SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10413, 6 September 1911, Page 6

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

CRICKET NOTES.

[By "Leg-Brbak."]

Cricket enthusiasts will Jo fleasfxl to learn that the Park Oval is in a sufficiently fit state to commence practise on. The season, -Wherefore, will probably be opened on Saturday next, and that day should see a good number of players turn up at the nets in the endeavour to strike form early. It is to be hoped that junior players will avail themselves more'of the opportunities to practise at the nets, so that a general improvement in cricket all round might be made this season. Arthur Styles, the Carlton player, intends taking up the game in earnest this year. Last year this player practically retired from cricket, only playing in a couple of matches. A few seasons back Styles was regarded as one of *he best all-round cricketers in tfhe Wairarapa, and as a fielder in the slips he is hard to beat. With some practice he should recover ibis form and come out well in the averages at the end of the season. Styles has intimated "his intention of taking on the gloves this season. Since the Carlton Club lost the .services of Harry Ogier, they have felt the need of a good man behind the stumps. Fred Phillips, who has taken the gloves in some matches, although a good wicket-: keeper, is much more useful as a bowler, and, consequently last season the club had really no reliable wicketkeeper; With Styles behind the sticks this season, tlhe Club will be considerably strengthened, as this player is very quick with his hands, particularly so with fast bowEng. Of course, his loss in the slips will be considerably felt, but no doubt this position will be capably filled by L. Boyd, who, it is stated, intend© taking up the game this season. Besides the new Carlton and Carterton junior teams which will enter the Championship this season, Featherston will also enter a team. One, of the leading Wellington papers, in giving the person lei <if the M.C.C. team which is shortly to visit Australia, included in the list. the name of "E. G. Smith, Gloucestershire." It is hardly possible that this old player will come to Australia this season, as he died on April sth, 1880! The name ishould have been E. J. Smith, the Warwickshire wicket-keep-er. At a recent meeting of the Canterbury Cricket Association, the requirements in regard to.; military training came in for strong criticism. Members generally expressed the opinion that the Defence Act would seriously affect the game of cricket, and probably result in a ; Very small membership in the junior grades. . The new regulations were particularly hard on cricket, as it was the only igame which required two days to complete. One member said that if the present conditions were continued, cricket .would be practically killed. The meeting appointed a deputation to wait on the Officer Commanding the District and place the position before him. Colonel Hawkins, when replying to the deputation, which subsequently waited on him, said that would go thoroughly into the mattery/find would advise the Association later of the decision arrived at. He expressed the opinion, however, that the military authorities, from the" Commandant downwards, would be willing to assist the cricketers if it wais at all practicable. '

Otago will suffer a severe loss this season. Hopkins, whose batting has been a feature of Dunedin cricket for the past few seasons,, has left for. Sydney. The new oval at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, is 162 yards by 140 yards. It is already set'out, and will be a splendid playing area, fit for any class of cricket. Big strides are being made with the alterations, and it is hoped to have everything completed by the end of November. A new members' stand is being erected to accommodate. 500 people. --,•■< New Zealanders would very much like to 'have a visit from the Australian team on their way to England next season, says the "Referee," but this is not possible 6eeing that the English programme in Australia will close only just before the, •■ time the Australians will leave for England. The Imperial Cricket Conference will be held at Kensington Oval (London) on Monday next,- September 11th, and notat Lord's on August 11th, as has been announced.

"Not Out" in the "Referee" says: —"W; J. Whitty is still in the South Coast District. I understand that there is a likelihood of his not returning to Adelaide. In that case he will be once more eligible for New South Wales." . In an interesting interview with London "Sporting Life," recently, Mr A. 0. MacLaren, the famous Lancashire batsman who has announced his retirement from first-class cricket, .said:—"l have played my last' bag match—county cricket, if you will; a knock in a house match now and then, perhaps, but that is all I shall permit myself to have. I have had a long innings, and I have enjoyed it all. Perhaps I have still a great deal of cricket in me yet;,many of my friends are good enough to tell me that I have. I began, yery young, you know, and after twenty-five years is it not timo to cry 'Enough'?" A. C. MacLaren was horn on december Ist, 1871, auti played 'his first match for Lanca.shire in 1890, when ho scbred'loß against Sussex, -which, stamped him as a bats-

man <©lf undoubted class. He succeded to 4h« captaincy of tli3 County Eleven j in 1894, and in the following year, playing against Somer-set on July 15th, he amassed an innings of 424, breaking all previous records, and establishing one which has renaiiied unbeaten up to the present. As an instance of the uncertainty of the game, and the difference between a "duck" a/id a "century," it is said fiat the first ball he received in » - lvs great match hit the stumps without removing a bail. MacLaren has uiany times captained the Ally England team. G. A. Faulkner, 'he South African who did so well in tiie recent tour in Australia, has arrivnd in Eugland. and i:.as given some of his ! -nn .-essions of the tour to an English pap?/. He said • "One of the things which lmv-resst.' nio enormously in Australia w;ts the tatting of Victor Trunper. 1 have never seen anything so wonderful -n n.'j life. He was mag nfce.it, perfect The champagne of cnckcc, if you iike. K* was always so brihi and so sure. There was perfection in all he did. He plays cricket as the Dohertys play tennis ;• always with the minimum of effort and the maximum of effect. The bat always seemed to be hitting the ball in the centre, no matter how you bowled at him. The Australian batting and fielding is wonderfuly strong, but I have an idea that their bowling is hardly so strong. . . Charlie Macartney is also a very fine bat. and he made three successive hundreds and 52 against us; and in those weeks I I think he was, for the time being, one of the greatest batsmen cricket has ever known. . . . But the Aus-

tralian wickets are the joy of batsmen and the despair of bowlers. You cannot bowl the googly there. The wickets are too hard and plumb. They simply kill the googly." Questioned with regard to the respective chances of England, Australia and South Africa in the Triangular Tests, Faulkner said he could not speak with much authority(jibout England. "It is so long," he said, "since I had any first-hand knowledge of English cricket, but.l should place' Australia first, England second, and South Africa last. We are now much weaker than we ought to be, for the retirement of Kotze and the entire loss of form by Vogler have dismissed our attack fully 40 per cent in effectiveness. I notice that England is sending o team to Australia this autumn. They will have to send their best if they are to do at all well. Ido not think England can send a side to beat Australia > on their own wickets unless something extraordinary happens." D. C. Collins has scored 516 runs, .averaging 34.40, for Cambridge University, being second onlv to M. Falcon, with; 589 runs at 36.81. The I New Zealander secured nine wickets iat 13.6.6 runs apiece. . J. T. Hearne recently established a new world's record at Lord's, while playing for Middlesex against Yorkshire. When he bowled Booth he took his 2744 th wicket in first-class cricket, thereby eclipsing W. G. Grace's at 2473 wickets. In commenting on this feat, "The' Week" says:—"Of course, W.G.'s record is the greater of the two, because of the runs he made while collecting all th£se victims to his sim-ple-looking, slow-tossed stuff. But this does, not deprive the famous professional of any merit of a fine record, and one which nobody but a Yorkshireman'is likely to beat in our time."