CRICKET. NOTES BY LONG SLIP.

Frank Williams, the Albion wicket-keepe< and Otago representative, has taken t«t hockey during the winter months. Captain Wynyard has recovered suffw ciently from hie breakdown at the commencement of the New Zealand tour of th«' M.C.C. to indulge in practice at the wickets. and has hopes of being able to play during? the English season. C. B. Fry, whose injured leg is etill troublesome, has some doubts about turning out during the English cricket season. . The first “century” of the English cricket' season is credited to D. Denton, who, playing for Yorkshire against All Ireland, hit’ up 149 out of a total of 292. The death is reported of an old Notts cricketer in the perron of B. F. Blackham,; who figured in the Notts Eleven in the The testimonial to S. M. J. Woods was presented to him at Taunton, during tha Somersetshire v. Yorkshire match. It consisted of a magnificent illuminated testimonial in a massive frame, and £1620 ini subscriptions, of which sum £125.0 has been invested for his benefit, and the balance' was handed to him.

The English season proper opened a week before the mail left. Bowlers had things much their own way. Lees, Brearley, an<i Smith at the Oval all had good analyses, ■ but Wass, who took six wickets for 3 run» at Lord’s, proved the most effective of ail.ij Brearley did excellently on the soft ground!} to take eight Surrey wickets for 71 runs in an innings of 155. ' Tlie Melbourne Cricket Club has Mackay, the ex-Sydney cricketer, now in/f South Africa. His services arc tp be* utilised as coach by prominent players. A cricket team representing the New} South Wales teachers purposes visiting th«_ North Island during the Christmas holi-; days, on a combined pleasure and crickett trip. They will arrive in Wellington before Christmas, and will play during January. They wjll be invited to visit Auckland, where it is proposed that a rep. match' New South Wales v. New Zealand Teachers will he played, as well as a match against the teachers of the Auckland province.' Matches will also be played with teams outside the province. The Wellington district' teachers will be met on the Basin Reserve, and a New Zealand rep. match vzili also b® played there. A member of the M.C.C. team which! toured New Zealand last season sunplied the London Sportsman with an account of its doings. In concluding a review of th« tour, he has the following comments on the etate of the game here: —The New Zealanders have the material for a very fine team, and, given good coaches, I arn sure, it will not be long before it will be necessary to send out far stronger teams to play) them. We were told that Lord team did a great deal to kindle a spirit ol enthusiasm, and improved the game in New" Zealand' greatly. We ail hope and that our visit has. done the same. Should, this be the case. New Zealand's prospects are very bright, as, to start with, Christ-: church, Dunedin, Auckland, and Welling-, ton, the four big centres,, have admirable! grounds, the first-named, in particular. The’ wickets are not always good, but this can b« remedied easily. The Wellington wicket! is very bad, and ought at once to be seeuf to. The others are already being improved 1 ;. Most of the smaller towns nave goo<l grounds, so there need be no drawback in this direction. Lack of practice is the greatest enemy •£ the gapae, and Uu> ie £

very serious -question. ■Howctct, ‘the Aubtealunw overcame ’.that difficulty, and it is to be hoped the New Zeatenders will find a way to follow their example. The gates ♦renot good, another serious question ; but *s the (game is still very-young in the colony, success against outside teams is rare, this will “very likely improve as the game improves. . The support the .game .admirably and judging by the way in which the small boys take the deepest interest in the game -all over the colony, there is great hope. Although Lord iHawke’s teva was a .financial success, the M.C.C. sustained a loss. - Tn actual talent New Zealand is very well Off At present. The batting is really .good, Hemue, Haddon, Sale, Mahoney, Lawrence, and Williams being the pick. As there are several young players of merit coming to Hie front, the batting appears to be assured for .-several years at least. In each odds match-there were always at least two players Who would be readily picked out as good players likely to develop into really fine batsmen -to represent the colony. Helf has been engaged as coach at Auckland, and has done wonders already, showing -that the talent is there and only needs to be brought out. The fielding is splendid, and would do credit to any team in England. The bowling is -perhaps the weakest point, there being no fast bowler. Several of the bowlers ■are really .good medium .pace, but all are alike, .so that the change in -bowling, when it comes, is -not «o effective as might be. Upham is the -finest bowler in New Zealand, but is unfortunately past his prime. He is -an object lesson to all young bowlers, as die tries just as hard at the end of a long day as-at the beginning, -and he does mot mind being hit. -'Of the others, Ben--riett, Fisher, and Downes are very effective, Hie former being young and full of promise. The wicket-keeping all over the ; colony is splendid. The way in which the tall is taken on the leg side is a revela- : tion. Williams and Boxshall are the i greatest exponents of this art, and have -.many -an understudy to fill their place in ■ the future. Thus it may be seen that cricket •a .-flourishing and making great strides. The of the .game and the placing of the' field were far beyond -what we had been ded to expect, and only once did we come

across a bad captain who had not this icnowledge of the game. The umpiring, too, is very good and impartial. The New "Zealanders were delighted with Moss, and We were equally pleased with their umpires. If I may make one suggestion, I would atrongly advise the various executives to ;pay more attention to their grounds. In the hope of improving their wickets Bulli soil has been imported from Australia. This has, however, been laid down on ordinary soil instead of on a foundation of zaar.d, with the result that the Bulli soil is j-.ct properly drained—its one great essential —and after a short time crumbles very iadly. Jn the use of this soil there should ?be no half-measures. This was chiefly trot iceable at Auckland and Christchurch.

iboth very fine grounds. The outfield should pa-id wore attention, as only at ■ Auckland and Dunedin was it up to first"elass standard. I make 'this suggestion as it is a most important factor m establishing - gcod cricket, without which a good gate cannot be expected. As no club can be successfully run without sufficient funds, I . am sure the New Zealanders will do well -lo consider these remarks carefully. . There is some trouble in New South Wales over the guarantee in connection with the visit of the English team. The trustees of the Sydney Cricket Ground have decided .to charge 20 per eent. of the gross proceeds of -the matches as rent for the ground. The Cricket Association objects to pay 20 • per cent., and points cut that in football matches only 12 to 15 per cent, of the is charged. A special meeting of lhe association on th© 21st arrived at a decision on the matter, and has sent this ■on to the trustees, but has not divulged 'the decision. Middlesex beat Kent by 10 wickets. .Mignon took 12 wickets for 90 runs, and Trott took six wickets for 26 runs. The South African cricketers visiting England defeated Derbyshire. Vogler took six wickets for 17 runs in the second Innings. This makes the South Africans’ seventh win. Rain robbed them of assured victory in three drawn games. The latest number of Spalding’s Athletic Library, published by the British Snorts Publishing Company. Fleet street, E.C., London, is volume 2. No. 17, entitled , ‘‘Cricket,” by Tom Hayward. The book is illustrated with over 40 full pages of the author and Strudwick, the wieketikeeper .of the Surrey Eleven, and contains articles on the need of improvement, instructions to the beginner, chapters on the .neglected art of fielding, and the perfect fielder, showing up the curse of averages. , '-and giving instruction on catching and ;>l Sthrowing. Another chapter is devoted to ■iwioket-keeping. Under the heading of .“BoWling” coon© qualifications of a bowler, and .pace, change of pace, the Jhreak and the long hop. Of course most of the text matter is devoted in this book to -Hatting, in which the author is without a ■peer, holding a joint record of 13 entries in one season with C. B. Fry. and •the record (or the greatest number of runs (3518) scored in one season. Everything {that pertains to batting is taken up in five chapters of this book. All lovers of the Icing of games should' not let an opportunity go by to get this book, which is ■for sale at the low price of 6d.