CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 24, 28 January 1911, Page 16

CRICKET.

A cuifiosity about Eauikner's 204 in the second! Test. He made the same number of runs 102 at each ■wicket, and njore curious still, he , made thirteen fours at each end.

It was pointed out at' the annual meeting of the Lancashire County Cricket Club recently 'that members' i subscriptions last season showed a decrease .oL £315. - It they had .another £1,000 ,a year from this source they ■would, ibe independent pf the gates to keep them going. -_-~_. . _ I. In.the three Teet-matches the Austra-, lians scored-2,007 runs forloss of 50 wickets, averaging 40.14 per ■wlieke-t. The South Africans ■ scored 1842 funs tfdr loss of GO -wickets, averaging 30.70 runs. These .figures agree with the general. Opinion, viz., that : Australia has the better side. ■•• ;•---.■ I Presiding at the annual meeting of the I Worcestershire County- Cricket Club recently, Lord Gobham ■ remarked that j during'three years over £8,000 had been j raised to free the club from debt. j The standard of expenditure set by | ■Surrey,' Notts', lient, aitd Yorkshire, sa|d his lordship, forced them to maintain a ' certain minimum. There were, however,! apparent difficulties ahead for some of j these counties with large resources, and he was very much afraid that if their lavish' expenditure we're continued th<s ■championship would soon be confined to Ualf-w-,dozeti: counties. They might congratulate jthejnselyeS that. Worcestershire had' not to dissolve, and upon having found an agreeable way out of thefir difficulties. ■ Lord Plymouth was appointed to., the. presidency.. in succession to ' Lord Cobbam. . ... Writing of the Test Ma ; tch, an Austra-. lianwri'fcer says:—Tihen there is another aspect which should be considered. The South' Africans are not, seasoned teat ■match players. They showed, i'fc ait every turn.' As a team the players (have not lihe test , matoli temperament A test ornatc-h is not cricket in-'the ordinarily accepted sense of the word- In. a game of cricket risks are taken. In a test maiteh 'between AusjtraMa and England; they are ranrely taken. A South African thinks itiha-t any'kind of a Ikill should be hit, and he tries to hit it irrespective of the trap that lias been deliberately taken aiiMT careful tifrough't I)^' the opposing bowier. 'An English professional would "be mare likely to take typhoid fever than •take a risk hitting ;at a fast ball of. good ledgt'h pi'fcohed outride the off The South Africans went at tiliese balls I •with the greatest Cheerfulness.' With' them a game of cricket, ■whether test match or against a village eighteen, is nothing mote than a gaime' of cricket. "Wi'bh Emglislhinen, and irecesaiarily tOieJT opponents' the AtwtraKaiis, a test riia/toh' is a deadiliy serious business—so deadly indeed that the last seties oi iniatehes played in Australia, nearly killed thel gfliuifc. T3ie 'ptiblic cried <>ut in'aMge'f. against proiiacted coatests. running into' six days. Nothing can moke ia batsman take a risk if he .'does;: not care to do so himself, and ail <Hhe protests went,for nothing. There isa time limit in England, but there is not one there.

On' the contrary, the South. -Africans always provide interesting -cricket. TJie

■bulk of 'them mlake runs or get out. Ana tixeif Tjowling is of a style which ensures that they will take pickets or get !hifc

There is only one vray to play their b6wl- j ing, .and tna,t-is to ihit it. A strictly deffeusive game means getting, out. There Will be no talk of ilie losing initere3t in cricket, and there wall be no reason for hoKLing conferences to device means of inducing, the, public to pay its shilling at'the gatej s'o.lcmg asthe Soultfo Af ricana aro taking part in -a, match. I On plumlj wickets a bowler nasto think 3iis opponents out. • An Englishman tvpuld ihave.refused to touch, some..of-the enticing bits, the South Africans swailan^aJH.,i,..■ ~. ..;..:..,,.. >; i.,Ji thei^SoutSi^ricans,are to suoceed.in test matches in, Australia ifchey will- have to take less risks when baitting. Soma of their best batsmen are gifts to a -wily bowler. ~ It; may lessen in ' a fe-ifling degree tihe aittractivenesa of theit play* but tflieix preseii'b tactics- amust be altered if tbhey are .to' wia. At a -cricket' college examination they would get 2.06 inaxka in a maximum. 100 for tactics... 'They aro Itoo aTidacibus altogether; A test match is a itest-maitdhj* not a picnic. It dhoiild

bey • perhaps, ; but it jsn' fc. And when. : the South Africans come-to-realise this there •will be no more innings defeat. . In the-first Test match Spilth Africa scored. 174 runs off 402 balls in the first and "240 runs off .403 balls in the second inningai .or 414 .runs'.off 805 foalle.; whereas the Australians scored 528 runs .off 658 balls. This pointed to the collective Australian batting being much the, more attractive and skilful. ■In" : the second Test match South Africa scored'- 586 runs off 1110 balls, and Australia 675 runs-off 895 balls: Again, the. Australians- scored, much faster. 'In: the .first two matches Australia totalled 1 1203"runs off 1553 balls', and South Africa 1000. runs off 1015 (balls., ■ ; -:%V I . .- -•. V-' ■; -..'; ■,-! In the third Test, match- South Africa scored 842 funs off 1782 balls,- and Australia 804 runs off Ufa balls. .The'jiiffereiiee here is extraordinary, and emphasises the undoubted 1 difference in ■style and tactics between, the .Australian and .South African batsmen as a tody.. Speaking of Trumper's 214 not out at Adelaide, a performance "which -was admittedly one. of the most masterful displays .'of-batemanehip-in the history of Test matches,, the. cricket scribe, of the Melbourne says.: — Trumper could .-be. neither .stopped nor had aibsolute control over.,.the. bowling, never seemed- to' toe in. doubt -about a stroke;'and was playing >, a characteristic Trumper innings. One of.the -best-was a straight* 4 off, Eegler.- The next ball he hi fc to the on,, and ibrought Ms score to 150, made without a: flaw in 2h 56m. From the first hie- scoring• rate had ssarcely varied. He. was getting them .at 50* W. hour.- -This inniiigs of ■Trumpeit'a was, in my opinion, matchless, all things considered; In ease, in execution; above all daring, it excelled hia Test • match innings in 'Melbourne, surpassed it in being larger. Like the young, billiard player, <3ray, when Trumper breaks records that are not wholly a matter of counting, they, are: his own records. It is. m ot; ghren to many ibatsmen to reach 100 without a life; when'he reaches 200 without the ghost of a chance -we may congratulate ourselves upon having seen something exceptional in cricket; - And this innings' -woe " exceptional in. many ■ways—a demonstration of Trumper'e absolute geniii3 in the art" of batting. The •South Africans -were charmed with it. They like the man, but they .like his 'batting even tnqro, and were enthusiastic in their praiee of it, even whil'o their best bowlers : were" "being driven to de-

jspair. "I doa'fc-care, ,, said Shervrell. "I jhave seen the hest' that cricket lias to ' show mc." If was his daring that amazed them—balk • ihat most; batsmen -Would have 'been coiteiit to stop were picked Tight off-the %icket arid hit ior 4's. The occasions on which he was absolutely , driven to a purely defensive stroke

might have' teen counted on the fingers of one's hands. Faulkner says that he bowled three' balls to him that were about as good as any that he has delivered, and Truniper scored 4 off each ol them; Says ft Wellington writer: Cricketers in other parts.of New Zealand have not the faintest idea of "the troubled waters over ■which local, players have to navigate their little ship, and to t>he majority of the readers of these notes I know it will seem incomprehensible that the advancement of the grand old game should ■be retarded, as it is in WeHingbon. The .Reserves Committee of tile City Oouhcil, which has tho control of the Basin Beserve, has not the slightest sympathy in the world -with the aims and aspirations of the cricketers, and simply treats an influential body like the Cricket Assoeia.tion on the same footing as a house tea<m of cricketers. As I ihin>ted before, the cricketers are getting tired; and it -Would not sunprise mc at all, some day, to see them ; take the bull : by -tlhe thorns, and endeavour to get' elected to tlie City Council men -who are pledged sympathisers with them. This is in the nature of a prophecy y -and time alone will tell if I have correctly gauged the feeling of the players and eupporteiß of rtfhe game. ■There have been many ways of dis> missal. It would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer who had studied cricket to work them all out, 'but (writes "Shortslip" in the "Sydney Mail") there is probably only one case of a ibatsman deliberately committing suicide 'by handling the , ball. It -was in the famous Smokers v. NonSmokers' match, played in Melbourne in 1887. We then had an English professional team here, and some of the big Australian cricketers -were in Melbourne at the time, so a match was arranged between those who eschew tie weed and th-oee who chew —or, rather, smoke —it. The match was famous for an aggregate of 803 for nine -wickets by the nonsmokers. It was intended to have played a combined t«am against the- Englishmen, 'biit; owing to several leading Australians ibeing unable to take part this match -was arranged. Well, the particular case of k bateinan'e suicide occurred in this match. Scbtton had strike, and it Tivas'.the last ball of the match. He ; played, it quietly towards point,, ran after it, and secured it as a memento of what was in every respect an extraordinary contest; lsvery> man on the fielding side was anxious to secure. the ball, and the -whole team were quite sold by" Scffbtori's action., ; An appeal was made to the' umpire, ■who ruled the ■great stone--waller, but. for handling the bill. This Seotton did not mind in the least. Hfe ; had' secured a memento, and he sti6wed !: every6ne he intended'to isticlc' to it:' ' "."' " ' '■' ' 'Mr. Abe Bailey, the ■well-known sup,p'dfter of South African , cricket, has been knighted. New South Wales has had no fewer than 20 players in the representative teams this season