CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 230, 26 September 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

The football season is now over, and active preparations are being made for the opening of the cricket season, which should be at no very distant date, if we have a continuation of the weather prevailing at the time of writing. The association met on Thursday night Additional interest will be taken in dub cricket this year owing to the introduction of the district schemei and everyone will be keen to see how the idea will work out. Certainly, judging by the enthusiasm which has already been shown by the various clubs, there should not be much doubt as to its success. Glancing down the list of players available for the various districts, Grafton strikes me as able to -put the best t<?s.:n in the field, with Parnell perhaps second. It is impossible, however, to form any very accurate estimate, for much will depend on the younger players coming on from the juniors, and <the composition of the teams cannot be known at tfiis stage with any degree of certainty. Besides, cricket is the most uncertain of games. A list of some of the players thiut will be available for the various clubs may, however, be of interest. Grafton will have the services of Stemson, Clayton, St. Paul, D. Hay, C. Hay, Sloman, Totman, Kallendar, Lawson, Bowden, Seccombe, Graham, and Ayles. This last-named player comes from the Port Melbourne Club. The club have also a good many promising juniors to select from. Parncll should be able to choose . a good team from Gleeson, Oliff, Mason, E. Sale, R. B. Luak, N. B. Lusk, Barclay, Ohlsen, Murray. Philaon, Hicks, I.undon, Pabst, Resteaux, Foster, Johnson, Ansenne, Fairburn, and others, including a promising lot of juniors. Parnell, by the way. have engaged Barclay as coach. City do not seem to be one of "the strongest of the clubs. Six of last year's seniors are available, Neill, MacCormick, Schmoll, Cossey, Fish, and King, but the list of juniors does not seem to contain any great amount of talent Eden at present has a membership of over 100. Among the list of playcra

I available arS I. Mills, W. Mills, ». Mins, IH. B. Lusk, Kyd, Williams, Ball, BrookSmith, Elliott, Nicholson and Hobson. Ponsonby will have the services of I Robinson, Woods, Wallace, Gavin, Kemp, Francis, Walker, and m6st of the members of the old club. North Shore will have the services of their players of last year, with the addition of two or three new players, including Watts and Barry. The Ponsonby Club are holding a concert in the Ponsonby Hall on October 15 in aid of the club funds. The club will probably have a membership of over 100 tli's year, and Mr Hemingway, of St. Martin's College, Pitt-street, will be glad to hear from intending members. A correspondent writes asking me to I correct the report which appeared in this paper to the effect that an attempt >to reform the Birkenhead Cricket Club had failed. My correspondent states that the club bad been re-formed the previous week, and promises to be in a flourishing condition. At a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association on September 1, a letter was revived suggesting that the Australian cricketers vho play against England in the test matches this season should be paid £25 each, and visiting players to have railway fares and 12/6 a day allowed them for hotel and other expenses. A communication was I received from the N.S.W. Association ! asking that a conference should be held in connection with the matter, but it was decided that this, was unnecessary. It was stated , that the South Australian Association had agreed to the proposed scale. Jack Worrall, the Victorian cricketer, again paid the penalty recently for his remarks concerning the bowling of Saunders, another Victorian. The trouble has been in existence a long time now, the cause Eaving been a letter which Worrall forwarded to Phillips, the English umpire, while the Australians were touring England last year. The latest phase is the resignation of Worrall from the position of secretary of the Carlton Cricket Club. Worrall was re-elected to the office on the 4th instant, and his election was followed by a number of other officials resigning. A special meeting of the club was held to consider the situation. Woirall protested that it was unfair to hound him down for his old-time error in the case of Saunders. Eventually it was decided by 30 votes to 28 that Worrall did not hold the confidence of the members, but Worrall anticipated the result by handing in his resignation. P. F.Warner in the course of an article in the "Weekly Press," writes on the merits of his team for Australia as follows:—"A great deal has been said about this Feam not being fully representative of English cricket. But has any team which has ever been to Australia been quite representative? The side which Mr Stoddart took out in the winter of 1897-1898 was very nearly so, but the same could hardly be said of his first combination, which proved far the more successful. It always has been, and always will be, impossible to get all the best men to leave England for such a long period as a tour in Australia entajls; but I do not think that when we start the side will be found altogether unworthy to uphold the honour of English cricket against our redoubtable kinsmen across the sea.' i