CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 76, 1 April 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

Cup Cricket was suspended to-day on account of the holiday . Consequently the Cup matches commenced last Saturday will not be continued until Saturday next. Meanwhile our cricketers are having visits from conntry teams.

Last Saturday's play does not call for extended comment. The wicket %yas heavy from rain and in favour ot the bowlers, and the batting- on the whole was poor. Parnell sent Gordon to the wickets, and succeeded in getting' them out again for 93, made chiefly by four men. Kyd made.22 (the highest individual total), and was then run out by Kelly. The latter shaped better than usual, and managed to put on 13 before he gave Lusk an easy catch off Restieanx. Williams made 10, while Cullerne carried his bat for IT. The hitter's cutting- was neatly executed, and had the bowlingbeen faster he would probably have scored more with this stroke., Jlis innings, however, was marred by two chances and not a few weak strokes. None of the other batsmen shaped well, and the total, small as it is, would have been smaller still had Parnell's fielding- been up to the mark. Restieaux bagged most of the wickets, getting five for 41; Lawson too three for 29. and Lusk one for six. Parnell in their first innings have lost three, wickets for .rS7, Mills 11 (not out).

Auckland XV. shaped fairly well against Auckland XJ., scoring 102, The chief .scorers were Allen 33, Cplwill 27, Darby 10, A. M. Beale 19, T. Stewart 14, Shepherd 12, and 13. C. Beale 10. .1. R. London's five wickets cost a little over 12.runs a-piece, while Arniel secured four for 28, and ill Neill three for 35. The eleven have made none too good a start in their first innings, but with a fine day for the continuation of the game they should,manage to top their opponents' score by a good margin.

The jnatch at Devonport between North, Shore and United, at present bears an open aspect. The advantage lies perhaps with United, as the wicket next Saturday may' b~e better* for the batsmen than it was last week. The Shore were got- rid of for 114 on Saturday last. W. T. Wynyard headed the list with f!G, and Swanson (23) and 11. Wynyard (20) made a good stand; but the*remaining wickets fell cheaply. Watts bowled with marked success for United. He only sent down three overs, but nevertheless' captured ■three wickets at a total cost of 12 runs. Lnbatt got, three for 19, V. Hay two for 24, and Stemson one for 27. United in their first venture have one wicket down for six runs.

C, Boxshall, a member of the New Zealand Cricket Team, has settled in Sydney, having . been apnointed ,to a superintendence' in the' Citizens' Life Assurance Society in that city.

Young Naughton's brilliant, exhibition of batting in the .WellingtonPhoenix heat of the Senior Championship, when he scored 176 runs, has not been allowed to pass unnoticed by his club-mates. At the club - room last Saturday Mr C. W. Benbow. Vice-Pres-ident, presented the little fellow with one of Wjsden's best bats, which bore a suitable inscription. In a match at Petersburg, South Australia, last month, A. C. Grossman stumped three men off consecutive balls from Frisby, a slow, break bowler. .'Short Slip,' of the Adelaide 'Observer,' says he has no record of its equal. When the Hon. Ivo Bligh's English team was in Australia during the season of 1882-3 E.F. S. Tylecote. the wicket-keeper, performed the 'hat trick' off A. G. Steele's bowling, playing against Eighteen of Newcastle, but I have not the full scores of the match, and cannot say whether the batsmen were stumped or caught.' At Melbourne, however, in a match between Melbourne and East Melbourne, played on February 15th, 1896, according to 'Lillywhite's Annual,' four of the latter were stumped from successive balls.

A record for" Tasrnanian cricket has just been established. The Wellington club, in their match against the Derwent club at Hobart, scored 701 runs, of which Kenneth Burns made 365, carrying ,his bat. Burns' previous best was 264. His batting averages for the- past four seasons -read 59.75, 6i:9, 45.12, 72.81, and his highest average was for season 1892-3, when it stood at 80.25. His average for the present season is 81.63. Burns has not as vet reached the coveted honour of obtaining 1000 runs for the season, although in IS9O he reached 991, and in 1892 totalled 963; He is 103 off the 1000 this season and has a chauce of reaching these figures in the North v. South match at ICaster. • .

The selection of Victor Trumper as one of the Australian team has giyefi great, public satisfaction.,. Still, there is a fly in the ointment,.remarks 'Not Out,' in the 'Referee/ It is known that he is going to England upon terms different from those of the other members of the team. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Melbourne Cricket Club, under whose auspices the team travels, will permit an invidious distinction of this character to be made. We know that J. J. Kelly land A. E. Johns were each compelled to accept a half share of the profits of the 1596 team. That they did so was of course their own business, since the two men, being the wicket-keepers of the party, had the team absolutely in their power, and might have each demanded an equal share with the others. If Trumper merits a place in the team he merits the same treatment as the other members. Should Trumper prove one of the very greatest bats of the side, the position will become still more interesting.

William Barnes, whose death was announced by cable this week, was some years ago the best all-round man in the Notts team. He visited Australia thrice: once with the Hon. Ivc Bligh's team, and on two occasions with Shaw, and Shrewsbury's teams. Barnes, in-.his day, did excellent work for the M.C.C., the Players v. Gentle-

men, and Eugla.nd v. Australia. His highest score" was 260 for M.C.C. v. Leicestershire at Lord's in .1882, when Midwinter and he scored 4715 runs in the remarkably quick time of 5£ hours before they were parted. He also exceeded 100 in an innings on 26 occasions. As a bowler Barnes was also very successful, arid at times unplayable. He bowled round-arm, faster than medium pace, with a. high delivery, breaking slightly from the off. At the time of his death Barnes was 47 years of age. Another well-known cricketer has also died in England recently. George Davidson, who succumbed to an attack of influenza on February 9th. was one of the best all-round players in the Derbyshire team, and had been so for some* seasons. The deceased was only 32 years old, having been born on June 29th, 1806.