CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 250, 19 October 1907, Page 12

CRICKET.

The championships open on Saturday next. Cricketers had no chance of getting on the Domain on Saturday last, the ground being very sodden as the result of the rain which fell on Thursday and Friday. Mr. T. J. Watts, brother to Mr/ J. Watts, the popular secretary of the Association, has been appointed assistant secretary, without voting power at the meetings.

Last year's selection committee, Messrs Williams, Neill, and C. Hay have been reappointed. The decision of the management committee in this regard is a wise one. The selectors did their work conscientiously and well last year, they have the experience then gained to guide them, and the result of their deliberations will, no doubt, give general satisfaction.

Auckland, northernmost of the provinces, is again the last to make a start with the cricket season, but an earlier date than Saturday next was out of the question, in view of the sodden state of the grounds. To-day the clubs will have an opportunity of trying out their new members, and of selecting their teams, no opportunity having been afforded up to the present of finding out the strength of the new blood.

Geo. Gillett, the well-known footballer, has taken to the summer game, which he played while in West Australia, and has joined the Ponsonby Club. Ponsonby had a bit of fielding practice on Saturday, and Gillett made some fine catches off the bat.

The Eden club expected to be able to connect the drain from their ground with the outfall to-day. This should result in an immediate reduction in the amount of water on the ground, and if the scheme is as successful as the club hopes there ■will be no more trouble with the water. Rountree, the ex-Yorkshire colt, is living in the Eden district, and has joined that club. While in Kent last season he made four centuries in the colt team, and in one match scored 105 out of a total of 151. In Yorkshire he was understudy to Hunter, the county wicketkeeper, from whom he received many valuable hints.

The North Shore club has sixty members nearly all active players on its register, and members are talking hopefully of winning all four championships this season. Funds are being collected for the enlargement of the pavilion, but the work will not be put in hand till after the close of the season.

Belf's claims to inclusion in the team for Australia, which were supported by such an authority on the game as Gilbert Jessop, Were in his opinion overlooked because of his failure to do himself justice with the bat. Keif puts this down to the wretchedly wet and cold weather experienced during the alleged summer. His loss is our gain.

In a letter to Mr. E. C. Beale, Albert E. Relf, who will he in Auckland about the end of next week, referring to the utilisation of his services, emphasises the suggestion he made last year, that the timetable system should be adopted. He suggests starting at a specified time with three men, one batting fifteen minutes, the other bowling with him, this being followed through the list, so that each man will get about thirty minutes batting and bowling practice, before, if he desires further practice, going to the No. 2 net. The most promising bats would thus get regular tuition. The coach committee of the Association will meet shortly to consider what scheme will be adopted, and will no doubt give full consideration to Belt's own view of the matter.

Messrs. J. Darling, C. Hill, and D. K. A. Gehrs have been appointed as the selection committee for the South Australian Association for this year.

A suggestion has been made in England that at Hambledon, the cradle of cricket, there should be erected a memorial in the shape of a home for old professional cricketers.

W. G. Grace, writing in the "Morning Post," says: "The team selected by the M.C.C. to go to Australia is by no means our best possible; but we could not expect it would he, as there are and always will be reasons why some of our best cricketers cannot go. The team will, no doubt, do better than many people anticipate. The Australian team may not be so formidable as they have been, as many of the old tried players have retired, and to fill their places with as good men will be very difficult. . . .

Fielder is a much better bowler than he was when he visited Australia before, and should get a lot of wickets."

If anyone asked mc what caused the South Africans' downfall in their match with the M.C.C. at Lords this week, my answer would be Tarrant and the weather (says my London correspondent). The visitors are, it seems, fated to bring rain with them when they come to London; and against the M.C.C. they had all the worst of the luck in having to bat on a pitch rendered sticky by rain. But it was Tarrant who wrought their undoing by splendid "heady" bowling. In the S.A. first innings the Australian took 5 wickets for 65 runs; but it was on Wednesday morning, when the Africans, with six wickets in hand, were still wanting 44 runs to save the innings defeat, that Tarrant set to work in earnest to get rid of the opposition. In less than 60 minutes he had done the trick, the last six wickets going down for the addition of only 35 runs, the M.C.C. thus winning by an innings and 9 runs. Tarrant's record for the morning's work was 12 overs, 3 balls, 8 maidens, 11 runs, 5 wickets; and his full record for the match, 10 wickets for 122.

The suggestion to play one-day matches received short shrift at the special meeting of the Otago Cricket Association, held the other evening to .-.-insider the proposition (says the "'Witness"). After listening mainly to the objections to the scheme, the proposal was thrown out with some emphasis, and matters are the same as they w.sre. The principal argument against the scheme was that the less experienced players would be sacrificed to the cracks, who would be put in, and who would knock off the required runs in quick time. The real reason why the professional cricketing stars of England declined to become members of the M.C.C. team now on its way "to Australia has so far not been made public, but a distinctly inter-

esting contribution to the subject is made by the London correspondent of the "Liverpool Daily Post." He says:— "The real truth about the M.C.C. team to Australia is that the withdrawal of Lord Hawke for family reasons has upset the apple cart. Amateurs and professionals who would hay»; gone with him now look more coldly at the proffered terms. The fact is £300 and such pickings as might be extracted from the very tight treasury held by Mjr. Trevor is not good enough dor Hayward, Tyldesley, or Hirst. They would have rallied round Lord Hawke. The real team may he in print before this letter. It must be only a makeshift one, and the gaps in it are a unique tribute to the personal influence of that great sportsman, Lord Hawke." The above was written before the team was finally selected.

In a chatty open letter to A. O. Jones and his team, Gilbert L. Jessop says:— — In some quarters your team has been designated the Second Eleven of England, which, though it may not be intended, is a distinct compliment to English cricket. If yours is the Second XI., what a strong side the first must be,. You have under your command a team of "iffers" —if they are all in form and in luck the ashes will not be wrested from our grasp. If, oU the other hand, a bad patch is struck, you may easily lose every single test match. I rather envy you your task, for you are hardly expected to win the rubber. Accordingly you have nothing to lose, and everything to win. With the Australians it is just the reverse. The original team as chosen would have been a formidable side, and one with which you could have entered the field with a certain amount of confidence. No England side at the present moment can be called representative without Hayward, Lilley, Tyldesley, Hirst, and C. B. Fry. The first four declined the invitation, and the last-navned was never even paid the compliment of being asked. And ''straight here," as our friends across the "herring-pond" would say, I would ask the M.C.C. the meaning of this slight, for I can find no other word for it.

On looking through tne personnel of your team, one cannot help being struck by the attractiveness of its batting. In our three days' flutter it would '-De a fine side, but I question whether under the Australian conditions of playing matches to a finish it would not have been wiser to have chosen a less brilliant side. You have in Hayes, Hutchings, Hardstaff, Crawf ordN and yourselr batsmen of the dashing type, to whom the playing of a cautious game would be detrimental to their success. Possibly the cares of captaincy may have a sober effect on your cricket, but I sincerely hope such will not be the case, for you are cut out for brilliant cricket, and it would be a pity to spoil nature's handiwork.

Another matter which has interested mc somewhat concerns the bespectacled cricketers, J. N. Crawford and R. A. Young. Will the dazzling light affect them in any way, I wonder? Afric suns did not seem to stand in the way of Crawford's success, and maybe the wavy light of Australia will equally suit Young. Personally, lam prepared to read of big scores from the young Sussex amateur's bat. I can't say, my dear Jonah, that I am satisfied that you have the best material possible after the refusals of those first picked. Where are W. G. Quaife, Jack Sharp, Joe "Vine, and Jack Board? Left at Home. "True, 'tis pity; pity 'tis 'tis true." Your bowling is quite good provided Barnes is anything like the Barnes he was in the first two matches of MacLarerfstour. But your fielding is fair—only fair—like my criticism, which I am sure you will take in good part.

Dr. K. Macdonald, the Queensland and Leicestershire cricketer, has suggested a new system of signalling from umpire to scorer and Press box. The idea aims at giving the spectators and the Press immediately at the fall of each wicket .the technical particulars of the ball which has brought about a batsman's dismissal. The different breaks, swerves, variations of pace, and air the subleties which the art of bowling has developed would, as occasion arct.e, be signalled to the spectators and the Press, and the closest touch with the game would thereby be maintained. Tins is brought about by a system of code signalling between the umpire and the scoring-box official. The umpire is provided with a small adjustable indicator, similar in appearance to a small flat hand camera, and which fits easily into a coat pocket. When a batsman is dismissed the umpire signals by means of this instrument a letter, which the scoring-box official, by means of field glasses, is easily able to decipher. Each letter is made to designate a different Sort of ball, so that any ball may be thus expressed by a code letter. The umpire has this tabulated list giving all the different balls, such as: — (a) "Ball broke in from the off"; (b) "Ball swerved from the leg"; (c) "Ball kept low," etc. On the fall of the wicket the umpire refers to this list, and signals the particular letter, which designates the particular sort of ball which effected the dismissal of the batsman. The scoring-box official then hoists the signalled letter alongside the batsman's score, and the scoring board reads, "Last batsman, 114 B." The spectators on seeing this will refer to the back of the official penny scoring card, •and will there see a tabulated printed' list corresponding to the one the umpire has. They will thus oe able to interpret the meaning of the signal letter "B," so that before the batsman reaches the pavilion the spectators will be in possession of the technical feature of the ball with which the bowler effected his dismissal.

Lord Hawke, who was unable to visit us with the team that Warner captained, owing to an accident received in the hunting field, still takes a kindly interest in New Zealand cricket,' and in a letter to a local enthusiast, referring to a suggestion that a series of say five matches should be played in New Zealand 1 between Australia and England, as a means of educating cricketers and public alike and stimulating interest in the game, says that he would much like to hear of .such matches being played in New Zealand, but while Australia guaranteed £ 1000 • for expenses "was afraid it could not come this tour. Something certainly might be done in the next trip. The Yorkshire captain added.that

they were sending out a rather young side, but he did not think they would be any the worse for that, and they were led by an energetic captain, who would set "them a good example in the field. The South Africans, like the Australians, could not win a test toss. They were a good bowling and fielding side, but Jacked a Trumper, Noble, and Duff. However, for their first attack on England they had done very well.