THE CRICKET FIELD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 295, 26 September 1935, Page 9

THE CRICKET FIELD

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ASHBURTON SEASON OPENING.

(By “Mid-On”).

Cricket will soon be in full swing in Ashburton, several clubs having already held their annual meetings and decided to open the season on Saturday, October 5. The 1934-35 season was a successful one. and club members are looking forward to a full and bright season this summer.

Sparkling Play Promised. The statement of the'London “Daily Sketch” that the team which the Marylebone Cricket Club will send to New Zealand is “of only moderate county strength and will be doomed to many defeats” takes no heed of either performances or potentialities of the players who have been invited to make the trip.

It is true that when the “Daily Sketch” made its • comment the side was not a well-balanced one. But only 10 of the players required had then accepted' the M.C.O.’s invitation; that was not sufficient reason to doubt that the side finally selected would be strongall round. Even at this distance from England’s county cricket anyone who has followed recent performances in that sphere of the g;ame could say with confidence that tiny of the counties would be very glad to have such a backbone for its team as’ is contained in the list of 10 players who are prepared to come to New Zealand. If a. sound opening batsmen were added to the 10, and if the team were given a little more variety of bowling, the side would ,be definitely strong. There is no reason yet to suppose that such additions will not be made before the team is completed.

The statement that the team is doomed to many defeats is, indeed, ridiculous. The side would be doomed to defeat if it were opposed' by the full strength of Australia, but it should not be judged by that standard—least of all when it has not been completed. What is of much more moment is that even though it is incomplete it has four of the most attractive batsmen in England, andi two of the best three amateur fast bowlers in the country. The quality of the batting is much more important, from New Zealand’s point of view, than match-winning capacity judged by the standard of England v. Australia Tests.

New Zealand can well afford to dispense with seeing some of the presentday representatives of England against Australia and South Africa when it is assured of seeing such batsmen as X. S. Mitchell-Innes, J. H. Human, D. Smith and J. Hardstaff—all classed in England as Test-match batsmen of the future—besides James Dan grid ge, who was looked upon a year or two ago as a. coming batsman against Australia, and who is little less attractive than the four men previously mentioned. These five men are much more likely to play sparkling cricket than they would be if they had experienced the rather' grim and gritty atmosphere of matches between England and Australia. Opening an Innings. C. Dacre, ex-i New Zealand cricketer, distinguished himself in the first innings of the match between Oxford University and Gloucestershire. The county team, for which Dacre plays, had made 460 in the first innings, but Oxford, after losing six wickets for 1&5, then batted so well that they scored 386. Dacre was associated with Barnett in a first wicket stand, andi it was not until he had made 108 runs that he was caught. Describing the match, the “Daily Herald” correspondent says: “The bowling appeared to suffer both in length and direction under the vigorous onslaught of the opening batsmen, who took full advantage of the many scoring opportunities which loose deliveries provided. Dacre, whose innings featured forceful driving on either side of the wicket, as well as hard hitting to leg, reached his 50 out of 100 in an hour, and ran to his century at just over the rate of a run a minute. Eventually caught at short-leg, with the total at 188, Dacre, who took risks, gave three chances during his stay of two hours. He hit iG lours. More correct in his methods, Biarnett, if not quite so aggressive as usual, also plajed fine forcing cricket, without making a mistake, and beautifully timed off-drives brought him most of his 13 lours durjug a stay of two and a quarter hours.

A. S. Kennedy’s Retirement. The reason why the name of A. fe. Kennedy is not appearing in the cablegram reports of Hampshire s matches in first-class cricket this season is that this fine all-rounder has retired from the county team and taken up the position, of coach at Cheltenham College. Kennedy is now 44 years old. He migrated from Scotland to Hampshire in 1907, but, of course, did not become a regular member of the county team until 1909, when lie had qualified by two years’ residence. He made steady progress as a medium-paced length bowler with good command of spin, and as the years went on his unorthodox batting methods increased in productivity. Because of his length and spin lie has always been a very dangerous bowler on a rain-affected or worn wicket, as when he took seven wickets for ‘29 m an innings of the New Zealand team in i ( Jai.

Once, for players against Gentlemen, lie took all ten wickets in an innings for only 37 runs. Kennedy has taken over 100 wickets in a season 10 times. In each of live seasons ho took more than 100 wickets and scored over 1000 runs. He lias enjoyed the o distinction of taking over 200 wickets and scoring over 1000 runs in one season. Kennedy has never played for England against Australia, but he has toured South Africa, twice.