LATE CRICKET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3121, 23 February 1909, Page 5

LATE CRICKET.

WELLINGTON DEFEATS HAWKE'S BAY. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, February 22. Wellington made no mistake about the defeat inflicted by them upon Hawke's 3ay, as after declaringtheir innings closed with five wickets down for 346 runs they eventually defeated their opponents comfortably by 186 runs. Play to-day was interesting, the visitors showing improved form with the bat, and at one time it looked as if they might have played out time. Hawke and Redgrave had the bowling collared, and were scoring freely. When these two were disposed of the rest was comparatively easy, the game terminating shortly before five. Hawke's were without the services of Fenton both in the field and at the wickets, his broken finge* preventing him from playing. There was a good deal of danger in the air nearly all the day. The wicket at the Newtown end cut up badly,, and with Brice bowling the batsmen had anything but a comfortable time—it was to say the least, dangerous. The ball rose menacingly time after time, and slipped past the heads of the bewildered batsmen. Most o£ them received knocks, Hawke a particularly hard one, which laid him out. The damage was not all inflicted on the visitors, Mahony having first to retire from the Wellington side on account of an injury to his hand, while later J. P. Blacklock, who took his place, received a nasty knock on the forehead, the ball having previously gone through, the wickets, which las him out tern.-? porarily. 1

Wellington's fielding yesterday was jjot as good as it might have been, Naughton being the chief His returns in a couple of instances, were decidedly slow, while he alaa dropped an easy catch, Midlane was the best on the side, doing sone really clean good work.

Both Betta and Fulton, the two Hawke's Bay men, who were ion out, deserved to be, and had no one to blame but themselves.

The particular bright portions of the visitors' secon d innings was the batting of Hawke and Redgrave. The former played a splendid chanceless game, . his leg play being capital, and his driving also gocdL His cutting was vigorous, but too late to be very effective, as he missed oftener than he hit. Redgrave showed how CobcroftV'googhy" staff should be treated. He went at it from the start, and scored freely off it. The veteran started off confidently, drove remarkably well aloigthe grass, and looked good fcr many more when he was well, but somewhat luckily caught by Cobcroft off a poor ball. With the exception of Brice, the bowling did not por*> sess much terror for the earlier batsmen, who scored freely off most of those who were tried. Bailey and O'Brien shaped both well for their runs, but both made the mistake of hitting the ball :'nto the air once too often. The following were the scores:— WELLINGTON. First innings 204 Second Innings. Cobcroft, b Fenton 1 Naughon 97 J. P. Blacklock, c Ashcrofe, b Redgrave 124 Rogers, c Hindmarsh, b Fulton 62 Mah'jny, c P. Fulton, b Redgrave 31 Payne, not out 18 Brice, not out 1 Extras 11 Total (innings declared) five wickets for 246 First innings 20~, Grand total 550 Bowling analysis—Nelson, 25 overs, 2 maidens, 105 runs, 0 wickets; Fenton, 13 overs, 0 maidens, 86 runs, one no ball, 0 wickets; Redgrave, 24 overs, 2 maidens, 112 runs, 3 wickets; Fulton, 5 overs, 1 maiden, 18 runs, 1 wicket; Bailey, 2 overs, 0 maidens, 4 runs, 0 wickets; Hawke, 1 over, 0 maidens, 10 runs, 0 wickets. HAWKE'S BAVT. First innings 112 Second Innings. Hawke. c and b Brice 84 Betts, run out 8 Redgrave, c and b Cobcroft 44 Bailey, e Payne, b Brice 33 O'Brien, c Midlane, b Laws 28 P. Fulton, run out 8 Hindmarsh, b Brice 17 Ashcrof t, c Cobcroft, b Brice 1 Leavers, b Cobcroft 6 Nelson, not out 0 Extras 23 Total 252 First innings 112 Grand total 364 Bowling analysis. Brice, 25 overs, 3 maidens, 59 runs, 4 wickets; Connolly, 6 overs, 0 maidens, 22 runs, 0 wickets; Cobcroft, 16.2 overs, 0 maidens, 86 runs, 2 wickets; Rogers, 3 overs, 0 maidens, 19 runs, 0 wickets; Laws, 11 overs, 2 maidens, 43 runs, 1 wicket.