SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9685, 8 January 1910, Page 3

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

(By "Hercules.") CRICKET. It is said that Clem Hill will take Noble's place as captain of futura Australian teams. The centuries registered to date in inter-provincial matches are:—H. C. Seideberg 162, C 0. Macartney 118. for Otago against Southlmd, uj.s week; Perham 141, for Taranaki in the match North Taranaki v. Wanganui, at New Plymouth on Monday last; and H B. Luak, batting for Canterbury against Otago compiled 102 not out. The replies from the various Associations inter-sted regarding financing the tour of the Australian team were considered dt the last meeting of the N.Z. Cricket Council, and as only three Associations were against the pooling system, it was unanimously decided that the tour of the Australian team be financed by the Council and the affiliated Associations; that the Council and the Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago Associations be asked to contribute £IOO each, and the remaining Associations as per arrangements already agreed to; in the event of more than the required sum being subscribed, the respective amounts to be reduced pro rata; that the profit or loss, if any, be divided among the CounciJ and Associations in proportion to the amount allotted. • In view of the probable visit of the Australian cricketers to Masterton, the following paragraph from the "Sydney Keferee" of December 15th will be oi interest: -"The Australian team tu visit New Zealand 1 will leave Sydney immediately after the New South Wales v. Victoria , match starting on Anniversary Day. The date fixed provisionally by the New Zealand Council is Saturday, January 29th, but the match may not be concluded by the time, although, no doubt, an early start will be made, if necessary, on each of the two last days. It will interest 'New Zealanders to hear that there is a probability of a leading Australian becoming a member of this team, which is to travel purely on amateur lines."

Utago's score of 593 in their match with Southland constitutes a New Zealand record for first-class cricket. It is also the first inter-provincial match in which two centuries were scored, these being obtained by Siedeberg and Macartney. . During their recent tour in America, the Gentlemen of Ireland played seven matches, of which they won three, lost two, and drew two. Both their defeats were at the hands of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. In the match at Haverford, J. B. King took all ten wickets for 54 runs in the first innings, and did the hat trick in the second. This third occasion on which he has obtained all the wicKets in an innings. 2 Australians seem to feel the loss of "little Charles G. Macartney," very much, and are never tired of discussing rumours as to whether or not he intends to return to his native heath. It seems to be generally accepted that he is crossing to Sydney for the winter months, but it is not known whether he will remain to aid Australia against South Africa next season. If the two Sydney men, Callaway and Macartney, go to the wickets for Otago together, says the Sydney "Arrow," it should recall W. G. Grace and Bobbie Abel, or A. C. K. Mackenzie and S. E. Gregory, or J. J. Lyons and A. C. Bannerman—the giant and the midget. Forty-nine matches have been played between Otago and Canterbury since 1864, of which Canterbury have won 25, Otago 23, and one has been drawn.

P. Greatbatch, the young Taranaki representative player, and formerly ot Petone, who put up the fine total of 64 against Wanganui. at New Plymouth this week, played for S. Augustine's, Petone, against S. Matthew's, Maaterton, on the Park Oval last Easter Monday, when he compiled 52. M. A. Noble, of Australia, who has definitely decided to retire from cricket, was born on January 28th, 1873, so that he is nearly thirty seven years old. He first visited England in the summer or 1399. and started by scoring 116 not out in his first match against English bowling. He played in all the five Test matches, coming second in the averages to Clem Hill with an average of over 50 for nine innings. This performance at once stamped him as a great player, and since then he has been one of the mainstays of every Australian team that ha s toured Eng land. The recent match at Adelaide is the first against South Australia in which M. A. Noble (New South Wales) has not figured since he first appeared in 1896. He has played in 26 matches without a break. In

these matches he scored 2,146 runs and secured 80 wickets. The Hawke's Bay professional "coach," J. H. Board, of Gloucestershire, was within reach of his cen- i tury when he scored 98 against Poverty Bay at Gisborne last week. | FOOTBALL. football season officially ended in the United States on November 20th. It has been the most sanguinary in the, history of the]| game, despite the efforts made by experts this year to frame rules to eliminate brutality. The list of victims, who were nearly all schoolboys and undergraduates, comprises twenty-six killed and 208 seriously injured, many being maimed for life. The annual Amateur Association football game England v. Ireland was played at Leeds late in November, and endeld in a draw—4 goals each. This is the first time the English amateurs have failed to win. In the Yorkshire Cup semi-final. | Huddersfield defeated Halifax on' November 13th, jm the presence of 30,000 people, £BBB being taken at the gates. An English exchange, criticising the play, says that "Rosef aid is settling down to capital centre i three-quarter back play, a and the \ Australian was a tower of strength f when daring saves were needed at (the feet of Halifax forwards, Wrigley, the ex-Red Star (Masterton) I player is the bustler Of old. He serves his partner with effect, and his long, i raking kicks are most acceptable to his forwards." W. Trevarthen, formerly of New Zealand, also played with Huddersfield in this match. In reply to an enquirer the "Sydney Referee" says:—.bifty-two thousand is the record attendance at a Rugby .Union football match in Sydney. ATHLETICS. The English Press Association says, news reached Newport (Hon.) on November. 15th, of the death at Hull of William Buckler, the world's record-holder for feats of endurance and long-distance walking, the deceased, who was in his 61st year, had been a life teetotaller. Dorando Pietri, the hero of the Marathon race at the London Olympic Games, has just married the pretty peasant girl Teresino Dondi, to whom he was betrothed before he won fame and a small fortune as a long-distance runner, aince his experiences in the United States, Dorando shirks displays of popular enthusiasm, and his wedding took place at five o'clock in the morning. At the Wanganui Amateur Athletic Ciub's sports meeting on Boxing Day, W. G. Harding, of Napier, lowered the 1,000 yards New Zealand record for that distance. Harding's time was 2min i9£sec, or nearly ssecs less than the record. He was timed by three watches, and giving good starts won by about 15 yards. TEN IN IS. W. A. Larned's performances in the American Championship are exceptionally good, as he won the title for the fifth time last year, and is getting measurably near the record of R. D. Sears, who won it seven years in succession, from 1881 to 1887. His first victory was in 1901, and in 1902 he won again, beating R. F. Doherty, and then H. L. Doherty beat him next year. Trie next three years the title went to Holcombe Ward, B. (J. Wright, and W. J. Clothier. By this time Larned had added to his brilliancy a steadiness that brings him out victorious against all challengers, and he won the title in 1907, 1908, and 1909. Australia's American visitors, Messrs M. E. McLoughlin and M. H. Long, have played their last game for at least a twelve-month on Australasian courts. They finished by playing an exhibition match against Queensland. The lambs led for the slaughter were Turner and St. John, but the latter, as a pair, put up a good fight in the second set of the Doubles, after being beaten 6—2 in the first. Turner and St. John got to 6 all before their opponents got the necessary two games' lead. SWIMMING. At the Lyttelton Dock on New Year's Day, F. tt. Dodge was successful in winning the' 100 yards Championship of Canterbury for the third year in succession. The time j was 67secs. .