CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Issue XXXVI, 21 October 1905, Page 12

CRICKET.

The interregnum is over, and the cricket season proper opened to-day. A large attendance of cricketers and patrons of the game was anticipated. Commenting on the results of the Test matches, L. 0. S. Poidevin says: "Meanwhile, the next series of Test matches will be decided in Australia, when it may be taken for granted that several of the present team will be standing down. Duff, Noble, Hill, Armstrong, Trumper, Hopkins, Cotter, and Kelly or Carter will probably form the nucleus of the next Australian representative team. They "will need to be in good form, however, for there are many talented aspirants for international honours eagerly waiting their opportunity, F. Johnson, a slow right-hand bowler, well suited by Australian conditions, if he maintains his form, looks like gaining a place. O'Connor is highly spoken of in authoritative quarters in Sydney as one of the State's most promising bowlers. Vernon Hansford holds out much promise of future greatness with the bat. He is a left-hander, very youthful, and a model of steadiness and restrained science. He never appears to be in difficulties with the bowling, and curiously enough he never appears to gain a mesteryover it, but treats it all with ithe same studious care, scoring at a moderate pace all the time. He reminds mc both in Ids methods and run-getting consistency of one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen, H. Moses."

An English critic comments on Armstrong's successful bowling in the return match against Lancashire as follows: "Criticism of Mr. Armstrong has not erred on the side of generosity. Whatever arc the ethics of defensive cricket, either as regards batting or bowling, the fact remains that for months our best batsmen have been able to do comparatively little against this particular kind of bowling, which has resulted in the downfall of more than a hundred English wickets at a very moderate cost. But for the Australian practice of sacrificing the individual for the good of the side, that cost might have been more moderate still. Speaking generally, our first-class cricketers are not playing Mr. Armstrong any better at the end of August than they played him in May. JBy leaving everything' but the straight ball alone, they can stay in easily enough; but bad strokes, if not disasters, ensue with the attempt to score at all frequently. Had Mr. Armstrong's catching been as good as his batting and bowling, one might have been tempted to initiate a comparison as an allround cricketer between him and Mr. George Giff.en. One cannot at the moment call him a great bowler, but for stamina, length, and direction, he is certainly the bowling feature of the present year of grace. He may yet be something more. If, when he next comes to this country, the support which he gets at the other end allows him to bowl purely and entirely to get the batsmen out, we may sec in him what Australia has never yet produced, namely, a slow bowler of the class , and calibre of Mr. Steel or Mr. Townsend." Rhodes is surely quite as great a bowler as ever. Que need not enlarge upon that, whilst round and near the wicket there is no finer fieldsman in tbe world. In many -ways his fielding is unique. The very finest fieldsmen near to the wicket, Jessop, Spooner, and their kind, have a panther-like glide upon the ball rather than a run to it. An easy nonchalance pervades their attitude, their energy seems lulled and sleeping until the moment of need. This power, emerging apparently out of silence, is a mark of real genius, quite distinct from anything which lies in the power of the most Lard-working coverpoint that can be imagined. Rhodes has this genius and power in the field; it is just a little more homely in his manifestation than in that of some others. The great craftsman, rather than the artist, predominates.

The fact that the Australian Eleven is returning, -like the cows of the legendary Brown, in various quantities and at irregular intervals (says the Sydney "Bulletin"), makes it very evident that the team doesn't expect to be received with fireworks. However, like fevers and other things, it has served its purpose, and the failure of tbe team at tbe Test matches hastened on the formation of the national Australian Board of Control, which will probably change the method of selection and root out the old gang that was so largely influenced by personal friendships. Writing on the Test matches, L. O. S. Poidevin says: "Five matvlie-? seem more likely than three to reflect the exact merit of the two sides. Besides, since five matches are regularly played to a finish in Australia, the same arrangement should in all fairness obtain here. The colonials are much harder tp beat in the Sunhy South than they are in England, and it is, therefore, held by some that the present arrangements give them an unfair advantage in the adjustment of the aggregate number of wins by both sides. It is everlastingly argued, of course, that five Test matches played to a finish w.ould bring chaos into the County Championship eompetiition. Perhaps it might, but then the county competition itself is howling for reorganisation on sounder lines than i the present. The absurdity pf the exist-, ling arrangement, whereby strong county sides are obliged to struggle through engagements while the backbone and greater half of their team is representing England in a Test match has been this season amply exemplified in the cases of both Yorkshire and Lancashire. It seenis 'to be a question of practicability whether five finished matches can be undertaken or "not in England. Personally, I think three should suffice. That the retirement from" 'first : class cricket of Mr Walter Rrearley/the Lancashire fast bowler, will, be a blow to, England, as well as to Lancashire, is agreed on all sides! In Ms first' Test Match, at Manchester, last July, he showed the form of a -really great bowler, varying his pace with rare skill. Considering that the wicket was not of the sort calculated to -help a fast delivery, his capture of eight wickets for 126 runs, was a splendid performance. "At the OvaL in the-final Test, his bowling in the first innings was one'of the of the game. For' LanoKshoe

alone, Mr Brearley pas taken this season 121 wickets at an average cost of 18.64 runs each. In 1903 he came right to the fore, and since that he has proceeded from triumph to triumph. Mr Brearley stands six feet in height, weighs 13st„ and is a good all-round sportsman, having performed well at football, high jumping, and billiards.

James M*3arthy Blaekham holds the record for wicket-keeping in tests (says the Sydney "Mail"). He played in 35 matches, though it is not certain that he kept in all of them. According to an English exchange J- J. Kelly has taken part in 33 and Ldlley in 27. Kelly's matches were in succession.

A London paper says-: "With the object of encouraging vigorous cricket, the vicar of Sturminster, Marshall, Dorset, has offered 2/6 to the member of the club who in a match breaks any of the vicarage windows."

When the latest files to hand left England, several movements were on foot to testimonialise leading cricketers, amateur' and professional. lalley, because of the fact that he had "kept" in a laTge number of test matches, was amongst the professionals, and MacLaren was an amateur. It is said that the Lancashire County Clnb was heading McLaren's testimonial with £250.

Local cricketers forced to play on matting wickets may seek some small consolation in the fact that such crack batsmen as Fry, Jessop, Bosanquet, and others speak honeyed words of a matting wicket (says the "Qtago Witness"). All these frequently practise on eocoanut matting.

Australian Eleven Lncidentst-r-rGehrs made five "ducks," so did Newland, Howell seven, Darling four, and Hill three. Newland was the only member of the team tbat did not bowl. Layer heads the list of catches, his total being 38; Gehrs 24, Darling 22, Hill 21, and Gregory 2. Behind the sticks Kelly accounted for 21 caught, 7 stumped; Newland, 14 caught, 7 stumped; HowelL 7 caught; Gehrs, 5 caught; and MLeod, 1 caught.

At a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association op Monday (says an exchange) it was stated that the amount divided among the members of the Australian Eleven at the close of the. tour was £900 for each member of the team, and that the sum realised as the result of each Test match equalled £75 per m.an.

About Hargreave, the howler who toured New Zealand and Australia with Lord Hawke's team a couple of seasons back, Pelhain F. Warner has the following:—'There is indeed no bowler in the world for whom Mr A. C. MacLaren has a greater respect than Hargreave, for the number of times the left-hander has bowled him is extraordinary. Until the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lords in 1903, MacLaren had not made 25 runs in any one innings when opposed to Hargreaves, and he must have batted against him ten or a dozen times. It is the ball which comes with Hargreaves' arm which is so fatal to the Lancashire,/ captain, and no left-hander that I have ever met -bowls this ball better." Hargreaves was a great success in New Zealand, but when he came to Australia he took but two wickets for 192 runs. The Australian wickets generally try-out the bowlers from England, and after one experience of a dry season they are not very keen on revisiting these parts.

R. E. Foster, the record holder of the highest individual score in Test matches, by means of his scores of 93 and 99 not out for Worcestershire against Somerset, at Taunton, has again (says aa English exchange) clearly demonstrated how greatly his county benefits when he is able to escape from business worries and assist the side. Had he found it possible to play throughout the season, he would in all probability have appeared for England in all five' Test matches, f<jr there can be but little doubt that he is, in the absence of Ranjitsinhji, our greatest amateur batsman. Had Mr Foster made eight more runs in the recent Somerset matches—seven more in his first innings and one»in tbe second— he would, for the fourth time during his career, have obtained two separate hundreds in a first-class match. In being so near to accomplishing the feat, and yet failing to reach three figures in either innings, he does not stand alone, as for Australia v. England, at Adelaide, in January, 1902, Clement Hill scored 93 and 97.

On September 4, Fry, Hirst, Quaife, Hayward, Denton, and Noble had reached their 2000 runs for the season. On the same date Fry headed the average with 73.07, and was within 223 of his 3000. Hirst, Quaife, and Armstrong were having a race for second batting average. Armstrong was then lying second.

The match Northamptonshire v. Warwickshire, set aside as a benefit for that sterling cricketer Thompson, who toured New Zealand with Lord Hawke's team, was won by Warwick by nine wickets. Upwards of £400 will go to Thompson as a result of the benefit.

As showing the strength of Yorkshire county in bowling, I note that in the list of bowling averages up to August 24, Haigh, Rhodes, Ringrose, Myers and Hirst are in the first eleven names.

A son of W. L. Murdoch, the ex-Aus-tralian batsman, threatens to follow-in his father's footsteps. He is now attending a big English ♦public school, and his average this season was 45.22. So seldom does the son of a famous cricketer inherit his father's talent with bat and ball that young Murdoch may prove a great novelty.

Joe Darling, in refusing an interview to a London journal, spoke a cold, hard truth." He said: (H. cannot give you an interview, because I have undertaken to impart no information to the press." In any case, I do not approve pf the system pf cricketers writing for the newspapers, as it seems to. mc that they enter into a very unfair competition" .wit£ "the professional ■ j purnalist." ' The preparation of wickets in England has called forth a lot of criticism of hiie, and not a few of the leading players are of opinion that top much "attention is bestowed upon them. In Ausjtraliaj according to ah exchange, the hcrwlers iiaye a very trying time of it ijfheeling them up on our glazed pitches, it tiikesi; alt tbegorput of for no mat-

ier hpsr tau?d "Siey try, it is very seldom jthat they can make the ball "do" any--1 thing on them. X less attention were given to the preparation oi our wickets, thus giving the --bowiers a chance, one feels sure that a new crop of inters national -trundlers would not be long in making its appearance. One has only to notice the success in first-class matches on English wickets (which are not nearly, generally speaking, so perv feet as ours) of Australian bowlers who are not deemed good enough to represent tSieir State here.