CRICKET.

.'NOTES OX THE CLUB .MATCHES.£ Owing to the heavy rains on Saturday morning last all fixtures on the Domain had to ho postponed... This necessitated the two senior fixtures, Grafton v. Parnell and Eden v. Pon.-onby, being put off. Although the {North Shore ground was in a very saturated condition the senior fixture, North Shore v. City, was played and resulted in a win for the homo team by 13 runs on the first inning;;. This postponement is rather unfortunate, for it. will place everything; back a week. To-day the City and North Shore teams will have the; day off, while the other two senior fixtures will be played. Parnell have 165 runs (with six wickets down) io (heir credit, and as mentioned in last Saturday's notes, they appear to have a good chance of bealintr Grafton. Having disposed of Eden for; 143 T'onsonbv should win, and at least if the conditions are favourable the finish should prove interesting. Ponsonby have, certainly lost two wickets for three runs, but the batsmen belong to the tail. On the, previous day's play North Shore had disposed of the City team for 102, and had lost nine of their own batsmen for 114 runs. On Saturday after adding one to their total Shore were all out. On City going in for the second time the wickets fell rather rapidly, and when seven of their men were out they closed their innings. When stumps were drawn North Shore had lost six wickets for 39. North Shore thus won by 13 rims on the first innings. . Shore's victory will no doubt be gratifying to their supporters, for ever since the district scheme has been introduced they have been struggling at the tail end of the list. ■ ;• ~, - : .. ~-> ;.

■ Hcmus, the top scorer of tho previous Saturday, succumbed to Miller on Saturday before he had scored. His attempt to play the ball was a feeble one.

MacCormiek, _who only scored one in City's 'first innings, succeeded in notching 3* in the second. His innings was a sound one. and Ins batting was freer than usual. B»rr-Brown accounted for three of the North Shore's batsmen, Wallace, Woodward, and Hussey, lor eight run?. •-■' K. Xeill (10 .and 15) was the only City :batsman succeeded in scoring double •figures in both innings. '; POACHES FOB THE SCHOOLBOYS. The efforts of the Auckland Cricket Association to improve the schoolboys' and junior players' cricket has so far met with .success. S. P. Jones, who was last season brought from Sydney by the Grafton and Auckland Grammar School Clubs, has been appointed coach to the association. ' This scheme has met with decided support from a number of citizens, and in addition to the £100' presented to the funds by a local enthusiast, two prominent gentlemen have signified their intention of each donatin? £IC a,year for five years to the coach fund, and another has granted £5 a year for a similar term. Numerous gentlemen . have promised a guinea a year to the funds. This is exceedingly gratifying, for perhaps of all the schemes carried out. by the association none will prove so beneficial to the game. It is a movement worthy of the admirable support given it. ' In conjunction with the above-mentioned donations the Auckland Grammar School will; contribute . £20 a season, King's College £10, St. John's College £10; •- and i Prince Albert■; will, it, is expected, also he contributing- a like amount to the fund. Of course this"does not mean ithat the association will have more money than will be required. .On the contrary it will have to keep a good balance in hand for future seasons- ■It will, of course, take more coaches than one to: carry out the plan, and the association have engaged an Englishman named T. Sands, who comes from ■.; Yorkshire v with a good reputation, which, it may be said, is not based on mere talk. I had the opportunity of seeing Sands at the nets on Tuesday evening. While ho was palpably out of practice, and was also on an indifferent wicket, he gave me the im- ; pression of.' being a - sound bat. i He is 'also an excellent bowler. Of,coursi we will hare to wait until we see ■ results before we can sav whether ho "■: will -make a good coach, I for it is .'seldom that, a -first-class player '.makes.' an equally "good teacher. There is one thing certain, and, that is that Jones: in every .respect has proved,himself an ideal coach"'for.', the' boys. A stroll to, the Grammar School net "is all that is required to convince one of that fact. Where the hoys' main object a':season or so ago. was to see how' far they could hit the ball, preferably up in the air. they have now settled down to learn defence, arid "are. learning, and fast turning to effect that there is a right way to hit every ball. To see not a few of the schoolboys that Jones had under his care last season at the nets fills every cricketer ■whose object it is to see the game played as should be, with pleasure. If Sainds is a good coach; and wins half the admiration and respect from the lads put under his care that Jones- does, he will certainly safisfv all interested. It is also the intention of the association -to hare promising junior players coached. The selection committee of each club will send, in the names of -juniors likely to show promise, arid certain nights will be set aside for them to be coached. A full programme, including secondary schoolboys, ( public schoolboys, and junior players is being prepared. , ,

HERE AND THERE. ' The Auckland Sunday-schools' Cricket Association. will op«" the season to-day. The following are the .senior fixtures for the first loimd:— : -v. .Excelsior (Domain), Central Mission v. St. John's (Domain). The following ■junior" matches will be played: — Central Mission v. Jolanthe (Domain), Franklin Road v. St. David's (Kingsland), Eden Terrace v. St. John's (tCingsland), W.Y.M.I, v. St. George's (Domain). ..-. ■ All clubs wishing to join (he Wednesday afternoon competition should send in thenapplications to the secretary of. the association as scon a? possible. * ".[-:■ ;> I; The opening of the public school competition, which was to have been to-day, has ■ been''postponed until nest Saturday, the 11th. * : . : -. :■• . - '

' ft only for the safety of their own players,. the Various district cricket clubs should do something to remedy the dangerous state ; of affairs at, the practice nets. Take, for instance, the Grafton and City Clubs. A few' yards only separate their practice nets. Each of these clubs has two uets running parallel. The nets are not long enough or cveii high enough, and the consequences are that- an off-drive or an- oil-drive goes right in amongst the bowlers at.the neighbouring net. This not only places the bowler in danger, but when about three, balls are going at each net he has to give his attentionto dodging; the next drive the batsman makes, and cannot pay proper attention to his own bowling. On Tuesday night a bowler at one of the Grafton, nets received a ; nasty knock on the face, just below the left eye, from Grafton's , second pitch. : This knock was somewhat serious, and it will be some time before he will be able to use his left, ere, and it is more than probable that ho will not be able to again play cricket. I understand that, the arteries connected with the eyo, were: broken. Many of the players do not seem to realise that even a crickpf. ball can cause serious injury. What I would suggest is that the nets should be made at least sift high and should at least cover the bowlers at the. neighbouring pitch. Tho Eden Cricket Club will hold their annual "At Homo" on Thursday next at the iungslcnd cricket grounds. • Invitations have been sent to the Grafton senior eleven, the IJ.ov/ick Cricket Club, and the Auckland Grammar School. The first-mentioned two same; will start at half-past' ten a.m., and the match with the Grammar School at two o'clock. . - TT For the second successive season l*. il Kii,t has ccored ever 2000 runs and, taken , over 100 wickets in a season '.of first-class •cricksr.