CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 70, 23 March 1910, Page 7

CRICKET.

'"The usual Easter tour of a team from ' ' the Eden District Club will be this year ■ at Whangarei, under the auspices of the newly-formed Whangarei Cricket Associa- : tion..The itinerary of the tour is:—Good i Friday, v. Hikurangi, at Hikurangi; ; Saturday, v. southern section, at Grabamtown; Easter Monday, v. represents- ! .tives. Whangarei Association, at Hish School Ground: Tuesday, v. northern ' section combined team, at Hikurangi; : ' [AVfcdnesday, v. Whangarei represents- : ' .tives; at Hikurangi. The team, eompris-j ing Messrs. J. Alexander, P. Brown. J. H. I i Buekland, G. B. Cummings, C. Cooke, A. '■ H. Freeman, W. Golding, J. Howardj j H. W. Hobson, A. Jenfcin, R. C. Moore. | % A. Murdoch, and C. Restieaux, leave by ■ the s.s. Aupouri on Thursday evening at Bp.in., and return by s.s. "Ngapuhi on ; Thursday, 31st March, There were any numbsr of surprises , for: spectators and players alike in the | ' Eden-Xorth Shore match, commenced ..at Devonport on Saturday. North Shore ■ - pontile toss, and went to the ■ wickets-, i no'doubt expecting .to be able to com-j pile a very fair score, as the Eden attack ignore- very much weakened by the a>b- ! eence of A. E. Relf. They began very • veil, and the score at one stage stood j at more than a hundred ween only two ■vra-kets were down. The chief contributors to this total were Spence (37), Prime (30) and Hadden (30), the three • 'most rena-ble ibatsmen in the North Shore v eleven. Spence and. Prime compiled their : runs by patient, safe cricket in their I ? ■--• usual style, but Hadden excelled himself, | - jsßying brilliant, lively cricket, and scoring six 'boundaries in his innings. "■ Unfortunately, none of the other ibatainen could do anything against the bowlt fcg'of Mills, who appeared to have found •_". i very useful spot in the wicket. Some idea, of the completeness of the collapse may be gathered from the fact that the >; inosfc successful of the rest of the team scored seven runs. The result; -was that the side Tvas out for 130 runs. .' For Eden, Mills was bowling in his if- very ibest form, keeping an excellent! length, and making the ball turn con- -. siderably. Be fished up with the very j £ne average of seven wickets for 38 runs. ; The only other bowler to take wickets ,■ iras George, who captured a couple for . 17 runs. Brooke-Smith and Cummings > were also tried, ibut after about 30 runs had 'been knocked off each of them, they .irere taken off. 4-"Eden began rather worse than their opponents, the only batsman to make ; any sort of a stand being Cuimmmgs (26). He played Hadden effectively, -with any % amount of confidence, 'but was always uncomfortable when playing Howden, 'i and be finished his innings by getting his leg in front of a straight one. Mills, - who had almost played himself in, fell ji a victim to Howden for the same offence, 1 after Jiaving survived a confident a.ppea.l i from the preceding ball. ' Disaster fol- | lowed disaster, and the (best of Eden's batsmen, f-ailed to. do any. good until : "six wickets were down for 56 runs. Then [ the best stand of the innings was made by Elliott and Robinson, who stopped tie rot, played out time, and added about 30 runs, the score standing at S6 when stumps were drawn. Hadden and Howden, each of whom .took three wickets, were the only suck : eessM Shore bowlers. From the present - position of the game it would seem that ■ tlie result of the match -will depend upon j . tie first innings scores, in which ease the ■i first stages of next day's play should be ■V* interesting. It is just possible that the ' remainder of the Eden batsmen may 'be « ahlo to knock off the 40 odd runs res' quired, but the chances appear to be against them. .. . . . . The display by the '"Varsity batsmen •in the match against .Parnell was extiemaiy poor, considering the excellent •■■;.'rtate of the weath«r and wicket. The innings was only responsible for a total of 5. runs. The first eight wickets feil for 30 runs, and the only two batsmen ij to make douole figures wore Wallace and I Gray, each of whom notched 15. - OilifFs Bowling was the feature . of I Saturday's play in tha. Parnell-'Varsity E match. He clean bowled eight "Varsity , ; batsmen for a total of .16 runs. The Parnell trnndler's performance was a very ':: fine one. He bowled IS overs, ten of y>. ■which were maidens, and off the remaining six, as stated, the 'Varsity men -were J, only able to knock sixteen runs. Parnell's first innings produced a total • of 138 for the fall of eight wickets before i Btumps were drawn for the day. To this aggregate, however, only three men contributed double figures, Anthony, Sale , and Olliff hitting up 101 between them. Anthony and Sale got together in an early stage of the game, and between them made the pace a merry one. They speedily had the 'Varsity total overhauled, and the partnership had built the score up to 75 before it was dissolved. They were dismissed within two minutes •of each other, after a useful partnership _ in which Anthony drove three and Sale '• fire boundaries. ; ! The fielding of the "Varsity eleven on ■;, Saturday was very , fine. Anthony was beautifully caught at long-on by Tay- . lor, , and Sale -was caught at the same point of the field' in the very next over by Lawry. Wright was very smartly ■ caught by Fenwiek off Graham before he' had reached double figures, and Sommer_viDe was dismissed as the result of a splendid running catch by Grey. «.; Provided the weather is rea-sonably {.good when the Parnell and 'Varsity it teams meet to finish the match on Sa-tur- 1 : day week, it seems a reasonable conclu- j sion to come to that the teams will have j ■-time to play ■ out'another innings each, •' Mid on the present state of the game. : Parnell should secure a three-point ' "win. ; The fixture set down for Victoria Park last Saturday was the Grafton-Ponsonby f: match, which excited -considerable inter--j, est. In Jones' absence K. Neill was elected skipper of the Gratfon 1 ; team, and won the toss from Gavin, deciding to bat on a. splendid wicket. The fairly large crowd which attended -was not:treated ;: to any startling performances, the bat- ;: ting all the afternoon decidedly uneenvlnelng, that of Ponsonby—with the i exception T of Hemus—being- ■> especially .' feeble.- Herspeol accompanied his skip- *■ per to the wlcke'ba and opened *he battisg against PonsonbyV usual opening =; feawlers, Weeds :..• and-- Snedden. ■",. - Bc-tih =: Bewleis kept ■the' ! batsmen quiet for ialf- : Massii. evens, but in the seventh Neill ;. get JO off Weeds, : two-very ; good strokes, feaiiising 4 each, Horspool bagged two t: peonaanea to ; square : leg from r Snedden. f_- pne ef eBB etralees lie ■played forward iterate a"UaH Justsear« $heeff-etwrnp, jftad thai "hall yhjea&Jng "hack: sharply he \ *3S««isjHaeCfe«eß4feaßßßl€rß iato- Vmn~

dary at square-leg. When 34 were added -very slowly, and Xeil] bad made 18, he hit out and was bowled with a nice leg-break from Snedden. Mason followed, and , seemed over-anxious to open his account. ; His first scoring stroke produced 5, four | of which were overthrows. MeMath, a I promoted junior, relieved Woods, and I bowled Mason a maiden over, in which were two clinking yorkers which made . the batsman very careful. In his next over MeMath got Horspool caught behind ; the wickets for 17, made in far from his i best form. Gray partnered Mason and ; led off with some very pretty late cuts, . but quietened down considerably. He | and Mason held their ends up for some ■time, but at no period was the batting attractive. With his score at 29, Mason : made a very poor stroke at a poor ball ; from MeMath, and retired caught and ' bowled. The partnership by very slow j batting, added 38 runs, and" Mason had • batted in a style quite foreign to his , usual forcing tactics. Hay came next j and opened his account with a beautiful ; late cut to the boundary, and when he and Gray had added 25 runs, Hay was caught behind the wickets off Kavanagh j after making 14 in good style. Sloman ! and Gray added a few when the latter was cleaned bowled by a leg-break from i McCoy, with his score at 27, and the total : : 107. At times he played some very neat i strokes, but was never forceful. Shortly 1' before he retired he gave a comparatively easy chance to Foreman at mid-ou, but it j was dropped. He was over an hour at ! the wickets for his total. F. Horspool i partnered Sloman and bagged three boundaries, but -was never comfortable and decidedly lucky. Sloman hit two fours in his total of 11, but got no further, being caught and bowled by McCoy, who was now bowling very well. F. Horspool went at 146, caught nicely in the slips by Jaeobsen off McCoy for" IS. Courtayne was bowled by a full toss from Kavanagh, and McCoy clean bowled Hendry, so with one short the innings closed at twenty to five for 14G runs. McCoy, who got four for 36, bowled very well, and breaking both ways had the batsmen thinking all the time. Kavanagh got two for 14 in 7 overs, MeMath two for 17 in 8 overs, while Snedden got the remaining wicket for 27 runs. Woods bowled well, although he did not obtain' a wicket and was unlucky at times. The fielding— Snedden and Hemus as the exceptionwas again short of seni ior standard, the slips being very weak, Foreman in this respect being a frequent offender. With such a small total to face, and the Ponsonby batsmen in good form, it was thought that the westerners would make a decent showing, but the batting failed miserably. Hemus and Woods opened to Mason and Gray, both batsmen getting a single off the first over, but Gray's first ball had Woods caught at cover by F. Horspool off a shocking stroke. Snedden followed and played the rest of the over. A single to Hemus who seemed to be trying to hit at everything, and next ball Snedden was given out lbw from one of Mason's characteristic appeals. The decision seemed to be distasteful to the batsman, who after- ' wards was very emphatic in stating he had hit the ball hard on to his pad: 2 for 3. Robinson partnered Hemus, who immediately, began to lay about him and brought off some delightful cuts and leg strokes.'^■ At 'Robinson went : lbw* to Mason. This decision was as big a surprise as the other. At 51, when White and Hemus had added 16 to the score, ■the latter simply threw bis wicket away, being caught at cover point by Mason from a ridiculous stroke. His 41 included some very pretty strokes, hut he seemed too eager to get runs. Gavin tried to stem the tide, but Mason cleaned bowled him for 1, and Gray got White cleaned bowled for 2, leaving MeMath and Jacobsen to play out time with six wickets down for 53. SECOND GRADE. The second series of matches in connection with the second round of the premiership matches commenced last, Saturday, and the result of the game at Victoria Park will in no small measure affect the championship. The 1 following table shows the position of the teams prior to the commencement of last Saturday's matches, each having played eight matches:—

Playing at Kingsland on Saturday against the home team, Parneil accomplished a performance that dwarfed everything else in the afternoon's cricket. It was a perfect day for cricket, and the warm sunshine and refreshing breeze added greatly to the afternoon's sport. Taking- advantage of an excellent wicket prepared ■by' George Mills, Parneil sent Eden B into the field, and kept them there until 259 runs were to their credit. Nothing could have been -better than the display of the opening pair, Andreae and Breese. Both batsmen quickly mastered the bowling, and treating it in a lighthearted manner, gave a fine exhibition. They played -'throughout with delightful freedom, and the partnership was not (broken until the score bad reached 152. Breese, with 62, was first to go, being clean ; bowled by Bridges after a faultless innings, which included very few uppish strokes. Andreae, who hit ! seventeen 4's, left at 212, having beet: at the wicket for a couple of hours, and registering 122 without a blemish in scoring the coveted century. He obtained a large proportion of his runs by leg-hitting and off-driving. Warner addi ed 34 "by vigorous cricket. The remaining 'batsmen evidently had instructions • to obtain runs or get out, and they mostly did the latter, thanks to Kyd, who captured five wickets after a great deal of persevering. The Eden captain rang the bowling changes frequently, and no less than nine toed the crease. I heard the scorer lamenting that the score-book was overcrowded with the names ' of the bowlers. Before time was called, Eden B had lost two wickets, and appear to ' have little hope of saving the game. ■' ■•'At Eden Park, on an indifferent wicket, Grafton shaped poorly against the University bowlers, and were all out for 76. ' Fawcett was mainly responsible :for the downfall.; His deliveries had a tendency « to < keep low,, and he wound up ■with '7 '•• for 28., 'Varsity replied- with seven 'Wickets for 75. Ellis was» chief contributor "with 33 not out, marred only by '"one^•chance. : He shaped very well, and looks like following in his brother's footsteps, who, ''by'' the way,' has made a - good recovery from his recent illness, -which has , kept him off the; cricket; field since last November; _:':."' : £,-;; ,;..= ,';' pEdea-A andwWaitemata are ; having a good fight at Victoria Park, and' when 4&& day -eased-'t_si!__^ i -»ws_ti-_i_-iir* ; ;

most interesting condition. On a bad wicket, Waitemata batted first, and had it not been for Steel and Eiddell they would have cut a very sorry figure. Out of a total of 88, these two batsmen compiled 72 ; and the remaining nine 'bats men could only muster a dozen betwee them. No less than four batsmen secured the unenviable blob. Steel played forceful cricket for his score of 48, while Riddell's innings was more of the solid order. The slow bowling of Stephens wa3 the destroying element, and 'the exrep, secured seven wickets for 32. Eden's fielding was not too good, while their opponents gave a first-class exhibition in that department. Eden, on going in, did not fare any better, winding up with eight wickets for 70. They now require IS runs to equal Waitemata's first in- I nings score, with two wickets in hand. I PUBLIC SCHOOLS' CRICKET. At Devonport the chief features of the match were the fielding and bowling, ine former especially being a treat to watch. ■ Burcon again distinguished himself as a bowler, taking 13 wickets for 55 runs. He is a heady bowler, and is able to break both ways. Colebourne, for Devonport, captured 5 wickeos for 12 runs. itartlett batted best for Eden in the first innings, while in the second Burton (IS not out) and Cotton (29 not out) ' opened out and played good cricket. Johnson and PerritL batted well for Shore in the first innings, making 12 and 15 respectively, while C. Daere (20 not out) and Spinley (19) did best work in •the second. Shore were without the services of L. Dacre, who generally does well with bat and ball. Earlly (Pitt Street) equalled Burton's score of 104, being no-t out. He ia a good forcing bat with nice style and defence, and should make-plenty of runs. Kong (5(5) batted verj nicely, presenting the front of a straight bat in playing good balls. Grant (Richmond) soon knocked up 36. He generally got out far enough to hit on i the full. Kingstone showed great form ! for Grafton, making 76 in good style j His innings was principally instrumental j in causing Remuera's easy "defeat. Philpot and Dormer did very good j work for Newmarket, getting 75 and 40 I respectively. | It has been decided that cricket will be j cotitinued on Saturday, M-arch 20, but will be suspended -on April 2. Matches and Grounds for March 26:— Devonport v. East, at Devonport; Richmond v. Parnell, at Domain; Reniuera v. >fapier. at Domain; Nelsonstreet v. Edendale, at Domain; Bayfield v. Newmarket, at Domain; Ellerslie v. Epsom, at Domain; Mt. Eden v. Beres- | ford, at Victoria Park; Ponsonby v. Newton West, at Victoria Park; Graft-on v. Normal, at Victoria Park; Pitt Street v. Mt. Albert, at Victoria Park.

Won. Eden A 6 Parneil 5 Waitemata ... 5 Eden B 5 North Shore .. 4 Grafton 3 University ... 1 Ponsonby 1 Lost. 1 2 3 3 , 3 5 7 6 Dr. 1 1 o 0 1 0 0 1 Pts. 15 is 13 12 10 7 3 3