CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 272, 14 November 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

Once more cricketers had nothing to grumble at as regards wickets on Saturday. The light towards the end of the day might certainly have been better, but this was the only condition unfavourable to scoring. It was, consequently, disappointing to see such small scoring in the senior matches. Making every allowance for the bowling, which did not in general , strike me as being particularly good, most of the batting seemed to me to be mediocre. The match in front of the pavilion was between Grafton and Parnell. Parnell's chances were fay- ' ouved in many quarters, despite their defeat at the hands of Ponsonby. When ! D. Hay won the. toss the spectators settled themselves down to the realisation of a substantial score by Grafton. Mr. Yates had prepared a splendid wicket, on which the ball rose rarely above the height of the stumps, and Grafton were expected to get 200 at the very least. But disasters occurred in quick succession, and the cricket shown by the first four or five batsmen was poor. N. B. Lusk had the men in trouble from the outset, and he bagged five wickets in very short time for but j 36 runs. He bow-led below his usual ,1 pace, and his length seemed to be the trouble. Totman was never at home to him, and several times looked like going out m making his 13. Kallender was shaping well when he hit one rather softly back to the bowler, who was duly grateful. If he. had opened his shoulders and hit hard, the ball would probably have found a resting place in; the pavilion. D. Hay touched one of ] Lusk's characteristic deliveries, a good length ball that goes away to the off, and Oliff snapped him up in the slips, As the batsman remarked, he should, have known better. At 36 Sloman Stemson got together and put a differ-j ent appearance on things. The former' was aggressive, the latter cautious, and both gave an excellent display of running between the wickets. Sloman onee 1 again rendered great service to his side by his fine fearless driving. At length: he tried to hook a good one from Lun-j don, and his stumps suffered. The score was then 94. C. Hay stayed with Stemson for a bit,' until he played Lnsk with his leg instead of with the bat, and had to retire. Hawkins was finely taken by Lusk off his own bowling. | Clayton, who was not well, went in eighth wicket down, and after making four was beaten all the way by one : from Lusk. The same bowler soon got i Lepine, and the innings was over at 141, ' Stemson played patiently for 46 (not out), but I think he is neglecting __s ( hitting abilities. i The innings was a triumph for Lusk, 1 who took nine wickets at a Mpt of 53, runs. He would do well, however, to! dispense with his unnecessary demonstrations of jubilation when he holds a catch. Ignorant people may think that they are celebrations of an unusual enlevement. Barclay's bowling in matches this season has'so far not been a success, although he is very difficult to play at practice. On Saturday 33 runs were hit' off him without result. He seemed to bowl too frequently a ball breaking away from the wicket. Kallender seems to have lost most of his hitting power, which made him formidable not long ago. He is a very able natural batsman, and he was not intended to play the "pretty" game. If he would make full use of his height and swing his bat more, we should see some more of that cricket which used to delight the spectators at the Domain. Parnell made good use of the time at their disposal at the end of the day,' and rattled up 52 for the loss of one wicket. Lundon and Murray tried to, outdo each other in the • matter of boundaries, until Lundon placed a lofty' drive in the vicinity of D. Hay, who made a well-judged catch. Murray continned in his aggressive tactics, and had J scored 37 before the stumps were drawn! a little before time on account of thej bad light. Sloman and Hawkins came in for a good deal of punishment. Stemson could not bowl at first, and only got one over in at the end of the afternoon.

City showed very consistent form in their match against Ponsonby, seven men getting into double figures. Most of the batting lacked vigour, and I thought that White, though he bowled j well, might have been punished more. Still there was a good deal of soundness, and Neill has some very fair talent at his disposal. S. Stephenson, who has been playing in the second grade for some years, was the highest scorer with 37. His was a sound and cautious innings, with several rattling strokes on the off. Neill started off in good style, but a low one from White cut his career short when he looked like making plenty of runs. We shall, I am certain, see some good scoring by Neill before the season is over. Coppard, a new man, got 11 in nice style. He watches the ball closely and bats prettily, but seems to be a slow scorer. The most entertaining part of the innings was provided by Magee, who, with a fearless disregard of consequences, hit the bowling in various directions and made 31. Some of his hits were really very fine. White seems destined to be Ponsonby's "star" bowder. In two innings he has taken ten wickets for 91. Mention must be made of a really fine catch by Francis in this match, when he dismissed Stephenson. The batsman cut the ball hard, and Francis, fielding point, took it close to the ground with his left hand. There is not a better point in Auckland than the tall Ponsonby player. It was most unfortunate that the weather was so bad on Monday, when the Eden Club's new ground at Kingsland was formally opened. The committee had made extensive preparations, and it was pleasing to notice that the people of the district recognised the club's enterprise by attending in very fair numbers in spite of the rain. The club have been very enterprising in securing a ground for themselves, and very fortunate in getting over 15 acres so well situated. At present the greater part of the ground is in rough grass, with rocks here and there, but it will not take much money comparatively to put it in order, and it is the general opinion that the ground will be a very fine one indeed. There is rising ground on two sides of the ground, which can readily be terraced, and from which a splendid view can be obtained. The soil is of a rich black nature, and it is thought that it will wear better in dry weather than the Domain wickets do. The Grafton senior eleven were the guests of the home team, and were entertained very hospitably. The match between the two elevens provided some excellent cricket. The visitors found a surprisingly good wicket ready for them. There were inequalities in it, but it played fast and true. Only two or three balls "shot" during the day. Grafton batted | first, but could only score 93. A fairly good start was made, but D. Hay. just when he looked like making runs, was bowled by a "shooter." After lunch wickets fell rapidly, Sloman and Totman being the only batsmen to stand against the bowling. Sloman repeated his performance of Saturday by making 42 in vigorous and entertaining style, and Totman got 21, principally by clean, hard drives. Soon after Eden opened with I. Mills and Elliott the rain came on again, and the Grafton bowlers had to bowl with a greasy ball on a wicket which gave them no help at all. The wicketkeeper could not Rtand up to the bowling, and several chances of stumping were missed. T>.e two first batsmen got to work quickly, \ and entertained the spectators with some | fine cricket. Mills was much the faster '. scorer of the two, and when he left at 107 he had scored 70. Mills seems to be back in his old ft&Hn- • It will be remembered that the year be- , fore last he scored a century in the openj ing match of the season, and did little ! subsequently, and that last year he dropped out of the game after the first match. i For the last two seasons he has been ■ generally put down as a back number, but it is not generally known that for : some years he had little or no practice. j This year the new ground has given him i an opportunity to practice, and he has I taken advantage of this. The result has I been seen in a double-figure score in the ,1 opening match, a fine score of 66 at Dev- | onport on Saturday, and a third score of I 70 on Monday. Mills' cricket on Mbn- ! day was characterised by considerable dash. He drove, cut and pulled with much power, and it is very evident that there is any amount of cricket in him still. H. B. Lusk found some consolation for . his dismissal by his first ball from BurI gess on Saturday in his score of 70 on ! Monday. As usual, bis innings was chari acterised by considerable freedom. j The senior game at the Shore on Sat- | urday does not need much comment. Eden's innings was noticeable for the fine innings of I. Mills, and Warren bowled well for the home team. The fielding of the Shore men wns better than usual. Cricketers at the Shore, however, have not yet realised the importance of practice. The unfortunate Coningham ; incident has been a great blow to the Shore management, for at considerable trouble arrangements had been made for the Australian to act as coach, and with his help North Shore would have been much more formidable. I regrnt to say that the settlement anticipated between the Cricket Association aitd the Umpires' Association has not been brought about. It was thought at the beginning of the season that the differences would be settled, and the Management Committee even went slightlj beyond their instructions in the desire to come to an understanding. However. I understand that the Umpires' Association have declined to | be in any way under the control of the ! Cricket Association. These notes are I written just before action is being taken J in the matter by the Cricket Associa- | tion, but I am given to understand that I the association will take the matter inI to their own hands by asking for comi petent volunteers for umpiring work. The situation is an extremely regrettable one, and I certainly think the Cricket Association hayt taken the right stand in the matter. Good, regular umpires are/very much needed, and I trust

! the appeal of the association (will meet • with a satisfactory response. i It is time the City Council made some I improvements to the surroundings of the i Cricket Ground. There will be two representative matches here this year, and something should really be done before they come to be played. Some of the paths on the west side are in a very bad state. The seating accommodation is quite unworthy of a place like the Domain. There are a few wooden benches without backs placed here and there, many of them fading to pieces. On fine summer days, of course, spectators can sit on the grass, but what are they to do when it is wet? What is wanted is a number of substantial iron seats with backs. The natural beauties and advantages of the ground are so great that it seems a great pity that spectators should suffer for want of a little artificial improvement to it. The council s committee that has the Cricket Ground under its control might well consider I the whole question of improving the Cricket Ground. Callaway made a gigantic hit on Prankish on Saturday week, and on being measured after the game it "turned the scale" at 116 yards from the bat to the drop of the ball. A Wilding, formerly a member of the Lancaster Park First Eleven, play"-* for Trinity College (Cambridge) First Eleven throughout the College .term, had a batting average of 35, whilst he took £8 wickets at a cost of 9 runs apiece. Leaving Cambridge at tbe end of the term, in June, he did not play again until August, but he then represented Herefordshire against the following teams: Lord Coventry's XL, Mr Fosters XL, and return I. Zingari, Shropshire, and M.C.C. and Ground. His averages for Herefordshire were—batting 20 and bowling 10 wicketß for 250 runs. A Herefordshire paper thus refers to his first appearance: "P. A. Wilding made quite a sensational first appearance ior Herefordshire, getting a century against Lord Coventry's XL It was an invaluable effort, and embraced many a fine drive, with some nice leg hitting. Unfortunately Wilding did not repeat this performance during the rest of his stay in Herefordshire, but he can rest contented, for he scored the only century compiled by a member of the home county throughout the season." Interesting paragraph from the "Referee's—Whoever is responsible for the alteration from a recent custom, by which amateur and professional members of the English team will stop at the same hotel, dine together, and fraternise as one happy party, has done English cricket a good turn. It will •tend to bring the Englishmen together, to make them a team in character as well as in name, to make their aims, their troubles, and their pleasures common. Moral effect of this arrangement in comparison with that of the old oneis likely to be almost inestimable. Moreover, it is more in keeping with the character of cricket as a game, and as it was played in the days of Alfred Mynn, Felix, Nyren, and others, whose deeds are but memories. This English team is starting in earnest. First, the captain will net be interviewed, and, by adhering to his determination, he will avoid pitfalls that troubled at least one of his predecessors. Now the men are to be one party. Those are splendid signs; they point to this English team having set their teeth. . We must now sit back and prepare ourselves for some classic battles." Abel's eyesight has improved so much that he has played in several minor cricket matches of late, and confidently anticipates resuming his place in the Surrey Eleven next' season. The betrothal of P. F. Warner has just been announced, the fiancee of the captain of the M.C.C. cricket team for Australia being Miss Agnes Blyth, daughter of the late Mr H. A. Blyth, of 45, Portland-place, London, and of Stansted, Essex, Lord Alverstone, president of the M.C.C. and Surrey Club, in the course of a recent speech, said that all lovers of the game would be very glad that the Marylebone Club had undertaken the responsibility of selecting the team to go to Australia to uphold the honour of Old England. He need not remind them that that committee had also come in for a great deal of public criticism, but few people who had not tried it knew the difficulty there was in selecting a thoroughly representative team to spend three or four months of the year in Austraba. There were men who could not sacrifice their professional ties, and there were men whose duty at home prevented them from being able to go. But he hoped they wouLl never encourage the idea of the paid amateur, and that those - who went as amateurs really would be amateurs. By far the worst cricket season . on record came to a conclusion on Wednesday (writes the "Australasian- 1 ' London correspondent), with a drawn match at the Oval between the champion county (Middlesex) and a team representing the Rest of England, a fixture which is in future to be played as the wind-up of every season. The county played its full strength, while the "Rest" team could not have been bettered, except for the fact that C. B. Fry was unable to ; play. Middlesex went off with 230, of which Bosanquet made 58 and C. W. Beldam 57,. the bowling of Braund (four ; wickets for 32 runs) and J. Gunn (three for 50) being too good for most of the side oh the somewhat dead wicket. The "Rest," which included seven members of the M.C.C. Australian combination, fared worse, and were all out for 184, the principal scorers being Tyldesley (44), Rhodes (36), and Braund (36 not out). Middlesex started well in their | second innings, P. F. Warner making, j as his last tannings before starting for (Australia, a splendid 115, and Beldam, at a slower rate, contributing a master--1 jy gg—for which, indeed, he carried his ' bat, as wickets fell rapidly after Warner left, and at a total of 254 fov eight men out the closure was put into force. This left the "Rest" 301 to get to win, with three hours and a half left for play. This task they set about with a will, twit, although Tyldesley played

another stylish innings of 60, Hirst was in form again with 76, "Ranji" ran up 42, and Hayward 39, the total at the call of time had reached only 229 for the loss of five wickets. It was. thus anyone's game, and if it could have been played out would have made a rattling finish for the season.