue 131, 17 March 1883, Page 422

OUT DOOR SPORTS.

NOTICES. Secretaries of all kinds of Clubs for the promotion of out-door sports will confer a favour by communicating any items of interest connected with their sport, game, or pastime; more especially withrespect to coming SJiort sketches of sporting or pleasure excursions mil be welcome , and questions on all matters connected with sports will be gladly answered. All communications must le addressed to The Editor. — The "glerious uncertainty of cricket" has had another emphatic exemplification in the match of Bligh's Team versus Eleven of Victoria ; the local men winning by an innings and 73 runs. The wretched weather no doubt told sadly against the Englishmen. —The return match between the Alpha and Union CO. which took place in the Domain on Saturday week, resulted in a draw. The scores "were Alpha 113, Union 38 for three wickets. John Sinclair and J. Wallace the two not out being 15 and 13 each. The Alpha men provided an excellent lunch during the match. — Fife's new five-ton yacht for Australia has just been finished at Home and will shortly be shipped to Port Jackson. She is said to be very handsome, and will no doubt win a lot of prizes in Antipodean waters, where yacht racing is rapidly bacoming fashionable. — Joe Bush, the rising athlete, intends shortly to go in training for the coming sport 3. His form and style of going at the Saddlers' picnic were greatly admired, and his staying powers are good. He will prove a stiff opponent to our local peds. — A letter from an esteemed correspondent appears below on the Cricket Selection Committee's blunders. I cordially endorse the opinion of my ( correspondent in every particular, and am certain j lie has not named any man who should not have | been selected, while his strictures on some that j have been, are just and to the point. ' — The Coromandel regatta takes place on Saturday, 17th, and will be the best ever held at that place. There are to be thirteen events, and aa yachts and sailing boats are going from Auckland and Thames, the local crack boats will have their work cut out to secure first prize. Messrs Lewisson, Kohn, and Alexander, of Auckland, have kindly given cups for competition. — If the wet weather we have been having lately leep3 going much longer, we shall have to put bat, ball, and stumps away, and trot out the goal posts and football. Ponsonby Club will this year lose the services of two of the most honest forwards in the team, the Skeen Bros, who are now residing at such a distance from town as to render I attendance on Saturdays almost impossible. How- I ever,, their places will be well filled by two other old players, who were unable to play last season, viz., E. Coleman and W. Henderson. — Young Dave Berry, son of the editor of the Herald, bids fair to rival our other crack colt, Jack Arneil, in the cricket field. He is without doubt one of the most promising young players in Auckland, and every Saturday knocks up excellent scores against bowling of all kinds. He is also a good roundarm bowler and field, and his average in the two first departments of the game promise to be nearly, if not quite, the best of his eleven, the West End Second. It is a pity that the Selection Committee have not given him a chance, and put him in practice for the match versus Taranaki. —The Ponsonby Eegatta Club, in offering so excellent a programme for their regatta for , Easter Monday, the 26th inst., deserves the hearty support of the general public. This support it seems is pretty well assured, and the Collecting Committee have met with a good meed of success in their mission. Money and trophies have rolled in, and some of the finest cups I have seen given for such purposes have been presented to the club, and allotted to the various events. Good entries are bound to ensue, and our aquatic sports should show their appreciation of the efforts made to afford them an opportunity of exercising in their various branches, by making up good fields on* the entry night, Wednesday next, at Stanford's Ponsonby Club Hotel. — Looking at Delaney'e record for 10 miles when running against W. G. George lately in America, it seems a pity but that some man with a bit of money, would take O'Brien, the champion Australian miler who was here a while back, over to America and England, and have a slap at some of these " record " makers. It will be remembered that on the Domain cricket ground, on a rough grass track this splendid performer did two miles (carefully measured and checked) in 57.46, (I am i not quite sure of the seconds) and his record for a mile is authentically 4.18 J, done on grass at Ballarat. On a good cinder track this man would make George's 4.23 i look small. —A correspondent writes :— Would it not be a good plan for the present Selection Committee to I resign and let some of the older cricketers select I those who are to go into practice for the Taranaki I match ? Messrs. Mumford, G. Lankham, Macky, I and Robinson would certainly make a better I B^m° n tnan has been done. Cromwell ought I certainly to have been selected for his fielding, if I else. It is always a pleasure to watch I MmTln the long field — no chances missed, and I nothing allowed to pass if it is at all stopable. I C; Abel and F. Goodacre ought both to be put in ■ practice— the one for his batting, and the other ■ for his bowling, which is really wonderful. ■ George Walker, as an all-round left-hand player, lis not equalled by anyone in Auckland. F. Porch ■ and T. Macky ought both to be tried, although ■they are not the men they were a season or two I ago. There are altogether too many of the Auckland C.C. in the twenty. Beale, with the- exArotion of the West Coast trip, and the letter to Association, has never done anything and neither he nor Osmond ever ever will be, fit to represent Auckland HHB^& twenty-two. Cameron and Dewes are form, and Bindon's only good point is Thero has been altogether too men for good fellowship's sake, cricketing powers. H^^HH[HBjLaymouth's sensible letter in the BHHH^HHk Purely well called for by the

circumstances. Where a tiling has become such well established fact as has the inutility of taking depth into account in yacht measurement, it seems unreasonable to expect that a body of, for the most part, inexperienced men such' as compose ! a regatta committee, should take upon themselves !to make so important an innovation as the Ponsonby ~R. G. rule undoubtedly is. Surely such a meeting of non-practical men ought to and might well be guided by the hard earned and well proven experience of experts both theoretical and pratical. This depth rule will never wrok anyhow. It is bound to foster the building of shallow, dangerous craft of the " skimdish " description, and every true yachtsman ought to discountenance any rule having the slightest leaning to such an undesirable result. I trust that the P. E. 0. will reconsider their decision in this matter, and rescind the resolution before entry night. — A correspondent writes : — What will the cricketing critics think of the pluck of the Australians now ? They have been beaten thoroughly by Ivo Bligh and his merrie men, with their best bowler in such a state from his broken ribs as to be absolutely no use. The last match played was against the ten best men in Australia, assisted by one of the best English professionals. However, let us see how the English team stand with regard to the Australians in the four first-class matches. In the first match they were defeated by 9 wickets (Morley being sick and unable to play, and Leslie being too sick to field). The second match they won in an innings, with 27 runs to spare. The third match they won by 70 runs (or, as a matter of fact, by 8 wickets), and were defeated by 4 wickets in the last match. Comparing Ivo Bligh's team and Murdoch's together, we will see which is the better : — ITO BLIGH'S ELEVEN. — BATTING. i §* * . 4f« Kama. jU*.S" 2 fsl §> ,f*£H S pq <} A. G. Steel ... 7 1 135 156 274 45.4-6 W. W. Read ... 7 ... 75 87 228 32.4-7 Bates 7 1 55 57 171 28.3-6 0. T. Studd ... 7 ... 48 79 160 22.6-7 E. F. S. Tylecote 7 ... 66 71 142 20.2-7 Barlow 7 ... 28 52 126 18.0 C. F. D.Leslie... 7 ... 54 54 106 15.1-7 Barnes 7 1 32 32 87 14.3-6 G. F. Yernon ... 2 1 11 14 14 14.0 Ivo Bligh ... 7 1 19 29 65 10.5-6 a. B. Studd ... 7 ... 9 12 31 4.3-7 Morley 5 2 2 2 4 1.1-3 77 7 1408 20.8 MtTEDOCH'3 ELEVEN. — BATTING AGAINST ITO BIJGH'S ELEVEN. m bi S S « •< A. C. Bannerman 8 1 94 99^255 36.3-7 J. M. Blnckham 7 1 58 115 204 34.2-6 E. J. Bonner ... 7 ... 87 90 217 31.0 H. F. Boyle ... 1 ... 29 29 129 29.0 W. L. Murdoch 8 2 48 81 153 25.3-6 G. Giffen ... 7 ... 48 59 162 23.1-7 P. S. McDonnell 5 ... 43 43 j59 11.4-5 H. H. Massie ... 6 ... 43 53 !69 11.3-6 F. R. Spofforth 6 2 14 14 j3l 7.3-4 T. Horan ... 7 ... 19 27 149 7.0 G.E. Palmer ... 6 5 7 11 \2O 5.0 T. W. Garrett... 5 ... lo 16^16 3.1-5 73 8 1264 19.2 ENGLISH BOWLING. Fame. Runs. Wicktes Aver'ge. 0. F.H.Leslie ... 44 4 11.0 Bates 286 19 16.2 A. G. Steel 196 11 17.9 Morley 150 8 18.6 Barlow 343 15 28.13 Barnes 170 6 28.2 G. T. Studd • 93 3 31.0 W. W. Read 27 ... .27 1309 66 19.55 AUSTRALIAN BOWLING. Name. Run 9. Wickets Aver'ge. T. Horan 63 5 12.3 F.T.Boyle 87 5 17.2 A. C. Bannerman ... 17 1 17.0 G. E. Palmer 397 21 18.19 G. Giffen 164 8 20.4 F. R. Spoffcrth ... 407 18 22.11 T. W. Gnrrett ... 168- 3 56.0 P. S. McDonnell 16 ... .16 1319 61 21.38 The compaiison of my correspondent on the Ivo Bligh cricket team is correct enough as to figures no doubt, and, working out consistent performances, it would seem that the Englishmen have a better record than that credited to the Australian Eleven. But one circumstance greatly in favour of the latter I cannot help putting forward. It is this : Bligh's Eleven playing in England would be looked upon as a very strong eleven, but not carrying enough interest with its matches to cause the selection of the most perfect talent obtainable to oppose it. Therefore its members, whether playing as an organised eleven, or individually as units in various teams, would be likely to have greater opportunities of improving their average in botk bowling and batting, though the matches might still be called first-class, than would ever be possible with the Australians ; against whom we may be very sure the very best men it would be possible to get for love or money, would be brought, thus rendering the compiling of crack averages a matter of far greater difficulty for the visitors.

— The reception which. Mace and his protege, Slade, the half-caste Maori, have met with in America so far as we have news, haa not been rery flattering to either party. That fearful and wonderful organ, the Illustrated Police Gazette, the sporting editor of whidh it was who invited the pair over, has contained some most peculiar articles on the men, but Slade particularly has been most peculiarly written about. Some crank in 'Frisco who acts as correspondent for the paper in question wrote of Slade as though he were a natural curiosity instead of being as he undoubtedly i 9 a fino-lookingmfin of magnificent physique. He says "I heard Mace's curiosity chattering in a room of the hotel, and on going in was greeted by Mace who pointed out ohe animal sitting in a chair with huge long arms hanging between its knees. At a word from the ex-champion "the creature" staggered to ita feet when Mace made a pass at it, which it parried cleverly and then sent in some good ones, finishing up by a terrible blow which knocked the old 'un clean over the Bureau." This enlightened liar who had evidently never sot eyes on Slade, goes on to describe tbe poor fellow as being hardly a man at all. He says "It is the ugliest creature I ever saw, with a scarcely perceptible nose, forehead slanting straight back, eyes no bigger than the end of my finger, and the biggest mouth I ever set eyes on." This is particularly strong, especially when we remember that Slade is a splendidly proportioned man of sis feet two in height, who M-ould be positively handsome, were it not for a rather heavy scowl that habitually rests on his face. Arrived at New York the pair were arrested on the eve of a big boxing show at Madison Square Gardens. However, the bench dismissed them, saying that a boxing exhibition was not an illegal act ; and the show subsequently came off, Slade giving general satisfaction by his clever work. It strikes me that the arrest was a put up job to advertise the men and make them " draw." Probably by this time Slade and Sullivan have arranged matters, if they have not actually met, and the issue is certain to cause intense excitement, as Sullivan has as yet an unbeaten record and is looked upon as the hardest hitter the world ever saw, and next to invincible. If Mace succeeds in imparting some of his own wonderful science to his pupil, added to that pupil's own native nimbleness and giant strength, it should make him a dangerous adversary even to John L. Sullivan.