CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 272, 21 December 1914, Page 2

CRICKET.

SENIOR DISTRICT MATCHES. "With three teams abreast at the head of the competition table, and two others only a point behind, the contest for the Canterbury Cricket Association's senior club championship has be+ come decidedly interesting. The present positions of the teams are as follow: Matches.

There was plenty of bright batting in the St. Albans-West Christchurch match, at Hagley Park. Particularly bright was the batting of D. Eeese, who scored his century in just 55 minutes. It was an excellent demonstration of the truth of the axiom that the best defence is attack. Runs had to be got in a hurry, and Reese went at the bowling in great style, smiting it merrily to both sides of the wicket in the best Eeese style. It was far from mere slogging: —it was beautifully-timed, crisp hitting, full of verve and fire. Naturally, some of Reese's hits were uppish—what batsman but a Trumper could keep the ball down on the carpet with every stroke in such a forceful innings .?—but there was duly one real chance among them.: "Dan J ' Eeese certainly has not lost his punch.

Reese was rather unforfejnate in;the manner of his dismissal; he state of the game was such that fori West Christchurch it was a case of alljor. nothing—a three-point win or a loss-—-and time was short, so that risks simply had to be taken. Thus it was that, when his score was 104, Reese reacJxed well out to a ball pitched well off from Lamb—a ball that, unde* circumstances, he probably would have allowed to go by. But he reached just a trifle too far, and he just touched the ball with the inner edge of his bat and turned it on to his off-stump. Strictly speaking, it was a bad stroke, but a batsman should be forgiven for making some bad'strokes in such a gallant (effort as-rßeese'Sr '_

CENTURY.; A ./..;.;;: t Bishop also gave a splendid exhibition of batting in making'his 120 not out for St. Albans—his second century this season. Time was notfso much the essence of the contract in his case, and therefore he was not obliged to run risks. Also, the West vGhristchurch bowling, as a whole, was„ weak. Put these two facts on the debit side, and still Bishop's performance remains a very fine one. Batting splendidly all round the wicket, he scored his 120; runs in 105 minutes. He hit* 16 fours; His best shot was a beautiful one along the carpet past cover, the ball travelling so quickly and being so well placed that 'cover or rarely . had a chance to stop it before it reached the boundary. Some of his hits, on the leg side went up a bit, bu| they were always so well placed thaVthey were not chances. Bishop gave only one real chance, at 66, Malone, at point, missing it;. N the bowler was Dr Wailis, and it was his first over. Shortly this, Bishop had demonstratedfaat Reese's expense; how well-set he ■*&&. Relieving the Revv :G. southern end, Reese :s<3yen:;ihen on the off 46 Bishop, aid Bishop-pulled ■three fours off that \'i /--""; '.' Bishop.and Brunton set the main for a first-wicket partnership for the- present season,, they pitting on The changes were rung oa eight bowlers during that partnership. Brunton batted vigorously for his 90, and got most of his runs by powerful drives. His stay at the wickets was fairly eventful. Comparatively early he made ,a,remarkable stroke that might well have cost him his wicket. Turning well round to a ball from Malone, pitched to leg, he swung it right behind the wicket, the wicketkeeper, E. Harper, just having time to get out of the way of the stroke. The ball went off the bat past the leg stump, crossed in front of Harper, and away to the fine-slip boundary. Brunton himself seemed astonished at the stroke. When his score was 38, and the total was 110, Brunton "made a lofty off-drive, off a ball from Dr Wailis. Butler sprinted along the boundary from long-on, and made a big effort to take the eatch, but had not time to "set" himself for it, and the ball rolled out of his up-flung hand.. Presently Brunton hit a six off Br Wailis. Another powerful drive, sent almost straight along and above the pitch, hit Bishop hard, and caused that player to take a rest for two or three minutes. Brunton's innings was brought to an end by his skying, near the wicket, .a ball from Reese, Fisher, -running fiimi the slips, taking the catch. Brunton had scored his 90 in about 90 minutes, and had hit ten fours and one six. His previous scores this season were 41, 3, 35, 2, 4, and 0, so his innings on Saturday bumped up his batting average from 14.1 to 25. WEST CHRISTCHURCH'S INNINGS. By declaring its second innings closed at 238 for one wicket, the St. Albans team left West Christchurch with 274 to get to win, and eleven minutes over two hours in which to get them. However, afternoon tea prolonged the interval, and when St. Albans took the field just two hours were left for play. Crawshaw and Butler were the first batsmen. Crawshaw opened aggressively, but, with six runs scored, Butler was caught by Johns, at mid-on, off Sandman, for a duck. Then Reese went in and started smacking the bowling. He got a six off Sandman. With the

total at 30, Eeese gave a hard chance to Lamb, who was bowling, but Lamb dropped it. At 75, Crawshaw, who had made 26 by good hitting, was caught in the deep-field by Johns off Sandman. With Foster assisting Eeese, 160 flad been scored at the end of the first hour. That splendid rate of scoring was more than sufficient for West Christchurch's need, if it could have been maintained. But it slackened very much after Eeese went, as already described, at 163. The other batsmen just emphasised the difference between a Eeese, with his back against the wall, and the usual run of club batsmen. After Foster edged a ball from Hickmott to Miles, at cover, at 170—4 —26, only one other batsman got into double figures. Donnelly was caught by Hickmott, at mid-off ; off Sandman's bowling, at 179 —s—B.5—8. Then Hickmott got to work with the ball. He bowled Waters at 185—5—8. Then G. S. Bryan-Brown was making runs with some good drives, but he could not get adequate support. Then came Hickmott's "hat trick," secured by three of the four means which give a bowler the credit for the dismissal of batsmen. Wallis had made seven runs when he gave a hot chance to Sandman at forward short-leg, and Sandman accepted it. Harper went out to the next ball, missed it, and was stumped by Brunton. Malone was clean-bowled by the next ball, and the "hat trick" was complete. That ended the innings, for Young-was absent, and so Bryan-Brown was left unconquered, with his score at 22. The innings- had occupied 10.0 minutes.

THE DEFEAT OF SYDENHAM A; At Sydenham Park the Linwood team again proved its strength by securing a two-points win against the leading, team, Sydenham A, and missing a threepoints win by the narrow margin of three runs. In its previous match Linwood; scored a meritorious three-points win over Sydenham B, right on the call of time, and everything pointed to a repetition of the performance last Saturday.

- F. -Woods, who was not out on the previous Saturday, with 16 to his eredit, took J. Taylor to the crease to continue Sydenham's second: innings/ which stood at 39 for one wicket. Taylor: soon left, being caught by Thomas off Read when he had scored four. L. Watson followed and played carefully, and was jttst getting into his stride when he- shared Taylor's, fate. Hif thirteen funs, although compiled in slow time, were well; as he had taken io'me of the ;stingvout;. >£ the; bowling, enabling W<jo<ls; to wft"&it up the% sc<tfe ? Woods:;was; Me; next tbi,departphe of a splendid ball from Thdmas.,; had; played a capital innings for .44,: his cutting being particularly fine. Read's offtheory suited him to the letter, and his late-cutting of it was splendidly exe-; euted.

With four wickets down for 90, Linwood's chances of a three-points 'win looked very rosy indeed, as it is generally admitted that Sydenham lias a : very long "tail." But this' time the; "tail" wagged in grand style. Booth could not improve on his first innings score,; as,after scoring a single he snicked a ball from Thomas to Read. Gray increased the score by a single, and was then bowled by Read. Guiney and Bennett then became associated in a valuable partnership. Bennett was the more aggressive, and he ran up his 30 runs in exactly 31 minutes. Bennett is acknowledged to be a batsi-.an with a good variety of strokes and a solid defence. While he is recognised as being primarily a bowler, he would probably be a really fine batsman if he would only "knuckle down" seriously and indulge in solid net practice. On Saturday he scored with well-timed earp&t drives,- chiefly on the off. He also gave a splendid exhibition of running between the 'wickets. It is not very long ago that Bennett scored a chanceless 106 on the same wicket, and if he recognises his capabilities with the bat it will not be surprising to hear of his having repeated that performance. He-is inclined to step away from the crease to balls pitched on his leg, and he also missed a r good deal of loose bowling well outside the leg pin. His score included a beautiful six over the square-leg boundary. After Bennett was bowled by Read, Guiney and Martin became associated. Guiney was content to score at a moderate rate, while Martin ran up to, 41 in

DISTRICT CRICKET. SENIOR MATCHES SUMMARISED; St. Albans, .196 and 238 for one wicket (innings closed), defeated West Christchurch, 160 and 214, by 60 runs—a three-points win. East Christchurch, 265, beat Sydenham B, 47 and 108, by 110 runs—a three-points win. Riccarton, 585 for nine wickets (innings closed), defeated Kaiapoi, 208 and 90, by an innings and 287 runs—a three-points win. Linwood, 137 and 187 for seven wickets, beat Sydenham A, 103 and 223, by 34 runs on the first . innings—a two-points . win. THE DAY'S HONOURS. SENIOR GRADE BATTING. H. A. Bishop, St. Albans .. ~ 120* D. Reese, West Christchurch .. 104 'L. R. Brunton, St. Albans .. 90 A. Grant, Linwood 62 W. P. Guiney, Sydenham A .. .. 59 SECOND GRADE BATTING. Bowden, West Christchurch .. 104* F. Gurnsey, Linwood B. -. . .. 86 J. Taylor, Boys' High School .. 85* Fleet, Linwood B 69* D. Nixon, Boys' High School .. 66* Woods, Sydenham . . .... 64 Sir Cecil Moon, West Christchurch 55 , THIRD GRADE BATTING. Davison, Riccarton B 116* Cresswell, Boys' High School".. 104* Martin, St. Albans 77 Johnston, St. Albans C 8 Jenkins, St. Albans 64* Crawley, West Christchurch B .. 62 Connall, Boys' High School .. 58 Austin, St. Albans 57* C. Rollinson, Kaiapoi 67 FOURTH GRADE BATTING. Murfitt, East Christchurch .. 55 * Signifies .not out. SENIOR GRADE BOWLING. H. B. Whitta, Riccarton, four for 10. J. H. Bennett, Sydenham A, five for 30. D. McLachlan, East Christchurch, six for 51. T. Carlton, East Christchurch, four for 34. R. G. Hickmott, St. Albans, five for 59. C. E. Evans, Riccarton, five for 70. SECOND GRADE BOWLING. A. Quartermain, Linwood A, three for 30. j

exceptionally quick time. His breezy innings was *of great assistance to his side, as the runs were badly needed. His strokes were well timed and had the requisite amount of power behind them to score without running between the wickets. Guiney snicked a ball from Thomas to Eidley in the slips when his score stood at 59. These runs were scored stylishly all round the wicket. Guiney, who is generally somewhat unlucky as a batsman, possesses a fair variety of strokes, but his best on Saturday were the pull stroke and a fine exhibition of cutting, both square and late. A peculiar feature of the innings was that botli Guiney and Martin received a delivery each from Thomas on the knee-cap, and this to some extent hampered their movements. Nicholson and O 'Malley failed to score, and the innings closed for 223, leaving Linwood with 190 runs to get to secure a threepoints win. .

LINWOOD'S SECOND EFFORT. Linwood opened its second v innings with Perrin and Grant, to the bowling ijof Nicholson and Bennett. Runs came very slowly indeed. Grant "stonewaPed," and Perrin was far from aggressive, and it appeared as if Linwood was trying to play out time. However, when 40 runs were telegraphed without loss, the batsmen "opened out," and runs came faster. Perrin was going nicely, when Bennett scattered his stumps with a beauty. Bennett had bowled four maidens in nine overs, and taken one wicket for eight runs. Perrin scored with good carpet drives, chiefly on the off, ; He refused to be tempted unduly by Gray's slows, but punished the Sydenham skipper severely. Grant and Perrin had put on 65 for, the first wicket. Doell was next, and was lucky in not being run out before he had scored, from a fine return by Gray. Doell was missed twice in the, field shortly afterwards. Grant was the next to leave, he giving Gray an easy catch off Guiney. Grant had played a masterly innings | for his 62 runs, "breaking up" the bowling,-and thus giving his side excellent assistance. At first he stonewalled, but once he • " got going'' runs came freely on both sides of the wicket. Doell late-cut in good fashion, and with hefty hitting ran up 40. His innings was brought to a close in attempting a six off a staight ball from Guiney> missed: Doell and Grant put on 73 for the second wicket. Thomas went out for a hit, and narrowly missed a six off the fourth ball. At seven he patted a' delivery from Bennett softly to Nicholson! E. Taylor and Tate went cheaply. The task of getting 23 runs in nine minutes was left to Ridley and H. "M; I Taylor. The former batsman hit out ilustily, and,put on 20 in quick time. | The excitement became intense as 6.30

p.m. drew near. When there was ono more over to go and nine runs were still wanted, Eidley '' lashed'' at everything, but could only increase the tally by six points, and Linwood had to be satisfied with a "two-pointer." THE SYDENHAM B DEBACLE. Without seeking to detract from the bowling performances of T. Carlton and D. McLachlan, it must be conceded that a lack of confidence played a big part in the way in which Sydenham B went down before East Christchurch. Although it is largely composed of "young blood," the Sydenham B team is a pretty good batting side, or should be. But in its last two matches it has crumpled up badly. To a large extent it seems a case of —to put it mildly—sheer lack of confidence, for on the first day of the match with East Christchurch most of the Sydenham batsmen got themselves out-to half-volleys. The second innings, last Saturday, reached more than double the first innings; score, but it was still a sorry procession. Three men —Patrick 29, Skelton 21, and Conradi 19—made, between them, 69 of the 104 runs which came off the, bat. Four men, excluding the "not man, got "ducks." Conradi and Patrick made a brief stand and looked like making many runs, until-Carlton, whose bowling was materially assisted by the strong breeze, bowled Patrick with a ball that swung right across the wicket. Conradi was- shaping nicely when he Bad the misfortune to put one of Carßoh's deliveries into Seal's safe hands. ' His, 19 included some nice his cutting being good. McLelland was the only other batsman to reach doubles, he notching 10 before being bowled by McLachlan. Both Carlton and McLachlan bowled steadily and with deadly effect. East's field was fairly well placed, and the picking up was clean, with one or two. exceptions. FIRST WIN. The game in which Rieearton secured its first win this season, at. the expense of the weakest and youngest club in the association—reckoning its age as a member of the association and not on the'ages of its members—does not call for much commpnt or description. It was, however, certainly a very decisive victory, Kaiapoi being "beaten by an innings and 287 runs. As far as the Kaiapoi batting is concerned, a few men '' carried the side "in each innings. Three men—G. Green 47, G. Blaekwell 39, and J. Brown 39 not out—-made, between them, 125 of, the 190 runs hit off the bat in Kaiapoi's first : innings total of 208. And in the second innings, three men—A. Rollinson 28, D, McGregor .21, and G; Green which nine came-from extras. Evans, with five wickets for 70 ruus, and A. H. Guiney, with three for 43, were the

bowlers chiefly responsible for the countrymen's dismissal in their first innings. Two of Guiney's wickets wereobtained per medium of catches behind the stump, by A. C. Fuller. But whodo you think was the "destroying angel" in Kaiapoi's second innings? It was H. B. Whitta, who took four wickets for 10 runs! Whitta had three men caught—one of the catches wastaken by himself —and the other wicket, was obtained lbw. Whitta thus gets into the honours list as a bowler for the* first time this season. Further eomment on the. Kaiapoi batting is unnecessary.

Tbree-pt. Two-pt. , — > r~* ■—^ Chp. W. L. W. L. D, Pts. Sydenham A 1 — 3 1 — 9 tiinwood .. . . 2 — 1 1 1 9 East Christchurch 2 — 1 1 1 9Sydenham B . . 2 2 1 — — 8 St. Albans .. 2 1 1 1 8 West Christchurch — 1 2 2 — 4 Riccarton .. 1 2 — 2 — 8 Kaiapoi . . • . . — 4 — 1 — _