CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 260, 7 December 1914, Page 11

CRICKET.

SENIOR DISTRICT MATCHES. With the conclusion of the fourth round of matches, the Canterbury Cricket Association's senior championship cpmpef|itton has gained additional interest. Through its unexpected defeat by Linwood, the Sydenham B team, which held first position from the end of the second round matches, has dropped back into second place, while Sydenham A>has /pushed, up into first position. Linwood has gone up from fourth place to third, and St. Albans has dropped from third to fifth. East Christchurch now ranks fourth.. West; -Christehureh is still sixth, and Riccarton and Kaiapoi remain "out of Ihd hunt." Sydenham A is the only team which has not suffered defeat, as thti following table shows: — .1 Three-point Two-point matches. W. L. W. L. D. Ptsj Sydenham, A ~ 1 Sydenham *B ,'. 2 1 1 Linwood , . v .,~ 2 East ChristVhurch "1 1 11 6, St. Albans . . . . 1 1 1 1 5: West ChristcWrc'li Riccarton . . .. Kaiapoi ; . .. . 3 1 • • FAST SCORING. The scoring. of 158 runs in.an hour—--148 of them .off the bat—is a very fin 3 performance? in New Zealand .cricket. It was accomplished by some of the members of the Sydenham A-eleven on Saturday, and as a res.ult theit; team scored a' decisive victory against St. Albans. It was due principally to the fine batting.- of two <-of the Sydenham colts, Ji Taylor and R. H. Booth, . who. scored 115 runs in 35 minutes, for the third wiriteeti On the first day of the match, when St, Albans had scored 101 in its first innings second,, .Sydenham A's turn at the wickets, had produced 148. runs, the wicket was much in favour of the bowlers. This: time it was a batsman wicket,-and the Sydenham men did not relish the prospect of H. A. Bishop, the St. Albans ' crack,'' finding the wicket to his liking and '' getting going'' in consequence. The prospect was a true one, but there was not sufficient support for Bishop from the other St. Albans men. At the end of the first day's play, H.' Bradmore and B. Miles were still 1 batting, for-St. Albans, while J. S. Barrett and Tv.W.: Reese had been disposed of after making five runs between them. J. Bennett and .J. Martin resumed the* Sydenham, attack, but on the firm wicket they were not troublesome to the bats : men. Bradmore was quicker in getting, into stride,! and he was shaping fairly well when over-eagerness to make runs brought .pbopt his downfall —a downfall in two senses. . Miles made a shot past cover and failed for a run. But Hayes, fine fieldsman, was on the ball in a ilash. ancl was sen,ding it .fast and true, to wicket-keeper Woods. Bradmore sprinted hard, but just as he neared the crease he fell, and before he could get his bat over it Woods whipped off. the bails—737-3-16. S. Johns did not stay long, at the wickets, a ball from Martin, that came in from the off, beating him at '47-4-4.

BISHOP'S GOOD INNINGS. . , Then Bishop partnered Miles, and he quickly showed good form with the bat. Brisk running for short singles brightened up the game. Then the pair settled down to steady scoring, and they a change ; in the bowling, Hayes taking the ball from Martin. When he had made 35 by good batting, and the score had reached 77, Miles was caught by Nicholson, at cover, off Bennett's bowling. R. G. Hickmott and Bishop put on 71 for the sixth wicket, Hickmott making 30 of the runs by good shots on both sides of the wicket. Gray had taken the ball ifrom Bennettj who had taken Hayes's place at the northern end. Two or three overs of Gray's slows were by batsmen, and so Nicholson replaced the Sydenham skipper, in the attack. The second ball of Nicholson's second over was returned jby Hickmott to the bowler. A little later the figures 157-7-4 on*the scoring I board signalised the dismissal of L. R. Brunton, who was smartly caught by ! wicket-keeper Woods off Bennett. With D. McK. Sandman in partnership with Bishop, the field spread out. Nicholson lost his length and he was replaced by Martin. (Sandman smacked a six off Martin, but. in trying to get a six off Bennett's bowling he sent the ball into the safe hands of Gray, deep at long-on, and the board read 187-8-11. D. Lamb was soon dismissed by an easy catch to L. Watson at slip off Martin. G. M. Haigh contributed six of the 15 runs put on for '• the last wicket, and then was run out. : Bishop was thus left stranded, with a score of 88 not out, made by good, free strokes all round the wicket. Exactly half liis runs were made by boundary hits. On the whole, Sydenham A's out-

As one veteran of the pigskin put it, there were too many jockeys and not enough horsemen.

A SURPRISE VICTORY,

The hurdler Canterbury occasioned the biggest surprise of the day by putting down a big field in the Coalgate Welter, though it was only after a battle royal with another outsider, Andrea, that he secured the verdict. After seeing the way the Pilgrim's Progress gelding fiiiish'ed up his task, one cannot help but wonder at his many disappointments over the obstacles, for he ran both gallop and jump. As in some of the other event's,.the start was not a good one, and Mr Price's debut at the barrier can hardly; be classed as a successful one. He certainly lacked firmness, and, quickly taking advantage of this, most of the

riders were looking for flying starts.

Good-sized 'fields were seen out in both the two trotting events, and they excited ' plenty of speculation. Lady Alma, ;ai} aged' daughter of The Wood,demonstratiid itlie improvement that E. McDermott has worked in her by annexing the ; GJcniloi'e Trot fairly comfortably sfrom Silver Prince and Boycott. Later in the afternoon she showed to: still further advantage by chasing Boycott home in the Snowdon Trot, getting'to ! the end of the two miles in the creditable time of smin'2£sec. 1 : ' TEMPLAR.

cricket was fair, but several members of the team were below standard. Martin's taking of returns was very poor, and there were several overthrows. Hayes and O'Malley were the best of the fieldsmen. Woods kept wickets very soundly; the extras consisted of one bye, one leg-bye, and one no-ball, the last-mentioned being bowled by Martin. ' COLTS "GET BUSY." The St. Albans innings ended at 4.20 p.m., arid at 4.30 p.m. sharp the Sydenham men started their second innings, needing 158 runs to turn the win into a three-pointer, and exactly two hours left for play. P. "Woods and L. Watson faced the bowling of Sandman and Lamb, Sandman pitched the ball well up—rather too consistently so. Lamb was erratic, sending down much "loose stuff" which Woods cut crisply. Half turning to put to leg a ball from Sandman, Watson seemed to change his mind as he was making the stroke, and he put it into the hands of Johns, at silly mid-on. Woods had made all the 19 runs scored when that wicket was lost. J. Taylor started with one or two uppish strokes just out of reach of fieldsmen. Then Woods got right in front of the stumps to play a ball from Sandman, missed it, and was out lbw at 28-2-24. • '

R. H. Booth, an ex-Boys' High School player, joined Taylor, and the runs mounted up quickly, both colts playing good strokes on both sides of the wicket. Taylor's leg-strokes especially were very good, but with the total at 50 j odd he failed to keep one off Hiekmott (who had relieved Lamb . immediately after Woods was dismissed) down on the carpet, and he gave a sharp chance to T. W. Reese, at square-leg. However, Reese dropped it. Booth was batting crisply and confidently, with a nice variety o£ shots, and he. was keeping the bixll down. Within three-quarters bf en hour from the start of the innings 110 runs were "telegraphed." Lamb had .been given another ineffective trial,-and again Hiekmott had replaced him. Booth hit a six off lliekmOtt. Just after, Taylor lifted a ball from Sandman high to "leg, but Bishop, who was stationed near the boundary, was unable to reach, it ere it touched the 'ground. However, a few minutes later. Taylor returned a ball to Hiekmott, and wickets were down for 143 runs.. Eight fburs were included in Taylor?s.7o; be-, isides a number of ; .threes; J. Martin (7 not out) assisted Booth to hit off th'e 15 runs required, the number being reached at exactly 5.30 p.m. Like Taylor, Booth hit eight fours, so that, with the hit for six already mentioned, \3B runs of his 49 not out were made by boundary hits.

PERRIN BATS WELL. Grant and Perrin continued Linwood's second venture against Sydenham B at Sydenham Park. Linwood's' second innings stood at 35 foi* twowickets on . the previous, Saturday. The, pair quickly got going iii a splendid partnership, which put on 110 runs for' the third wicket. Frequent changes in. the bowling were tried, but' rims continued to comer freely. Perrin was much more aggressive than his partner, he putting plenty of .power behind his strokes. With the' score;, at-145, McBeth got Grant lbw. Gran thad'lm tied /very solidly for his 33 runs, being content to keep his,end up, while Perrin scored. Grant scored chiefly on the off; another good stroke of his was a nice glide to fine leg. His score included one four and four threes.

Reid joined Perrin, but be was dismissed in a peculiar way, -with no addition to the-score. The ball wliich dismissed Grant was the first of Mcßeth's over, and when Reid came in, the umpire asked the scorers, "How many balls to go?" But the scorers did not hear the last two words, and replied, "One ball." So the umpire called ;"Over" with only two balls, to the over. Wilson was about to commence :another oyer when the umpire was acquainted of his mistake. So Mcßeth continued his over and scattered Reid's stumps with the next ball but one. On the previous Saturday, Otley was dismissed with the eighth ball of an over. Ridley (4) was next, and was most uncomfortable to both bowlers, Wilson, in particular, having him completely "tied up." In attempting a six off ! Mcßetli, he was dismissed by a fine catch by Skelton, on the boundary. E. Taylor was next man in, and he went

DISTRICT CRICKET. SENIOR GAMES SUMMARISED. Linwood, 63 and 230 for five wickets (innings declared) beat Sydenham B, 102 and 119, by 72 runs. : Sydenham A, 148 and 158 for three Wickets,. heat St. Albans, 101 and . 204,, by seven wickets. ..... : East' Christchurch, 298 for five .wickets Winnings declared) beat Riccarton, 63 and 74, by an innings and 161 runs. West Christchurch 498 for nine wickets (innings declared), beat Kaiapoi, 156 and 219 for three wickets, by 342 runs on the first innings, THE DAY'S HONOURS. SENIOR GRADE BATTING. ; E„ Perrin (Linwood) .... 116* : T. Carlton (East Christchurch).,. 116* 'i t>. McGregor (Kaiapoi) .. .. . 93 ; C. Beal (East Christchurch) . 89 ; H. A. Bishop (St. Albans) . . . . 88* i F. Smith (Kaiapoi) .. ... 88 G. Green (Kaiapoi) .. .. .. 71* •J. Taylor (Sydenham A) . . . . 70 SECOND GRADE BATTING. D. Nixon (High School) .. . . 257* Woods (High School) .. . . .. 121* Winson (Sydenham) .. .. 90 , Forrester (Sydenham) .. ~ .. 88 | Jolly (West Christchurch) .. .. 83 i G. Condliffe (Linwood A) . 71* | Lawrence (St. Albans) .. . 64 | THIRD GRADE BATTING. , ' Flood (St. Bede's College) .. 90 : Fuller (West Christchurch) <57 FOURTH GRADE BATTING. Pritchard (Sydenham A) . . 6<> ; 'Hiclvinbottom (Sydenham A) ' 56 ! * Signifies not out. , SENIOR GRADE BOWLING. T. Carlton (East Christchurch), five'for 26 A. W. Thomas (Linwood), six for 49. T. Malone (West Christchurch), six for 07. ! SECOND GRADE BOWLING. Guiney (High School), five for : 30. A. Gurnsey (Linwood A), four for 40. ' THIRD GRADE BOWLING. ,1! Flood (St. Bede's College), three l'or 5. E. Thompson (St. Bede's College)/five for . 21; ; Brooker (Sydenham), five for 24. ] Rowe (Sydenham), three for 17. i Ifnight (Christ's College), five for 40. I Kissling (Kaiapoi), four for 40. . j FOURTH GRADE BOWLING.. ■ i Wise (Riccarton), eight for 28,- .

for the bowling from the start. He treated the bowling with contempt, going for everything, straight or otherwise. When the score was 168 he gave Ayling the easiest of' catches at '' cover,'' but in attempting to take the ball with one hand, Ayling missed it,. Wilson's next ball ,went for six. Taylor was out to give the Sydenham men catching practice, which they badly need. He hit Mc.Betli to identically the same spot as Ridley, but this time Skelton failed to hold it, though his juggling was good.. With the score at 230 for five wickets, Linwood declared their innings closed, Taylor being not out with 46.

Perriii was undoubtedly the hero of the side, scoring a meritorious 116 not put. He played stylish cricket throughout, scoring all round the wicket. -His strokes were well-timed, and had the requisite amount of power behind them to send the ball to the boundary. He placed the ball between the fieldsmen very cleverly. His innings was marked with plenty of confidence, combined with patience. When he was 82 he skied a ball from Mcßetli to Conradi, but the easy catch was declined. This '' letoff" quietened him down considerably, and a long list of singles brought his score to 99. Then three maiden overs were bowled in succession. The next gave him the coveted contuiy. : SYDENHAM'S POOR FIELDING. The Sydenham B team certainly gave 'the match to Linwood by its poor fielding, no fewer than four catches being The offenders were Slcelton (twice), Conradi, and: Ayling (once each). Skelton's last miss was a hard one, right on the boundary; but it was right into his hands. The others were the easiest of catches. Aris kept wickets well. Requiring 192 runs to obtain a. threepoint win, the Sydenham men opened their second innings with Patrick and Skelton, to the bowling of Thomas and Reid. Patrick batted in his best form for his breezy 37 runs, which were-com-piled in 28 minutes. This is liable to give the. impression that he went out; for a "hit," but such was not the case. He batted carefully throughout, and his runs were principally scored on the off by beautiful. timing and placing. His favourite stroke was along the carpet between point and third !man. While Patrick made 37, Skelton made 5. Norman was missed in the slips before he had scored, and when lie reached the unlucky 13, Thomas bowled him.

Slcelton battecl quietly for his 16, but his scoring was too slow to be impressive. Conradi opened confidently, treating Grant with much respect. He had a "life" early,, skying a ball from Grant over tiie .bowler's head, easily within reach 6f Jones and Perrin, but through a misunderstanding neither attempted .to catch , the ball. Grant had Conradi.in difficulties soon afterwards, 1 beating him all the way with three successive balls. The fourth bowled him. | Thomas bowled Wilson when the latter jhad scored 5. Two balls later, Thomas bowled Hincksmail. Ayling kept his l end up, trying to play out time. He hit; |ja rising bail from Thomas to E. Taylor. McClelland gave Thomas an easy catch i off Grant, after scoring a couple of twos and a four. Mcßeth compiled six with pretty leg glides. . Aris was last man, and only had to play the over out to give Sydenham a two-point win. However, Thomas bowled liim second ball. Watt carried his biit fbr eight. He had batted cleverly; he did not have to make runs, but just keep. his end up, which "he did. 'Thomas, in getting six wickets for 49, bowled in his best form. | After Patrick left, he had all the batsmen ' i thinking.'' [ CARLTON'S CENTURY. The East Christchureli-Riccarton j match was continued at Lancaster Park Jin beautiful weather and on a good wicket. Carlton and Beal, the not-out meiV-£ook strike against Falconer and Guiney. Runs came steadily until Beal was given out lbw. to Falconer, with his score at 89, made with excellent batting. Dwyer accompanied Carlton, who soon reached his century with a fine boundary stroke to the on. Dwyer played prettily, scoring some very spicy boundary shots in his faultless 17 not out. The innings was declared closed with five wickets down for 298, Carlton notching 116 not out. His play was safe, if not spicy, but his running between the wickets lacked just that energy which it should have had. Falconer and Guiney did not trouble the batsmen much, both being very expensive.

East left Riccarton three hours to stave off an innings defeat, but the latter, with the exception of R. S. Taylor, who hit out aggressively fQr 35, and of the Fuller brothers,, none; of the others looked like making runs. ; Carlton bowled splendidly throughout, though the undoubted weakness of the Riccarton side .in batting, made his bowling appear almost unplayable. McLachlan bowled witty no such terror for the batsmen as he had had on the previous Saturday,. his trundling appearing, except for the ■ over, very simple. Williams, in bagging two for 10, secured the best average of the day, but his bowling did not deserve a better average than Carlton %' some of it being pure " tripe." . The fielding of both sides was fairly good, Dwyer especially deserving praise for his? keenness.

P. SMITH IN FORM. The feature of the Kaiapoi team's first innings against W-est Christchurch, at Kaiapoi, was Smith's batting. He is a fine bat, and he got some wonderful shots on the off by a sort of a square cut. He made 88 runs out of about 120 scored while he was in; he made them very quickly, and, moreoyer, he did not give a chance. He. ttlle only one of the Kaiapoi team who looked like batting well in the first innings, although McGregor was doing fairly well till lie was caught by Harper in the deep field. In the first innings Malone did not bowl very well, and Smith hit : him about. Crawshaw was bowling well, but otherwise the bowling was n ; ot impressive. In Kaiapoi's second innings the fielding was not so good, and some of the Kaiapoi batsmen got a good start. Reese had a slight bicycle accident before leaving town, and this made him somewhat unreliable in the field. Smith made about 30 in the second innings from fast " up-and-down ; ' bowling, but he was not very comfortable with leg stuff. Green,: not' out for 71, batted very well, while McGregor made a flukey 93. McGregor hit several shots over the narrow boundary, which just suited him for his cross-hook but which on another ground would have seen him caught , out. Kain^oi's

performance in the second innings should give that team heart of grace, as it has previously made poor scores. Ordinary medium to fast " up-and-down" bowling is fairly harmless on a matting wicket, and Kaiapoi should put up some big scoring on its own ground. The West Christchurch bowling was not impressive, particularly in its second innings, Malone being the only bowler who troubled the Kaiapoi people much. A BIG SCORE. P. Nixon's big score of 257 not out for Boys' High School against the Linwood B second grade team, was made by ■ excellent cricket. It was by no means a clianc'eless innings; it could scarcely be expected that a young batsman would not hit up the ball occasionally in making such a big score. How 7: ever, he showed some very nice strokes, especially on the leg side. His score included 27 fours, two sixes, and a five. Woods also batted nicely for his 121 not out. Pity the poor Linwood men, who had to perspire in the field while the High School boys banged up 490 for two wickets! CITY AND SUBURBAN NOTES. Belfast's defeat of St. Albans, and Linwood Wanderers' defeat of Druids put the Linwood team in front in the City and Suburban Cricket Association's senior competition by three points, that team having gained four three-point wins in as many matches. Druids fared worse in their second innings than in their, first, being all -out for 64. Spicer was the' only one to make a stand at all, and eventually he threw' his wicket away in going for a 1 hit: A. Harry was putting in good work With the ball, but the bowling was, not- of such a quality ; as : to. warrant a team" such as the Druids have this season going out for sucli small totals in both innings; even allowing for the fact that Andrews was away on the "second day. One can only ascribe their downfall to that element of ill-, luck = that persistently follows a team in a match at times, and I venture to prophesy that next time these two teams meet; the decision will be reversed.

Grammer, for the Linwood Wanderers, ..deserves credit for his two innings, as he is one of the best bats in the Senior Competition, always cautious, yet ready to score off a loose one. His scores for the match were 42 and 28. A. Harry finished up with the fine bowling figures of 12 wickets for 35 runs for the match, ,a very creditable performance.

Theye are two points that should be mentioned in connection with 1 this match. Firstly, one or two members, of the Linwood Wanderers team were rather. :too prone. to become hilarious when a Druids wicket went down, thereby giving onlookers the impression that they were either very youthful or not quite as sportsmanlike as they might be. The second point is the mar/ed effect that one or two players appearing on the field in tweeds instead of flannels has on the appearance of the ganrer. It is a pity that the association has no power to compel players, 7 especially seniors, to go .on the field in flannels. Marist Bros. Seniors made Glerimore appear rather cheap by defeating them so easily. No doubt the wicket had something'to do with Glenmore's small total, . but, it was the same for both teams, and Marist Bros, put up 152 in the first innings against Egan and Wilspn.

Witli one run in the lead on the first innings, the Y.M.C.A. senior team's senior match with Rangers promised a close finish, but after putting up 108 Rangers succeeded in dismissing Y.M.C.A. for 36. On a bumpy wicket Porter was particularly destructive, and he got five wickets for 14 runs. Bartlett improved in the second innings, and knocked tip 45 for Rangers. Donohue, for Y.M.C.A., was bowling well, and got eight wickets for 38 runs, but it must be admitted that the bowlers got every assistance from a wicket that could certainly be improved. Sydenham Hockey Club's senior team seems to be having very ordinary hick, for there must be something outside the ordinary run of cricket skill for such a team to /'go down" as it has done this year. First it, was defeated by Rangers Seniors, who knocked up the splendid score of 230 in two. hours. Then the hockey men beat Y.M.C.A. by only three runs on the first innings, and to finish up they could only score 78 against Railway, being defeated by 16 runs. This seems to point to want of practice, for with players like Keane, Sheridan, Hutchings, Fairclough, and Ciiswortli in the team it is rather absurd to consider that the better team won oh Saturday, notwithstanding, the' fact that Broshaliaii is a good bat. ' . Another surprise this season is the do"vthfall of the Islington-Hornby team, the Wairiiairi Seniors defeating that eleven on Saturday by 58 runs. Watson batted well for the latter- team, putting up 70 before he retired. Belfast dismissed St. Albans very cheaply,, the latter team being all out for 43 in the second innings. Belfast put up a, good score in the . first innings, Kinvig being top scorer with 64 out of a total of 158.

I notice that the District Association has decided to pit a junior eleven against a City and Suburban senior team. It is hard to understand why the senior association should take this step. Perhaps it has good reasons, but one would almost think that the first interest of the District Association should be to foster the sport and friendly relations existing between the two associations, and should not overlook the fact that the Suburban Association has asserted its right to be recognised, by the Very fact, of its numbers and the. improvement it is making in the quality 6f its play, thereby showing that time is 'not far distant when it will be* the recruiting ground for the District Association. However, I am pleased to see that' the executive of the Suburban Association has accepted the position in good spirit, and it behoves its players to take the same view and enable the association to put three teams in j the field on December 16. That would show the District Association that the days of tweed .trousers and black boots i are past, and suburban players can be ranked as cricketers. . 'COYER-POINT.